St Malo

St Malo, a fortified seaport of Brittany, dept. Ille-et-Vilaine, stands 51 miles NNW. of Rennes by rail, on the estuary of the Rance. The old town clusters all over a rocky islet that is surrounded with walls and connected with the mainland by a single narrow causeway (Sillon). Forts and batteries crown several rocks lying off the town, and the defences are completed by an old castle next the causeway. The harbour is safe, but difficult of approach; the tides sometimes rise 50 feet, and storms dash over the top of the battlements. About the end of the 17th century the people of this town reaped large fortunes by piracy in the English Channel, and the port was the headquarters of the French East India Company. Although its trade has fallen off somewhat of late, its harbour, which lies between St Malo and St Servan, and is common to both places, is still entered by 1286 vessels of 222,700 tons (average for four years ending 1890), of which 650 of 180,800 tons are British and 600 of 36,300 tons French. St Malo exports potatoes, buckwheat, barley, butter, eggs, and fruit, and imports coal (173,200 tons annually), timber, pitch, and iron. The people, 10,225 in 1886, are principally engaged in shipping pursnits. The most noteworthy features of the town are the cathedral (which has had no bishop since 1790) and the museum. This town has been the birthplace of several distinguished sons, including Chateaubriand, Maupertuis, Lamennais, Lamettrie, and the sailors Duguay-Trouin, Cartier, and Labourdonnais. The English bombarded the town in 1693 and 1695, and in 1758 an expedition led by the second Duke of Marlborough burned several vessels lying in the harbour.