A life-size replica of the Hermione, the French navy frigate that shipped General Lafayette to America to rally rebels fighting British troops in the US war of independence, will undertake its maiden voyage on Sunday, organisers said, reports Business Insider.
Thousands of spectators who lined the port in Rochefort on Saturday hoping to see the reproduced vessel cast off were disappointed when a build-up of sediment in its launch bay delayed departure.
Organisers now hope to let Hermione loose at 3am local time , after which she will sail up the Charente river to Rochefort's commercial port. From there, the frigate will head to the Atlantic Ocean island of Aix for several weeks of sea trials.
The vessel will make a public stop in Bordeaux in October before returning to its home port a month later for final preparations.
The 65-meter (210 feet) ship is due to set sail for the United States in April 2015, following the route from Rochefort to Boston made by French General Gilbert du Motier -- the Marquis de Lafayette -- in 1780 to bolster American revolutionaries in their fight against British troops.
Sunday's launch is a major milestone in the journey undertaken by a group of restoration enthusiasts who in 1997 embarked on the arduous task of recreating the three-masted vessel using only eighteenth-century shipbuilding techniques.
"It is an important step to sail Hermione at sea, which no one has ever done," said Benedict Donnelly, president of the Hermione-Lafayette Association.
Read more of this AFP report pubished by the Business Insider.