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LORIENT

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 8 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LORIENT , a maritime See also:

town of western See also:France, See also:capital of an See also:arrondissement in the See also:department of See also:Morbihan, on the right See also:bank of the Scorff at its confluence with the Blavet, 34 M. W. by N. of See also:Vannes by See also:rail. Pop. (1oo6) 40,848. The town is See also:modern and regularly built. Its See also:chief See also:objects of See also:interest are the See also:church of St See also:Louis (1709) and a statue by A. See also:Mercie of See also:Victor Masse, the composer, See also:born at Lorient in 1822. It is one of the five maritime prefectures in France and the first See also:port for See also:naval construction in the. See also:country. The naval port to the See also:east of the town is formed by the channel of the Scorff, on the right bank of which the chief naval establishments are situated. These include magazines, foundries, forges, fitting-shops, rope-See also:works and other workshops on the most extensive See also:scale, as well as a graving See also:dock, a covered slip and other slips. A floating See also:bridge connects the right bank with the See also:peninsula of Caudan formed by the See also:union of the Scorff and Blavet. Here are the See also:shipbuilding yards covering some 38 acres, and comprising nine slips for large vessels and two others for smaller vessels, besides forges and workshops for See also:iron See also:ship-See also:building.

The commercial port to the See also:

south of the town consists of an See also:outer tidal port protected by a See also:jetty and of an inner dock, both lined by See also:fine quays planted with trees. It separates the older See also:part of the town, which is hemmed in by fortifications from a newer See also:quarter. In 1905, 121 vessels of 28,785 tons entered with See also:cargo and 145 vessels of 38,207 tons cleared. The chief export is See also:pit-See also:timber, the chief import is See also:coal. Fishing is actively carried on. Lorient is the seat of a sub-See also:prefect, of commercial and maritime tribunals and of a tribunal of first instance, and has a chamber of See also:commerce, a See also:board of See also:trade-arbitrators, a lycee, See also:schools of See also:navigation, and naval See also:artillery. Private See also:industry is also engaged in iron-working and See also:engine making. The trade in fresh See also:fish, sardines, oysters (which are reared near Lorient) and tinned vegetables is important and the manufacture of See also:basket-See also:work, See also:tin-boxes and passementerie, and the preparation of preserved sardines and vegetables are carried on. The road-See also:stead, formed by the See also:estuary of the Blavet, is accessible to vessels of the largest See also:size; the entrance, 3 or 4 M. south from Lorient, which is defended by numerous forts, is marked on the east by the peninsula of Gavres (an artillery practising ground) and the fortified town of Port Louis; on the See also:west are the fort of Loqueltas and, higher up, the See also:battery of Kernevel. In the See also:middle of the channel is the See also:granite See also:rock of St See also:Michel, occupied by a See also:powder See also:magazine. Opposite it, on the right bank of the Blavet, is the mouth of the See also:river Ter, with fish and See also:oyster breeding establishments from which 10 millions of oysters are annually obtained. The roadstead is provided with six lighthouses.

Above Lorient on the Scorff, here spanned by a suspension bridge, is Kerentrech, a See also:

pretty See also:village surrounded by numerous country houses. Lorient took the See also:place of. Port.Louis:as!.tit ;port of the Blavet. The latter stands. on the..site;.of.an;See also:ancient See also:hamlet which was fortified during. the See also:wars of the See also:League and handed over by See also:Philip See also:Emmanuel, See also:duke of Morcoeur, to the Spaniards. After the treaty of Vervins it was restored to France, and it received its name of Port Louis under See also:Richelieu. Some See also:Breton merchants trading with the Indies had established themselves first at Port Louis, but in 1628 they built their warehouses on the other bank. The Compagnie See also:des Indes Orientales, created in 1664, took See also:possession of these, giving them the name of 1'Orient. In 1745 the Compagnie des Indes, then at the See also:acme of its prosperity, owned See also:thirty-five See also:ships of the largest class and many others of considerable size. Its decadence See also:dates from the See also:English See also:conquest of See also:India, and in 1770 its See also:property was ceded to the See also:state. In 1782 the town was See also:purchased by Louis XVI.. from its owners, the See also:Rohan-Guemene See also:family. In 1746 the English under See also:Admiral See also:Richard Lestock made an unsuccessful attack on Lorient.

End of Article: LORIENT

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