LOrient

L'Orient, or Loeient a port of France, on a bay in the department of Morbihan, 116 miles N.W. of Nantes. The port, which is well built and has a large deep harbour, was founded by the East India Company in 1664, and, coming eventually to the Government, has been since 1815 the chief shipbuilding port of France. It has dockyard and arsenal, schools of navigation and marine artillery, an observatory, and is fortified. There are also foundries, fitting-shops, rope-works, cooperages, and sailmaking establishments, and some exportation of sardines. The roadstead is formed by the estuary of the Blavet.