Archive for the ‘ship’ category
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Snow can spread faster than butter…
Monday, December 20th, 2010
The snow currently falling across Europe is a timely reminder that butter was once a cold weather product. Before the days of universal refrigeration, it was harder to keep butter from going rancid or melting. Not impossible, but a sufficient challenge to ensure it remained the prerogative of rich households. Where available, a buttery or [...]
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Standing at the crossroads of history
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
As the Allied landing forces approached the Normandy coast in June 1944, Isigny sur Mer found itself sandwiched between two battle zones. To the north north-east, Omaha beach saw some of the heaviest fighting in the whole sector, while on the other side of the estuary from Isigny was Utah beach, where some 23,000 US [...]
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Gold in the butter
Friday, May 15th, 2009
François Demagny transferred the Model Dairy buttermaking business to Louis Dupont in 1889. Knowing that his project to make long life butter would require significant quantities of milk, Dupont set up a cooperative with local producers to supply 800 litres of milk a day. Business developed, but so did competition on the Brazilian market. Faced [...]
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Butter across the sea
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Normandy butter travelled far and wide during the 19th century, taken by transatlantic steamers from Le Havre to the Americas (Isigny salted butter had already been traded in Brazil since the 18th century). The ships that left Le Havre loaded with butter to Rio de Janeiro, returned laden with coffee on the homeward leg. There [...]
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The Ville d'Isigny steams out of town
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
As the prevailing size of ships grew in the nineteenth century, so the port of Isigny become inaccessible to the long haul freight shipping of the day. The gap was plugged by the Ville d’Isigny, a small coastal steamer of 150-200 tonnes that entered the Vire estuary, before carefully threading its way up to the [...]
