Industrial Shipbuilding in Normandy with Dr. Mathieu Bidaux

Gary: There’s nothing like a well-made ship. As someone whose grandfather spent his whole life working the docks of New York City and San Francisco I grew up with an appreciation for the colossal sailing vessels of the 20th century. There are few things as impressive as seeing the inside of one of those floating behemoths. What makes today’s episode special is that the book my guest and I will talk about is available for free online. It has phenomenal pictures of the town of Le Trait, its shipyards and the incredible vessels that they created. I urge everyone to check it out and admire the complexity and artistry so beautifully presented in the work.

Joining me is Dr. Mathieu Bidaux. Bidaux is a corporate historian for Phoramm Sàrl/Worms & Cie since 2019. He is an associated researcher at the laboratory of history GRHIS from University of Rouen Normandie. He has a PhD in contemporary history and is the author of La fabrication des billets en France. Construire la confiance monétaire (1800-1914) recently published by Presses de Sciences Po. He is a member of the board of the Association française pour l'histoire et l'étude du papier et des papeteries (AFHEPP), a member of the board of the Société libre d'émulation de la Seine-Maritime and a member of the Société française de numismatique. With Christian Lebailly, he published 50 Years of Shipbuilding on the Banks of the Seine: ACSM and its Garden City in 2022, the subject of today’s episode.

Gary: Thank you so much for being on the program. Your book 50 Years of Shipbuilding on the Banks of the Seine: ACSM and its Garden City and their garden City 1917-1972 is a fascinating read about one village and their incredible industry and how that had its ups and downs throughout time. Your book begins with the long history of Le Trait, the village we are looking at. Can you give us a background of this village?

Bidaux: Le Trait was a village on the East of Normandy, between the cities of Rouen and Le Havre, in the North of France. Le Trait is nestled just between the river Seine and a forest. The history of this city is the story of a quiet and asleep village. There was around 300 inhabitants: very few people lived there. It was a rural town. Actually, Le Trait existed because it was, what we called with Christian Lebailly who wrote the book with me, a border territory. A place where the land of different Lords meets. And a river crossing place where people could pass through the River. The peasants used to live by fishing and thanks to the wood of the forest. In the XIXth century, Le Trait started to become an interesting place for industry thanks to its small railway station. This is an important fact to understand its evolution in the XXth century.

Gary: Now let's get on to a major factor that wholly changes the village which is Worms and Cie. What was Worms and Cie and how did it come to choose Le Trait?

Bidaux: Worms and Co was an important French firm founded in the 1840s by Hypolite Worms. That merchant banker started several businesses (as Plaster trading from Paris sent to England) before he creates his international trading in British coal imports into France. He establishes bases in France, and Great Britain in the cities of Rouen, Dieppe, Newcastle, Le Havre, Cardiff. He founded bases alongside the railway stations in France during the XIXth century. After that, the company started to get its own ships to carry on the coal from Great Britain. Since then, Worms and Co get a solid reputation as a shipowner. The French state begins to have confidence in Worms and Co. Besides, Worms and Co proves to be reliable in tense moments : for example, Worms and Co furnishes the whole coal needed for the French Navy during the Crimea War. Worms and Co also furnishes the coal for the Company Messageries maritimes, responsible for the distribution of mail in the Far East. That is why during WW1, the French State turns to Worms and Co and some private companies to found shipyards absolutely needed to make the war on and under the seas.

In Normandy, in 1916, Le Trait still was a village but the railway station is useful to carry on the materials needed to build the shipyards and the ships. Also, the width, the length between the two banks of the river Seine is enough to launch ships. And, of course, Le Trait is quite far away from the front line to see the birth of the ships.

Gary: The company heads practically turned into urban planners who remade the city. One important aspect of this was that the city would be designed as a 'garden city.' Can you explain what a garden city is and how it took form in Le Trait?

Bidaux: A garden city is actually a kind of social housing born in England thanks to the British urbanist Howard who wanted to suggest something else for the workers, another way of life, another type of houses, more respectful of the life of the working-class. The project suggests to make disappear the polluted industrial city which can help the development of diseases as it was in the XIXth century.

In Le Trait, the architect/urbanist Gustave Majou found inspiration in the garden cities of the East of France like Pierrepont in Moselle. Majou calculated the air volume of each worker’s house, of each engineer’s house for every member of the family who lives in. He oriented the new industrial city of Le Trait towards the shipyard which is the new city center instead of the church which leads to some tensions with the old people of Le Trait when Worms and Co transformed the city in 1917. I could also say as an example of how it took form in Le Trait that the director of the shipyard wrote that the company heads wanted to offer a garden to each member of the staff to cultivate vegetables to feed them in the healthiest way. Even the question of the supply of water has been thought.

Gary: Truly a fascinating set-up. Let's move from the city itself to the people. What was daily life like for people in Le Trait?

