1. ENGLISH EVENT FLYER
Provincial Museum of San Ciprián
A museum for all among everybody
“The world makers”
San Cibrao is a land of the sea. It´s a peninsula, a portion of
land that goes out to meet the sea without fear. It´s hard,
dangerous, brave, slave…but also an open door to new
horizons, sometimes uncertain but always hopeful.
San Cibrao was the birthplace of ship makers and brave men
who travelled on board combing the sea to get their fruits. They
were able to sail to distant worlds. Unknown worlds, worlds of
memories, simple stories that forms people´s spirit. Stories to
tell …
Our Sea museum is the best narrator. Not in vain, for more
than forty years, this museum, that has never stopped working
as a school, leads us through a spiral of emotions and
sensations, heritage of our ancestors: the worldmakers.
To weigh anchors…! You are all welcome to this house:
your sea museum of San Ciprián.
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2. SECTIONS
The organization of the museum begins in a hall and
continues in four rooms, each one with a tematic theme. The
route will be accesible in each section. There is a plan in relief
and marks on the floor to improve the itinerary and the
accesibility. In the museum you can profit from a wide variety
of original artworks, scales and plates in relief to touch in each
section. Likewise, you can have print fliers with adapted texts:
cartels, room´s sheets, complementary information in braille,
big characters or letters, event fliers in different languages,
information put in pictogrammes, ipod LSE, language with
signs…and we will introduce new Multimedia Information
Points, audioguides with narrative information, and other
resource sounds and adapted phone visits.
ENTRY AND ROOM NUMBER 1
0 The school: A museum for all among everybody. The
Museum Heartbeat: ship engines and photographic file.
ROOM NUMBER 2
1. The Ribeira´s carpentry: The example of San Cibrao.
2. Tipology of sailing ship built in San Cibrao.
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3. 3. The art of “marear”. Looking at the North. The nautic
instruments and astronomic navigation.
ROOM NUMBER 3
4. Trades of the sea
5. The fishing history in San Cibrao: fishing tackles and
different instruments.
6. The sea life: something more than fishes.
ROOM NUMBER 4
7. The whale hunters.
THE MUSEUM WE WANT AND LOVE
In the last twenty years, the “New Museology” has been
developing in museum fields, an idea for the democratization of
valves and culture products, that means looking for the way to
bring culture to society, it doesn´t matter about culture or the
social status of the people. Because of this, several museums
have moved their attention and action to the visitor, but in the
words of Espinosa lecturer: “not for every visitor”. This kind of
museology usually forgets an important part of our society, that
is those people that have got a handicap that stops them from
having a “normal” life and can´t enjoy with completeness and
equal conditions of this culture experience. Nowadays, there
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4. are just a few museums that think about absolute accesibility as
a priority at the moment of investing in their new set it ups.
The Rede Museística Provincial of Lugo has been working
and fighting for more than ten years to make their museums
accesible to the public with disabilities. Our aim is withdraw
the “excepcional” as an adjective refering to accesibility, and
make it a commun factor to have in mind in the planification of
any social action and cultural event.
The culture is an interactive experience, we make culture,
and the museum is an instrument of mediation that has the
responsibility of communicating and establishing a dialogue
with the public. Therefore, the new project designed for
Provincial Museum of San Cibrao aspires to follow this
philosophy and to become a model of an open museum in all
senses, even, with full attention to the diversity, that will be
able to approach the message and make everyone part of the
activities.
We´ve been developing the practical application of Universal
Design to the Museologic and Museographic project from the
conception of global message to organization in space and in
time, integrating different sensory languages (visual, oral,
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5. tactile, kinesthetics),interactivity and comprehension acquire
the highest grade of global accesibility.
For the new project we count on the advice of people and
associations linked to discapacity, but also with the total
implication of San Cibrao neighbours, of the Mariña and
museums staff. We´ve wanted everyone who has taken part in
the new project of the museum, counting on their colaboration
and opinion.
The importance of San Cibrao museum is its special and
singular character, beyond its function as a cultural institution.
Since its birth as a school, a deep social implication with the
institution has always existed. This was the reason, that made
the institution the first Galician sea museum with public
character. It´s been making possible for years both functions as
a school, during winter, and a museum during summer
between 1969-1988.
The museum represents an icon for the region and, mainly
for San Cibrao town, and it´s an important part of the village.
