Photograph n°2
Detail of landing stage piles, Saint-Denis harbour, 2019
Photo: Eric VENNER DE BERNARDY DE SIGOYER
Historical and technical data
Located on the seafront of the capital of Reunion, the site of the pious landing stages is at the place called "barachois" word which means " shallow creek for docking and disembarking a boat”.
Built under the orders of Governor Mahé De La Bourdonnais, the site was once a place equipped for the embarkation and disembarkation of ships. This structuring equipment was materialized on the surface by jetties more commonly called landing bridge. These structures were made of piles on which a decking was placed. The set advanced partly above sea level. The plan of the delimitation of the geometric steps of 1886, the part between the artillery and the Saint-Denis river, indicates the projection of seven landing bridges now missing.
Figure 1: Projection of landing bridges.
The website
In 2019, geotechnical sounding work was carried out at sea as part of studies for the future western entrance to Saint-Denis. This work has brought to light the remains of coastal developments that could be linked to these jetties.
A photographic coverage is then produced by the association the brotherhood of seafarers at the request of the organizer of Architecture and Heritage of the city of Saint-Denis.
At the end of the observation carried out by the association on the seafront of Saint-Denis, three areas of concentration of remains emerged. Pieces of a ferrous nature are in a fairly poor state of preservation. Losses of materials are observable on all of these parts. We can see, in view of these parts, remarkable details, in particular the different types of profiles used for this marine construction (landing bridge). Some parts are identifiable, particularly the piles. This is what we can see on the photograph presented.
The shots with scale bring to our knowledge the diameter of certain sections. We also observe different types of clamping flange. The observation of these link systems used to retain metal parts allows us to have a better understanding of the assembly mode of these structures.