This tall ship coming to the Armada 2027 narrowly escaped France's worst 20th-century disaster

On the morning of 8 May 1902, the harbour of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was packed. The Belem, a three-masted barque built in Nantes in 1896, was due to take her usual mooring — but that day, the spot was occupied, and she had to anchor further out, sheltered by a headland.

Hours later, Mount Pelée erupted. The pyroclastic flow destroyed Saint-Pierre and its harbour: nearly 30,000 dead, the worst natural disaster in modern French history, and almost every ship in the roadstead lost. The Belem, shielded by the terrain, survived — a refused mooring saved her.

See her in Rouen in 2027

One hundred and twenty-five years on, the last 19th-century French merchant sailing ship still afloat, a listed historic monument, will be one of the stars of the Armada de Rouen 2027 (17–27 June). See our Belem profile and all confirmed ships.