Mljet, or Sveti Pavao

Country: Croatia

Place: Sveti Pavao shallows, southeastern shoreline of Mljet island, southwest of Korita, in 37-46 m of water

Type: Venetian round ship; unusual for the type in that it appears to be bottom-based, with a keel plank rather than a true keel

Identified: Not identified by name; identified as Venetian based on the artifact assemblage and armament

Dated: Initial surveys suggested the fifteenth century; artillery pieces cast by Venetian founder Tommaso di Conti before 1540; a bronze bell dated 1567; based on the full artifact collection, the ship is believed to have sunk between 1574 and 1585, presumed around 1580

Number of Masts: At least one; part of the mainmast step has been excavated

History of the shipwreck

Mediterranean coasts with island archipelagoes were often used by mariners for stopovers on long sea voyages (Crowley 2011, 28). The islands of the Dalmatian coast of modern Croatia were adjacent to historic trade routes in the Adriatic and became a strategic area of importance, occupied by various powers over the centuries. The remains of a shipwreck in the Sveti Pavao shallows, along the southeastern shoreline of Mljet island southwest of Korita, were reported to authorities in the early 1990s. Initial surveys of the site retrieved artifacts that suggested the ship was from the fifteenth century (Beltrame and Miholjek 2014, 2).

Few wrecks along the Croatian coastline were known for this period, which led to systematic archaeological work on the site beginning in 2007. Early fieldwork focused on retrieving seven bronze artillery pieces and other artifacts that could be lost to souvenir-hunting divers. Inscriptions on the artillery pieces included weights based on the Venetian pound and showed that they were cast by Venetian founder Tommaso di Conti before 1540 (Beltrame et al. 2017, 403; Miholjek and Zmaić 2013, 108).

Beginning in 2010, the Department of Underwater Archaeology and the Croatian Conservation Institute began working with the Humanities Department of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice to analyze the hull remains. The site itself is 37-46 m deep, on a steeply sloping sand bottom; artifacts and ballast were scattered over a wide area. Bottom time was limited by the depth to 18-20 minutes on average, and the joint team worked for two field seasons to recover 316 artifacts (Beltrame and Miholjek 2014, 4).

Most of the recovered material suggests a ship carrying an inbound cargo from the Ottoman Empire, as the main assemblage consists of blue and white faience bowls from Iznik in modern-day Turkey and lead seals alluding to sacks or leather bags of textiles (Zmaić Kralj 2014, 65-6; Bezak 2014, 119-20). Other materials include ceramic jugs, kitchenware, animal bones, and a collection of Ottoman (1512-85) and Saxony (1544-59) coins (Miholjek and Zmaić 2013, 107-8). Another major artifact recovered was a bronze bell with the year 1567 on the relief, suggesting a possible date for when the ship was built (Bezak 2014, 114-6). Based on the collection of artifacts, it is believed the ship was a Venetian round ship sunk in a storm while returning home, sometime between 1574 and 1585 (presumed 1580) (Beltrame 2014a, 150ff).

Although the cooperation between the Croatian and Italian groups ended in 2012, the Croatian Conservation Institute continues to excavate the wreck today (2020) (Igor Mihajlović, pers. comm.).

Description of the site

The wreck lies in the Sveti Pavao shallows, along the southeastern shoreline of Mljet island southwest of Korita, Croatia, at a depth of 37-46 m on a steeply sloping sand bottom. Artifacts and ballast were scattered over a wide area of the site (Beltrame and Miholjek 2014, 4).

Cargo

Most of the recovered material suggests a ship carrying an inbound cargo from the Ottoman Empire: the main assemblage consists of blue and white faience bowls from Iznik in modern-day Turkey and lead seals alluding to sacks or leather bags of textiles (Zmaić Kralj 2014, 65-6; Bezak 2014, 119-20). Other materials include ceramic jugs, kitchenware, animal bones, and a collection of Ottoman (1512-85) and Saxony (1544-59) coins (Miholjek and Zmaić 2013, 107-8). Seven bronze artillery pieces cast by the Venetian founder Tommaso di Conti before 1540, and a bronze bell dated 1567, were also recovered (Beltrame et al. 2017, 403; Bezak 2014, 114-6).

