History of Shipbuilding

Au xviii e siècle, les constructeurs de navires semblent se détacher progressivement du monde des métiers de la construction navale en acquérant une identité socio-professionnelle reposant sur des savoirs et savoir-faire spécifiques dont les modalités d'acquisition constituent un enjeu de la recherche. L'autonomisation de ce métier a lieu dans un contexte où la construction navale devient un secteur productif majeur en France, stimulé par l' essor des trafics océaniques et le cabotage européen. Les constructeurs sont désormais des entrepreneurs capables de diriger des chantiers, de traduire et d'anticiper les besoins de leurs commanditaires en développant une « pensée technique du navire » qui se manifeste par la réalisation de devis de plus en plus riches et de plans. Ce rôle majeur dans l' économie maritime permet aux constructeurs de développer une expertise sur laquelle s'appuient les pouvoirs locaux et l'État pour réguler le travail et la vie économique de la sphère portuaire.

During the 16th century, the Mediterranean shipbuilding –especially in Italy– was renowned for its quality. It held a technical culture inherited by an ancient tradition that had passed down orally from one generation to the next. But today it is largely unknown, since, to the scarcity of documentation in writing, is added a poor archaeological documentation. The discovery of the Mortella shipwrecks (Saint-Florent, Upper Corsica, France) in 2005 and 2006, and the programme of archaeological excavations of one of them –the Mortella III– undertaken in 2010, highlight an architecture from the 16th century that belongs to the Mediterranean tradition and offer the prospect of contributing to fill the existing gaps.

After studying the archaeological data from the five excavation campaigns done on this wreck, our research sets as key goal identifying markers’such as ‘technical and architectural traits’ which can contribute to the definition of a model of shipbuilding from the 16th century in the Mediterranean, initiated by previous archaeological research started in the eighties. In this perspective, the analysis is based on comparisons with archaeological data from other wrecks of that period. Moreover, it also relies on the references provided by the written sources, as well as the iconography. Finally, the archival researches undertaken in the margins of the archaeological work have allowed linking the wrecks of the Mortella to their history, in this case to the Italian wars of 1527. In this regard, the archaeological study –which remains the epicentre of this thesis– is usefully supplemented by the historical research.