Hermione back in France today

FRANCE'S replica 18th century frigate Hermione is due to dock in Brittany this afternoon after a four-month voyage across the Atlantic to mark the US Independence Day celebrations.

The ship is expected in Brest at 15.00 and will stay in the port until August 17, before spending some time in Bordeaux ahead of a return to her departure point, Rochefort in Charente-Maritime.

The symbol of Franco-American co-operation left the Ile d'Aix (Charente-Maritime) on April 18 and travelled over 5,000 miles to reach Yorktown, Virginia in June - repeating the journey made by General Lafayette to rally rebels fighting Britain in the war of independence.

L'Hermione then headed up the US east coast, stopping off at several ports en route to New York for the July 4 independence day celebrations.

It has been a choppy return journey for Hermione’s 80 crew members - including 18 professional sailors and 54 young volunteers - when a depression over the Atlantic turned into a full storm with winds gusting up to 200kph and a seven-metre sea swell.