At the shipyard
Au printemps, 1958
Dorothée Brisson, Suzanne Caron, Office du film du Québec
Source : collection of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (collection of the ministère de la Culture et des Communications)
The white tide is the first spring tide of the season. It allows sailors to launch their schooners and marks the start of the sailing season. This film was made during this time of year.
In this excerpt, we see the Chantiers maritimes de Charlevoix shipyards as they stood in the late 1950s. The site was bustling with activity.
The film opens on a shot of schooners wintering at the shipyards. A dozen of them are lined up on keel blocks.
Voice-over: “In the dry docks, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, the schooners have spent all winter asleep in their beds. But now, the shipyard is coming alive, filling up with the noise of carpenters and caulkers.
[Cheerful music]
We then see men working on the ships, getting them ready for the sailing season, workers with planes, paintbrushes and saws.
A wide shot of the site shows planks of wood on the ground, and men and children walking around the shipyard. A young man rides by on a bicycle.
Voice-over: All the schooners undergo seasonal repair, and receive a fresh coat of paint to make sure they are ready for the white tide.
As the narrator is talking, we see men doing maintenance work aboard the schooners. The are caulking, welding and swinging axes.
Voice-over: Sailors on the river come from every trade, but back home, coastal navigation is a family business. Like the farmer builds his barn, so too does the sailor build his ship, with the help of his neighbours and male relatives.
[Cheerful music]
We then see the caulkers at work, striking his iron and driving the oakum between the planking of the schooner
End of the excerpt.