For these reasons, we want:
- A didactic museum a museum that must continue being a
school, an instrument for learning and social education, a
method for reciprocal exchange of knowledge, deposit not only
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6. of inert objects, but also of inmaterial heritage, of historic
memory, and of regards that forms the identity of a village.
- An adapted museum an accesible museum, in the
expositive set it up and in speech.
- A social and sympathetic museum, that establish a
permanent dialogue with its environment, an inside-outside
museum that extends its action outside and establishes a live
conection of museum with its social and communitaire origins.
- An interactive and dinamic museum, in constant evolution
and in continuous construction, that generates a positive
synergy serves as a main center for new actions. The new
technologies of communication contribute to a bigger fluency
between the museum and the public and it will expand its
unlimited cultural activities.
- A museum of the future a museum close to people but
also open to the world. We want an open alive and human
museum in words of Georges Henri Riviére: “the success is not
measured by the number of visitors but by the number of visitors
who were taught something”.
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7. ENTRY AND ROOM NUMBER 1
Section 0: The school. A museum for all among everybody.
This building was born to be San Cibrao´s school in 1931,
thanks to Mr. José Mª Montenegro and his wife Mrs. Manuela
Goñí Maíste, they had been emigrants in Argentina. Their
donation (60.000 pesetas) allowed the building to be made of
granite stone, divided in two wings, one of them for masculine
school and the other for femenine school.
The building distribution is determined by their uses as a
mixed school. It had got two doors in the fachade that give
access to each classroom. In each classroom a room existed that
divide boys from girls.
In the sixties, the teacher, Mr. Francisco M. Rivera Casas, and
34 of their pupils turned “Ancient Schools” into a museum. In
1969 thanks to Alfredo Sánchez Carro, the Diputation of Lugo
agreed as a political act to create the museum. All together
they started an important work of recollecting sea objects, that
nowadays form an essential part of backgrounds which are
now part of the Museum of sea of San Ciprián collection. This
work counted, since its origins, on the absolute complicity of
society, interested in protecting their traditional relation and
link with the sea.
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8. In 1994, the Nautic section of Provincial Museum of Lugo, in
collaboration with its direction and neighbours to set it up as a
“museum” was inaugurated on the 12 th of August in 1994. The
Museum was managed by the Friends Association called “Cruz
da Venta” from 1994 until 2004. The Diputation of Lugo,
through the gerency, took over the direction of the Museum in
2004. Working with this responsibility, the “rede de museos”
started a reflection process and a study about identity of the
museum as a public institution that, besides its own functions
that include conservation, adquire, documentation,
investigation and diffusion, it will be a new space as a cultural
reference for current society.
Nowadays, it´s one of the four museums that is part of Rede
Museística Provincial. A museum for all among everyone.
THE MUSEUM HEARTBEAT
In the next space, the steam engine symbolize the museum
heart, the regenerator beat that fill with life the memory
corners and push us ahead. In this space, the audiovisual
methods serve as a communication channel between the
museum and their visitors. It is going to be a logbook where
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9. grafics evidences of our historic memory were picked up and
it´ll try to hummanize the objects that are part of the collection.
ROOM NUMBER 2
1. The Ribeira´s carpentry: the example of San Cibrao.
2. Tipology of sailing ships built in San Cibrao.
3. The art of “marear”: looking at North.
The theme of this area is the ribera´s carpentry of San Cibrao
and the most common constructive tipologies that went out of
their shipyards, showed in some model of ships in the
exposition, reply to scale large ships that had got a special
relevance in the San Cibrao history such as “Paca Gómez”, “ O
Industrial” ou Sargadelos schooner.
In the section 3 the art of “marear”. Looking at North. We will
put together the navigation instruments or nautic instruments,
essential to understand the navigation evolution and the
magnitude of their conquests, that leaded human beings to
discover new lands and to expand new geograhic and
intellectual horizons.
Likewise, we include “fanais” and position lights of ships as
significative elements for the navigation which function was to
mark the ship ubication and advice about manoeuvres during
departure.
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10. We´ve reserved an especial place for pieces from subacuactic
rescues, as in the case of shipwreck of Magdalena frigate and
Palomo brigantine. It happened in Viveiro´s estuary in 1810.
SECTION 1: The Ribeira´s carpentry. The example of San
Cibrao.
San Cibrao has counted on a large lineage of ship markers for
a long time. The book titled “Geografía del Reino de Galicia”
(1933) confirms that in the 14th century caravels were already
built in this area.
