Heberts hoist pirate flag on St Malo’s high seas

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This article was published 02/07/2016 (3219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Arrr, matey! A couple swashbuckling pirates will take to the high seas in St Malo this summer.

It wouldn’t have been, if not for the admitted stubbornness of a father living along the lake who wanted to prove his doubters wrong.

A few years back Bruno Hebert took his four kids vacationing in Mexico where they witnessed a massive pirate ship on the water, a tourist attraction. He figured it would be great to bring a smaller version of the boat to St Malo.

His suggestion was scoffed at by some neighbours and friends. They thought water would seep inside a ship made of plywood. It wasn’t possible, they figured.

“I guess I’m stubborn. The more people tell me I can’t do it, the more I want to,” said Hebert. “Erik believed in me, so I wasn’t alone and we decided, we’re building it and that’s it.”

You can guess where this story goes from here: it floated.

Last month they took their ship for a spin, and it didn’t just float but cruised along the calm lake. Running via electric motor, the two Heberts had plenty of onlookers watching the ship’s first voyage.

Some tell Bruno Hebert they knew all along the ship would float.

Maybe a few did, but most didn’t see it coming.

Without a blueprint to follow, Hebert says the plans to build a ship came together in his head. Over the course of a few weeks, beginning in late January, Hebert and his 15-year-old son Erik put the ship together, in between work, school and hockey. No instruction manual, just intuition.

The ship will turn heads on the lake this summer. It’s big enough, says Bruno, to have the buoyancy to get over the sand. (Nearby development has caused sand to settle on the lake, he says). The ship spans 29 feet long, 11.5 feet wide and 10 feet high. It weighs about two tons.

It has many of the components a bigger ship would. There is a mast with a crow’s nest atop, which would be the lookout for a pirate scanning into the distance. There is a ship wheel, a deck with seats on both sides, a luggage rack where Bruno plans to place a treasure chest he builds, pirate flags flapping in the wind and a bathroom downstairs.

Don’t forget the bar. “To be able to drink (legally) you need a washroom, a bed and an ice box.” He will have all three.

The wood, screws and other loose ends probably cost $2,500 when all was said and done, said Hebert.

The family isn’t in this to make money on their investment. People have offered to pay to take the ship themselves for tours and family gatherings, but Hebert has politely declined.

“The times I can go out, I’m going out with my friends for our enjoyment and my family,” said Hebert.

He says you can count on there being plenty of barbecues and drinks shared this summer, he said.

Bruno’s son, Erik, will make use of it this summer, too, especially now that school is done.

Erik’s explanation for helping his father is succinct: “I just wanted a pirate ship,” he said.

But there may be an added benefit to having the ship that is the talk of town, his dad adds. “He’s getting texts and stuff from the girls, ‘You own the pirate ship?’”

An electrician, Bruno says he’s always loved to build, from constructing his own house in the ‘80s to his most recent creation, a pirate ship. Proving that a boat built of treated lumber isn’t destined to sink may have made him a trailblazer, too.

“When I started building, I said to Erik, ‘Never mind them laughing at us, they’re going to change their mind.’ One day there’s going to be more contraptions like this on the lake, he said. “I think I opened up a can of worms.”

Update: Corrects spelling, July 3 at 10:04 a.m.