A genius idea

Lucien Rosengart is a French industrialist and a genius inventor who created table football, among other things, and is as passionate about cars as he is about boats.

In 1925, while he was president of the trade union chamber of nautical industries (the ancestor of the FIN), he launched the maritime division of Peugeot engines and he immediately set up the first edition of the Paris Boat Show: it was held from October 7 to 17, 1926, on the banks of the Seine, between the Concorde and Invalides bridges, and transformed the river into a vast floating exhibition, while the Cours-la-Reine housed stands on land.

At the same time, the Grand Palais opened its doors to the Motor Show, offering visitors a complete immersion in the transportation innovations of the time.

Stars on the Seine

The show offers a real diversity of exhibitors: among others, you can see the luxurious yachts of the Chantiers de la Loire, fast hydrofoils built in La Rochelle and very fashionable at the beginning of the century, motorboats exhibited by Peugeot Maritime, and lifeboats presented by the Société Centrale des Naufragés which would later become the SNSM.

Visitors can watch speed record trials on the Seine and discover emerging activities such as "surf riding", where a swimmer tries to stay upright on a surfboard towed by a boat, arousing the wonder of the public of the time. There is also an "arts section" where you can admire marine paintings and models of famous warships.

In those years, some boats and equipment were manufactured in Paris itself: Peugeot's shipyards were in Levallois Perret, and Lucien Rosengart also ran an engine factory located on Rue du Ranelagh in the sixteenth arrondissement of the capital. The inventor of table football played at home, and he was in charge of everything: he manufactured boats, regulated them and distributed them thanks to a fantastic showcase that he had created from scratch.

A sense of celebration

The success of this first edition was undeniable because it attracted a large crowd, both French and foreign. The closing of the show was celebrated with a dazzling nautical parade, with a parade of yachts decked out in flags and a fireworks display illuminating the Seine.

Over the years, the show attracted personalities such as the King of Spain Alfonso XIII, and the various presidents of the French Republic strolled there, such as Paul Doumer or Raymond Poincaré.

This first boat show played a crucial role in reviving river tourism in France, which had been somewhat neglected following the invention of the car and the train. A few days before the first edition in 1926, for the sake of adventure and good publicity, Lucien Rosengart organized a flotilla of Peugeot Canots that went up the stage before mooring at the Parisian quays. He highlighted the country's 15,000 kilometers of often overlooked waterways and encouraged the public to rediscover these "magnificent roads" crossing the most beautiful French landscapes. The writer Roland Dorgelès, in an impassioned plea, echoed Rosengart in urging the French to take ownership of these waterways, emphasizing their potential for a new and enriching form of tourism, which he thought had died since the appearance of tarmac roads and railways.

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