78
several times, and what led it to Dalmatian waters just
before the beginning of the winter ban on sailing, which
according to the Senate’s decree began on 15 November
and ended on 20 January. Perhaps the quantity of loaded
goods did not satisfy the ship-owners, or climatic condi-
tions in the autumn of 1583 were unsuitable for a long
voyage. In any case, as late as October Tranquillo Co-
letti and Battista della Bella loaded their goods, while a
Greek fromAthens, Antonio Platipodi, loaded three bales
of linen of various colours and a bolt of green-crimson
damask fabric. According to the documents, Platipodi’s
goods were sealed and designated with his trade stamp.
The ship set off shortly before 29 October 1583, and
the Flemish merchant of Jewish descent, Guglielmo
(Wilhelm) Helman, loaded two unusually valuable pac-
kages on it at the last possible moment: a small iron chest
and trunk in a sealed linen roll – and notified merchant
Antonio Paruta who was expecting them in Constanti-
nople. It is precisely thanks to his letter that we know ro-
ughly when the
Gagliana grossa
set off on its last voyage.
The adjective
grossa
in its name indicated that this was
a ship with a carrying capacity of 600 to 1,000
botti
(the
Venetian word for barrel; also a unit of measure), which
translated into modern-day tonnage is roughly 377-629 t,
and assumes a vessel length of approximately 30-40 m.
Since the carrying capacity of ships called galleons (Ve-
net.
galeone
) usually did not exceed 400
botti
, the
Gaglia-
na grossa
was never described as such a ship in the docu-
ments. In the Zadar Statute, printed in Venice in 1564,
among the high-tonnage ships, only the
nave
(Lat.
navis
)
is explicitly mentioned, even though “other vessels” are
generally mentioned, which were included in this cate-
gory (Book IV, Chapter 10).
The name
Gagliana
was assigned to all ships owned by
the da Gagliano family. The archival documents from
1568 further recorded several ships bearing the name
Ga-
gliana
. A document issued on 17 August 1575 mentions a
ship of this name commanded by Constantin Coluri. Per-
haps this was the same ship which sank near the island of
Unije on 12 September 1578. Each ship, besides the name
which indicated its owner, also bore its ‘personal’ name,
most often that of a saint. This was more rarely used in
the official records, so in the case of the
Gagliana grossa
,
which sank in 1583, this name remains unknown.
A recently discovered document revealed that the ship
(carrying capacity 1,000
botti
) was constructed in the Ve-
netian shipyard for trade with the eastern Mediterrane-
an, and was launched in September 1569. The ship’s first
owners were Benedetto da Lezze, Piero Basadonna and
Lazzaro Mocenigo. In 1570, the ship transported troops
to Cyprus for the needs of the Venetian Republic, and it
fell into Ottoman hands already in the following year. In
1581 it was sold in Constantinople toOdoardo da Gaglia-
no. The ship was certainly in poor condition and left wit-
hout its original armaments, so the new owner repaired it
and equipped it with new cannons, which he managed to
Neovisno o njezinom istinskom podrijetlu, činjenica je da
je sultanova majka svojom politikom iskazivala veliku na-
klonost prema Mletačkoj Republici i s njom uspostavila
čvrstu vezu.
Zbog čega je Senat za ukrcaj prozorskih stakala odabrao
brod
Gagliana grossa
možemo za sada samo nagađati, no
vjerojatno se krajemrujna činilo kako je utovar pri kraju, a
brod spreman za polazak u Carigrad. Osim toga, mletački
je dužd Niccolò da Ponte nekoliko mjeseci ranije primio
na dar dva brokatna odijela koja mu je istim brodom iz
Carigrada poslala sultanija Nūr Bānū.
Nije nam poznato što je više puta odgađalo isplovljavanje
broda te ga odvelo u dalmatinske vode neposredno pred
početak zimske zabrane plovidbe koja je odlukom Senata
započinjala 15. studenoga i završavala 20. siječnja. Možda
količina ukrcane robe nije zadovoljavala brodovlasnike ili
su vremenske prilike u jesen 1583. bile izrazito nepovoljne
za polazak na duži put. U svakom slučaju, još u listopadu
svoju su robu krcali TranquilloColetti i Battista della Bella,
a Grk iz Atene, Antonio Platipodi, ukrcao je tri bale plat-
na različitih boja i zavežljaj tkanina od zeleno-grimizne
damascirane svile. Iz dokumenata saznajemo i kako je
Platipodijeva roba bila zapečaćena i označena njegovim
trgovačkim žigom.
Brod je isplovio tek nešto prije 29. listopada 1583., a
flamanski trgovac židovskoga podrijetla Guglielmo
(Wilhelm) Helman u zadnji je čas na njega ukrcao dvije
neobično vrijedne pošiljke – željezni kovčežić i škrinjicu u
zapečaćenom platnenom svežnju – te o svome činu izvije-
stio trgovca Antonia Parutu koji ih je očekivao u Carigra-
du. Upravo zahvaljujući njegovom pismu poznato nam je
otprilike vrijeme kad je
Gagliana grossa
krenula na svoje
posljednje putovanje.
Pridjev
grossa
u njezinom imenu označavao je kako je riječ
o brodu nosivosti od 600 do 1000 bačava (mlet.
botti
), što
bi prevedeno u današnju tonažu iznosilo oko 377 – 629 t i
pretpostavljalo dužinu broda od oko 30 – 40 m. Kako no-
sivost brodova zvanih galijuni (mlet.
galeone
) najčešće nije
prelazila 400 bačava,
Gagliana grossa
nikada u dokumen-
tima nije pripisana tom tipu plovila. UZadarskom statutu,
tiskanomuVeneciji 1564. godine, među brodovima velike
tonaže izrijekom se spominje samo nava (lat.
navis
), iako
se načelno spominju i “druga plovila” koja su se ubrajala u
tu skupinu (Knjiga IV., Glava 10.).
Ime
Gagliana
bilo je pridijeljeno svim brodovima u vla-
sništvu obitelji da Gagliano. U arhivskim dokumentima
od 1568. nadalje zabilježeno je više brodova koji su nosili
ime
Gagliana
. U dokumentu izdanom 17. kolovoza 1575.
godine spominje se brod toga imena kojim je zapovijedao
Constantin Coluri. Možda je riječ o istom brodu koji je
12. rujna 1578. godine potonuo kod otoka Unija. Svaki je
brod, uz ime koje je upućivalo na njegovog vlasnika, imao
i svoje ‘osobno’, najčešće svetačko ime. Ono se u službenim
spisima rjeđe koristilo, pa nam u slučaju broda
Gagliana
grossa
, potonulog 1583. godine, još uvijek nije poznato.
Zahvaljujući nedavno otkrivenom dokumentu saznalo
