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In French
This monograph is the first in the
series to be devoted to a ship of the line. It is
of particular interest since the ship we have
chosen, the Fleuron - as it was conceived by Blaise
Ollivier - is the first modern French ship.
Moreover it represents a pure example of the French
school of naval architecture. An exceptionally
complete corpus of documentation includes a full
description of the classification and
characteristics of the ships, its creator's own
drawings, original sketches of the ship's
decoration and sculptures by Caffieri, and a
complete set of information on the ship's rigging
found in a manuscript of the period. Because of the
catastrophic losses incurred in our archives, it is
extremely rare for us to have been able to collect
so much material from irrefutable historical
sources.
Gérard
Delacroix, who did the drawings for the
monograph, is a professional draftsman and a
talented ship's model builder. He assisted his
mentor, Jean Boudriot, in developing and completing
this study which we are particularly pleased to
offer in our collection.
The distinguished features of the vessel will
attract the attention of discerning model builders.
Its superb hull, elegant timbers perfectly defined
and described, oblique inner planking, iron knees,
bronze and iron cannon, French riggings with round
tops all make the construction of this model a
formidable challenge. An alternative model of the
rigging without timbers may also be built using the
instructions at 1:72 scale.
The Fleuron was actively involved in very few
combat operations but her career was an unusual one
in that she cruised the Baltic Sea, where French
squadrons rarely ventured, on three occasions. One
of these expeditions affords us the opportunity to
describe the preparation of a royal ship for a ball
that was given on board.
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