French ship replica arrives in Virginia

Cannon fire seen from the Hermione as it arrives at Riverwalk Landing Marina on Friday in Yorktown, Virginia.- photo: ap

Sails unfurled and greeted by a cheering crowd, the ship that brought the Marquis de Lafayette and bad news for Britain returned to America on Friday — or at least its three-masted twin did, arriving to a hero’s welcome in Virginia.

A replica of the Hermione, the 18th-century frigate that carried Lafayette to the rebellious colonies with the French king’s promise to send an army and a fleet, sailed into Yorktown, Virginia, 235 years after the original docked on American shores.

A crowd of several hundred people cheered its arrival at the port, and fireworks shot into the morning sky from docked ships nearby. The Hermione in turn fired its unarmed cannons as it travelled up the river. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015