This section of our blog contains information on the fleet
of boats Solvay used to transport raw materials to their factory in
Dombasle-sur-Meurthe and then ship sodium carbonate, the finished product, to customers
in northern Europe. Having travelled
through Dombasle many times on our boat and overwintered in the area for a few
years I became fascinated by the Solvay boats, or Solvays. I started
researching on the internet and came across a lady called Sylviane Parent who,
with her husband Norbert, sailed the last barge to be sold when Solvay decided
to sell off the fleet in the 1980s.
Sylviane has written three books on Solvays, or Nez Rouge as they are
affectionally known from their red noses, but sadly they are long out of print. She was very helpful to me, pointing me in
the right direction to find more information. This was the first letter she
wrote to me (translated from French):
Hello, I prefer to contact you
by email. So, to answer your questions, a little history: Solvay had, let's
say, two fleets: one of self-propelled barges ranging from Solvay 1 to 124
between the beginning of 1900 and September 1987, and the second, after the
First World War, when Solvay bought wooden barges from craftsmen, hiring the
crews. These barges bore the numbers from 101 to 320 and were returned between
1930 and 1940. They also had two self-propelled tankers for transporting
ammonia, as well as three tugboats used mainly for the wooden barges, and in
1965 they had eight barges built bearing the numbers B1 to B8. Solvay sold them
in the mid-1970s. There are, of course, records for this fleet, as well as
three books I wrote, thanks to these records and the help of former members of
the fleet. That's all I can tell you: where are you moored and what is the
motto of your barge? Good evening.
Another well-known Solvay bargee is Guillaume Kiffer and he
wrote a Solvay for dummies which can be read by following this link where other
bits of Solvay history can also be found.
The following are the Solvays I have gleaned information
about as well as many pictures. Although most of the boats have long gone, some
are still in existence and we are fortunate enough to have seen some of
them. Click on a boat number to see pictures of the boat and any further information
Solvay 37-40 did not exist
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