The definitive strength of naval construction in San Cibrao is
linked to the birth of Sargadelos factory at the end of the 18th
century. As a result of the increase of comercial flow, it also
increased the construction demand of coastal shipping for the
transport of manufactures and raw materials that were needed
in the factory. In this case, in the shipyard of the village they
began to build big sailing ships to travel around long routes,
mainly schooner and brigantine (and mixed variants of both),
such as Sargadelos schooner, and boats with less freight
capacity like “quechemarines”, “faluchas” or “pataches”, used
for displacements of less category and importance.
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11. Big boats were built with oars, like these boats “traiñóns” or
“chalupas” were employed for whale hunting or sardine fishing.
The shore carpenters searched in the woods for the most
appropiate trees for the moulds of the ship´s parts. Oak and
wood were mainly used because it was strong, for the ship
skeleton (keel and ribs) and pine or eucalyptus wood, due to its
flexibility and very useful for a ship part called “banzo” of hull.
Traditionally, cutting down the trees came about in autumm or
winter months, with crescent moon and at sunset, that is
because it is the day in which trees growth is lower (because it
has got less sap) to make wood treatments easier and to avoid
the rotting of wood. For it cutting down the trees tools such as
axe, “tronzador” (to cut up the wood) and a diferent kind of saw
such as “serra de aire”, “braceira” or “sierra portuguesa” were
used. To saw up pieces they used special saws called handsaw
and there are lot of varieties, such as “de costela”,” de punta” or
“de cotilla”. To work and to smooth down the wood, they had
special tools to cut, both sharp blade or not, such as: plane, jack
plane (in Spanish “garlopa”or “guillaume”), a kind of plane
called “cepillo de voltas”, hoes, or other tools called “trencha”
and gouge (in Spanish “gubia”). To measure: metres, squares,
compass, an ancient measure instrument that already existed in
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12. the Roman culture and its name is gauge (in Spanish “gramil”).
To hit and extract: hammer, mallet, pliers…and carpenter´s
brace (in Spanish “berbiquí”) and brace and bit (in Spanish
“barrenos”) to make a hole. And, finally, to press and hold down
a serie of tools with Galician names, such as “barrilete” (in
English ”cask”), “gato” (in English “jack”), “parafuso”,”prensas”
(“press”), “sargentos” or “sargentas” (in English sergeant
(masculine) and sergeant (femenine)).
When the hull is finished, they began the work of caulk. The
caulk consists of introducing between “banzos” of the
submerged part of the hull, two cords impregnated with pitch
to waterproof the boat.
Sails, sticks and the rest of the rigging were finished after the
ship was on the water with the hull floating. Sails were replaced
progressively by the steam machine, in the same way that it
was replaced by the explosive motor or diesel.
The apperance of iron to build bigger cargo ships headed for
carpentry decline, whose activity was reduced to smaller
fishing boats construction and reparations. They had got a new
period of splendour in the 60´s decade of the 20th century with
the emergence of tuna fishing.
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13. SECTION 2: Tipology of sailing
ships built in San Cibrao.
BRICBARCA
A ship with three or more sticks that distribute their sails in
all sticks except in the last, that elevate knife sails (“velas de
coitelo”), generally a kind of sails called in Galician “cangrexas”
to ilustrate it, like the English crustacean “crab”.
BRIGANTINE (Bergantín)
This ship usually has two sticks with all the rigging made by
“cuadras” sails (an especific kind of sail). It was recognised by
its displacement capacity, thanks to a big surface of sails that
was able to spread. They were faster than others and easier to
manoeuvre.
A variant of brigantine is the round brigantine, with two
sticks that elevate “cuadras”sails in the foremast and in the
bigger stick. It also has a crab sail (“vela cangrexa”) or
scandalous (“maricangalla”).
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14. BRIGANTINE-SCHOONER
Ship with two or more sticks with mixed sails between
brigantine and schooner. Its rigging
consists in sails called “cuadras” only
in the foremast and knife sails (“velas
coitelo”), mainly crab and scandalous
in the rest.
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15. SCHOONER
Regular pale, it had got two or more sticks of
the same height and only rigging in the knife
sails.
Appeared in the 18th century, it was able to reach great
speed. The knife rigging needs less people to manoeuvre. It is
used to move less displacement than brigantines.
Schooner variants are:
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16. Schooner called “velacho”
It was identified like “velacho” these with a sail cuadra in the
foremast. This element gives it more power when the wind
blows on the stern.
