Dives

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Dives

Post by shipstamps » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:45 am



Built in Brest as a transport for the French Navy. Launched under the name DIVES (or LA DIVES.) Tonnage 400 ton. Dim.? Powered by a steam engine of 150 hp. speed . Armament 2 – 15cm guns.  Crew 88 men. 18 September 1871 commissioned.



LA DIVES after commissioned, sails to Reunion on 18 November 1871 under command of Lt. Petit, and arrived at Saint-Denis, Reunion on 01 March 1872 after she made the passage mostly under sail, her average speed during the voyage was 6.5 knots. Thereafter she was based at Reunion. DIVES sails from Saint-Dennis on 28 March bound for Sainte-Marie, Madagascar where she arrived on 30 March.
04 December she sails for the East coast of the Grande Ile, and reaches Tamatave the same day, Mahanaro the next day, after which she returned to Tamatave, where she arrived on the 8th, then she sails to Saint-Denis where she arrived on the 12th. 
Till the end of 1873 is she used in a monthly service between ports in Reunion, Madagascar and the Comoros Islands. Sometimes dully, otherwise a very dangerous passage.  06 January 1873, while she is under steam on the road of Saint-Paul de La Reunion, suddenly a strong squall sprang up, two merchant ships also on the road got in problems, the DIVES took them in tow and brought them safely inside the natural harbour.
12 July she sailed from Saint-Louis for the dry-dock in Mauritius for some normal maintenance and repair work on the hull; she stayed there till 17 September, when she sails for Tamatave and Sainte-Marie in Madagascar. 
July 1872 The French Government had ordered the Academy of Science to determine with precision the parallax of the sun, that is the distance from the earth to this planet, when the planet Venus would transit the sun in 1874
Six scientific expeditions where then organized by the French to observe this remarkable phenomenon, which would occur on 09 December 1874. Observations were made from northern bases in Yokahama, Saigon and Peking. And from two southern bases one in St Paul island, the other on Campbell (Island, New Zealand), and Nouméa, New Caledonia. The stations in Peking,Yokahama and most probably Saigon are manned by French naval officers, which have scientific knowledge in astronomy. 
11 February 1874 Lt. Le Bourguignon-Duperré who had relieved Lt. Petit on 06 October 1873 is informed that he has to embark the staff, equipment and material for the expedition to St Paul, the expedition is under command of Capt. Amédée Mouchez, (1821-1892, he is also on a stamp of TAAF,) of the French Navy. Before the expedition arrived  DIVES made some more voyages between Reunion and Madagascar (which will be annexed by France in 1896).
During a passage from Sainte-Marie to Saint-Dennis the LA DIVES runs in a strong cyclone from 26 till 30 January 1874, which serious damaged her rudder. On the 3rd February the captain of the LA DIVES noted with satisfaction “we sailed 36 hours under full canvas and the ship behaved very well”.
29th We did see Reunion, after sailing 250 miles in 25 hours, a very good speed for a small vessel like the DIVES, her speed never exceeded over 10 knots. She is easily to handle, and takes the seas easily.
On 26 March in Saint-Denis, a cyclone forced her to leave the port till the 31st. She did roll heavily in the high seas when outside, she made rolls from 23 to 24 degrees, but Capt. Bourguignon-Duperré safely returns her to the port without any damage. ( I have been rolling in high seas many times much farther, to 45 degree did not much worry my)
Finally when found suitable for the task to bring the expedition safely to her destination, the  DIVES embarks the members of the expedition, and her important equipment.
06 September the DIVES sails from Saint-Denis bound for the St Paul Island, she made a call at Port Saint Louis, Mauritius and arrived on her destination on the 23rd. But after she anchorage she meets a strong gale from the West in which she lost three anchors, and for the second time her rudder steering chain broke.
At last on 2nd October she commenced to discharge and her expedition can disembark. On the 4th her expedition members with their equipment and material and stores are all safely ashore.
To stay at anchor is almost impossible for  DIVES, and she returns to Reunion after the expedition and their equipment were taken ashore. Arrived at Reunion the 19th and sails again to Saint Paul on the 24th, where she arrived on the 7th December and dropt her anchor again after a passage of 13 days. 
The island of St Paul where the expedition stayed, with the island of New-Amsterdam belongs to a group of the southern islands, situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Cape of Good Hope and Australia and approximately 3.000 km. southeast of Madagascar. The island is about 14 square kilometer with a greatest height of 272 meters. There is a large crater of an extinct volcano, which is flooded by the sea.
DIVES after her return is responsible for the safety of the expedition and the equipment and material on shore. On the island are only some old ruined sheds built by fishermen when visiting the island. In spite of a heavy storm, which sweeps down on the island on the 8 December, and bad visibility the observation on the transit of Venus takes place without any obstruction on the 8th and the next day. 19 December LA DIVES sails from St Paul and arrived on the nearby New-Amsterdam Island, where she drops off an officer who will make several theodolite measurements, and to take on board some naturalists, which were brought before there by a schooner. The weather is not favorable and the plan to survey the coast of New-Amsterdam island is hampered by the weather, on 24th she surveyed St-Paul island waters where it lefts again on the 25th. A new attempt for surveying New-Amsterdam fails again due to the weather..
She sailed  from New-Amsterdam on the 8th January 1875 and arrived at Saint-Dennis, Reunion on the 20th January 

Her mission in the Indian Ocean is now finished, her captain received already orders the previous December to return to Cherbourg, France, when her replacement, the transport RANCE arrives. But this orders were cancelled on 30 January 1875, when she has to sail for Europe before the RANCE has arrived. During the passage she had to make a call at St Helena, and only when it was urgent she would make a call at the Cape.
In position 41 11N(S?) and 32 15E (SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE POSITION, IT IS IN THE BLACK SEA) she found a vessel laying on her portside with her keel visible, without a trace of any survivors. After a passage of 75 days she arrived at Cherbourg on 13 April 1875, and the next day she entered the Arsenal where it will be disarmed on 1 May.
10 May 1920 she is sold at Rochefort for 53.313 Frances.
SG 
Source: Jean-Louis Araignon. Some web-sites.
 

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