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On September 14, 2026, the Belem entered a unique period in its history. For several months, the three-masted ship built in 1896 will trade its 1,200 m² of sail area for a dry dock and major structural repairs in Saint-Nazaire. The Belem Caisse d?Épargne Foundation has announced 5.5 million euros in renovations and, depending on how the project progresses, expects the ship to return to service in the spring of 2027.
The challenge goes far beyond a simple refit or thorough winterization. To work on the hull and its internal reinforcements, we must first gain access to the steel hidden behind more than a century of modifications, fittings, and alterations. The ship will therefore be de-masted, lightened, and partially emptied before its structural condition can be accurately assessed.
A 130-year-old hull still subjected to the stresses of navigation
The Belem is not just a historic ship preserved at the dock. The three-masted vessel continues to sail and, as such, must maintain a structure that meets the requirements of its maritime operations.
Its hull is unique. Built in Nantes in 1896, the ship has a riveted and welded steel hull. It is 51 meters wide and 58 meters long overall. As with any marine metal structure, corrosion and aging gradually lead to a loss of thickness that must be monitored.
According to the Belem Foundation, the measurements taken by Bureau Veritas revealed thickness losses reaching critical thresholds in various areas of the structure. This finding is the reason for the campaign scheduled for the winter of 2026?2027.
This problem is not new, by the way. During the winter of 2022?2023, the three-masted ship had already undergone major repairs in Saint-Nazaire. A section of the hull located beneath the engine room had been removed and replaced with a new 25-metric-ton section measuring approximately 7 meters by 5 meters.
The campaign, which begins in September 2026, will, however, be on a different scale. Rather than focusing on a specific area, the Foundation has announced a restoration project that will cover the hull and its internal structure more broadly.
Remove the mast and lighten the load before working on the structure
On a pleasure boat, accessing the inner plating sometimes requires removing some paneling or furniture. Aboard the Belem, the task obviously takes on a whole new dimension.
The schedule calls for the masts to be dismantled between October 7 and 14. The masts and yards must be removed?a comprehensive operation that the ship has not undergone since 1980, according to the Foundation. At the same time, the rigging will undergo an overhaul.
The three-masted ship is then scheduled to enter dry dock No. 2 in Saint-Nazaire on October 19. A lengthy dismantling process will then begin.
One statistic gives an idea of the scale of the project: 225 metric tons of ballast will need to be unloaded. This ballast consists of 4,500 cast-iron ingots installed in the ship?s hull. On this former cargo ship, now used as a training vessel, this ballast helps provide the stability needed for sailing.
Equipment is the other obstacle. The steering gear, shaft line components, wheelhouse, electrical panel, bulkheads, and various fittings must be removed depending on the affected areas.
This inspection is not an end in itself. It must allow access to both sides of the components that need to be inspected and repaired. On an older metal structure, being able to observe only the exterior of the plating is not sufficient to carry out a project of this scale.
Planking, hull, and stringers: working beyond the boat?s outer shell
The most visible part will inevitably be the plating of the hull. The hull refers to the outer envelope of the hull, in other words, its watertight skin. But the announced program does not stop at these plates.
The Foundation also lists the central hull and the stringers among the affected components. The former is a longitudinal member that contributes to the structure?s strength. The latter are transverse members installed in the bottoms that help, in particular, to connect and stiffen the ship?s framework.
In other words, it's not simply a matter of replacing a few corroded steel plates that are visible from the outside.
Once the areas are accessible, a survey of the structure?s condition must be conducted. This is an essential step because the final scope of the replacements cannot be reliably determined until the affected components have been identified and measured.
This uncertainty is part of the project. On a 130-year-old ship, dismantling the structures allows us to compare the estimates made before the work began with the actual condition of the structures, which had previously been difficult to access.
The planned approach is then to work gradually, section by section, while the ship rests on its blocks in dry dock. These blocks support the hull and bear its weight once the water has been drained from the slipway.
How can you replace steel without altering the original structure?
There is an additional complication in this case: the Belem is both an active vessel and a historic monument.
A restoration focused purely on heritage preservation might aim to preserve as much of the original material as possible. A repair effort guided exclusively by maritime operations, on the other hand, would prioritize structural efficiency and ease of replacement. On the Belem, these two considerations must coexist.
