Ship profile for the sailing ship: "Belem"

Photos of the sailing ship:

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Source, location, date:
Matthias Berghahn,
Douarnenez,
07/2002

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Source, location, date:
Matthias Berghahn,
Douarnenez,
07/2002

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Source, location, date:
Matthias Berghahn,
Douarnenez,
07/2002

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Brest/Douarnenez 2004,
07/2004

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Brest/Douarnenez 2004,
07/2004

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Les Tonnerres de Brest 2012,
07/2012

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Sail Brest 2016,
07/2016

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Fêtes Maritimes Brest 2024,
07/2024

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Fêtes Maritimes Brest 2024,
07/2024

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Fêtes Maritimes Brest 2024,
07/2024

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Fêtes Maritimes Douarnenez 2024,
07/2024

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Hanse Sail Rostock 2025,
08/2025

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Source, location, date:
Volker Gries,
Hanse Sail Rostock 2025,
08/2025

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Technical data of the sailing ship:

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 03 Jun 2026

• designed and built in 1896 at the Dubigeon yard of Nantes, France, for the South Atlantic route between France and Latin America.
• first owners were Denis Crouan Fils & de Lagotellerie, of Nantes, brought coal from Cardiff to ports on the River Plate and cacao from Belem in Brazilia to France.
• 1907 sold to Demanges Frères who employed her to deliver food and supplies from France to the prison of Papillon fame in French Guyana, at all she made 10 of these voyages.
• sold another time but still to trade across the Atlantic, after a total of 32 transatlantic voyages she was finally retired from trade in 1914.
• sold to Duke of Westminster for conversion to a private yacht, spent the war years at the Camper & Nicholsons yard at Gosport, England, fitted with the first twin auxiliary engines, cruised in the Mediterranean from 1919 to 1921.
• 1921 sold to Lord A.E. Guinness, renamed the "Fantome II", sailed around the world and completed many cruises to the Mediterranean and Arctic, after the death of Guinness in 1939 the barque was laid up at Cowes, Isle of Wight.
• the vessel remained laid up during World War II, 1951 purchased by the Italian Count Vittorio Cini, who presented her the Cini Foundation of Venice, a school for sea orphans, re-rigged as a barkentine and renamed the "Giorgio Cini" in memory of Count's son, short cruises in the Adriatic until 1965, laid up for financial reasons.
• bought by the Italian State police with the intention of using her as a cadet ship and for promoting the Service's image, taken to a shipyard in Venice for a major refit in 1972, because of unpaid bills the shipyard put her up for sale in 1974.
• in 1979 she was bought by the French Savings Bank, the Caisses d'Epargne, renamed the "Belem", should be refitted and recommissioned as a civil training ship and for PR work, "Belem" avoided becoming a static museum ship, exhibited in Paris from 1982 to 1985 but restoration work was continued ending in sea trials in 1985.
• 1984 classified as historic monument (Monument Historique).
• usually runs short public training cruises, 3 to 10 days in duration, from March to October, along the Western and Mediterranean coasts of France, took part in the 1986 Operation Sail in New York, participated in the Brest 2000 festival and took part in Sail Bremerhaven 2000.
• from February to July 2002 the "Belem" will cross the Atlantic calling Vigo, Madeira, the Canneries, Dakar, Belem, some ports in the Caribbean including Saint-Pierre on the island Martinique, Bermuda, and the Azores.
• 2008 participation in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Québec/CAN.
• in June 2012 participation in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a parade of 670 ships on the Thames in London as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
• 2014 visit to Venice/ITA.
• 2016 120th anniversary celebration in Nantes, France, and participation in the Fêtes Maritimes de Brest, France.
• 2017 Sailing trips in the Atlantic Ocean along the west coast of Europe (Portugal, Canary Islands, Madeira, Ireland, Scotland, Shetland Islands, Norway, back to the Netherlands and through the English Channel, participation in the 500th anniversary of the founding of Le Havre, France.
• 2018 Trips to Dunkirk, Liverpool, Dublin, Lisbon, Málaga, Porto Vecchio, Rome, Genoa, Marseille, and Antibes, participation in the 2018 Tall Ships Races.
• 2019 Trips beginning in the Mediterranean, French Riviera, Gulf of Lion, Costa Brava, then circumnavigating Spain and Portugal via Gibraltar, followed by a spring voyage in the Atlantic Ocean, via the Netherlands (The Hague), Denmark, Norway (Oslo), Scotland (Edinburgh), and England (London) to Sweden (Stockholm) leads, participation in the Armada de Rouen/FRA.
• no sailing trips in 2020 due to the Corona crisis, shorter sailing trips between French port cities in 2021.
• in 2022, trips in the Atlantic, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Irish Sea, in the summer as far as Norway, Scotland, and for the first time to the Faroe Islands.
• from winter 2022 to spring 2023, shipyard stay, followed by participation in the sailing festival in Rouen/FRA, then along the French coast (Atlantic and Mediterranean).
• in spring 2024, transport of the Olympic flame between Athens and Marseille, followed by calls at French ports and participation in the Fêtes Maritimes de Brest et Douarnenez.
• in 2025, trips to ports in Northwest Africa, along the coast of Western Europe as far as Norway and Sweden, participation in stages of the Tall Ships Races 2025, visit to Hanse Sail Rostock, Sail Bremerhaven and Sail Amsterdam.

Last tracked position of the ship:

Map provided by FleetMon.com

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Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 1997 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(9. aktualisierte Auflage)
Page: 120 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Beken of Cowes, Eric C. Abranson
"Segelschiffe der Welt"
Edition Maritim 1995 ISBN: 3-89225-314-5
(engl. Originalausgabe: "Sailing Ships of the World", 1992, Thomas Reed Publications Ltd.)
Page: 44 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Ollivier Puget
"Windjammer der Welt"
Edition Maritim 1999 ISBN: 3-89225-396-X
(franz. Originalausgabe: "Les Plus Beaux Voiliers Du Monde", 1997)
Page: 57 Source with picture Source with history

Giancarlo Schiavoni
"Unter Segeln, die grossen Windjammer auf den Weltmeeren"
Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 1994 ISBN: 3-7822-0605-3
(ital. Originalausgabe: "La nave a vela")
Page: 80 Source with picture

Anthony Churchill
"Sail to Adventure"
ISBN: 0 948337 05 2
Page: 46 Source with picture Source with history Quelle with contact

"Faszination Segelschiffe"
Ein interaktives Informationssystem auf CD-ROM 1998
(2. überarbeitete Auflage)
Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact

Thaddeus Koza
"Tall Ships - the Fleet of the 21th Century"
Tide-Mark Press, East Hartford 2000 ISBN: 1-55949-551-0
(http://www.tallshipsinternational.com/)
Page: 35 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Ollivier Puget, Jean-Noël Darde
"Partir sur les Grand Voiliers - Le guide pour embarquer"
Guides Balland 2000 ISBN: 2-7158-1277-9
Page: 192 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 2002 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(10. aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage)
Page: 135 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data