The Factory Ship Frans Hals Grounding in Biarritz

The Frans Hals is a factory ship built in 1965 by the Royal Schelde shipyards in Vlissingen for the Soviet company Sevryba JSC. She was launched on June 26, 1965 and commissioned in October 1965. After 30 years of activity in the Barents Sea, she was sold for scrapping in 1996. During her tow to Bilbao, she ran aground in Biarritz on November 20, 1996. Refloated a few weeks later, she was oceanized in the Capbreton trench, off Biarritz on December 13, 1996.

The already Russian Son of a Bitch Tugboat Agat

In 1996, she was sold for scrap and was towed to the Ardoex Bilbao shipbreaking yards by the tugboat Agat. On November 19, 1996, the convoy arrived in front of Bilbao, but was not allowed to enter the port due to administrative problems. Around 11 p.m., the tow broke and the ship drifted towards the coast with four crew members on board (commander Valentin Wladimirovitch Terentiev, chief engineer Sergei Nicolaievich Kalapichine and two sailors). The next day around 2:30 p.m., she ran aground on Miramar beach in Biarritz. During this time, the tug headed for international waters to avoid being intercepted.

Refloating is entrusted to Abeilles International. The latter must remove the ship from the beach and tow it towards the Fosse de Capbreton where it must be sunk. The tanks of the Frans Hals were emptied and the breaches present in the hull, then the superstructure was partially cut in order to lighten the wreckage to facilitate towing.

On December 13, 1996, the tidal coefficients are at their maximum. It is therefore this day that is chosen to clear the ship. Bulldozers dig a channel in the sand, then three tugs (the Abeille Flandre, the Abeille Supporter and the Abeille Picardie) pull the Frans Hals, which pivots and joins its natural element. When it reached the ocean, the Abeille Picardie towed it to the Capbreton trench, off Biarritz, where it sank around noon.

The propeller of the Frans Hals has been preserved and is now on display on the Esplanade Elisabeth II in Biarritz in memory of the ship's grounding. 

Basque Corsairs and Pirates

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Basques were the main corsairs in European waters. The Basque corsairs sowed terror in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and in Europe. The first mentions of piracy in the Basque Country date from 1303-1304: a text by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani refers to Basque pirates in Bayonne. 

The Famous pirates of the Basque Country were : Antton Garai (15th century), Pedro Larraondo (15th century), Juan Pérez de Casa, Pedro Aguirre Campanario (16th and 17th centuries), Michel le Basque (17th century), Joanes Suhigaraitxipi (17th century), Jean Laffite (18th century), Étienne Pellot (18th and 19th centuries), Fermin Mundaka (1825 - 1880)

Joanes Suhigaraitxipi and his vessel

The golden age of piracy for the Basques was essentially in the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the Seigniory of Biscay could count on some 77 corsair ships. In the 17th century, mastering naval communications was essential for the economy and shipowners, who were desperate due to taxes, wars and the losses generated by piracy, needed to protect the business in some way. And so the privateering was invented. Although in essence the activity of a pirate and a corsair is the same, the corsairs were "legal"; They conformed to a series of formalities, collected in documents or letters called letters of marque that the monarchs granted to the captains of the boats. Some ships actually carried a notary on board who testified to the captures, thus ensuring the interests of the Crown in the distribution. 

Jean Lafitte (left) and Etienne Pellot. Jean Lafitte, according to the archives of the parish of Saint-Martin de Biarritz, he could be from the Beaurivage district in Biarritz. Étienne Pellot "Montvieux", known as "the Basque Fox", born in Hendaye and died on April 2, 1856 in this same city, is the last known French corsair.

Jean Lafitte, represented by Grace King. Engraving from 1895.

Jean Lafitte was born in the years 1770-1780 and probably died between 1823 and 1827, was a French buccaneer who scoured the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of the 19th century. He created his own "Kingdom of Barataria" in the swamps and bayous near New Orleans to control the mouth of the Mississippi after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, with over a thousand men under his command. His support for the American general Andrew Jackson swung the battle of New Orleans in 1815. He took part in the slave trade, then prohibited. He and his brother Peter then founded Galveston, the first cotton port in Texas, where they spied in the service of Spain against Mexican revolutionaries between and June 1816, according to Spanish archives in Seville.

Even before the era of privateers, in the 14th century Basque pirates went to sea to attack merchant ships. The first known pirates were Anttón de Garai (In the year 1509, the courts of A Coruña sentenced Antón de Garay from Biscay to death for looting ships.) and Pedro de Larraondo, executed for piracy in the Mediterranean in the 14th-15th centuries. In those years, even Edward III of England confronted the Basque corsairs and pirates, feared on the European coasts.

