Solvay 116

Solvay 116, registration NY3117F, was built in 1932 at Choisy-le-Roi. Unless stated otherwise, the information on this page is obtained from Vagus-Vagrant.fr.

Solvay 116 replaced an earlier wooden unpowered barge that Solvay had purchased second hand and then resold - see 'Solvay 116 Original'.

Solvay 116 was put up for sale in 1986 by Solvay, following the retirement of Serge Blampain. Mr. Alain B. acquired it on June 11, 1987, through a sales agreement signed by Michel Boulerne, director of Solvay Dombasle, to use as their floating home. They gave it the name Fragory and a new registration number, LY1645F, in Lyon (69).

In 1995, Alain sold the Fragory to a Mr. H., who also made it his primary residence. Following a valve malfunction, it sank in the Herriot port in January 2013. It was refloated in March 2013. It was then managed by the Gold company, still under the name Fragory in Lyon's 7th arrondissement, transformed into a Gold restaurant/shisha bar between 2013 and 2020.  At the end of 2020, the Fragory lost a bidding process to an ultramodern floating theater boat, Pata'Dôme. It had to leave its berth, which was done after much conflict. Today, it awaits demolition near the old Mulatière lock, where it has been taken in 2024.

Joël Kaiser, in the Facebook group Voies navigables du Nord-Est, wrote: Here's a little anecdote about the Solvay 116 : if you look closely at the photos, you'll notice that the canopy is higher than on other Solvays. The reason is that the captain was very tall, almost 2 metres; I knew him well, he was my uncle and also my godfather, Mr. Piat, known as Big Loulou.

Here she is in an advertisement for the Choisy-le-Roi Shipyards and Workshops, published in 1934 in special issue No. 254bis of the magazine Sciences et Industrie dedicated to French waterways:

Here is Solvay 116 at the Solvay factory in Tavaux (Jura) from the 1950s or 1960s:

From a different angle:

The closeup shows the wheelhouse:

Solvay 116 leaving the Hasselt lock on the Albert Canal in 1969:

Solvay 116 was upgraded to a 50 hp Deutz – here she is leaving lock no. 1 at Troussey (Meuse), in 1971:

And in 1980 she had a 180 hp Baudoin engine:

Here she is also in a photo from Joël Kaiser's biscuit tin, it's on the Meuse being towed by Solvay 60, and behind her is Solvay 63 loaded with coke:

At Velosnes on the Meuse in the 1970s:

When sold by Solvay she was renamed Fragory and re-registered as LY1645F:

In 2013, the local press reported that Fragory had sank:

Here is the Avis from VNF reporting the sinking:

It was refloated in March 2013:

After Fragory was sold, Solvay 116 became a restaurant boat, Le Gold:

According to Sylviane the boat was awaiting dismantling as at 7 August 2025: