The Lonely Men of Dories

Cod fishing by long line. This is the Portugese cod lugger José Alberto on a trip to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
Cod fish long lining was practiced by a man in a dory, drifting in the North Atlantic for over ten hours a day.







The remainder of this great documentary can be found on edirole's channel.
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Sanpierotta Plans for DoryMan

Back in May I was lucky enough to receive some study plans for the Venecian Sanpierotta, which is a design that has been on my mind for long enough!
Currently I am striving to find a set of building plans for this timeless fishing vessel. For centuries these and other vessels of Venice have been built using design tools called sesti, to lay down the lines.

Naval historian Gilberto Penzo descrbes it thus:

"The principal system used in boat design in the Venetian boatyards is the sesto, a full-scale template that, by rotating and moving and guided by the marks on its surface, allow for the direct creation of all the frames."

"Although technical drawings showing the classic longitudinal, transverse and plan views exist, they are used only for bureaucratic purposes."

"The advantages of this template system are evident: full-scale drawings are made directly without having to enlarge them at the lofting stage; the sesto can be positioned on the block of rough wood for a more rational use of the material; one or more parameters of the boat can be changed by varying the scale of the marks and families of similar curves can be generated while avoiding possible irregularities in the form of the hull."

Historian Nereo Zane puts it this way:
"[Venetian boats] are the result of centuries of life on the water. There were hundreds of boat builders in the past and each of them used to build his own model of boat; sandoli, mascarete, batele, topi and so on. There is another thing to tell: those boats were built without the help of drawings. The builder used only a set of shapes, called "sesti" and his experience. More or less the same shapes used by a tailor sewing a suit. The result is that there aren't two suits or boats absolutely identical."

It seems highly unlikely that I will come into possession of a sesto, nor would I know what to do with one, should I be so lucky. So, it seems much of the construction of my sanpierotta will be left to my interpretation. Sounds good to me!






Recently, my friend Giacomo sent me another photo of my favorite boat - on the rio delle Muneghete. I believe it's rare to find a sanpierotta in Venice with a set of sails - they all seem to have been converted to motor boats.

But those who know me will understand if I balk at putting a motor on mine.

Sanpierotta

This is why Venice and its lagoon continues to be magical for those who live there:

The Friends of Sanpierotta are proposing a way of life, with traditional wooden boats, that is respectful of the lagoon and the city. To perpetuate the habits of their ancestors in Venice, a city of water, this humble fishing and working boat is recognized as one of the most secure and safe vessels for canals and lagoon.

The history of this traditional boat is contained in the everyday life story of lagoon fishing practiced by the fishermen of San Pietro in Volta, a town on the island of Pellestrina, the source of its name. Similar to the "sandolo”, San Piero is lanceolata in shape with straight sides. It measures about seven meters and is built in larch or oak. While other types of boats from the lagoon have long been extinct, the sanpierotta is going through a period of recovery. Robust, safe and spacious, it can be equipped with one, two or three sails. It is unsuitable for a single rower, but lends itself to the popular "a Valaisan", with two oars.

Prior to the use of engines in small fishing boats, the sanpierotta was equipped with oars and a mast with a single sail for favorable wind conditions. Among the older fishermen of Pellestrina there was a picturesque tradition of dyeing the sails with vibrant colors using natural dyes. This treatment protected the sail, which was a very expensive accessory for fishermen who lived in poverty. Special designs with distinctive symbols and color combinations represented each family, which allowed people on the island to identify any boat from shore.





Life aboard the small flat-bottomed boats was not easy for these fishermen. They fished anytime conditions were favorable, dependent on weather, tide and season, for the duration of a particular fishery. In the summer, when the lagoon was full of fish, extended trips in a small boat required ingenuity to make men as comfortable as possible. For shelter from rain and burning summer sun, the boats mounted what fishermen called pellestrinotti tiom, a typical shelter of reed mats supporting a canvas soaked in linseed oil to make it waterproof.

Course meals were prepared and consumed in the boat. The Pellestrina fishermen, preferring good food, trusted the preparation of meals to the oldest member of the crew, who was the most experienced and talented cook. Eating was not confined to a schedule, but indulged when work was slack. To be able to cook on board a wood boat, without running the risk of triggering a fire, the fughèra, a wooden box of about half a meter wide, lined with tin and filled partially with sand, contained a fire of wood. The embers of this fire improvised a grill on which fish, taken from the catch, simmered. A typical meal consumed in the fishing boat would include fish, polenta, and some fresh vegetables. Then there was wine, in which fishermen could take comfort during long vigils in the boat, on cold and stormy nights.

These are precious memories from elderly islander fishermen, of a world of weariness, fear and danger, but also of joy and love. The profound transformations of modernity and a rapidly changing society have not spared the small islands of the lagoon or Venice and have led to the abandonment of traditions, condemning them to oblivion.





This was the stimulus for a search for the living voice of the oldest fishermen's traditional culture of Pellestrina by:
Rita Vianello, Pellestrina fishermen, the fishing culture of the island
veneziana, Cierre Edizioni / Canova, 2004.






(translation by Doryman)