Italian
It was the early light of dawn on April 25, 1431 when the Querina, a large merchant sailing ship, known colloquially as a “caravel” [1], left the safe harbor of Candia, on the island of Crete. An island that, since 1200, following the IV Crusade, was part of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.
The sailing ship was commanded by Pietro Querini, a Venetian patrician, who meticulously wrote the diary of that terrible, dramatic, but in some ways extraordinary adventure! [2] A journey also narrated by the two ship officers Nicolò De Michiele and Cristofalo Fioravante, who dictated their version upon their return to “a man of culture”. [3]
With 68 crew members of various nationalities, the ship was heading to the Flanders and carrying a cargo of 800 barrels of malmsey, ginger, scented cypress, pepper, various spices, cotton, wax, and other valuable goods.
The Querina immediately encountered adverse winds and near Cadiz, due to a pilot error, it hit the rocks of the San Pietro reef, breaking the rudder. Upon reaching the port of Cadiz on June 3rd, the captain organized all the necessary activities to repair the rudder. It took more than a month, and on July 14th, the sailing ship resumed its journey. With a strong tailwind, the Querina continued swiftly along the route to the Flanders, but a further technical issue forced the Captain to head to Lisbon for the necessary repairs.
It took several days to get the ship back in order and on September 24 the Querina finally set sail for Muros (a port in north-western Spain) where it arrived on October 26, stopping for two days. The crew needed time to replenish food and water supplies. As they resumed sailing, fate continued to strike the ship and its crew. Between November 5 and 12, after rounding Cape Finisterre (“end of the earth” – the extreme north-western point of Spain), the Querina, heading towards the English Channel, was hit by a terrible storm. The force of the wind pushed the ship off course, preventing it from reaching the English Channel and pushing it further west towards the island of Sarienga (Scilly Isles off the south-western coast of Great Britain).
The Querina was at the mercy of the waves for days on end. “…We found ourselves in the open sea, in the storm, with no possibility of steering the ship, the sails raised at the mercy of the wind that now swelled them, now forced them to lie down, always off course, taking us away, against our will, from the land…”[5]. The storm continued to worsen, growing stronger. The crew desperately tried to anchor the ship to the seabed by tying together various ropes to the anchor, and for one night the goal was achieved. But then, the force of the tides and the strength of the wind caused some terrified sailors to cut the rope holding the ship anchored. The Querina was once again at the mercy of the sea, unable to be steered and often literally submerged by the large waves.
The men, half immersed in the water, desperately tried to empty the boat but to no avail. Despite the crew being composed of experienced sailors, despair was growing by the hour. Then the sea calmed down, but not for long. The ship was now in no condition to sail and was taking on more and more water. So the captain and his sailors, in the middle of the ocean, driven by the will to survive, made the decision to cut the main mast which, fortunately, fell into the sea to lighten the boat. They hoped that the water would stop coming in. But they realized that it was not the solution to try to save themselves. The Querina continued to take on water and was no longer manageable.
So the captain gave the order to abandon the ship and try to reach land with two boats on board. On December 17, twenty-one sailors embarked on a “schifo,” a small sailing boat, and forty-seven, including the captain and the two officers, on a larger lifeboat. They loaded the remaining fresh water, supplies, and all the barrels of wine they could. After a day of sailing, the schifo disappeared from the sight of the forty-seven sailors on the larger boat, and nothing more was heard of them. But the sea showed no mercy. Even the large lifeboat continued to take on water. They were forced to throw most of the provisions overboard and work tirelessly to keep the boat afloat. Without food, finished wine and fresh water, forced to drink seawater, the crew was exhausted and exposed to a freezing cold . “…Three or more people were at the helm and in the bilge, and they suffered from an immense cold that you, in the comforts of Venice, have not even seen that time it was so intense that the sea froze and many people, walking on the ice, accompanied the bride in a cart to her husband in Marghera. …”. [6]
Several began to die. Then on January 3rd they saw land and finally on January 6th they reached the shore. “We found ourselves on an uninhabited island called the Island of the Saints (Lofoten archipelago), on the Norwegian coast, under the reign of Dazia. Eighteen men stepped onto the land, two remained to make sure the boat was not damaged by the sea’s swells. In a place less exposed to the winds, we managed with flint stones, some dry twigs, and two pieces of branches to light a fire, which was most welcome, at the sight of which our frozen limbs regained some sensitivity…”[7].
