Seyssel la batelière, aux derniers temps de la navigation sur le haut Rhône

Abstract

Dufournet (Paul). — Seyssel the bargee. The former days of navigation in the upper Rhône. From Seyssel, the initial and final point of navigation in the upper French Rhône, the author tries, with the help of written or iconographie accounts, to summarize what is available today on wooden lighterage, a custom that disappeared around 1860, while leaving only fuzzy traces. Used as a means of transportation for both mer-chandise and passengers, this navigation utilized a dozen of boat types — penelle ; sapine ; rigue ; besche ; seysselande, ciselande or sisselande ; savoyardeau ; barque, ratamare or artemare ; chenard ; juste — whose major characteristics can be specified. Constructed by fustiers in Seyssel and the surroundings, these boats were steered on a difficult river by experienced bargee masters, who were the successors of the naufretiers of the Middle Ages and the boatmen of the Roman Era. There was also signiflcant rafting for transporting wood by floating. This synthetic article provides facts, some of which are previously unpublished, gives certain sources and proposes a frame for a more elaborate research, which should be extended to ail ports of the Rhône, as well as to its navigable and floatable affluents. Le Monde Alpin et rhodanien, 3e-4e trimestres 1993, pp. 7 à 40.