The bus from Fontenay-le-Comte didn't show up at the station for some reason or other - perhaps it being Sunday and we hadn't prebooked they decided not to call some one in - so Marie called BLaBlaCar, France's car share app, and we were lucky enough to find some one driving to La Rochelle. We managed to get away at noon, arriving around 1PM back in La Rochelle where we would spend the next two days. We stayed just a few minutes walk from the Vieux Port at 14 Cours Ladauge and were shown our very cozy apartment complete with a separate bedroom by our host Sylvie. It was a perfect location to begin exploring the 13th century port. Dominating the entrance to the port the Towers of La Rochelle were where we would start first. These three remaining towers from previous fortifications have survived till this day and date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. They survived the Seige of 1628 when the rest of the battlements were torn down. These towers, the Saint-Nicholas and the Chaine we explored on our second day, as well as the Lantern Tower, a former prison.
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| 14 Cours Ladauge, La Rochelle |
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| Admiral Duperre, 1775-1846 |
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| Town Clock on the gateway tower, 14th century (find Marie) |
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| Saint-Louis Cathedral, 1742 |
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| voting station May 7, 2017 |
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| Tour Saint-Nichol & Tour de la Chaine |
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| a rare find - a Simca Special, La Rochelle |
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| Tour de la Lanterne & Tour de la Chaine |
La Rochelle was the main port the first settlers going to Nouvelle France (Canada) sailed from and for most it was a long and unforgettable journey as many surviving letters reveal. Once they left the shore by the base of the Chain Tower in a rowing boat, the migrants had to climb on board the ships that were lying further out. It wasn't easy finding somewhere to settle, among all the trade goods, the animals and the crewmen. The crossing though would prove a far more long-drawn out and difficult challenge - sometimes over 80 days of sea sickness and illness. The course was not fixed - they could steer northwards, passing the islands of Ouessant and Sein, then the Channel Islands, before battling against the Westerlies on their way past Ireland and the icy fogs of the North Atlantic. Skilled people were needed to help the colony develop, recruited by means of an employment contract for up to 36 months and qualified workers could often be found in ports like La Rochelle. One migrant in five was a woman, some leaving as volunteers, in a couple or single. Most of the women played an essential role though, either to raise a family such as the 'girls of the king' (les filles du Roi) chosen by the royal power between 1663 and 1673 or to set up hospitable institutions, boarding schools and schools as did Jeanne Mance, one of Canadian history's most celebrated women.
La Rochelle and Quebec, two cities both located on the 46th North parallel, are forever related by this history. In the 16th century La Rochelle was one of the main French ports to trade with north America - fishing cod on Newfoundland banks. In the 17th century it became the French harbour for Canada, shipping it's settlers and soldiers to Nouvelle France in order to increase it's population. On the way back the ships were loaded with pelts and furs, exported all over Northern Europe. For thousands of Rochelais, both Catholic and Protestant, the towers of La Rochelle were their last memory of France. From the founding of Quebec in 1608 to the transfer of the colony to English rule in 1763, no other port in the French Kingdom had charged and sent as many ships for Canada as La Rochelle.
There has been a tower on the spot where the Lanterne Tower now stands since the end of the 12th century. It was the residence of the ship disarmer. It was transformed between 1445 and 1468 and equipped with a massive spire and a light to become a sea mark and lighthouse. From the 16th century onwards it was used as a prison and during the 16th and 17th centuries sailors and privateers were imprisoned there, engraving over 600 graffiti inscriptions on the soft Saintonge stone walls. Marie and I spent an hour marvelling at the engravings and imagining those imprisoned, who they were and why they had been locked up. That afternoon we enjoyed a delicious fish dinner at an outside café, the sun hot, the beer cold and the bustle of people around us so typical of this old French town. It was the perfect end of a full circle for us, from Montreal to La Rochelle and back. Tomorrow we had a plane to catch but today was a chance to reflect on the past four weeks and say our goodbyes. gws
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| 1778 engraving |
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| three masted ship engraving |
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| 1798 engraving |
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| 1778 engravings |