They drank melted snow, fed on shells, and when they decided to set sail again because the island was deserted, they realized that the boat was taking on water and it was no longer possible to set sail.
After a brief consultation, the commander and the two officers decided to use the hull to build two small shelters. One day, while searching for food, some sailors came across a hut that was certainly used in the summer. There were twelve of them left. Ten set off towards the hut, while two remained in the shelter because they could no longer move. “… The other ten of us took the wood from the boat and went towards the house. I also had my crucifix painted on a small wooden board that had never abandoned me, nor I it. There was a lot of snow and I, being weaker than the others, struggled a lot to get there, even though it was only a little over half a mile from our shelter. Once we arrived, it seemed like a great remedy because it sheltered us from the wind and snow. We cleaned it as best as we could and lay down to rest. …”[8]
Fate wanted that during their daily walks along the beach in search of seashells, some sailors found a large fish that fed them for a short period, albeit with some tension among them, eager to have a share of the food.
Then once again oblivion and discouragement, until a new sign of destiny gave the survivors a faint hope. While exploring the island in search of something to eat, they noticed the presence of cattle dung and thought that maybe they would meet someone! Luckily, some time before, a shepherd from the neighboring island had lost two oxen. At the insistence of his two sons, he began to search for them. Upon landing on the island of the Saints, the father stayed to guard the boat and the two young men set out to look for the oxen, when they noticed smoke coming from the summer hut. So they cautiously approached, calling out loudly.
Locked in the cabin, half asleep, the sailors thought that the voices they heard were actually the cawing of the many crows they had seen. But then Cristofalo Fioravante said that they were human voices! Even though they couldn’t understand a word!
Surprised by their presence, the two young men returned to their father, took food and water, and refreshed the poor exhausted sailors. Then they decided that two sailors would go back with them to the nearby village of Rusente (Isola di Rost) because there was not enough space for everyone on the boat. On February 3rd, six boats filled with supplies returned to pick up all the survivors. They arrived in Rusente and were hosted in the fishermen’s houses as if they were family!
And the surprising thing is that at this point the commander’s diary and the officers’ account take a different turn. Despite the difficult and precarious situation, a great curiosity for these very different people arises in them. Curiosity that leads them to continue the narrative as if it were a report of an exploration, with ethnographic notes, giving us pages that I consider extraordinary.
They stayed there for three and a half months, treated as part of the community.
In his diary, Commander Querini describes them as good people, of beautiful appearance without any prejudice, pure. He recounts that women, to go to bed, undressed naked in front of them and that on Thursdays men and women went to the thermal baths completely naked without any problem. He also does not fail to describe their homes in detail. “Their homes are made with round woods. They have only a straight skylight in the middle of the ceiling. In winter, when the cold is unbearable, they close it with fish skin worked in such a way that it lets light pass through.” [9].
It is unimaginable for us, I believe, the way Pietro Querini tells us about how the inhabitants of the island of Rost educate their children to the cold. “…Their children, at just four days old, they place them under the skylight and uncover them, so they adapt to the cold of the region, and endure it better, and let the snow fall on them, and for the entire winter that we stayed there, from February 5th to May 13th, it always snowed. And the children who survive infancy are so toughened and accustomed to the cold that they no longer care about it…”[10]
Querini and the two officers also note the difference in daylight hours at those latitudes. “… For three months a year, from June to September, the sun never sets, and in the opposite months, it is almost always night. From November 20th to February 20th, the night is continuous, lasting twenty-one hours, although the moon is always visible; from May 20th to August 20th, instead, the sun is always visible or at least its glow…”[11].
Finally, when describing the type of diet, they talk about the preparation of stockfish.
“…They catch countless quantities of fish each year, but only of two species: one, which is in greater, incomparable quantities, are called sturgeon; the other are shads, but of a remarkable size, I mean weighing two hundred pounds each. The sturgeons are dried in the wind and sun without salt, and because they are fish with little oily moisture, they become as hard as wood. When they are to be eaten, they are beaten with the back of a mallet, which makes them come out like nerves, then they are seasoned with butter and spices to give them flavor: and this is a great and invaluable commodity for that sea of Germany. The shads, being very large, are cut into pieces, salted, and thus are good (…). …” [13].