The corsairs soon spread to northern Europe, the American coasts and the Barbary coasts of North Africa. And so came the golden age of privateers, San Sebastián and Hondarribia were the two main squares on the Iberian Peninsula in the 17th century, authentic nests of privateers. Their number in absolute terms was such that the crews of privateering vessels were proportionally more numerous than those included in Royal Navy vessels.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Basques were the main corsairs in European waters. The lordship of Vizcaya had no less than 77 corsair ships. Obviously, the Basque population was not large enough to fill all those ships, so levies were used. Only a low percentage of those who suffered attacks at sea survived the outrages of the Basques, who were mainly abandoned on deserted islands. Others, skilled navigators, were forced to join the pirate crew. This was a common practice in hacking, since forever.

Famous Corsicans were also Antonio Urtesabel, who seized the incredible number of 400 Dutch ships between 1759 and 1774, and who later became a lieutenant in the Spanish Navy. Another striking case is that of Michel Etchegorria, nicknamed Michel le Basque, was a Basque-French pirate who sowed terror on the Caribbean coast in the mid-17th century. According to what they say, he had the habit of tearing out the heart of his victims and eating it while he was still beating.

The case of Pedro de Larraondo, a Bilbao merchant turned privateer, used to be a victim of looting by the Catalans, for which he decided to become a pirate and be the terror of those who had harassed him. During the 14th century, he sowed panic in the Mediterranean, to the point that the Catalans were forced to make a pact with their natural enemies, the Moors, in order to get rid of the Bilbao once and for all. What they got. But without a doubt, the most striking and well-known case is that of Lope de Aguirre, known as El Loco or El tyrant, one of the most bloodthirsty pirates in all of history.

My favorite watches #2

The Promaster Aqualand JP2000 series was launched in 1985. It is one of the must-have watches for professional divers and diving watch enthusiasts. It owes its success to its characteristics but also to its appearance in Luc Besson's iconic film released in 1988: Le Grand Bleu. In this feature film, Enzo Molinari, played by Jean Reno, wore a black-coated titanium version of the JP2000 with golden wrist pushers. As for the specifics, it is waterproof up to 200 meters, it has a unidirectional rotating bezel, a depth gauge up to 80 meters, a dive log, an alarm and a 1/100 chronograph. Moreover, it was one of the first diver's watches to combine analog and digital displays, with an electronic water sensor to measure depth. Its design is due to its functions and not the other way around. This one is still iconic today

Citizen Promaster BN0220-16E : At Citizen, all professional sports watches bear the name "Promaster". If they are divers, they are called Diver. And since the majority are water resistant to 200 meters, many bear the same name. Even if it is a little painful, you must therefore rely on the references to differentiate them. This one, designated BN0220-16E, displays very singular lines that we owe to a model dating from 1982 and whose colors are identical. The original model was water resistant to 1300 meters, a significant characteristic for the time, with a titanium case fitted with 4 screws installed on each protrusion of the case. This modern version is made from SuperTitanium combining the best properties of titanium, lightweight but very easily scratched, with its Duratect coating technology which increases its strength by 500% while being highly scratch resistant. Added to this is the Eco-Drive technology which has generated energy through light, both natural and artificial, allowing the quartz movement to require no batteries.

Promaster Diver Automatic NY0040-09EE. It was in 1989 that the Promaster Diver Automatic was launched on the market for the very first time. An immediate success for the Japanese watchmaker, which saw this novelty dubbed by fans of the nickname "Fugu" ("puffer fish" in Japanese), due to the curved and pointed edges of its bezel, effectively reminiscent of the singular silhouette. of this fish when it swells with dangerous spines in the face of its enemies. Since that date, Citizen has continued to develop this timepiece in several versions, thus building over the years an emblematic series, whose robustness, precision and design are appreciated, as well as the excellent quality- price. It is possible to easily recognize the characteristic design of the eldest of the Promaster series. A screw-down crown at 8 o'clock, voluminous luminescent “snowflake” indexes and hands, not forgetting the famous “Fugu” style unidirectional rotating bezel, whose curved shape and sharp notches offer optimal handling, even when the wearer's hands are wet .

Citizen Promaster NB6004-08E : One of the timepieces most appreciated by fans of Citizen's "Promaster Diver" collection, the Citizen Promaster, also known by its code name "NB6004-08E", fully deserves this status. The first thing that any lover of beautiful watches will notice is probably this matte black dial, on which is superimposed a white index contour allowing easy reading of the time. After exposure to the sun or bright light, a punchy green emerges from the indexes, obtained by a phosphorescent component called Luminova. This non-radioactive component allows optimal readability in multiple conditions, especially in the darkest corners. The Citizen Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m NB6004-08E is equipped with a manufacture movement, the Caliber 9051. Of unfailing solidity, it allows automatic winding of the watch but not only: it also benefits from automatic winding. manual ! (Need to find one ...)

