Photograph n°3
Breakwater, bay of Saint-Denis, 2019
Photo: Eric VENNER DE BERNARDY DE SIGOYER
Historical and technical data
Located in the north of Reunion Island, the Brise-lame site is positioned on a coastal area at a place called the "barachois". This word means "shallow creek to dock and land a boat" according to Larousse.
Built under the orders of Governor Mahé De La Bourdonnais, the site was once a place equipped for the embarkation and disembarkation of ships.
The website
Following the geotechnical survey work carried out at sea as part of the studies for the future West entrance to Saint-Denis and at the request of the animator of Architecture and Heritage of Saint-Denis , terrestrial photographic coverage was carried out by the Brotherhood of Seafarers association on the Saint-Denis coastal area, in this case in the area of a wall acting as a breakwater.
This architectural construction protects the coastline against the sea swell. The facing of the wall is behind the beach facing the sea at a distance that varies from 10 to 18 meters from the foreshore. The structure is composed of an elongated masonry forming at the base an arc of a circle. The whole is made up of blocks of rock of large and medium modules. The whole is surmounted by a wall made of rubble. A binding mortar made up of coral lime and sandy sediments ensures the binding in the mass of the wall. The termination of the top of this wall is made of cut basalt stones. Its length, non-linear, runs over a distance of approximately 250 to 400 meters.
At the end of this observation, a declaration of discovery of maritime cultural property was made to the Department of Underwater and Underwater Research.