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In dry dock since 2021, the frigate L'Hermione, a replica of La Fayette's ship, is now threatened with permanent closure. With less than three weeks to go before a crucial hearing scheduled for January 28, 2026 before the La Rochelle judicial court, the Hermione La Fayette Association is continuing its search for funding, sponsors and takeover solutions. The ship, stationed at the Grand Carénage shipyard in Anglet, has not resumed restoration work, due to a lack of funds.
Potential buyers without financing
Launched on September 18, 2025, the receivership procedure opened a phase of uncertainty. An announcement to find a buyer was published at the end of November, giving candidates until January 5, 2026 to make themselves known. Several letters of intent have been received, but none has yet been financed, making the Association's future particularly fragile. In the absence of a concrete commitment, the frigate could be placed in liquidation, which would signal the end of the associative project and the dispersal of its know-how.
Popular mobilization on the rise, but still insufficient
Public support continues unabated. In 2025, over 430,000 euros in donations were collected, including 130,000 euros at the end of the year, three times more than in 2024. This surge demonstrates the general public's attachment to the frigate, its history and its crew. But despite this momentum, needs remain much greater: without structural support from institutional or private partners, relaunching the work remains unthinkable in the short term.
A day of mobilization planned for January 10 in Anglet
Against this backdrop, the Association is organizing a gathering on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at the Port of Bayonne in Anglet. The shipyard will be open to the public for activities, technical visits and a group photo with volunteers, ship's hands and members of the historic crew. L'Hermione's flame, carried across France in the autumn by members of the crew, will be symbolically rekindled on board.
The aim of the event is to maintain media and political pressure, remind people of the project's heritage significance, and mobilize local networks around the ship. The day will conclude with a convivial galette des rois, in an atmosphere that is both militant and supportive.
What are the consequences of judicial liquidationâeuros¯?
If the Association Hermione La Fayette were to be wound up by court order on January 28, the frigate would legally become an asset to be disposed of. Without an associative structure to operate it or continue the work, the ship could be sold to the highest bidder, including to a private or foreign player, with no guarantee of preservation of the original cultural and heritage project. The Grand Carénage shipyard, the jobs linked to the ship's maintenance, the educational activities and the network of volunteers would be immediately dismantled. The risk of seeing L'Hermione transformed into a static attraction, moved or even abandoned in a secondary port cannot be ruled out. She could also be destroyed.
Such an outcome would not only mark the end of a human adventure begun more than 25 years ago, but also the loss of a strong symbol of French maritime know-how and a unique intergenerational transmission tool in the French nautical landscape.