Bidaux: Besides the condition of the life of the workers, the head of the company created a social environment to keep their workers on site. They founded associations, a library, a hospital, everything you can need… And it was really useful because villages next to Le Trait had nothing! So they organised every aspect of the workers’ lives. So what was the daily life for people in Le Trait ? Workers or foremen, or engineers had almost the same day every day. They worked in the shipyard during the day. After the working day, when they had some time, they spent it in clubs, associations of the company. When they had some rest, they could go for a walk in Le Trait which was a very beautiful city because Worms and Co took care of the city thanks to gardeners. This project worked. When I talked to the old people of Le Trait, a lot of them loved this lifestyle.

Gary: Truly interesting how you can say they love this lifestyle but it was kind of the same every day. The Great Depression was a trying time for the shipyards. How did workers and companies try to stay afloat during this period?

Bidaux: You are right Gary and this is a good question. Upon 7 shipyards founded in the same time of Le Trait, several disappeared during the Great Depression. The Worms and Co shipyard was one of the most solid. It survived. It survived thanks to the network of Worms and Co : Customers of the shipyard were also friend’s companies of Worms and Co. Besides, Worms had some political support, the company fought to get contracts during this period ; contracts from the French Navy or contracts with French administration. Worms, as a shipowner, even ordered to build a ship to its shipyard ; they didn’t really need it but to keep the workers busy and give them a salary, they ordered it. So, Worms had a real interest in social issues. For sure, they were what we call a paternalistic company.

Gary: So we move from one crisis to another, from the Great Depression to the Second World War. World War II was a dangerous period for the people of Le Trait. If they did not work they would have no income, but if they did they would be supplying the enemy. Meanwhile the Allies repeatedly bombed the shipyards. What did workers and management do and how did they act during the war?

Bidaux: This was, indeed, a very difficult period for the people of Le Trait. After WWII, the director of the shipyard said it was “the most devastated shipyard in France”. That’s saying something ! Workers bought time not to build warships for the enemy. Some stories says that the workers built on daylight and dismantled what they did by night ! There was a big pressure on the workers and the managers because of the German needs. So, the main strategy was to play with the different orders. The head of the shipyard had to obey to whom ? To the French government ? To the French Navy ? To the German government ? To the German Navy ? The head of the shipyard discussed the terms of the orders all the time. It was a smart strategy. The head of the shipyard ordered not to work fast. The French director said he didn’t have enough workers for example. He rescued some workers from the STO (the forced labour for the German war effort). So, people from Le Trait tried to stall the all time of the WWII. But they could no longer do so when the Germans took people from Le Trait as hostages. And the workers had to deliver one oil tanker, a freighter and a barge but it was a ridiculous production next to the capacity of the shipyard.

Gary: Yes, that was a truly remarkable thing you note in your book, how the shipyard, had they been working at full capacity would have been able to produce, potentially a significant addition to the German navy but they produced virtually nothing. It was truly remarkable. The post-war period was a boomtime for Le Trait, yet it also had its challenges, ones which would ultimately bring about the industry's downfall. Guide us through the rise and fall during the postwar period.

Bidaux: The postwar period is a paradoxal period for the shipyard of Worms and Co. Because of the war, of course, a lot of ships must be built. So, the order book is full for several months, even several years. The shipyard is almost entirely destroyed after the air raids of WWII. So, the director Pierre Abbat developed a prefabrication circuit, a rational circuit inspired by the most modern north-american shipyards in the world: like Vancouver, Walsh Kaiser, Calship, Marineship or Saint-John’s River shipyards. Worms and Co is using one of the most modern shipyards of France when the new shipyard is ready! In fact, the destroying of the factories was an opportunity to think about a new organisation, more rational. The problem is that there is a structural problem in French shipbuilding at this time. The cost price was falling but state subsidies were still necessary for the survival of many shipyards. In addition, war reparations gave the impression that everything was going well, but when Germany finished paying for war reparations, activity declined. Besides, the colonial empire is collapsing so the new countries could order their ships to foreign countries. These mean fewer opportunities. When the French state decided to end giving subsidies because the French state didn’t need so many shipyards anymore, around 1959, the French shipbuilding started to know a terrible decline.

Gary: What legacy did the shipbuilding industry leave on Le Trait and what is it like today?

Bidaux: Today you can see the face of Le Trait is changed forever. This is the face of an industrial city. You can recognize it among all of the cities of the countryside of Normandy. This is clearly the work of Worms and Co which is responsible of this face of Le Trait. Nowadays, several industries take place in this city instead of the shipyard. It is logical. The infrastructure, the equipment, the roads were made for the industry, the big industry. That is why you can find Sanofi, the giant of the pharmaceutical industry, you can find also Technip, the giant of the flexible pipe industry. You can find a company who build houses like ready-to-wear, like ready-to-live in houses… The population of Le Trait still is a mix of workers and managers of the factories of Le Trait. I absolutely need to say also that the city looks like, sometimes to an industrially depressed city because there is some unemployment. But the essence of Le Trait, once a 100% country village, is now entirely turned towards big industry.

Gary: And a truly fascinating place with a remarkable amount of history. The book is 50 Years of Shipbuilding on the Banks of the Seine: ACSM and its Garden City in 2022 it is a fascinating read and is currently online with so many pictures and diagrams and blueprints of ships that, I think every should check it out and look at how this history comes to life, you did a truly fantastic job. Thanks so much for being on the program, I will include links on the website, thanks so much for being on the program.