La Licorne

Length 15 metres

Width 3 metres

Draught 1 metre

Weight: 15 tonnes
 

The Grand Royal Ship known as the Licorne

Fifteen metres long. Paradoxically, this is the size of the Grand Ship incorporated into the Grand Canal fleet at Versailles in 1670. And for good reason: it is a 1/4 scale model of a two-deck warship. Commissioned in 1669 by Colbert, its replica was built by the Atelier Marin association, this time along the Brussels canal. Named La Licorne after the prow of the Triomphant, another Versailles model ship from 1688, it owes nothing to Hergé. The ships of the royal fleet aimed to convince people of the need to develop the navy in times of conflict and to invest in its arsenals, heralded the rationalisation of shipyards and contributed to the harmonisation of 17th-century shipbuilding standards.

The aim of the Atelier Marin's reconstruction of the Grand Vaisseau was to create a seaworthy model for demonstration purposes as part of a social project. The construction and fitting out required 8,300 hours of work involving volunteers, disadvantaged young people, psychiatric patients and local residents. The keel was laid in 2018 and the ship was launched in 2019.