Schooner called “de gabias”
Its rigging was formed with
“gabias”, a kind of sail with square
shape in the high part of the biggest
stick.
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17. QUECHEMARÍN
Ship with less charge and importance. It had got stick with
sails in the third, a small mesana stick to stern, with an
important element (“botalón”) to prow where there was
“foques” and flying “gavias”useful when light winds blow.
PAILEBOTE
Its name came from “pilot boat” or pilot ship of USA East
Cost. Its rigging is usually the schooner, with crab
(“cangrexas”), scandalous and “foques”. Its use was spread in
the Mediterranean as a comercial ship.
The agility of this type of ship made it one of the favourites
during the war periods in England.
FALUCHOS
A boat with Mediterranean origins, was used mainly for
coastal shipping, but was also employed for fishing. It was
characterized by its lightness. It had got two sticks placed in
two bigger latine sails (triangular). With a large botalón in the
stern as a “bauprés”in which was placed a bigger foque.
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18. A GLOSSARY FOR BEGINNERS
Prow (popa): front part of the ship.
Stern (proa): back part of the ship.
Port (babor): looking to stern, left part of ship.
Starboard (estribor): looking to stern, right part of
ship.
Side (costados): two parts of hull.
Amuras: curved parts of sides that converge to make
the stern.
Wings (aletas): curved parts of sides that converge to
make the prow.
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19. Obra viva or “carena”: part of hull that it´s under the
water.
Flotation line (línea de flotación): it´s the line that
separates the live part (obra viva) of the dead part (obra
muerta), that´s to say it is determined by water level regarding
the hull.
A SHIP DIMENSIONS
Length (eslora): ship length measured since stern to
prow.
Manga: maxime width of ship, part until starboard.
Puntal: ship height from keel to high part of deck line.
Soaked (calado): vertical distance between keel and
flotation line. Measurement of the part of the ship under the
water (waterproof).
FORMER PARTS OF THE SHIP
Rigging (aparejo): in a sail ship the rigging was made
by the group that forms “arboladura”, “xarcia·” and sails.
Arboladura: it was formed by sticks and hangers, that
was used to hold down and manoeuvre sails.
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20. Sticks: each of one masts that serve to hold down the
hangers and to distribute sails. The main sticks of ship used to
be, from stern to prow, foremast, bigger and “messana”.
Foremast: stick near stern.
The biggest: it´s the main stick of ship, the highest.
Mesana: stick near prow.
Bauprés: stick that jut outs off hull like a
prolongation of stern and it was placed horizontally regarding
this.
Cofa: tableland placed horizontally in the higgest part
of stick to make the manoeuvre of high sails and place “vixías”
easier.
Xarcia: group of cable that is used to hold down and
manoeuvre arboladura and sails. It was standed out between
firm “xarcia de labor”formed by cables used to raise, lower or
direct rigging.
Sails: pieces of wollen material held down by stick
and hangers, they received the wind that allowed the boat to be
propelled. We could divide the types of sail in two big groups:
- Sails “cuadras”,round rigging or in cross, placed to
part to starboard and “aúrico” rigging and knife sails placed as
longitudinal shape from stern to prow.
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21. PARTS OF HULL
Hull (casco): ship body without its “arboladura”.
Keel (quilla): the main part of hull structure, placed
longitudinally in its part. It forms the spinal column of ship.
Rib (cuaderna): they are like the ship´s back. It has
got “U” or “V” shape, and it is place symmetrically to each side
of keel and finishes in the highest part of side, giving shape and
resistence to the ship. The banzos were nailed over them.
Baos: reinforcement transverse that join the ribs to
the high part, from part to starboard, and they are used as a
support for the decks.
Cover (forro): ship revestiment. Plank driven over
ribs.
Mamparos: they are the partition that divide the
inside of the ship.
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22. Borda: superior part of side that juts out of deck.
Rudder (timón): giratory pole installed in the prow in
vertical axle, join to mechanism in deck (since the 18th century,
the rudder) allowed the marking of the direction of thes ship.
SECTION 3: THE ART OF “MAREAR”. LOOKING AT
NORTH. THE NAUTIC INSTRUMENTS AND ASTRONOMIC
NAVIGATION.
