Éric Tabarly, Legendary French sailor - An Irishman's Diary

The name Éric Tabarly might not mean much to some people, but if you like boats and sailing, it is key. Tabarly (1931-1998) popularised the sport of sailing in his native France by winning a series of solo and group sailing titles, including the trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, Fastnet Race and the Channel Race. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about Tabarly and his famous boat, Pen Duick. Read it here.

Photograph of Éric Tabarly. Image source.

The name Pen Duick (meaning 'coal tit' in Breton) is synonymous with Tabarly. The original Pen Duick boat was built in Cork, Ireland in 1898 for a member of the Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC). It was designed by the Scottish yacht designer, William Fife III. The Tabarly family bought the boat in 1938. 

Over the years, Tabarly had other Pen Duicks built to compete in various races. He added his own suggestions to the new designs. There were six built altogether, but the Pen Duick IV (renamed Manureva in 1973) was lost during the 'Route du Rhum' race in 1978. The original Pen Ducik has been restored several times, most recently this year. Find out more about the boats on the Association Éric Tabarly website.

Photograph of Pen Duick. Image source.

Maps of Ireland on Gallica from the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, offers a world of valuable historic material, which can be consulted and downloaded for free. I have used it for a few years as part of my research, but am always amazed by the sheer volume of material that is available on the site. There are currently over 5 millions documents online. Among these, you can find books, newspapers, magazines, photographs, cartoons, videos and even sound recordings.

Below are some of the maps of Ireland that I found using a simple keyword search. You can zoom in to a high degree and even download the maps if you like. Of course, the French had good reason to have maps of Ireland at their disposal - in case they wanted to land troops for example. However, I am not interested in that here. I just want to show the quality of the material that you can view on the site. Have a look for yourself and I guarantee that you will be surprised by what you can find. It is only a click away: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/en/content/accueil-en?mode=desktop

Map of Ireland (1797). Image source.

Map of Carrickfergus Bay (17th cent.). Image source.

Map of Dublin (1757). Image source.

Map of Cork Harbour (1690). Image source.

Map of Cork City and Suburbs (1759). Image source.

Map of river at Limerick (1690). Image source.