Solvay 120, registration NY3457F, was built in 1946 at Villeneuve la Garenne with a 50 hp Deutz engine. All information on this page is taken from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless otherwise stated.
When Solvay sold Solvay 120 she was renamed Bessie Smith as can be seen in these photographs:
Solvay 120 was put up for sale in 1976 by Solvay, following Albert Thomas's transfer to Solvay 114. Initially, it was purchased and taken to the Camargue region in the South of France to convert it into a boat/workshop under an unknown name. In the mid-1980s, it was bought by an artist, actor, visual artist, and sculptor from Nice, who converted it into his home/workshop. He brought it back to Paris, renamed it Bessie Smith and moored it on the Seine, opposite the Institut de France. In the late 2000s, Bessie Smith had to find a new mooring, but at an unreasonably higher price. The company HDE Expertise et Solutions, founded on July 1, 2006, acquired it in 2011, establishing its headquarters there at 851 Quai Carnot in Saint-Cloud (92), retaining the name Bessie Smith.
An image from a 1957 calendar, iced-in in with Solvay 57:
In Mouzon around 1960:
In Nancy around 1960:
Solvay 120 emerging from the Riqueval tunnel on the canal de Saint Quentin:
The accommodation was indeed renovated in Vitry, and as far
as my husband and I remember, it was in 1970 that it went to the shipyard for
its cabin; it was the second to last one, the last being number 79. Here
are two photos taken by Norbert in 1968 at the Lay-Saint-Rémy lock; in the one
of the stern, you can still clearly see the window and the shutter behind the
coach roof:
Around 1965, Solvay 120 at the Braye tunnel, Chevregny
side:
Here she is when sold and renamed Bessie Smith on the Seine opposite the Institut de France:
And this one from December 31 2012:
Bessie Smith in St Cloud, November 2025:
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