300th Anniversary of the French Naval Hydrography Service

[aukepalmhof]

France, measuring the challenges of ocean knowledge very early on, was the first state to set up a national hydrographic service by creating the Depot for charts and plans of the navy on November 19, 1720. First responsible for bringing together all the maps and documents useful for navigation, the Depot undertook to produce its own nautical charts and it benefited from the monopoly of this production from 1773. Modern hydrography was born with Beautemps-Beaupré (1766-1854), which develops the principles of methodical and rigorous cartography that will earn him his international reputation as "father of hydrography".

Become hydrographic service of the navy in 1886, then Shom in 1971, the French hydrographic service continues, 300 years later, to be in the service of the safety of navigation and Defense. Since then, it has extended its activities to meet new needs such as the prevention of the risks of submersion, the support of coastal development, the development of marine energies.

The Shom (Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy) 'is today the benchmark public operator for maritime and coastal geographic information, i.e. knowledge and description of the physical marine environment in its relationships with the atmosphere, with the seabed and the coastal areas. To this end, it mobilizes multiple areas of expertise, including determining the depth and relief of the seabed (bathymetry), the tide, and physical oceanography.
© - La Poste - Shom - All rights reserved
From Phil @ Poste press release

The miniature sheet shows us two ships, one is a replica rowing boat out of the early times, of which I have not any information. When you can understand French there is a video on youtube, about the work of the hydrographic work: https://youtu.be/k2nq-0sdjyM
The modern research vessel is the French vessel THALASSA.

Built as a trawler-research vessel under yard No 620 by Saint-Malo Navale in Saint-Malo and completed under yard no 520 by Manche Industrie Marine, Dieppe for Institut Francais de Rech. Exploit. de la Mer.
01 September 1994 laid down.
16 May 1995 launched as THALASSA.
Tonnage 2,803 grt, 840 net, 995 dwt, dim. 74.5 x 14.9 x 6.45m, length bpp 64.94., draught 6.02m.
Powered, diesel-electric by four 12-cyl. diesels manufactured by Leroy Somer, 2,989 hp (2,200 kW), one shaft, speed 14.5 knots.
December 1995 completed, homeport Brest.
03 May 1996 delivered to owners.

The Thalassa is a seventy-five-meter ship, delivered in 1996, whose principal activities involve population ecology and assessing species fished in the Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea.

For this work, she is fitted out with fishery echo sounders and trawling systems. She is also a multipurpose vessel designed to undertake research cruises relating to physical oceanography.

Following her refit in 2017, the Thalassa can now undertake geoscientific cruises and deploy the HROV ARIANE. She can accommodate up to twenty-five scientists and technicians and operates mainly in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Missions

The primarily fisheries-based missions are:
•Population ecology
•Assessment of fished species
•Study of resource distribution over time and space
•Fishery and product processing techniques

The ship carries out other types of missions:
•Geosciences and physical oceanography
•Deployment of the ROV Victor 6000.

Source: https://www.flotteoceanographique.fr/en ... s/Thalassa https://www.miramarshipindex.nz
Bureau Veritas ship register and info received from Mr. Jean-Louis Araignon.
Franche 2020 1.40 Euro, sgMS ?, scott ?