Francois Hollande visits 18th century vessel replica used to defeat the British in War of Independence

Home Top

Widow and daughter, 14, who disappeared without a trace during trip to Times Square three weeks ago, had been 'stressed' by battle over late husband's will with his five grown-up children
Son of medical marijuana activist taken by child protective services after the 11-year-old spoke out to disagree with an anti-drug speech at his school
Death sentences upheld for 11 fans in retrial of defendants from Egypt soccer riot that left 74 dead
Hookers For Hillary! Nevada sex workers come out in favor of Clinton for president in 2016
All the president's (little green) men: How Ronald Reagan asked Soviet rival Mikhail Gorbachev for help fighting alien invasion
Indiana HIV epidemic linked to rampant prescription drug use gets worse as number of cases reaches 130
'Good Times' actor Ben Powers dies at the age of 64
Senator Robert Menendez used political clout to get visas for three of wealthy donor's foreign girlfriends, according to corruption indictment
Poland demands formal apology from the U.S. after comments claiming 'the country shares responsibility for the Holocaust' made by head of FBI sparked outrage
Firefighters respond to calls for 'Help!' in burning home - from two PARROTS
'I thought it was just a phase': Mother who lost son fighting for ISIS is now working to stop the extremist group from recruiting more vulnerable young Westerners
Dry drivers who are dehydrated behind the wheel make as many mistakes as drinkers says new research
Angry New York diner 'grabbed manager by the neck and threw him into elderly woman' after hour-long wait for omelette at brunch
Slaughter on the beach: ISIS behead and shoot Ethiopian Christians in sickening new propaganda video
The murderous blueprint followed by ISIS written for them by Saddam Hussein henchman known as Lord of the Shadows
Dragged from the dead and dying, bloodied boy emerges alive from hellish aftermath of suicide bombing - the first in Afghanistan by ISIS
Air Force veteran who posed for Playboy is tackled by cops and arrested for taking on protesters who were trampling on US flag
700 feared dead and only 28 survivors as fishing boat packed with migrants trying to reach Europe capsizes of Malta
'Longitude' clock stuns experts by keeping accurate to a second for 100 days - 300 years after it was designed
Miracle as pregnant woman, 25, is shot dead by her boyfriend... but her baby girl is delivered alive and well at 24 weeks
BMW recalling 91,800 Mini Coopers after problem with passenger detector could have left motorists without an airbag during severe crashes
Celebrated hunter crushed to death by baby elephant as he tried to measure its ivory for U.S. client
Fingers crossed it's a girl! Both Brits and Americans are hoping Kate Middleton has a royal baby in pink (But while the UK want her to be called Charlotte, the US favor Diana)
Lindsey Graham says presidential run not a try-out for secretary of state or an attempt to troll Rand Paul on foreign policy, it's about making Washington 'get its act together'

The Hermione carried France's Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1780
Was sent to warn George Washington French troops were being sent
They were being deployed to help the revolutionaries defeat Red Coats
The replica set sail on Saturday for it's maiden voyage across the Atlantic

Published: 18:34 EST, 18 April 2015 | Updated: 06:56 EST, 19 April 2015

View
comments

A replica of the warship that carried France's Marquis de Lafayette to help American colonists in their war of independence sets sail for the United States on Saturday, symbolic of a historic moment that binds the two nations.

Lafayette crossed the Atlantic on the original Hermione in 1780 to tell his friend George Washington, commander of the American insurgents against British imperial rule, that France was sending a strong military force to help them.

The replica fired its cannons as it sailed up the French river Charente on Saturday to the military shipyards of Rochefort, where both vessels were built.

French President Francois Hollande paid a brief visit to the warship, which was due to set sail later in the day.

Scroll down for video

The replica of an 18th Century French navy frigate L'Hermione,set sail on its maiden voyage to the United States off the coast of Fouras, southwestern France on Saturday

The ship will leave towards the United States with several stopovers, including Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The real version carried France's Marquis de Lafayette to help American colonists in their war of independence

Lafayette crossed the Atlantic on the original Hermione in 1780 to tell his friend George Washington, commander of the American insurgents against British imperial rule. The replica is pictured on Saturday leaving Southwestern France

The new Hermione has been under construction since 1997 and cost 25 million euros ($27 million) to build. It will head for Yorktown, Virginia, where Lafayette and his forces played a critical part in a decisive battle against the British.

'I feel it's important that this boat is remembered as more than just a modern recreation, that it represents the historical boat as well,' said Adam Hodges-LeClaire, a U.S. citizen, history student and one of the 80-strong crew aboard the 1.2 tonne warship.

Hodges-LeClaire had made his own period costume to wear during the voyage.

The frigate is due to arrive in Yorktown on June 5 for a two-month tour of key locations in the American Revolution, including Annapolis, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City.

French 18th-century warship replica makes glamorous exit

A number of smaller boards surround the replica near Fouras, southwest France

French President Francois Hollande (right) and the captain of the Hermione, Yann Cariou attend the ceremony of departure of the frigate 'L'Hermione'. The French helped the Red Coats during the War of Independence

Hollande took a short trip on the boat before it left on it's voyage across the Atlantic

To the American independence movement of the time, Lafayette - whose full name was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert de Motier de Lafayette - was 'our Marquis'.

Although an aristocrat who persuaded King Louis XVI into sending military help to Washington's men, Lafayette also maintained a civic role after the king and much of the French nobility had been executed in France's own revolution, which began in 1789, less than a decade after his voyage.

The two countries sealed their friendship almost a century after Lafayette's voyage with the 1876 inauguration of the Statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York harbour, a gift from the French people to commemorate the centenary of the declaration of independence.

Since then, Franco-U.S. military and diplomatic relations have ebbed and flowed, hitting a recent low point when France opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

More recently, France resisted, then gave in to pressure from the United States, its NATO ally, to delay the delivery of a helicopter-carrying warship to Russia due to the Ukraine crisis.

Hollande boards 18th-century replica of warship before trip