Antoinette

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Antoinette

Post by shipstamps » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:50 pm

The Antoinette was a 4-masted barque, built in 1897 by Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee, at La Seyne, for A. D. Bordes and Sons, of Dunkirk. The vessel's gross tonnage was 2,898, net 2,612 tons, her length being 322 ft. 2 in., beam 45 ft. 7 in. and depth 25 ft. 4 in. She was launched in February 1897, and was engaged in the nitrate trade between France and the West Coast of South America. She was lost in 1918.
The Antoinette was one of 13 vessels known as "Bordes' Bounty ships", their dimensions being identical, although there were slight variations in their tonnage. The French Government, before the end of the 19th century, brought into being navigation bounties and these amounted to 1 franc 70 cents per gross ton per 1,000 miles. The intention of the act was to encourage the building of a large French merchant fleet.
When A. D. Bordes ordered 13 vessels, there was strong feeling in French maritime circles that out of the 10,500,000 francs allotted by the French Government, Bordes and Sons had received nearly two-fifths of it. Bordes however claimed that they had only received one-sixth, but the nickname stuck just the same. The stamp is a very fine example of engraving by Durrens.
The Antoinette is mentioned in "The Nitrate Clippers" by Basil Lubbock.
France SG1920 Reunion SG467
Attachments
SG1920
SG1920

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