Ship building in Seychelles started in 1771, a few months after first settlers arrived. Initially, the settlers started building pirogues for their local use, which was mainly for fishing as well as moving around the many islands. Some of the settlers had boat building experiences and around 1790, they started building merchant ships. These ships were schooners, brigs, brigantines, Barquentines (or Barkentine or schooner barque) and barks.
Schooners and Brigs at the Long Pier in Victoria Harbour with St. Anne Island in the background
A schooner is a ship which typically has two or more masts, the foremast being the same height or slightly shorter than the main mast. It has a fore-and-aft rig, which is a sailing rig consisting of sails set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. They became widely popular for their speed, versatility, and upwind prowess.
The Schooner Ero
The schooner was probably based on a Dutch design of the 17th century, the first genuine schooner was developed in the British North American colonies, probably at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1713, by a shipbuilder named Andrew Robinson. The term may have originated from a Scottish verb to “scoon,” or “skim along the water.” According to a Massachusetts legend, the term dates to 1713, when a such a vessel was launched in Gloucester. The ease with which she entered the water caused a witness to inadvertently name the type when he exclaimed: “Oh, see how she scoons!”
A Brig is a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both fore and main masts.
The Brigantine Charlotte
A Brigantine is two-masted sailing ship with square rigging on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigging on the mainmast.
A Barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.
A Barque, Barc, or Bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore-mast and main-masts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft.
Why was ship building popular in Seychelles in the early years?
One of the reasons why ship building in Seychelles was highly successful in the early days of settlement up until early 1900’s is because the islands had some of the best hardwood recommended for ship building. The most valued were ‘takamaka’ ( Calophyllum Inophyllum) for framework and curves, ‘bois gayac’ (Intsia Bijuga) and ‘Bois de Table’( Heritiera Littoralis) for planking and wales,’ Bois de Natte’ (Imbricaria Sechellarum) for masts and ‘Bois Marais à Petites Feuilles’, ( Aphloia sp.) for yards and bows. These hardwoods were also exported mainly to Mauritius so that they can also sustain their ship building program.
It is unfortunate that, because of this activity, the rain forests that once covered the granite islands were depleted of its richness and some of these hardwoods have now almost disappeared.
Old photo showing the effect of the deforestation- Winterton Collection
It is recorded that from 1773 to 1810 some 300,000 to 500,000 feet of hard timber were exported. For example, in July 1796, Captain Hulet, of the French ship Le Neptune, declared in Mauritius that he had left Seychelles on 3 June with a cargo of a hundred tortoises, 24,000 ft of timber, cotton and a little coconut oil. And an even larger quantity must have been exported during the early part of the British administration since timber exploitation and export continued well into the early 1900s.
A brief history of Early ship Building
Data about ship building industry in Seychelles are incomplete and fragmented, but it is known that in 1808 the Seychelles merchant fleet had nine ships all built on the islands. From 1810 to 1861, 48 ships were built, amounting to 4,605 tons. However, this may not have been the total output for according to Toussaint this must have amounted to some seventy-five vessels.
Probably the first ship to be built in 1791 was Créole des Seychelles, a 45 tons vessel which sailed from Mahé Island and reached Mauritius in November 1791.
In 1807 the following vessels were registered in the Seychelles:
| Name | Tonnage | Owners |
| Aimable Marrianne | 40 | Mr. Jean Planeau |
| Amazone | 50 | Captain Jean Sausse |
| Courier des Seychelles | 45 | Captain M. Blin & Captain C. Dupont |
| Mahé | 25 | Captain M. Blin & Captain C. Dupont |
During that year there were three other vessels that were being constructed, and these were: One of 90 ton, was for Mr. Jean Albert , a master carpenter from Nantes, France, and the other two, of about 95 ton, were for Captain Nicholas Delanos and Jean Planeau.
At the same time there were 45 locally made pirogues belonging to different landowners .
A traditional Pirogue
From 1810 to 1817 the following vessels were built
| Name | Type | Tonnage | Owner |
| Jeune Armand | Brig | 100 | Mr. Dufay |
| Adèle | Schooner | 40 | Mr. Adler |
| Quatre Soeurs | Schooner | 90 | Mr. A. Houdoul |
The following vessels were built in Seychelles from 1817 to about 1833
| Name | Type | Tonnage | Where built | Owner |
| Six Soeurs | Schooner | 200 | Mahe | J-F Houdoul |
| Théodore | Brig | 96 | Mahe | Mr. J-B Dugand |
| La Jeune Antoinette | Brigantine | 55 | Mahe | Mr. A. Houdoul |
| Le Jeune Ferdinand | Schooner | 40 | Mahe | |
| Tapageur | Brigantine | 18 | Mahe | |
| San Pareil | Brig | 97 | Mahe | Mr. C. Marcy |
| Sydonnie | Schooner | 18 | Anse Boileau | |
| St. Jacques | Schooner | 21 | Praslin | |
| Dorade | Schooner | 44 | Anse Boileau | Mr. Sauvage |
| Espérance | Brig | 96 | Praslin | |
| Jeanne Evenord (Erin) | Bark | 200 | Port Glaud | Mr. J. Margéot |
| Etoile | Brig | 98 | Answ Forband | Mr. Bestel |
| Jeune Esther | Schooner | Mr. C. Tourette | ||
| Courrier des Seychelles | Brig | 70 | Mahe | Mr. L. Courturont |
| Pêcheur | Mr. E. Pattee | |||
| Trois Frères | Brig | J. Commarmond | ||
| Euphrasia | Brig | 309 | A. Hodoul |
| Name | Type | Tonnage | Where built | Owner |
| Venue | Brig | 45 | Mr. Samson |
The Thomas Blyth
According to Mr. Guy Lionnet, the most remarkable ship to be built in the Seychelles during the first half of the nineteenth century was the Thomas Blyth. She was a 387-ton vessel, a bark, which was constructed by Crook and Naz at Anse Louis, on Mahé Island, and was purchased for £2,000 by James Blyth, an English merchant of Mauritius, who named it after his father. The Thomas Blyth, arrived in Mauritius in July 1837, on the completion of her maiden voyage from Seychelles. It operated all over the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar, India and went as far as Australia. For example, in November 1862, it sailed to Geelong, with 10,500 bags rice and 140 bundles log lines, being part of original cargo from Calcutta.
It was also one of the few Seychellois built ships to have crossed the Atlantic.
Three other ships that were built in Seychelles and traded in the Indian Ocean and beyond were the Arpenteur of 95 tons and the Joséphine Loizeau of 94 tons that were sold in Port Adelaide Australia, and the Marie Laure of 328 tons, was sold in Hobart, Tasmania.
Author’s Note
This post is the introductory post of the maritime history of the Seychelles. In the coming months I would like to share posts on the following vessels, below, and look forward to anyone who would like to contribute fully or partly to any of the posts to contact me. Full recognition will be given to the contributor. These vessels are:
Isle of Farquhar, Arpenteur, Marie-Laure, Josephine Loizeau, Le Revenant, Argo, Ero, Louis -Alfred, Aroha, Jeanette, Alouette, Paulette, La Belonne, La Curieuse and many more…
Sources
The Seychelles -by Guy Lionnet
The Seychelles Islands- and its first Landowners 1786-1833- Julien Durup
P A B Thomson: Seychelles Schooners: A Retrospect. The Mariner’s Mirror Vol. 84 No.3 (August 1998), pp.316-321
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