Le Havre is located in a recessed arc of the French Normandy coast. To get here from the Channel Islands, the ship sails past Cherbourg and then straight east towards the pilot station. That pilot station is about 8 miles away from the port entrance itself as in front of the port lays an extended sand bank. Thus there is the need for a long fairway that leads into the port. The area is prone to continues silting. Sand deposited by the currents in the Dover channel (or in this case let us use the French version: Pas de Calais), and as the current runs out of momentum due to the arched coast, the silt has a chance to settle down. Thus dredging takes place 24 hours a day 365 days a year, in the fairway and in the port itself. Due to the long approach channel to the port the ship had to arrive fairly early to ensure a timely docking. Early this morning was 06.00 and with the pilot onboard it took 45 minutes to get to the port itself. Swinging around in the turning basin and backing towards the dock another 40 minutes, the old port is compact with some locks and some ferry berths. Around the old port, they have built a new and much larger port which stretches for miles past the town itself. However we were docking in the old port, just outside the locks of the inner harbour.
A very famous dock; as from here the ships from the French sailed between France and New York. Also our own passenger liners, the ss Nieuw Amsterdam, ss Statendam and ss Rotterdam called at this port in the late 50’s and early 60’s for their Trans Atlantic crossings. Before the war the Holland America Line ships called at the anchorage of Boulogne Sur Mer and used their own tenders to ferry their passengers to and from the harbour. Anchoring was quicker and also one saved on port costs. Unfortunately there is not much left from those Trans Atlantic liner days. There is now a cruise terminal but it is a modern/ shed affair. The passenger terminal in Cherbourg is much more impressive; here the Cunard Line called before WWII. However they have compensated a little bit for that lack of history with the display of two nice ocean liner models. The Liberte and the Champlain.
The Champlain. Intermediate( e.g. not the Express service and thus cheaper) liner for the French Line.
Two ships that sailed for the French Line in the 1930’s and 50’s. The Champlain was an own built (named after a French General) ship for the intermediate trade and the Liberte was the old Europa of the North German Lloyd. Handed over as a war prize after the 2nd world war and used to restart the post war premium French Trans Atlantic service. She had to fill the gap of the Normandie, who tragically burned in New York harbour at the beginning of the war.
Le Liberte ex Europa of the North German Lloyd. She was the stop gap between the “own built ships” le Normandie of 1935 and the France of 1961
To commemorate that glorious ship, there is currently an exposition going on about the Normandie in the port. Not in a museum but along the beach where at intervals big blown up photos are posted as a tribute the ship. I won’t get the chance to go to that beach but they sold the accompanying book in the terminal, so I had a good day anyway. My collection is now nearing the 2000 books solely related to Ocean Liners and Cruise ships. Ancient and modern.
Thus we docked at what was for me a place with a lot of significance. We hardly had the gangway out before the first guests were racing ashore to catch the 0752 train to Paris. I hope that they made it. It is a bit of a gamble to do this, as our official arrival time is 08.00 and you then really rely on the reputation of a captain that is always early.
We will be staying here for two days, to give the guests the chance of going to Paris or to Rouen, which is a nice medieval city and not too far way. Le Havre is of less ancient beauty as it was extensively bombed in the 2nd world war. The weather is supposed to be glorious for the coming two days and thus it looks like it that after the bumpy ride of the Bay of Biscay that this going to be a very good ending of the cruise.
July 20, 2010 at 10:03 am
I was very interested in this Port as I worked on the Ferries from Southampton in the early 1980’s for a number of years, and went to Le Havre every day, I did not know all the difficulties in navigating this port then.. I was mostley on LE LEOPARD a P&O ferry with a FRENCH CREW, most of whom had worked on the FRANCE which was an interesting mix. I am enjoying this Cruise.