Statue of Jean Bart - Dunkirk

Jean Bart… the people of Dunkirk erected a statue for him and wrote a hymn . But do you know him?

Jean Bart, born on 21 October 1650, is the scion of a family of racing shipowners. At the age of 16, he joined the Dutch, at that time an ally of France, on “ the most beautiful ship of the Dutch navy ”, The Seven Provinces . At the age of 23 , when war broke out between France and the Netherlands, Jean Bart chose his side: he returned to Dunkirk! Accompanied by his friend Charles Keyser, he took command of a privateer ship . His courage was quickly noticed by Colbert and Vauban and rewarded by Louis XIV himself.

During a race with Captain Claude de Forbin, the two privateers were escorting merchant ships when they were pursued by English ships. They were wounded and taken to a prison in Plymouth, England, in early June 1689.

A sailor brought a file to saw through the bars of their cell . The surgeon in charge of dressing their wounds helped them and asked if he could accompany them to France in return. After eleven days in prison, Bart and Forbin escaped in a simple rowing boat , accompanied by two mousses and the surgeon. Jean Bart took the oars and took no rest between the English coast and their arrival in Brittany. Their crossing of 60 miles (about 290 km) took less than forty-eight hours.

Jean Bart's exploits were told as far as the court of Versailles!

Between 1692 and 1694, a famine broke out that was considered the deadliest of the 17th century. Jean Bart's new mission was to feed France by escorting 120 merchant ships from Norway to Dunkirk. On 29 June 1694, the French ships approached the island of Texel . The troops saw their convoy being captured by the Dutch. Jean Bart called the captains on board to plan a strategy, declaring: "We must fight and recapture the fleet or stay there".

The privateer's strategy was not to use artillery, but to board! The battle lasted only half an hour, but it was bloody and the French came out on top.

The victory at the Battle of Texel caused the price of wheat to drop from 30 to 3 livres tournois. Jean Bart had just saved France from famine.

Jean Bart died at home of pleurisy on April 27, 1702, aged fifty-two.

As usual, the streets of Dunkirk from the house of the deceased to the church of Saint-Éloi were covered with straw. His funeral was a grand affair, with cannon fire. He was buried at the foot of the high altar in the church.

His death was mourned by the whole nation, who had just lost a great hero. Even the Dutch and English paid their last respects before they rejoiced at the loss of their greatest enemy!

The statue of the pirate was erected in 1845 by the sculptor David d'Angers. It shows him brandishing a sabre, "in the direction of England" , as we say jokingly in Dunkirk. The pedestal is eight metres high and represents "Jean Bart leaving his ship, stepping over the cannon of an enemy ship he has just boarded and turning to his sailors to lecture them".

The city's pride is still celebrated today, particularly during the Cantata à Jean Bart, the final aria of the last rigodon sung with full voice, on knees (and sometimes in tears) during the Dunkirk Carnival.

The cantata for Jean Bart First sung on the occasion of the inauguration of his statue in 1845 and dedicated to Admiral Prince de Joinville, it was performed by two hundred singers.

Willem Vandenameele