The Hermione ship, a replica of the French frigate that transported General Lafayette to America in 1780 to rally United States rebels battling for independence, leaving the port of Brest in western France yesterday after a four-month Atlantic voyage. It took almost two decades and US$32 million (S$45 million) to build the replica of the 1,200-tonne ship using only 18th-century shipbuilding techniques. It is heading back down the French coast, stopping at Bordeaux before docking at its home port of Rochefort, but it will return to Brest next year for the city's international maritime festival.