The story of navigation: The art of “marear”
The sea control supposed an irrevocable break in the world
conception both from the point of view of the reason as the
faith. In the earliest days of Middle Ages, the navigation world
was an important and real art called “a arte de marear”. Since
the introduction of nautic needle1 (or in Spanish “aguja de
marear”) in the 13th century, the most popular method was the
navigation “a estima” whose only references were speed and
direction to determine an approximate position of the ship in
the sea. The speed was measured with the “corredera” it
consisted in a board linked to a string with knots tied to
irregular gaps. When a certain time passed the pilot threw the
string to the water by the stern and let it go during a while
1
It always marks magnetic N of Earth.
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23. (about 30 seconds) and helped by an hourglass could count the
knots, that´s to say, the nautical mile2 and he also calculated the
distance sailed.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the combination of
magnetic needle with the compass card3 (in Spanish the “rosa
de los vientos”) brought to the nautic compass, an essential
instrument for navigation until up to now.
The group of basic sailing instruments is completed with the
binnacle, whose initial purpose was to protect the compass
from bad weather conditions and to give stability to make the
direction lectures easier.
The 16th century is made up of points of inflection in the
navigation story. The Golden Age of discoveries begins. The
most powerful countries in the world started a fight without
respite to obtain new territories. They also needed to
consolidate the control over their territorial possesions and
keep a fluent communication with them. All of this is going to
be the reason why they invested their efforts to investigate new
techniques and more efficiant and exact navigation
instruments than the previous ones. In this way the transition
2
Nautic mile: 1.852 m.
3
It´s a disk in which appears marked 32 directions, “cuartas” or “vientos” posible in the navigation.
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24. to astronomical navigation happened which is based on direct
observation of stars position in relation to the earth to
determinate with precision the coordinates (length and
latitude) that also allowe the ship´s situation to be established
when it is out at sea and the coast is not seen as a reference
point anymore.
There was an improvement in the isnstruments already well-
known from the Middle Age as the astrolabe, “ballestilla”, or the
quadrant and the necessary steps to made new instruments
were taken, like the “octante” or “sextante” (in the 18th
century). These new objects were used to take down angular
measures of sun´s height on the North (or polar) Star when it
passes to meridian regarding a fixed point like the horizon and
that was very important and necessary to latitude (N-S)
calculus.
At the beginning of the third part of the 18th century John
Hadley´s octante appears. The instrument worked with the
physics idea of light reflexion. It measured height until 90º. The
“sextante” came up later like an “octante” evolution, because it
got to expand measure angle until 120º. Likewise it
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25. incorporated a mirror system that allowed putting on top in
just one plane the planet position over horizon. Also it was
used to calculate length giving the method to moon´s distances
based on the moon sistematic displacement regarding stars.
The results lack of neccesary and exact precision.
The determination of the length (E-W) was the weak point of
navigation lengthways of Modern Age, because to calculate
with exact precision, it´s neccesary to know in each moment the
exact hour of the place where the ship is. Therefore, it won´t be
until futher into the 18th century, with the nautic chronometer
when the definitive technic solution to the dilema was found
out.
THE SHIPWRECKS
The marine depths keep an interesting part of humanity
history in their bowels. Proof of that is as an important
testimony will be found in the museum from shipwrecks
happened in waters of Viveiro river, the dawn of 2nd of
november in 1810. Inmersed in a belic conflict with Napoleonic
France, a English and Spanish squadron in charge of guerrilla
Antonio Renovales weigh anchor from Ferrol, with the mision
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26. of controlling some of the Cantabric strategic parts, when they
were surprised by strong north-west winds. Some of the men
could look for shelter in the Viveiro river, but it was too late.
The storm got worse, and ships were not able to support the
strong colera of the sea. Among these ships were Magdalena
frigate and Palomo brigantine, with a lot of supplies. The
Magdalena frigate in its anxiety, attacked with violence against
England frigate Narcisus and finally it ran aground in Castelos,
a little island that flanked the Covas beach. In the frigate piled
up more than 550 people, rescued by others boats flooded by
the storm. The brigantine Palomo run aground in Sacido beach.
The Santa María Magdalena frigate measured 41,70 m. of
length by 10,25 of manga, and it displaced around 500 tonnes.
It was armed on deck with a battery composed of 18 canons of
18 pounds, and two canons of 18 pounds had to be added, two
canons of 6 pounds in the prow and 12 obuses in the fortress.
In the tragedy more than a million people died. There were a
lot of victims, that authorities undertook to bury the drowned
people in graves in the dunes of Covas beach.
