Le Ponant

2008 Somali pirate attack

On 4 April 2008, Le Ponant was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden while en route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean.[8] The ship carried no passengers at the time of its capture, but all 30 crewmembers were taken hostage; 22 French, 6 Filipino, 1 Cameroonian and 1 Ukrainian.[9] French forces, including the aviso Commandant Bouan, and a Canadian CH-124 helicopter from HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339) were monitoring the yacht after its seizure.[10] The hostages were released without incident on 12 April.

Following the release, French helicopters from the Djibouti military base tracked the pirates to the village of Jariban. French commando marine and GIGN operating from the frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Jean Bart and the cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Jeanne d'Arc moved in when the pirates attempted to flee in the desert. A sniper disabled the get-away vehicle, and the commandos were able to capture six men. Local officials claimed that three people died in the raid, with a further eight wounded, but France denied this. Troops also recovered some of the ransom money paid by the owner of the yacht for the release of its crew.[11] The six captured pirates were flown to Paris, where they faced trial in 2012.[12][13] Four of the six men were convicted and sentenced to four to ten years in prison.[14]

SolidSail prototype testing

Between October 2018 and 2019, Le Ponant served as the testing platform for Chantiers de l'Atlantique's SolidSail rigid sail technology. On 25 October 2018, during a technical stop in Marseille, the vessel's forward mast was equipped with a half-scale SolidSail prototype measuring over 300 m² (3,200 sq ft).[15][16] The rigid sail, constructed from composite panels of fibreglass, carbon, and epoxy resin framed by carbon slats, was tested during transatlantic crossings to Cape Verde and Cuba under various operational conditions.[17] According to Ponant CEO Jean-Emmanuel Sauvée, the company was immediately interested in collaborating with Chantiers de l'Atlantique, viewing sail propulsion as "without a doubt an energy of the future" and the trials as essential to validating the technology's potential for significant environmental and economic benefits.[18] The prototype was removed during the vessel's major refurbishment between November 2019 and April 2020 at San Giorgio del Porto shipyard in Genoa, Italy,[19] with the yacht returning to service in 2022 with traditional canvas sails and enhanced environmental features including a selective catalytic reduction filter reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 90%.[20]