Ports and marines

The first settlers found it difficult to load and unload goods. Special facilities, including bridges, jetties, marines and ports were gradually built and shaped the coastline.

The moorings in the Baie de Saint-Paul made it a safe haven for ships and it became the first entry point for the island’s settlers. In Saint-Denis, founded in 1669, the lack of a natural harbour protected from the swell, and later an equipped port, made it impossible for large boats to moor. The first pont volant was built by the governor Labourdonnais around 1735. The Pont Labourdonnais became a model for the constructions of the marine companies that operated along the island’s shoreline. These businesses consisted of landing stages on wooden or metal piles linked to the coastline by masonry to transport goods to warehouses built on dry land. They were used to load and unload people, livestock and goods carried from boats anchored out at sea on launches.

Work began on building the port of Saint-Denis, composed of the Milius jetty and the Barachois basin, in the 1820s but were abandoned after the cyclone of 10 February 1829.

In 1853, there were 17 natural harbours around the island’s perimetre, three of which were devoted to import and export activities: Saint-Pierre, Saint-Paul and Saint-Denis. Each natural harbour had several marines.

Archaeological excavations have offered the chance to study these maritime structures (Marine du Butor and  place Charles de Gaulle in Saint-Denis) and the surveys conducted by the Confrérie des Gens de La Mer are adding to an exhaustive inventory of these remains along the entire littoral fringe of Réunion.