In memoriam of these shipwreack, a monument of Castelos
in Covas beach (Viveiro) was inaugurated in 1934.
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27. ROOM NUMBER 3
4. TRADES OF THE SEA.
5. FISHING HISTORY IN SAN CIBRAO: RIGGING, TACKLE
AND FISHING ART.
6. SEA LIFE: SOMETHING MORE THAN FISHES.
In this room we will take the San Cibrao case as reference to
show, in particular to general, the symbiosis between coastal
village and its sea. Of this relation, trades directly linked to
work of catching fish of elaboration, its processing and its
marketing, and objects associated with these duties appear.
Fisherwomen, in Galician called “peixeiras” or
“pescantinas”, and working with their traditional instruments:
bacías, patelas…
Women who work with nets. They are “redeiras”and
employ wood needles and “malleiros”.
Cordeleiros: instruments that allow the elaboration
and repairing cables of boats.
We inclued some of fishing arts employed by sailors of San
Cibrao during its history. In this space, there are two important
pieces to pay attention to:
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28. A complete wetsuit of three pieces ( casaca, pantalón
faenero to work in the sea and cap), all made in traditional
shape with linen “encascado”.
An especific boat called “traiñón” or “txalupa baleeira”
with 3 m. of length with two sails.
We can´t describe this room without referring directly to the
aim of these works: the fruits of the sea. We inclued several
representations of marine fauna, mainly, collecting of
malacología made with shells (around 70% os total
backgrounds of the museum), total or parcial skeletons of
marine animals (whale and shark jaws, spades of spade fish,
skeleton of dolphin, etc), dissected animals like turttles, coral,
fossil, seaweeds…
SECTION 5: FISHING HISTORY IN SAN CIBRAO: THE
RIGGING AND PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION.
Traditional Galician song
“Hei ven o maio
que trai o tempo bo,
hei ven o maio
para pesca do traiñón.
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29. Hei ven o maio
Viste de señorito,
hei ven o maio
para pesca do bonito”.
Since its origins, San Cibrao has kept a close link to the sea.
The socioeconomics rhythms of the region are condicioned to
the rhythm of tides.
The early normal fishing as a complementary ocupation of
agriculture became in the vertebrador axle and the local
economy was organized around it. The fishing activity
generated a serie of trades (carpenters, “cordeleiros” people
who works with barrels, fisherwomen, “redeiras”, etc) who
directly or indirectly give work and occupation to an important
percentage of population.
In the early 20th century, the sardine was the protagonist. At
that time, there were three factories of “salgadura” in San
Cibrao. But from the 30´s, tuna began to be important. In spring
people fished “bocarte” or anchovy. Tuna fishing was in the
summer months, and from its end until winter other kind of
fish was fished: spade fish and “marraxo”. In the sixties, San
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30. Cibrao was, after Burela, the port with more tuna boats. In
these years, the comarca lived a crisis in the fishing sector and
because of that a lot of sailors changed the fishing to the
marketing navigation.
Now it´s the moment to describe briefly the most fishing arts
used on our coastal. We can establish a first division between
net arts and hook arts.
The net arts are divided in:
1. Fixed they are net material that were soaked vertically
through anchors in its inferior part, and with a bark or floating
line in the superior. It could be fixed at the bottom or between
water.
2. Volanta this kind of art is
documented on our coastal line
since the beginning of 16th
century. It was formed by an
unique material that can reach 8
km. of length. It was placed at the
bottom to capture bigger fishs,
like hake, sea bass or angler fish.
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31. 3. Trasmallo it was formed by three materials of
superimposed nets, the exteriors with bigger mesh than
interior. It was soaked at the bottom, to capture rock species
like “faneca” or conger eel.
4. Beta or volantilla it´s similar to volanta, but smaller, the
size would be the same as the mesh. It was used to fish:
pescada, faneca, meigas, sargos…
5. Rascos art of bottom of the sea with a big mesh, is use for
sea food capture (lobster, spider crab, etc) as fish (ray,
turbot…)
6. De deriva a technique of mesh, by means of floating or
drifting the net materials.
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32. 7. Xeitoa variety traditionally used for sardine fishing. In
the 17th century it was made in linen with smaller mesh. It´s a
surface art.
8. De cerco dedicated to certain capture, like sardine or
“xurelo”. The rigging is placed around the “cardumen”and the
art is closed with a string called “xareta”, forms a sack of fish.
