La Dame de Canton can be hired for company evenings, client dinners, product launches, showcases, tastings and private parties, from a working breakfast around a 16-seat table to a standing reception of 150 guests on deck. The boat is a traditional Chinese junk moored at Port de la Gare, on the left bank of the Seine in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
Seminars and company events
The boat is offered for full hire, day or evening, from Monday to Sunday, or for partial hire of one of its three spaces. The Carré du Capitaine, with its table for 16 and plasma screen, suits a breakfast, lunch or dinner meeting for a small team. Le Pont takes larger groups for a cocktail evening, a launch or a talk, with a stage area and seating for an audience.
The venue can add a DJ, a live concert, a theater act, a wine tasting, a magician or a pirate-themed show. For concerts and showcases, the stage is fully equipped and the team offers high-definition video capture and multitrack sound recording, with a technical manager on board.
Rooms and capacities
Le Pont is the deck: an open space of 140 m² finished in teak, with a stage, audience seating and a fully equipped bar with a full liquor license. It seats 30 for dinner or holds 150 for a standing cocktail, with a view over the Seine.
Le Carré du Capitaine is the heart of the boat. It has a 16-seat table, a plasma screen, a library of 500 books, travel objects and a piano. It hosts seated breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and more guests for a standing buffet.
La Cale, the hold, houses the restaurant. It is wood-paneled, has a plasma screen relaying the shows on stage, and seats up to 35 for dinner. It also suits a cocktail dinner or a tasting.
For concerts, the venue lists a room of 130 standing places with a fully equipped stage.
Catering
The boat has its own restaurant kitchen. For private events it offers breakfasts, brunches, seated lunches and dinners, cocktail lunches or dinners and buffets. The menu draws on spices and sweet and savory combinations, and the bar and tapas menu follow the same line. The bar serves drinks under a full license.
History and setting
The junk was built at the end of the 1970s in the shipyard of Canton by two young Frenchmen, following 17th-century plans. It is 25 meters long and 7 meters wide, weighs 80 tonnes, uses seven species of exotic wood and carries three masts with 250 m² of bamboo-battened sails. It sailed one and a half times around the world and was the first junk to round the Cape of Good Hope, according to the venue. In 1981 it worked as a floating press agency.
After ten years of sailing through about forty countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, it moored in Paris in 1995 and opened as a cultural venue under the name Guinguette Pirate. Its stage has welcomed French and international musicians over the years. It later took back its original name and opened to private and corporate hire.
Getting there
The boat is moored at Port de la Gare, 75013 Paris. In the warm months, from May 1 to October 15, the terrace operates every evening. From October 15 to May 10, the boat itself opens from Tuesday to Saturday. Event hire is available on other days and times by arrangement.
