Sail and Miscellaneous, 1859-1882: Photo Gallery

Puebla (Bâtiment spécial à hélice) was ordered by Emperor Napoleon III in 1863 for use by the Empress in excursions on the Seine from their summer palace at Fontainebleau. Her experimental features included a steel hull and twin screws driven through reduction gearing. (Drawing: L'Illustration, 5 September 1863, page 176)

Dix Décembre, a cable layer, was purchased by the the French Ministry of Finance to lay a telegraph cable between France and Algeria and was manned although not owned by the Navy from 1863 to 1889. She was renamed Ampère in September 1870. The Navy transport Charente was converted to a cable ship and joined her in 1873. (Photo: Shipscribe)

Infatigable (Dockyard tug). Built at Brest in 1868, she served there as a paddle tug until being hulked in 1895. She had a 250 nominal horsepower engine. (Photo: Wikimedia from Archives M&M Brest 2fi11553)

Infatigable (Dockyard tug). Moored at Brest outboard of two 2nd-class cruisers, probably one of the Lapérouse and one of the Villars class. The old frigate would be Souveraine, which was a training ship at Brest from 1872 to 1892. (Photo: Wikimedia from Archives M&M Brest 2fi11553)

Rôdeur (Dockyard tug). Built at Nantes in 1876 for use by the Défense Mobile at Rochefort, she was reassigned as a tug for the port authorities there and served as such until stricken in 1914. She lingered as a hulk until 1927. This photo is dated 1908. (Photo: Facebook by Andrey Myatishkin on 26.3.2022 and Wikimedia from SHD Rochefort MR_5_G_752)

Boutonne (Personnel transport). Built at Rochefort in 1877 as a dockyard tug, this craft was later used as to carry to the Île de Ré convicts condemned to trasportation to French Guiana, a practice begun in 1885. She is probably shown here in that rôle. (Photo: Wikimedia from SHD Rochefort MR_5_G_36)

Boutonne (Personnel transport). While transporting convicts in March 1890 she collided with and sank Torpedo Boat No. 40 in the roadstead of the Île d'Aix. (Photo: Wikimedia from SHD Rochefort MR_5_G_37)

Mystery ship in Senegal: This paddle aviso on the Senegal River, purportedly photographed in 1868-69, does not correlate with any known French naval ship although there is some resemblance to the later Cigale and perhaps Cygne. (Photo: Facebook by Vladimir Yakubov on 20.3.2025)

Mystery ship in Senegal. Another view taken at the same time. This ship may have belonged to the Ministry of Colonies or a private owner. Note the shelter aft for deck passengers in both images. There is no ornamentation or side grating on the paddle box. (Photo: Facebook by V. Yakubov on 20.3.2025)