GRACCHUS BABEUF – On boats and men (en anglais)

Juliette MEZENC (Text)
Pierre LE BRIS (Illustrations)

‘Collection TRACE)

Nearly 20,000 years ago, the sea invaded a former ragged landscape by filling the small coastal valleys of the basin and transformed the hill of the Mont Saint Clair (Sète) into an island.
It was only from the 6th millennium that the sea level changes created a sandbar (lido), linking the Mont saint Loup (Agde) to the Mont St. Clair. Since the prehistoric times, the people living in the banks of this changing and fragile territory has always taken advantage of the resources offered by this small inland sea.

For a long time, the wooden nacelles (small fishing boats) and their pretty sails travelled among the maritime landscapes of the Thau lagoon. Today, the use of synthetic materials relegates them into oblivion. Here is the story of the restoration of the Gracchus Babeuf and the Friendship by a team of passionate people. Through the testimonies of Christian Dorques, André Buonomo, Bruno Matalon, Bérénice and Francky Goni, we attend the rebirth of nacelles, a human adventure above all.

Juliet Mezenc lives and writes in Sete between sea and Thau lagoon.

Pierre Le Bris is a drawing teacher and architect DPLG