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Origin and history

The fishing net dyeing plant, nicknamed Chaudron de l'Estaque, is a quadrangular brick building built in the 19th century in Marseille. Located in the 16th arrondissement, it belonged to the prud-homie of the fishermen of Marseille, a historical Mediterranean institution. The ground floor housed the dye shop, equipped with copper vats, wood fireplaces and water pipes, while the floor served as a lodging for the warden and the successful bidder. A stone plate above the door still indicates "Peach prud.

Cotton fillets (formerly flax) were soaked in a boiling water bath mixed with barks of crushed pine or oak, called "rusques", to make them imputable thanks to tannins. This process, which was essential for the control of mould caused by moisture in the holds, was carried out every week during the tinche, a dedicated day when fishermen brought their nets by wheelbarrow or cart. The workshop centralized a once artisanal and dangerous practice, performed individually with small cauldrons.

The Chaudron de l'Estaque, renowned from Marseille to the Goudes until Carro, replaced an old cauldron located near the cauldron impasse, a venom near the shore. In 1899, Joseph Olive, an entrepreneur, built a shop on the site, enlarged in 1900 by a house. In 1910, the Compagnie des pradiceurs de Marseille acquired the building, built the dye shop on the ground floor and kept the floor as a dwelling. The current façade dates from this period.

Activity ceased around 1960 with the advent of imputable nylon nets. In 1981, an investigation indicated that the dyeing had ended, and in 1998 the building was included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments. Installations, including wooden vats, fireplaces and wheels, are preserved intact. After 1981, the company rents the premises to an association, while preserving historical facilities.

The dyeing process was based on powdered pine or oak bark, boiled in copper tanks of 3 metres capacity. The nets were immersed in the soil via circular holes, then dried in a dedicated space. To the left of the ground floor, an intermediate floor allowed this drying, while to the right, cabanons served as guard offices and warehouses for nets and tannin.

Although often referred to as prud-homie, the building did not house the administrative activities of this institution, whose headquarters were in the city centre. Its role was limited to dyeing and storage, meeting the needs of local fishermen. Today, it bears witness to a lost practice, linked to the evolution of fishing materials and techniques in the Mediterranean.

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