Norton Commando 1971

For sale, a 1971 Norton Commando 750 Vehicle Original VIN : 147727. Astounding restoration of this iconic British Café Racer. Fully Documented. Price : 19.500,00 $ Here

The vanished villas of Biarritz #1Villa Genin

Villa Genin: With its crenellated keep of four floors served by an internal spiral staircase (six rooms per floor), surmounted by a quadrangular lead dome lit by bull's eye windows, this construction desired by Auguste Genin, a replica of the Quinette d'Etampes tower which housed the royal loves was a curiosity for the walker who discovered the villa Genin at the bend of the street. Baptized “La Jacqueline” by its creator, the house has never ceased to arouse curiosities and legends. Its watchtowers bore dedications: "to Jacqueline", "to Augusta", "to Gabrielle", etc... in homage to six of the owner's friends. The lord of the place was the engineer Auguste Genin, originally from Bourgoin, administrator of several gasworks in France. Even before signing the Biarritz gas lighting treaty, he bought land from the Lacombe family. The laying of the first stone of the factory took place on January 10, 1870. Construction was completed in July of the same year. But it took nine years, from 1877 to 1886, to build the Génin tower, in Dauphiné stone with its walls one meter thick, on the plan of a four-leaf clover. 

The gardens that surrounded it joined the park of the imperial domain. Paul Faure recalled its peculiarities, including these: "And this other, who in homage to six ladies of his intimacy, added to his enormous house, already round, crenellated, and topped with a dome in the shape of plants, six turrets adorned with a commemorative dedication. Some claim that in each turret was buried the corpse of a mistress of the place... Auguste Genin did not have time to enjoy his strange home. He died suddenly in Nevers in January 1889. A collector of antique furniture, he left furniture, paintings, statuettes, clocks, medals and jewelry for a total value of 50,000 francs. francs paid by the heirs of the deceased Auguste Genin had drawn the coat of arms of the City of Biarritz which he had presented on January 10, 1870 to the Municipality.

On the heights of the Saint-Charles (or Gaz) district, the Genin Tower or Villa La Jacqueline is part of the architectural fantasy of Biarritz. With its crenellated keep on four floors, its quadrangular lead dome, this replica of the Tour Guinette d'Etampes was a curiosity for the walker who discovered the Villa Genin at the bend of a street. The owner was the engineer Auguste Genin, originally from Bourgoin, director of several gasworks in France. Even before signing the Biarritz gas lighting treaty, he bought land from the Lacombe family. It took nine years, from 1877 to 1886, to build the Genin Tower, in Dauphiné stone with its one meter thick walls. Auguste Genin did not have time to enjoy his strange home. He died suddenly in Nevers in January 1889. On a sad morning in November 1963, "La Jacqueline" was demolished to build an unsightly concrete building.

The Padosa Wreck in Biarritz

It was in the rising night of December 14, 1907. Over 110 years ago, the Swedish three-masted" Padosa "was breaking its hull on the rocks off the Great Beach in Biarritz. the story of Biarritz, but also that of the sailing navy President François Doyhamboure, President of the historical seabed research association, keeps the memory of this tragic episode that cost the lives of four sailors.

A memory preserved thanks to a research work of Biarrots passionate about their city and its history. François Doyhamboure and Eric Dupré-Moretti, explorers of the seabed of the Basque Coast, were fascinated by these mysterious underwater wrecks of ships stranded off Biarritz. In a book, "Naufrages de Biarritz and surroundings, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century" - which should be reissued - the two biarrot researchers have retraced the terrible history of Padosa. In 1978, they moved two anchors from the waters of the Grande Plage, now installed at Atalaye and Port-des-Pêcheurs. A research project carried out with the Biarritz Aquatique Scaphandrier Club, the USB and notably Narkiez Diez, Henri Chevrat, Gérard Foubert, François Bergon and the adjutant of the firefighters Minvielle. The anchor set on the plateau of Atalaye, monument in tribute to Swedish sailors John Johansson, Harald Persson, Alferd Wander and Carl Gustaf Eriksson resting in the cemetery of Sabaou. This is the story written by the two local divers and historians.

