Photographic report: construction and sailing of a catamaran (1955)

In this document

The model: initial wooden tests (p. 1-3)

The first three photographs, in colour, show successive stages of the manufacture of a catamaran model. We first see two isolated varnished wooden pieces, with tapered shapes evoking floats or daggerboards p. 1, then these two floats assembled by a cylindrical crossbeam bearing an embryo of a mast or daggerboard p. 2, and finally a more complete structure where the floats are connected by a frame of crossbeams, with a grey/khaki central plate probably representing a platform p. 3. These shots, taken on a white tiled floor (probably a domestic interior), suggest workshop work, at a reduced scale.

The full-scale catamaran in navigation (p. 4-6)

The following photographs, in black and white, show a full-scale catamaran, at sea, with successive crews. On page 4, two men are sailing near a shore; a handwritten inscription on the right float remains uncertain to read. On page 5, three people are on board and a scribbled mention, read with uncertainty as "écureuil" (squirrel), could correspond to the name of the boat painted in cursive letters on the hull. On page 6, four people (three men and one woman) are handling a rope on the central deck, under a hoisted mainsail; the name painted on the hull is read, also with uncertainty, as "cavalier" (rider).

The hull under construction (p. 7)

The last photograph shows a hull structure under construction — framework with hollowed-out transverse bulkheads and partial planking — placed on a pavement in front of a house, which confirms the artisanal and domestic nature of the project.

Context

Nothing in the document explicitly links this construction to the professional activity of Paul Magès at Citroën. In 1955, Magès was at the heart of the work on the hydropneumatic suspension, of which the DS, presented on 6 October 1955, constitutes the public culmination; he had notably just carried out the test of the 15-Six H the previous year. The amateur construction of a catamaran, a mechanical and artisanal leisure activity, would in this case be part of a personal practice carried out in parallel with these automotive engineering works, without the document establishing this link with certainty.

Archivist's perspective

This series of seven photographs illustrates, it seems, a personal project carried out in parallel with Magès' professional life: from the wooden model p. 1-3 to the construction of the hull p. 7, then to sea trials with several crews p. 4-6, the document probably covers several stages of the same amateur project, even if the exact chronological order between the shots remains uncertain.

The attention paid to the shapes of the floats and their assembly — visible from the first images — could testify, at a reduced scale, to the same taste for solving mechanical and buoyancy problems as that which fueled his automotive research, without this being able to be affirmed on the sole basis of these images.