Trabaccolo
The Trabaccoló, Trabaccalo, or Trabakul, is a type of Adriatic Sea sailing coaster. The name comes from the word trabacca, which means tent, which in turn recalls the vessel's sails. The trabaccoló was a typical Venetian boat-form that dates back to the first half of the 15th Century, and which has spread throughout the Adriatic. Built of oak and larch, they were slow but reliable cargo vessels ranging between 50 to 200 deadweight tons. They had round bows and sterns, and were wide, compact, and with good stowage. Other characteristics included a large rudder that extended below the depth of the keel, two masts with lug-sails and rigging, a bowsprit, and a carved and colorfully painted stern. The usual such vessel was about 20 meters long, with a breadth equal to about a third of the length. Typically a trabaccoló would have a crew of 10 to 20 sailors.
Today, the Marine Museum of Cesenatico (Museo della Marineria di Cesenatico) has a restored, functioning trabaccoló, the Barchet, which participates in sailing events during the summer.
History
During the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, it was common for trabaccolós to carry some armament in the form of two or three cannons. The vessels were not only prey to pirates and privateers, but also were fair game for naval vessels seeking prizes.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Royal Navy frigates cruising the Adriatic, such as HMS Cerberus and HMS Amphion, took a large number of tabaccolós as prizes.
The 14-gun cutter HMS Pigmy captured several.[1] On 17 January 1790 she captured the Imperial trabaccolo Divine Providence, which was carrying a cargo of rope from Cesenatico to France. On 18 February 1801, off the island of Lafrina, Pigmy captured L'Adelaide, a French privateer trabaccoló armed with two 12-pounders and one 6-pounder cannon, and carrying a crew of 51 men. On 15 March, Pigmy encountered yet another trabaccoló off the Isle of Lonzo. Pigmy chased the vessel to the Isle of Molata where the quarry anchored and hoisted French colours. When Pigmy fired a shot, the French vessel struck. She turned out to be the privateer Achille, armed with four 9-pounders and six 2-pounders, and carrying a crew of 44 men. Achille had only been out of Ancona for one day.
On 25 October 1807, the 20-gun, sixth rate HMS Herald was off Otranto when she found an armed trabaccolo anchored under the fortress there. Under fire from both the vessel and the shore, a boat party from the Herald cut-out the vessel, which turned out to be the French privateer Cesar, armed with four 6-pounders. The Cesar was sailing from Ancona to Corfu with a cargo of rice and flour.[2]
On 21 December 1812, the 38-gun frigate HMS Apollo, Captain Bridges Watkinson Taylor commanding, accompanied by the brig-sloop HMS Weazel, chased a trabaccoló under the protection of the tower of San Cataldo, on the coast between Brindisi and Otranto. The boats of the two vessels captured the tower and blew it up.
On 2 February 1813, the 18-gun sloop HMS Kingfisher captured one trabaccoló and ran nine ashore at St. Catherine's, Corfu.
On 22 Mar 1813, boats from HMS Havannah captured a large trabaccoló armed with three 8-pounders, and burnt a similar one laden with oil, under the town of Vasto. On the 26th, boats from Havannah captured five armed trabaccolos and five feluccas laden with salt, near the town of Fortore. [3]
References
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