TECHNIQUE, CULTURE AND MARITIME HERITAGE: THE LEGACY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SHIPBUILDERS

Abstract

The craft of shipbuilding, its techniques, tools and the final products, the ships, as well as the knowledge necessary for their manufacture, are part of the universal maritime cultural heritage. Wood shipbuilding is an endangered ancestral trade, thus putting at risk one of the most important elements of the identity of European coastal regions. The scarce academic historiography on shipwrights as protagonists is the main reason for this paper, which delves into their roots, revealing some of the most relevant aspects that define and identify the importance of the subject, such as the main activities done, their historical contextualization, their techniques, tools, and the seafaring lingua franca they shared. Therefore, the main goal is to provide a reference source for those who try, both theoretically and practically, to restore and conserve this ancestral profession on which there is hardly any information or research. It follows that the restoration and management of this heritage, with broad connections to other related activities, can help economic and patrimonial consolidation in underdeveloped maritime areas, as it can be useful in laying the foundations for a future cultural tourism in which these ancestral techniques are protagonists and serve to enhance maritime identity in coastal regions.