Quer vor dem Wind: mit dem Bragozzo auf Drift im Mittelmeer

Abstract

In 1899 a contribution which has been largely ignored to date by historians and authors specialising in the field of fishery appeared in the Mitteilungen aus dem Gebiete des Seewesens (reports on maritime affairs): “Fischerei im Adriatischen Meere mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der österreichisch-ungarischen Küsten” (Fishery in the Adriatic Sea with Special Regard to the Austro- Hungarian Coasts). In a publication amply furnished with illustrations, the Austrian fishery biologist Anton Krisch provides a highly detailed account of the various methods of drag-net fishing with the bragozzo. Remarkably, the progressive catching technique used in trawl-net fishing in the Baltic Sea was also employed on traditional vessels in the Adriatic. In both cases, a sack-like catching device was pulled across the bottom of the sea by a sailing vessel drifting broadside to the wind. In order to achieve the largest possible span from one end of this net to the other, both the bragozzi and the zeesenboats were extended in length by means of beams protruding from the bow and the stern. This catching method was practised on the Adriatic as well as the Baltic Sea until the mid twentieth century. The trawl nets were referred to by the German fishermen as “Zeese” and by their Italian counterparts as “tartana” and “grippo.” Because of the fact that the name “tartane” is generally used by maritime historians to refer to a historical Mediterranean ship type, the authors of literature on zeesenboats failed to take notice of the term. A monograph entitled Il Bragozzo, written by the Italian maritime historian Mario Marzari, appeared in 1982. This work contains an authentic description of the fishing method under consideration. The article on hand provides an interesting new perspective on the history of fishery in Europe.