The Stopover boats in Sète 2024: Santa Maria Manuela, the white beauty witnessing the tough cod fishing

The superb four-masted ship will return to Escale in Sète after a first visit in 2016. Midi Libre – VINCENT ANDORRA

This four-masted ship with a superb white hull, expected for Stopover in Sète 2024, was a specialist in cod fishing departing from Portugal. After 60 years of activity, it was almost dismantled.

He had not shown his slender profile and his all-white livery in the port of Sète since the edition of Escale à Sète in 2016, the fourth of the name. The Santa Maria Manuela, almost 70 m long but only 10 m wide, is a rarity in maritime heritage. Indeed, four-masted schooners are not numerous on the seas of the world.

The sailors boarded dories

Fortunately in 1993, the future that was reserved for him did not go as planned. Launched in 1937, the Santa Maria Manuelabelonged to a Portuguese fishing company, Companhia União Fabril de Lisbonne for cod fishing in the North Atlantic. The 70 men on board went on campaign, in unfavorable sea conditions, for many weeks. As soon as a school of fish was detected, dories (small sailing boats for one man) were launched so that the sailors could fish with their different lines. Beware of anyone who went too far away or who didn't return quickly enough before a sea strike.

Logbook

Name: Santa Maria Manuela Type : four-masted schooner. Launched in 1937 Portuguese flag Home port : Aveiro Length: 67.64 m Mast height: n.c. Sail areas: 1,130 m2 Number of sailors on board: 22

Chopper in 1993

Stored in large holds – there wasn’not much room on board for staff – the cod were then unloaded in Lisbon, then in Aveiro. But after more than fifty years of activity and despite some modernization work, the ship is showing its age. In 1993, it was decided to take it out of the fleet and tear it up. The Santa Maria Manuela is saved at the last minute by a collective of public institutions.

Where and when to see it at Stopover in Sète ?

From March 26 to April 1, Quai d’Algiers. Entrance with the single ticket which gives access to the deck of all the tall ships. Ticket office: quai de la République or at the tourist office and on the website escaleasete.com

Long rebirth

A foundation in his name was even created. But the rehabilitation project will not go any further. It will be in 2007 when a company will buy its bare hull to restore its former profile. The four-masted ship has since been included in the Portuguese national heritage and also trains cadets in sailing.

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