On May 15, 1432, with the help of the fishermen of Rost, the survivors of the Quirina begin their journey back, and after various adventures, on October 12, 1432, they finally reach their beloved Venice.
The commander took care to bring with him a large quantity of stockfish and, according to the most common tradition, it was he who introduced it to Venice with great success. “…stockfish, which immediately enjoyed great success and which the Venetians learned to appreciate, both for its gastronomic goodness and for its characteristics as a long-lasting food very useful both in sea and land travels, as well as for the characteristic of being a “lean food”, thus becoming one of the recommended dishes in the over 200 lean days, established, along with other foods, on December 4, 1563, the date of the XXV and final session of the Council of Trent…”[14].
So what was supposed to be a long journey with great commercial value, of which there would have been no memory, one of the many for the time, turned into a true adventure masterfully described by Pietro Querini and by Nicolò De Michiele and Cristofalo Fioravante, the two ship officers. Their stories are a testimony of strength, audacity, courage in the face of continuous adversities encountered, but also the description of lifestyles of people unknown to them so different and uncontaminated, of interesting ethnographic notes not least the “discovery” of what will become a delicacy in Venice and surroundings… stockfish![15
[1] “The carrack was a large sailing ship with three or four masts and a prominent bowsprit developed in Europe during the so-called ‘Age of Discovery’… the carrack became the main high seas vessel in the 16th century, used by the Portuguese for long voyages to the Indian Ocean. It was supplanted during the 17th century by the galleon, which had evolved from the carrack itself. In its fully developed form, the carrack was the first ship suitable for long oceanic voyages, wide enough to handle rough seas and spacious enough to carry sufficient provisions. It had a high, rounded stern with a pronounced forecastle and bowsprit, and a reinforced bowcastle. The masts, of varying heights, carried square sails on the foremast and mainmast, and lateen sails on the mizzen mast. As the direct precursor to the galleon, the carrack was one of the most important ship types in history and maintained its form, with slight evolutionary changes, over the centuries.” Source: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrack
[2] “Venetian patrician (Nobilis Homo) of the powerful Querini family and therefore a rightful member of the Maggior Consiglio of the Serene Republic. He was Lord of the island of Crete, the fiefs of Castel di Temini and Dafnes, famous for the production of Malvasia wine which he traded especially with the Flanders. “Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
[3] “The Shipwreck of the Querina: Venetians in the Arctic Circle” by Piero Quirini, Nicolò De Michiele, Cristofalo Fioravante – Published edited by Paolo Nelli, Nutrimenti Mare, 2018
The original report written by Querini for the Senate (constitutional body of the Republic of Venice) is now preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library. Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
[4] The story of the two ship officers, Nicolò De Michiele, Cristofalo Fioravante, is preserved at the Marciana Library in Venice
[5] “The Shipwreck of the Querina” from the story by Nicolò De Michiele, Cristofalo Fioravante op cit. page 52
[6] “The Shipwreck of the Querina” from the story by Nicolò De Michiele, Cristofalo Fioravante op. cit. pages 26,27
[7] “The shipwreck of the Querina” from the story by Nicolò De Michiele, Cristofalo Fioravante op. cit. page 29
[8] “The Shipwreck of the Querina” from the account by Pietro Querini, op. cit. pages 66,67
[9] “The Shipwreck of the Querina” from the account by Pietro Querini op. cit. p.74
[10] “The Shipwreck of the Querina” from the account by Pietro Querini op. cit. page 74
[11] Source: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
[12] It is the “sea sparrow” very common in the cold seas of the north and in the northern Adriatic Sea
[13] Source: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
[14] Source: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
[15] “The inhabitants of Røst have since then always nurtured a deep gratitude towards Pietro Querini, so much so that on the five hundredth anniversary of the shipwreck, they erected a memorial stone in his honor on the island of Sandøy with the commitment and presence of the then Ambassador of Italy, Count Alberto de Marsanich. In Røst, a small islet was named “island of Sandrigo“, in memory of the town in province of Vicenza where the traditional baccalà feast is held annually, a dish of the Vicenza cuisine based on stockfish from the Lofoten islands. Conversely, in Sandrigo, a square was dedicated to Røst. In 2017, the Pietro Querini Literary Park (litteraturpark på Røst) was established with the Municipality of Røst and the support of the Italian Embassy. The Park began its activities in 2018. Source: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Querini
