ELEANOR MARY,
THE PRETTY ENGLISH TURNED MARSEILLAISE
ELEANOR MARY was born of an English sailor's passion for pilot cutters.
After proudly crossing the seas and oceans, she is now in the hands of a couple who love old rigs, and who have brought this nugget back to life.
A look back at its history.
ELEANOR MARY, A PILOT CUTTER?
Pilot boats were the ancestors of pilotesses, the boats that put pilots on board merchant ships as they approached a port.
Before they were all fitted with engines, pilot boats were sailing ships. Pilot cutters combine two qualities necessary to their mission: seaworthiness and performance. While their massive, stable hulls and clean lines make them particularly recognisable, it's their totally disproportionate rigging that makes them so popular.
Pilot cutters became a well-established genre in the 18th century, and were perfected over time. The most famous were the Bristol Channel pilot cutters of the late 19th century.
Lovers of pilot cutters will be familiar with the sailing ships Cornubia, Hesper and Marguerite T.
A CRAZY PROJECT FOR A UNIQUE REPLICA:
In 1996, David Darbyshire, an Englishman with a passion for pilot cutters, decided to build a replica of the most famous of them all: the Marguerite T (1893).
This crazy project was entrusted to the Canadian shipyard Covey Island Boatwork, which had already built several boats of this type.
From the outset, David surrounded himself with the best architects: Nigel Irens and Ed Burnet, and he didn't skimp on quality. Everything had to be perfect. Nigel Irens is famous for having built Ellen MacArthur's catamaran, with which she broke the solo round-the-world record in 2005.
Ed Burnett has the reputation of a naval architecture genius whose career was consecrated in 2012 when he was entrusted with the construction of the ship for the 60th anniversary of the reign of Elizabeth II. A supreme honour if ever there was one.
Construction of Eleanor Mary began in 1998.
ELEANOR MARY'S PERFORMANCES
As if building a one-off in a transatlantic yard wasn't ambitious enough, David is demanding that the boat be built to the British Category 0 standard so that it can be operated anywhere in the world.
Added to this requirement was the obligation to comply with recent European Union standards. Three watertight bulkheads, two highly detailed stability studies, precautions taken with the pump systems, strip planking on the hull...
The latest inspector from the British Maritime Affairs said of Eleanor Mary that this multiplication of construction standards has made her one of the most robust boats in the world.
OBJECTIF TALL SHIP RACE 2000
David Darbyshire set himself the target of completing the construction of Eleanor Mary in time to take part in the Tall Ship Race in 2000.
After a first transatlantic crossing back to England, Eleanor Mary needed some adjustments. The rig was only two years old, but David had it completely changed to Oregon pine by the best rigger in Cowes.
At the starting line, David was ready to make his dream come true. On receiving the prize at the end of the Tall Ship Race, David confessed with a smile that the most difficult part of the regatta was managing the youngsters during the stopovers! A gamble he won.
TWENTY YEARS OF SAILING
After the Tall Ship Race, Eleanor Mary crossed the Atlantic twice again.
She also experienced some of the most difficult sailing in the capricious seas of Sweden and Norway, where the yacht was battered by several storms. This included a crossing to the Azores, where David was on holiday.
In 2008, the yacht was sold to a couple who sailed her from England to Estartit in Spain, where she crossed to Palma and Ibiza several times a year for seasonal coastal sailing - under the name Alexander T.
The yacht was superficially maintained and sailed less and less, gradually losing her superb appearance.
ELEANOR MARY BECOMES FRENCH ... AND MARSEILLAISE
In 2021, the pretty pilot cutter was put up for sale in Spain.
Fanny and Benoit Bouchet - already owners of Le Don du Vent - fell in love with the yacht.
They sailed her to Marseille under a provisional flag, before the ordeal of registering a British yacht under a post-Brexit charter began. In May 2022, the yacht was finally registered!
Fanny and Benoit decided to give her back her original name: Eleanor Mary became a Marseillaise.
The younger sister of Le Don du Vent, she completes the range of Calanques discovery cruises that the couple offer from Marseille's Vieux Port.
All about ELEANOR MARY ...
| Name | ELEANOR MARY |
| . | . |
| Type | Cotre Pilote |
| Architect | Nigel Irens & Ed Burnett |
| . | . |
| Length overall | 20 m |
| Length to deck | 15,64 m |
| Waterline length | 13,69 m |
| Beam | 4,35 m |
| Draught | 2.13 m |
| Bowsprit | 4,48 m |
| Displacement | 32 tonnes |
| Air draught | 20 m |
| . | . |
| Sails | |
| Mainsail | 72,7 m |
| Boom | 19,9 m |
| Stay Sail | 31,2 m |
| Jib | 28,9 m |
| Working sails | 151,8 m |
| . | . |
| In addition : | |
| ClinFoc | 27,2 m |
| Reacher | 109,1 m |
| Square sail | 43,1 m |