Page 41 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 41
Assistance to Ships and Cargo Handling in the Early Modern Port of Genoa
Despite this, especially during strong libeccio winds, every now and then
accidents would occur within the harbour that at times even caused ship-
wrecks (Iodice and Piccinno 2021, 96–7).
As soon as vessels entered the roadstead, numerous port servic-
es for both navigation and cargo handling were made available to them.
The Arte dei Linguisti, the Interpreters’ Guild, would be called on to help
foreign seafarers carry out all formalities related to anchorage, health
checks, and payment of duties. Moreover, interpreters would offer assis-
tance when an average claim had to be submitted to the magistracy in
charge, namely the Conservatori del Mare. The so-called fruttaroli and
minolli were in charge of ship supplies like food and ballast, respectively.
The barcaioli, the boatmen, transshipped cargoes from one ship to anoth-
er on board different types of smaller boats and carried the cargo ashore
for the ships that had to stay in the roadstead, carried passengers into the
port, and aided ships in distress.
As far as shore services were concerned, porters were divided into
different guilds depending on the type of product they had to handle and
the quay they were serving: they were in charge of loading and unload-
ing, and would manually carry the goods to and from the quays to vari-
ous destinations in the city. Both bulk and packaged goods were handled
by different types of skilled workers – from those in charge of weighing
grain and oil (misuratori), to those packing the goods (called ligaballe), as
well as those (barilai and bottari) handling watertight containers such as
barrels and drums for the transport of wine and oil. Finally, the Guilds
of calafati – caulkers, maestri d’ascia – shipwrights, and stoppieri da pece –
in charge of waterproofing ship timber with pitch and tar, were involved
in ship building and repair, which were carried out in the Darsena – dry
dock, and in the arsenal, as well as in private shipyards. In Genoa, the ma-
jority of shipyards were not stable establishments. Mostly, freely avail-
able areas near the sea were used where wooden shacks were built for
temporary storage of materials and tools used for shipbuilding and hull
repair.
Overall, the labour force working in the port of Genoa between the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is estimated to number around
1000–1300 workers, or about 2% of the city population (which had about
55,000 inhabitants on average). By the end of the eighteenth century,
however, this figure had practically doubled, accounting for about 3–3.5%
of the entire population and over 10% of the city’s male workforce (Doria
41
Despite this, especially during strong libeccio winds, every now and then
accidents would occur within the harbour that at times even caused ship-
wrecks (Iodice and Piccinno 2021, 96–7).
As soon as vessels entered the roadstead, numerous port servic-
es for both navigation and cargo handling were made available to them.
The Arte dei Linguisti, the Interpreters’ Guild, would be called on to help
foreign seafarers carry out all formalities related to anchorage, health
checks, and payment of duties. Moreover, interpreters would offer assis-
tance when an average claim had to be submitted to the magistracy in
charge, namely the Conservatori del Mare. The so-called fruttaroli and
minolli were in charge of ship supplies like food and ballast, respectively.
The barcaioli, the boatmen, transshipped cargoes from one ship to anoth-
er on board different types of smaller boats and carried the cargo ashore
for the ships that had to stay in the roadstead, carried passengers into the
port, and aided ships in distress.
As far as shore services were concerned, porters were divided into
different guilds depending on the type of product they had to handle and
the quay they were serving: they were in charge of loading and unload-
ing, and would manually carry the goods to and from the quays to vari-
ous destinations in the city. Both bulk and packaged goods were handled
by different types of skilled workers – from those in charge of weighing
grain and oil (misuratori), to those packing the goods (called ligaballe), as
well as those (barilai and bottari) handling watertight containers such as
barrels and drums for the transport of wine and oil. Finally, the Guilds
of calafati – caulkers, maestri d’ascia – shipwrights, and stoppieri da pece –
in charge of waterproofing ship timber with pitch and tar, were involved
in ship building and repair, which were carried out in the Darsena – dry
dock, and in the arsenal, as well as in private shipyards. In Genoa, the ma-
jority of shipyards were not stable establishments. Mostly, freely avail-
able areas near the sea were used where wooden shacks were built for
temporary storage of materials and tools used for shipbuilding and hull
repair.
Overall, the labour force working in the port of Genoa between the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is estimated to number around
1000–1300 workers, or about 2% of the city population (which had about
55,000 inhabitants on average). By the end of the eighteenth century,
however, this figure had practically doubled, accounting for about 3–3.5%
of the entire population and over 10% of the city’s male workforce (Doria
41
