Navy Imperial the of Models The National Navy Museum Collection From 17June to 14September 2014

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E N m e Portrait of Napoleon I.

The Trianon Collection In 1810, Napoleon decided to move to the Grand Trianon. He ordered a collection of models of French warships to decorate the Cotelle Gallery. Here they are! Throughout his reign, the War Navy was a major concern for Napoleon and he ordered the construction of hundreds of ships. His goal was to close the gap with England, whose maritime power ensured decisive victories. In 1810, it even appears that the Emperor considered reviving one of his war plans – creating a special fleet to land on the English coasts! In testimony to the excellence of French naval construction, Napoleon wanted a collection of scale models of real warships. Some of the models date back from the 18th century, in the days of the French Kings. But others had to be made from scratch, which took a long time. So long that Napoleon never got to see the entire collection.

–2– The Man for the Job

It took an expert to produce the Emperor’s collection… and that expert was Jacques-Noël Sané, a brilliant naval engineer whose warship blueprints were used to build the Navy under Louis XVI, the French Revolution and the Empire. Sané brought in workers from the Arsenals, who built the warships… and asked them to make the exact same ships in miniature. Three specialised workers had to work full-time for several months to make each model that you see in the exhibition.

Bust of Sané. Sané doesn’t know where to turn with all these boats to build. 1 Help him find the outline of this cutter, a fast, manoeuvrable 16-cannon cutter, little ship. late 18th – early 19th century.

–3– _E___ __P

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Model of Le Triomphant.

Anchors aweigh! The models in this exhibition are so precise that you can almost imagine being on board when you look at them closely! Welcome aboard Le Triomphant (above), a 74-cannon two-decker, the most common warship in the fleets of the early 19th century. A real fortress of the seas.

2 DECKS BOW STERN These are covered The front of the ship, The rear of the boat. platforms that hold where the figure- On the models A sailor knows his vessel head is placed. in the collection, like the back of his hand. the cannons. Use these definitions and Le Triomphant has the sterns are TOP fill in the missing words two of them, it is decorated with on the model. a two-decker. An observation wonderful ivory platform located on inlays. the masts. –4– All aboard! The real-life Le Triomphant measured 56 metres long and 14 metres wide (just a little THE BELL longer than an Olympic swimming The bell set the pace of pool, but not as wide!), and life on board. It rang for carried… 750 men. It is hard meals and church services to imagine life on board, but one (which was useful back thing is for sure – it was no then, because people pleasure cruise. rarely had watches!).

The bell on Le Triomphant.

OFFICERS’ QUARTERS On a small frigate, the captain had a simple hammock; on a vessel like Le Triomphant, he had a sleeping berth. The nice room with the decorative parquet flooring that you can see here was called the big room and was used for officers’ meetings. Six of them slept here in hammocks that

were hung every night.

Officers’ quarters on Le Triomphant. HAMMOCKS To sleep at night, sailors hung their hammocks between the cannons in the batteries. Hygiene was disastrous and epidemics were common. During the day, the hammocks were hung outdoors on nets to air them out. Folded up in this way, they also provided a little protection in case of attack. Hammocks on La Flore.

THE HOLD Here, in the bowels of the 3 ship, is where supplies and munitions were stored. It How many litres of water do notably took 2 metric tonnes you think they had to take on of rice and 15 metric tonnes board to meet the needs of the of salted meat (salt was crew during a trip at sea that used to preserve the meat) lasted several months? to feed all the men. r 21 r 210 r 210,000 Hold of L’Océan. – 5 – Fighting between the corvette La Bayonnaise and the frigate Ambuscade. You sank my battleship! Fighting at sea involves line-of-battle warfare by a fleet, or boarding the enemy ship... and sometimes both! A fleet is a group of various types of ships brought together for a strategy – kind of like 4 a football team, with swift attackers, such as frigates, and sturdy defenders, such as two- and three-decker ships. Look closely at the In Napoleon’s day, these fleets used line-of- superb paintings of naval battles from battle warfare – the vessels formed a line the collections at the while turning broadside toward the enemy National Navy to fire at them. Museum and the This strategy worked until England’s Admiral Palace of Versailles. Nelson, the French Navy’s most powerful Some of them (like adversary, had the idea of attacking in the one you can see columns. From then on, English vessels here) represent a attacked their enemies in columns, which boarding battle. made them harder to sink. They could then What flags do you see here? board the enemy ships. ______–6– The ship’s armourer is a bit messy: he has mixed up his boarding weapons with the 5 others. Find the intruder!

AXE BOW AND ARROWS

PISTOL SABRE

BLUNDERBUSS

Myth and glory. Le Triomphant, Le Friedland, L’Océan… These ship names were inspired by Greek or Roman Some of the ship names mythology (such as the god Ocean, who in this list have been gave us the word “ocean”) because 6 made up. Cross them out! Napoleon was very interested in Antiquity, or names of victories (Friedland, for THE LIONESS THE SLOTH example, was a battle that Napoleon won THE FLORA THE FOUDROYANT in 1807), or words expressing power. THE TURTLE THE TRIUMPHANT THE HYENA THE SLIPPER

–7– All kinds of boats. Some ships were huge (three-deckers), others were smaller (brigs), some had a profiled hull to cut through the water (frigates), others had a rounded hull to embark a large amount of equipment and a flat bottom for landing (prams). There was a special kind of boat for every user!

Find these 10 names of vessels in the puzzle. They may be written forward, backward, vertically, 7 horizontally or diagonally.

BRIG CUTTER CAIQUE FRIGATE GUNBOAT BARGE XEBEC PRAM CORVETTE VESSEL

A L C G B I U O P E Coulon. Elodie creation: Graphic Charpentier. Orianne Text: Coulon. Elodie and Charpentier Orianne Design: www.parismomes.fr. S D B Z C W H N U A F R I G A T E Q L C Blot. Gérard / Versailles) of Palais (Palace © RMN-Grand Booklet designed by by designed Booklet

T O F N B R I G V U P.6-7: Dantec. P Q X L M A B U Y T R G E Z C L P N D T © Musée National de la Marine / P. / de la Marine National © Musée A M B A R G E B F E M V E S S E L O H R Z B C F G N Q A J K N U C O R V E T T E © Musée National de la Marine / A. Fux: Le Triomphant, 74-cannon vessel, 1809, Paris Model Workshop, 1812-1816 / J.M. Manaï / RMN - Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Gérard Blot / Jean Schormans – Graphic design: DES SIGNES studio Muchir Desclouds – 2014. ©RMN - Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Gérard Blot / Jean Schormans. P.3-4-5: Schormans. Jean / Blot Gérard / Versailles) of Palais (Palace Grand - ©RMN P.2: Photo Photo credits – Cover: You can find the answers to the games on parismomes.fr, in the “Events” section. section. “Events” the in parismomes.fr, on games the to answers the find can You