The proposed method was therefore developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. It involves replacing sections with inserts and welding, with the goal of preserving the ship?s historical integrity as much as possible while creating a structure that allows the vessel to continue sailing.
The issue of welding is far from trivial. Not all of the steels on board are from the same period, nor do they necessarily have the same characteristics as contemporary metallurgical products. The press release therefore announces the prior establishment of a protocol designed to guide the joining of old and new materials.
According to information provided by the Foundation, the sheet metal work will be carried out by teams from Eiffage Énergie Systèmes - Collaborative Industrial Solutions, with oversight by Bureau Veritas. At the same time, the experts responsible for heritage monitoring must be involved in decisions regarding the preservation of the historic monument.
This dual oversight ultimately encapsulates the entire challenge of the project: to preserve a testament to late-19th-century shipbuilding without turning the Belem into a museum piece incapable of sailing.
The construction work won't stop at the hull
The extensive dismantling of the boat naturally provides access to other equipment. The Foundation therefore plans to take advantage of the downtime to overhaul the rigging, work on the electrical systems, and inspect the propeller shaft lines.
This line of reasoning is familiar to any boat owner who has undertaken a major refit: once the equipment has been removed and areas that are normally inaccessible have been opened up, it makes more sense to perform certain tasks simultaneously rather than having to dismantle them again a few months or years later.
In the case of the Belem, however, its size is still incomparable to that of a recreational sailboat. The three-masted ship carries 22 sails with a total sail area of approximately 1,200 m². Its mainmast rises 34 meters above sea level, and its auxiliary propulsion consists of two diesel engines driving two shafts.
The project thus involves several trades in succession: rigging, shipbuilding and sheet metal work, mechanical engineering, electrical work, heavy lifting, and heritage preservation.
A seven-month timeline, with some uncertainty
The announced schedule runs through the end of April 2027. Following the start of operations in September and the removal of the mast in October, the ship is scheduled to enter dry dock on October 19.
Dismantling work will then proceed throughout the fall. The planned work on the stringers is set to begin in late November and is expected to continue through the winter. The hull is scheduled to be refloated on March 29, 2027, followed by sea trials.
The Belem is then scheduled to return to the Quai des Frégates in early April before being re-masted. Sea trials are scheduled for the second half of the month, and the ship?s departure is currently set for April 30, 2027.
However, these dates are still tentative. The Foundation itself notes that the schedule may change depending on technical, weather, and logistical constraints.
On a construction site where the exact scope of the repairs depends in part on what will be discovered after dismantling and mapping, this provision is far from definitive.
5.5 million euros in construction costs and a call for donations
The announced budget for the entire project totals 5.5 million euros. Among the contributors the Foundation is seeking or has already secured, it lists its patron, Caisse d'Épargne; the Ministry of Culture; local governments; and the Fondation du Patrimoine. It is also reaching out to individuals.
The fundraising campaign currently featured on its website has set a goal of 500,000 euros to help restore the hull. This amount should not be confused with the total cost of 5.5 million euros announced for the work.
Funding is a unique aspect of maintaining a ship like this. Unlike a heritage structure that is no longer in use, restoring the Belem involves more than just preventing its deterioration. It requires preserving a structure capable of withstanding the stresses of navigation, the rigging, and the sea.
The last two days open to the public before the major dismantling begins
Before the construction work makes the ship inaccessible, the public will still be able to go on board during the European Heritage Days on September 19 and 20, 2026, in Saint-Nazaire.
The ship will be docked at Quai des Frégates and open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the last boarding scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The Foundation has confirmed these two days in its tour schedule.
A few weeks later, the ship?s appearance will have changed dramatically. The yards and then the masts will have been removed from the deck, the ballast will have been gradually unloaded, and some of the interior fittings will have been removed to allow the crews to access the steel framework.
The success of the project, however, will be judged less by this spectacular stripping-down than by what comes next. After the measurements, cutting, and structural repairs, the ship will need to be rebuilt, reassembled, tested, and finally returned to the sea. If the schedule is met, this final stage will take place in the spring of 2027. For the Belem, the challenge of this restoration lies precisely here: preserving enough of its history so that it can continue to sail.
