se detacher

[Katerina James]

Les habitants de cette petite colonie du Kamouraska, a une centaine de kilometers a l'est de Quebec, apercoivent une chaloupe se detacher du navire, puis s'approacher du rivage.

 

The inhabitants of this small colony of Kamouraska, hundred of kilometers east of Quebec see a rowing boat pulling itself away from the ship, then approaches the shore.

 

Merci!

[Neil Coffey]

You don't need the "itself": just say "pulling away from the ship".

For "une centaine de..." translate as e.g. "a hundred or so kilometres...", although I would be tempted to say "sixty or so miles" for a British or UK audience at least. (Not sure if kilometres are used much in English-speaking Canada -- maybe they are?)

Be careful of the last verb: "approaching the shore".

For what it's worth, a "chaloupe" isn't a rowing boat, though. If it's a traditional one, it would usually be called a "longboat" in English; modern motorised ones would I believe be called a "launch boat".

[Katerina James]

I still have too much to learn. Merci!

[stu harris]

Actually, just a launch without the boat. Strange but true.

[Neil Coffey]

Ah, OK! As you can see, I'm not very nautically inclined ;-)