Model makers in Madagascar are bringing history's long-lost ships back to life

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — A French trading ship that sank in the 17th century with treasure onboard is being brought back to life in a workshop in Madagascar with every stroke of Rafah Ralahy's small wood sander.

Ralahy, eyes sparkling behind his glasses, has learned in 30 years as a craftsman at the Le Village model ship making company that recreating history in miniature form can't be rushed. It'll take time to get the shape of the hull just right on this model, to get it just as it was on the 1,000-ton original.

The ship in question was called the Soleil d’Orient — the Eastern Sun — and it was one of the best in the French East India company. It sank in 1681 while carrying ambassadors and treasure sent by the King of Siam (now Thailand) to King Louis XIV of France. Anyone wanting an exact wooden replica from Le Village, albeit a few feet long, can get it for just over $2,500. That excludes the shipping costs.

“My job is to be as faithful as possible to the plan,” said 50-year-old Ralahy, referring to copies of the ships’ original building plans that Le Village acquires from maritime museums or other sources. “At each stage we check so that the model we create is identical to the ship designed centuries ago.”

Le Village has been making models of history's most famous vessels since 1993 and sending them to collectors across the world, some of them eminent. Prince Albert of Monaco has several models displayed in his palace, said Le Village co-owner Grégory Postel. The Spanish royal family also own Le Village creations. Pope Francis was gifted a model by Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina.

Those royal customers are looking for a model ship “that resembles what their ancestors knew,” said Postel, championing the company's attention to historic detail. Some of the high-end models sell for a princely sum of $10,000. Collectors with as much passion but less means can find something for around $150.

Le Village has dozens of ships available for order, from celebrated to infamous to ill-fated. Some recently were shown at an exhibition in Venice, Italy, including one of the company’s showpieces, the British ship HMS Bounty that is renowned for a mutiny by its disgruntled crew. A model of perhaps the most famous ship ever, the Titanic, is of course available.

Le Village's staff of more than two dozen model makers work in nine dusty workshops on the outskirts of the Madagascar capital of Antananarivo. Like Ralahy, many of them have been here for more than 20 years, crafting a reputation for an unusual company.

Madagascar has hardly any shipbuilding tradition despite being the world's fourth largest island. So, Le Village's own story is one of endeavor.

It was started by Frenchman Hervé Scrive, who arrived in Madagascar off the east coast of Africa with a passion. He sold it after 20 years to a family, but it hit choppy waters during the COVID-19 pandemic as Madagascar — already struggling with high levels of poverty — sank into a deep economic recession.

Postel, his wife and another French couple bought it last year with the aim of bringing it out of financial trouble and, hopefully, expanding. Postel said they want to start a woodworking school to spread the craft on the island and create opportunities for others. They'd also like to build a maritime museum of their own.

Ralahy, a house painter as a young man before finding another use for his nimble hands, sands the rough wood that will become the outer hull of the Soleil d’Orient model he’s started. Weeks of intricate work lie ahead for the team of crafters and some models take more than 1,000 hours of work. But the miniature sails will be hoisted on a new Soleil d’Orient nearly 350 years after tragedy befell the original and she sank with no survivors, sending her treasure to the ocean bottom.

Each model passes through the different workshops and through the hands of different specialists. Husbands and wives work together at Le Village, as do other members of the same families. It's a tight-knit team.

In another room, four women who craft and attach the tiny ropes, sails and other finishing touches, are working with a sense of urgency on one model. This one is nearing completion and has already been paid for.

“It’s a race,” said Alexandria Mandimbiherimamisoa as she gets mini flags ready to add to the ship. “We have to send the boat to its buyer in a week."

Her husband, Tovo-Hery Andrianarivo, also works at Le Village, his fingernails blackened from a misplaced hammer blow or two over the years, an occupational hazard. He spoke of their collective pride when they see how far some of their models have traveled.

Andrianarivo once watched a documentary on the recreation of a life-size version of the Hermione, an 18th-century frigate that carried French General Lafayette to the American War of Independence. It was rebuilt and launched again in 2014 to much fanfare.

“Behind the museum curator who was speaking, there was our model,” Andrianarivo said. "The feeling I felt that day was incredible."

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