French maritime enthusiasts are scrambling to raise funds to save the replica of the 18th-century 32-gun frigate, L’Hermione. The Hermione-La Fayette Association says that to finance the ship’s restoration,” It’s now or never.“

The original frigate carried the Marquis de Lafayette across the Atlantic to announce France’s support for American independence from Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War. 

During a dry docking in 2021, significant rot was discovered, representing about 10% of the frigate’s hull structure. Since then, the ship has been in dry dock at Anglet, near Bayonne, while the association has attempted to raise funds for the repairs. So far, they have raised €5m, but say they need another €5m to make the vessel seaworthy again. 

The replica was built at a cost of  €26m over a period 17 years,  starting in 1997. She was launched in 2014 and recreated her namesake’s historic voyage to the United States in 2015. 

The original L’Hermione spent two years battling the British naval blockade before returning to France. In 1793, she ran aground off western France and sank. The wreck was discovered in 1984. 

In 1992, a group of maritime history enthusiasts set up the Hermione-La Fayette Association to oversee the construction of a replica of the 66-metre-long ship at the former royal shipyard at Rochefort, using historic techniques but to modern standards to enable the ship to be certified to sail.

Emilie Beau, the executive director of the Hermione-La Fayette Association, told the Guardian: “We need a generous patron and we now have very little time to find one.”

Hermione –Lafayette Parade of Ships , July 4th 2015, New York Harbor