The "Padosa" was a magnificent 60-meter-long, 860-ton, 860-ton wooden hull built in the Austrian fashion at Fiume on the Adriatic Sea in 1880. Its home port was Raa in Sweden and owner owner Captain Lars-Erik Nilsson, from the same port. In early December 1907, the ship, under the command of Captain Milson, loaded a load of logs into Skelleftea, Sweden. He then stops at Raa where Captain Milson leaves the command to Captain Martin Björk. The ship then takes the direction of the Atlantic to reach the coast of Biscay and disembark her goods at Portugalete, near Bilbao.

Before the unloading, while the ship was in the port of Portugalete and moored, it capsized very strongly on a sandbar during the low tide. Unbalanced, the cargo of wood slid violently on the side and the hull of wood was tested. At the next tide, the ship was securely moored and unloading logs could be done. Of course the ship did not sail until after a hull inspection and the issue of a certificate of navigation, but there was still doubt as to the possible deterioration of the hull. This serious incident may have counted later, when he resumed the ocean. Anyway, the "Padosa" was blocked for eight days at the port of Portugalete, because of a storm that prevented any attempt to go to sea.

Finally, the ocean calmed down and on December 11, the "Padosa" left the port of Portugalete towed by a pilot boat. He was able to set sail and depart towards the port of Setubal, Portugal, to load a cargo of salt. Its crew was eleven people and included Captain Martin Björk, assisted by a pilot, with a subrecargue representing the loaders and eight crewmen. Shortly after the departure, the wind began to blow more and more strongly to turn into one of those terrible storms of west, towards 19 h. The sailors reduced the sails and the pilot tried to cope, but the ship was abnormally taking the water and the bilge pumps were not working. Handicapped by the mass of water that filled his holds and consequently poorly windward, the ship was drifting eastward in the Bay of Biscay. The accident at the port of Portugalete had disjoined the members. However, the wind calmed down and the crew was able to drain all the water from the ship. All sails out, the "Padosa" tried to leave the Bay of Biscay.

But after a few hours of calm, the westerly wind regained strength and, again, blew into a storm that quickly turned into a hurricane. The "Padosa" started to take the water again. Soon he was half-filled with water, threatening to capsize at any moment. Captain Björk concluded that the ship was lost and that the life of the seamen was in danger. He met the crew and calmly explained the situation. It only remained for them to save their lives by fleeing under the wind to reach the earth and try to beach the ship without much harm. Driven by the hurricane, the "Padosa" drifted east for three days, with the winds very violent, a very strong swell and breaking waves, fear in the stomach.

On the evening of December 14th, when night had already fallen, a fire appeared in the distance indicating the proximity of the coast. As soon as they were on board, fires were lit, and the crew sounded the siren of distress. Very close to the coast, the "Padosa" was now facing the Grande Plage Biarritz, when suddenly, around 19 pm, in the night, the ship hit a rock. It was the Roche Plate, about 600 m from the mainland. Immediately the ship was surrounded by the ferment of the terrible breakers. On the shore, the Biarrots had lit large fires and set up rocket engines to launch moorings, but these fired in the direction of the ship did not reach their objective in time. The seventh shot finally reached the ship, but it was already too late to hope to save the sailors from this means. The rescuers were helpless and did not have a lifeboat, besides the strength of the waves and breakers, would that have been possible?

While the ship broke up under the blows of the Ocean, without receiving the order of her captain, the subrecargue threw herself into the water with a rope. He tried to swim to shore, but soon he drowned, submerged and engulfed by the waves. The captain gave the order to put a boat at sea, with two men on board, but a wave furiously crushed the boat against the hull of the ship. The rest of the crew had difficulty hoisting the two sailors on board. In his turn the captain dived with a rope, but the stronger waves exhausted him immediately. He was painfully tanned by his crew. "

Michael Lichter Photography

Stacy McCleary 1961 Triumph Bonneville

Michael Lichter never ceases to impress me with the quality of his photos and I strongly advise you to take the time and browse his website to discover his amazing work. In 1977, after a stint simultaneously playing drums in a BeBop jazz band, bussing tables in a restaurant and doing personal photography, Michael Lichter decided he was a better photographer than a drummer and hung up the sticks. It was during this time that he started riding his 1971 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead (which he still owns) and photographing bikers. This work, along with a series on cowboys, was exhibited in group and solo exhibitions over the next few years. Prints were included in private and public collections, most notably by ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Corp.) and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, in Paris.

Stacy McCleary started building bikes, way back in 1965, at the age of 11, when he took over the garage in his parents’ brand-new house with his booming business of building and selling mini-bikes and customized Stingray bicycles to his friends and neighborhood kids. His parents actually parked their brand-new vehicles outside so he could run his business. At 15, his first street-legal motorbike was a 1962 Cushman Eagle Scooter that his dad had purchased new. 

Words via : Cycle Source Magazine