Hull Remains

Sveti Pavao is an unusual round ship, as investigators claim that its construction was bottom-based, with a keel plank rather than a true keel. Only a 6 m by 3.7 m section of the hull is published from the earlier excavation (Beltrame et al. 2017, 405). This section includes part of the forward end of the ship and amidships. Further uncovering of the structure may reveal how the keel plank was attached to the stern (timbers toward the bow are eroded away) (Beltrame 2014b, 48).

Keel

Surviving elements of the rebated keelson include bolts that were driven through every other floor timber to connect with the keel plank (Beltrame 2014b, 48-9).

Frames

Framing consists of floor timbers with shallow hook scarfs to connect the overlapping futtocks. The connection was secured using two iron nails. Floor timbers and futtocks are square near amidships and become rectangular further away. Spacing is the same width as the average floor timber, although this is also reduced at amidships beneath the mainmast step. Based on the increased size of the floor timbers beneath the mainmast step and the framing pattern, it is believed that the ship was first assembled with dual master frames (Beltrame et al. 2017, 404, fig. 2).

Keelson

Excavators uncovered part of the mainmast step, composed of two mast partners on either side of the keelson. Each mast partner is shorter at the extremity and rose higher near the center of the mast step. The starboard mast partner includes a mortise for a buttress, and a loose example of a buttress was found in this area. On either side of the two mast step partners, a pair of stringers helped to secure the partners in place. A wedge-shaped chock was also found above the keelson, and a broken section of it rests against the starboard mast step partner; the chock was originally used to create the forward edge of the mainmast mortise (Beltrame 2014b, 48-9).

Ceiling, thick stuff and wales

No surviving evidence for bilge stringers was noted, but these were likely fitted over the floor-first futtock scarf. None of the top faces of the floor timbers exhibit iron stains or fastener holes for ceiling. This absence of ceiling fasteners may suggest a transverse platform in the hold, with its inboard ends resting against the mast step partners and the outboard ends over the bilge stringer.

Planking

Another unusual trait of the Sveti Pavao wreck is its double-planked hull. The inner planking is slightly thinner (5 cm) than the outer casing (7.8 cm) (Beltrame et al. 2017, 405). Investigators believe that the thickness of both layers downplays the outer planking's role as sacrificial planking. Fastener patterns recorded for the inner planking suggest a familiar pattern for most contemporary examples, with two to four iron nails per frame station. There was no evidence for treenails in the ship's assembly.

If future work on Sveti Pavao confirms the keel plank, this shipwreck would represent the largest known example of Mediterranean bottom-based construction classified as a merchantman.

Ballast

Artifacts and ballast were scattered over a wide area of the site, though the ballast itself is not further described in the source text (Beltrame and Miholjek 2014, 4).

Size and scantlings

Published hull section: 6 m by 3.7 m. Inner planking: 5 cm thick, fastened with two to four iron nails per frame station. Outer planking: 7.8 cm thick.

References

Crowley, R., City of Fortune: How Venice ruled the seas (New York, 2011);

Beltrame, C., and I. Miholjek, ‘Introduction’, in Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek (eds), Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia (Oxford, 2014), 1-5;

Beltrame, C., I. Mihajlović, and I. Miholjek, ‘The hull of the 16th-century Venetian shipwreck off the Island of Mljet (Croatia)’, in Jerzy Gawronski, André van Holk and Joost Schokkenbroek (eds), Ships and Maritime Landscapes: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Amsterdam 2012 (Eelde, 2017), 403-8;

Miholjek, I., and V. Zmaić, ‘Recent underwater archaeological research off the Croatian coast’, in Yana Morozova and Hakan Oniz (eds), SOMA 2010: Proceedings of 14th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology (Kiev, Ukraine, 23-25 April 2010) (Oxford, 2013), 97-115;

Zmaić Kralj, V., ‘A transport of Iznik pottery’, in Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek (eds), Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia (Oxford, 2014), 64-104;

Bezak, J., ‘Metal Finds’, in Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek (eds), Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia (Oxford, 2014), 114-36;

Beltrame, C., ‘Considerations of dating and the historical context of the Mljet shipwreck’, in Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek (eds), Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia (Oxford, 2014a), 150ff;

Beltrame, C., ‘The ship, its equipment and the crew's personal possessions’, in Carlo Beltrame, Sauro Gelichi and Igor Miholjek (eds), Sveti Pavao Shipwreck: A 16th Century Venetian Merchantman from Mljet, Croatia (Oxford, 2014b), 45-52.