9. Traíña in the 17th century, the “ traíña” was formed by
fishermen apportation of materials or “quiñones”. The result
was a rectangular net. It was thrown from the coast and then
hurled by the other extreme from a boat: “traíña”or “trincado”,
until it formed a circle over the fish bank.
10. Terrafa or terrafiña a variety used since the
appearance of steam ships.
11. De copo or de arrastre net materials from a kind of
closed sack that it´s pulled along by one or more boats. The
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33. dragging can be from the bottom (bentonic) or between two
water currents (pelagic).
12. Xávega it was introduced in Galicia by Catalonian
people.Its use generated conflicts in the marine communities
because they were predatory in excess. It consisted in a “cope”
net that loosened from land, and by another cable out to sea.
Fishing done in land, or with human traction or with animals
help.
13. Rapeta common variety on our coastal since
Modern Age. It´s also known as little back, ·”traíña menor” or
“rapeta de traíña”, it was characterized by not having “cope”.
14. Boliche or chinchorrowith an
important difussion in the 2nd half of 17th
century by its user-friendliness because of
its smaller size than “traíña”. It can be used in spaces more
reduced, normally to fish sardines. Nowadays, it has got
dimensions of 40 m. of large by 10 m. of high. It was formed by
two parts: “cope”and sack.
In Modern Age, nets and strings were made in linen or in
hemp, and later in cotton thread. For giving them resistence,
nets must be “encascadas”. The “encascado” consisted in boiling
them in cauldrons which bank of willow, oak or pine were
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34. added. Once it is scalded, nets extend over furniture called
“maseiros”or “artesas”, where the cauldron water was
depositated, dyed by effects of banks. In this shape, giving
colour to materials.
OF HOOK
Lines
It consists of a thread rolled around cork (“sirgo”) or wood
(“grádella). In the extreme, the line has got lead, and one or
more hooks.
Fishing line with hooks (palangre)
It was formed by a main line in which
others shorter that were drawn that go
hold down the hooks. The fishing lines
with hooks can be from the bottom to
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35. capture conger eel, or surface to capture pelagic species like
tuna, “marraxo”or spade fish.
Curricán
This art is used in Lugo coast to capture tuna. It consists of
putting large sticks on the ship sides which go coupled to
thread, or brazolas, and extrems the hooks. It works “á cacea”,
that´s to say, with ship in movement. Up to a short time ago, the
addition was made by whitening corn leaf and combed with
combs of wire to convert it in threads.
Poteras
They are formed with lead covered with coloured threads,
and finished in its inferior part with a crown of small hooks. It
was used to capture of “luras” and squids.
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36. To capture octopus and sea food, fishersmen employ the
“nasas”, that are a kind of cage or trap supplied with aberture
or mouth in shape of funnel that makes the entry of capture
easier and prevents its exit. They are made of different
materials, mainly wood, willow or metal. Their shape is
different depending on the capture (octopus, “faneca”, shrimp,
lobster, fiddler crab…)
Besides fishing, the shellfish is one of the other relevant
activities of the sector. The shellfish can be done on foot or
from a boat (shellfish afloat). Now we are going to describe
some of the rigging employed in this activity:
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37. 1. Sacho it´s similar to one used in agriculture. It´s useful to
remove sand to search: “chirla”,
clam…
2. Angazo a kind of rake that
employed to collect cockle,
“ameixa”,”coquina”, etc.
3. Rasqueta it´s like a spatula
that serves to pull up rock
barnacles and mussels.
4. Rastro it was used from a
boat to capture “ameixa”,cockle…
It was formed by a rake in which
a piece of net was added, and all the group go joined to a stick
with appropiate measurements depending on the depth.
5. Raño and gancha it´s similar to rake, but substitute
“cope” by a metalic bars. Both are lighter than others and are
easier to use.
6. Can or endeño it´s very useful to pull along because of its
size, it´s necessary to throw it to the water and then it´s going
to be pulled along by the boat. It´s allowed depths of more than
20 m. It is used to catch species like “ameixa” and scallops
(vieiras in Galician).
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38. Some auxiliary rigging,
useful to a fishing and shellfish
also exist:
7. Trueiro it´s composed by
a stick with a hoop joined to
incorporated a net back.
8. Tina or espello box of
wood with a glass at the bottom
that permits the capture of
spider crabs or sea urchins.
