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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAll there was on this side of the island was a lone lighthouse perched on a cliff. I marvel about how these places are built, in such rugged areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a long overnight we really didn’t want to go much farther but, fortunately, the next island, Isola di Favignana, wasn’t that far and we had planned to move there the next morning anyway, as it was on our list to explore. With all that late afternoon wind that last 15 miles was plenty “sporty” and annoying, but we made it, happy to be back in calm conditions. The anchorage was unmemorable, setting aside the super clear water, but it was calm. It also sported a lovely fort high up on the hill above us. Of course! EVERYONE in the Med has a fort or castle in their town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The view of the fort as we approached the anchorage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oddly, in much of Italy, it is not legal to run a dink up on a beach so the only way to get ashore is to swim or go to a dock. Fortunately, there was a small marina nearby and they gave us permission to put the dink there for the day and walk the 20 minutes into town. It wasn’t much but convenient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The highlight of this island was it’s history as a tuna fishery. Just about everywhere in Italy tuna is a major part of the diet and even though they have been catching them for centuries, it seems that the harvest is sustainable now but has had it’s ups and downs over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On this particular island, there was one man, Florio, that made quite a living and his factory, now a museum, was the biggest player in the area, from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. They harvested perhaps 1,000 tuna a year in fixed nets that captured the tuna on their migration route. That doesn’t seem like a lot of tuna but they were quite large and it was not unusual to see tuna that were enormous by today’s standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One way or the other, big or small, there were a lot of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And they caught them by circling the fish in the pen with large nets and gaffing them into large open boats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His big innovation was to can them in olive oil, a practice that continues to this day. The tuna as cooked in large open caldrons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the cooked tuna was scooped out the caldrons with large strainers and sealed into the cans. Not sure, but the cans were likely soldered closed with lead. Not good but that was how it was done prior to the more typical rolled top that we see today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cans used were more like a gallon than today’s small cans. He also pioneered the roll top small cans with the key now common for sardines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was a very profitable business with a huge footprint on the island. It’s hard to imagine a factory today having such an impressive enclosed courtyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of beautiful, if now rusty, wrought iron work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the waterfront, there were bays where the tuna boats were hauled up under cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The scale of the operation was impressive and it is amazing that all of the tuna they harvested came from permanent nets strung nearby and harvested using these huge open boats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was no ordinary bland factory. The architecture is impressive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, with all that wealth, he had quite a home in town. It’s now a museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Florio also founded a car race in Sicily, the Targa Florio car race<\/a>. Here is a photo of a Florio competing in one of the early races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, if your family has enough money not to ask what it costs to own one, you get a proper steam yacht, in their case, the Aegusa. Follow this link to a description of the yacht. <\/a> It is a Christies auction page for a painting of the yacht. She was commissioned by Ignazio Florio Jr. and built in Scotland by Scott & Co. of Greenock, to a design by noted yacht designer George Lennox Watson. She was launched in December 1896. She was a 265 ft \/ 81 m long, roughly 1,057 gross tons, and capable of about 15\u00bd knots. That is fast as even the largest yachts today generally don’t go that fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an aside, Watson, the designer also penned a number of other famous boats, many more well known than Aegusa. They include…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of his most notable designs were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name Aegusa was the ancient name for Favignana. She didn’t remain with the Florios long. In 1898\u201399 she was sold to Sir Thomas Lipton, the tea magnate and famous America’s Cup challenger, who renamed her Erin. She later served as a hospital ship during World War I but ended up sinking when she hit a mine and sunk off Malta in 1916. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And a proper yacht of this scale, especially when steam powered, needs a big crew. Steam yachts were very complex and that alone necessitated a large technical crew. A huge boiler, under pressure, came with big risks of a major explosion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunk, she is now a dive site but only for the most experienced divers as she is in deep water off of Malta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And speaking of dive sites, the waters near Florio’s factory have seen a lot of action over the centuries with his factory a fairly recent newcomer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There was an important battle fought near the island, the Battle of the Aegates Islands <\/a>(Egadi Islands), (the link gives background and information on the discovery of the battle remains) fought on 10 March 241 BC just west of Levanzo, near Favignana. It was the decisive battle of the First Punic War, and it effectively ended Carthaginian control of Sicily and cemented Rome’s dominance of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In particular, these huge, oar powered boats had a large bronze ram affixed to their bow and they would ram the enemy boat to sink her. This is an image of the battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some years ago, the actual site of the battle was discovered, not very far from where we anchored, and more than a dozen of these rams were found along with other artifacts. They are now on display in a number of museums in Italy including at the Florio museum where a large number are on display. These rams were attached to the bow and when in battle, the crew would row like crazy and hit the enemy ship broadside. The ram would crush the hull below the waterline, sinking the ship. The design was specific, broader in the front and fluted to ensure that after impact, the attacker would be able to back up and free the ram from the stricken ship. If they were to get stuck they would be pulled down along with the damaged ship. With 300 oars, that’s a lot of coordinated rowing. I wonder how many rowers make for one horsepower? “Ok men, all forward on my command…. ok, ok, NOW back away, back away, faster, faster. Tonite there will be an extra measure of wine for you tonight. Only, kidding, as we will most likely be sunk too…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, many of the crew didn’t get that wine as they wend down with the ship, along with a large number of amphora, surely filled with that undrunk wine, discovered at the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life wasn’t all that easy for these guys and contrary to the Hollywood version of crew as slaves, chained to their oars, these were a highly trained paid crew, hundreds of them rowing furiously, along with several hundred soldiers ready to battle in close quarters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These were very crowded boats with no real option to sleep aboard. They generally went along the coast and stopped to camp ashore every night. Never the less, not a very comfortable life. And, as Brenda likes to say, “sailing is like being in prison with the possibility of drowning.” and a lot of them did…<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, speaking of “going along the coast”, it is just amazing and as we made the last 15 miles to Palermo yesterday, we passed some remarkable scenery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am always fascinated by how the haze makes the coastline look in the early light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, yet more remains of coastal defences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the scale of the cliffs with towns nestled along the coast makes me appreciate how small we really are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This photo gives a good feel for the scale of the cliffs along the coast. Note the tiny fishing boat at the base of the cliff if you look carefully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are plenty of fisherman out looking for tuna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And some bigger boats too. These carry skiffs and deploy a long net around a school and close the bottom to capture the fish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, we are now in Palermo and it is wonderful. The marina, the best that we’ve been to anywhere and all for about $100 a night, and not a lot more expensive than a mere mooring in New England. One thing that is REALLY expensive here is diesel, which costs 2.50 euro per liter, the equivalent of over $11 a US gallon. Painful given how much motoring we are doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is even a huge reflecting pool right outside of the marina that puts on quite a show after dark with jets shooting high in the air. I’ll bet that the crew of those open boats, duking it out thousands of years ago, would have loved to pull (and they did a not of pulling) into this place for a cold one after a hard day of fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
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