Angele Aline

Angele Aline is the last remaining "Dundee", the name given to French sailing fishing vessels built in the 1920's with a ketch rig. She was launched on 3rd November 1921 and so is in her 100th year. She was built to trawl for herring off the Scottish coast in the summer and fish off the Normandy coast in winter. When she was built Dundees were typically built without engines being towed out beyond the harbour entrance before setting their sails.
She had an eventful war. She was requisitioned by the French Navy to take part in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British forces from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940, and later that year was sunk off the Normandy coast, probably by the RAF. She was refloated in April 1941 and taken to Neiuport to be refitted and continued fishing from there. In 1944 she was scuttled in the harbour entrance along with many other fishing vessels to blockade the port.
After the war she was damaged by an exploding mine which had lodged in her nets. Despite these setbacks she continued fishing until 1963 when she was decommissioned and converted to a yacht.
She participated successfully in the Tall Ships races in the 1980's and her longest race involved two Atlantic crossings, St Malo to Bermuda, via the Azores and then to Halifax before a return crossing to Liverpool.
When she is not sailing as a family cruising vessel, she is now moored in La Rochelle as part of the fleet which are based with the Musee Maritime.