9. Bicheiro stick with an iron hook in one of the extrems
that is both used to fish and to couple cables or move the boat
closer to land.
ROOM NUMBER 4
The protagonists of these room are bone rests of whale. They
were collecting in the surroundings of San Cibrao beach,
speacially in the Cubelas where the hunted cetaceans were
processed in the 16th- 17th century. In the 20th century, whale
hunting returned to be a source of resources distinguished for
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39. local economy. The family Massó, one of the maior canning saga
of Galicia, installed one of the whale factories in Morás (Xove).
SECTION 7: THE WHALE HUNTERS
The whale hunting was documented in Vasquian ports since
the 12 th century. In the 14th century, a crisis in the capture,
made the Vasquian whale hunters, specially from Guipúzcoa
and Vizcaía, look for new places, at first it was because of
temporary that the tradition had to move progresivelly around
Cantabrian Coast.
In Galicia, the whale industry had their apogee between the
16th and 17th century. The most important whale bases were
placed in Lugo coast (Mariña Lucense for Lugo people), in
Rinlo, Foz, Nois, Burela, San Cibrao and Bares ports. In the
atlantic coastal, only Caión and Malpica ports developped
successfully this fishing. The hunting system was imported
from Vasquian tradition:
“They were killed in this way: they come up in a vantage point,
the point of a saw falling down over the sea and here begins to
jump a big amount of water making a lot of foam, and when the
whale has got half body outside the water, the vantage point
warned the sailors, who armed their boats and putting inside a
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40. bigger quantity of rope and with parts tied in the cabbles and
with harpoon, go to catch them and throw darts. The whales feel
attacked and furiously go out to sea very furious, with the
harpoon in their skin and fishermen following the rope until they
bleed and abandon their life. In this moment, the fishermen bring
them to cost where lots of oil is extracted from those whales by
making fire”
(Bartolomé Sagrario de Molina, Ldo. Molina, in his book
Description of Galicia Kingdom and its main important aspects)
The group of cetaceans, mainly Vasquian whale (Eubalaena
glacialis or Eubalaena Biscayensis) take care of them in the
Cantabrian sea in their emigration route from North Atlantic,
between October and March months. In this time, the fleet,
formed by a main “chalupa” and other auxiliaries, had got the
rigging ready to go out to sea in the moment when the vantage
point sees the whale and gives the warning. The Galician
chalupas measured belween 6 and 8,5 m. of length and had got
two sticks with their correspondent sails. The tripulation was
composed by eight or nine men. The animal was caught with
iron harpoons, with the point in the shape of an arrow. To
exhaust the animal, they pinched it with a sharp blade,
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41. destined to bleed the animal. Both rigging were tied to”estacha”
(hemp string).
When the whale was dead, it was tied between several boats
and lead to the coast for its displacement. For this operation
different types of knifes were used: carving knife (trinchante),
hard knife, axes, knife with double blade, etc.
The whale flat or “saín” was melted generally in the same
beach or in their surrounding area, in big cauldrons, and then it
was canned for marketing. The obtained oil was used as
combustible for lamps or for boats as time passed new uses
were found: it was made butter, soap, varnish…and uses in
perfumery and in pharmacy, etc.
With the whale whiskers, or “fanóns” wire sticks for
umbrellas were made, corset or fans, to pour out the wine,
horn…From cachalote´s head (Physeter macrocephalus) extract
the “espermaceti”or whale sperm, a liquid that anciently was
used as oil to spark plug and nowadays serve for elaboration of
cosmetics and pharmacy products.
In some places such as San Cibrao, Foz or Burela, the whale
industry took over to a productive comercial change with rest
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42. of Cantabrian aerea in the first half of the 17th century for
example arriving to France.
Between the end of 17th century and the start of 18th century,
the definitive decadence of whale hunting in our coasts took
place. It wasn´t until 1965 when whale turned to acquire
leading role in San Cibrao life, when the canning company
Massó installed one of their factories in Portiño de Morás
(Xove). The factory counted with modern instalations that
allowed the complete process of whales for obtaining and
canning oils and flour, and also for preparing meat to eat. The
captures were carried out from whale (baleeiros) ships, like the
“Carrumeiro” or “Cabo Moras”, with harpoons armed in its
prow.
It was closed in 1976, just before the declaration of
international moratory of comercial haunting of whale (1986).
Nowadays, these areas are occupied by Alcoa factory, one of the
basic pillars of economy of the area.
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