THE great Spanish Empire of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries offered a wide field of maritime activity to the more enterprising spirits of Ragusa, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. The Dalmatians of other towns were under Venetian rule, and therefore precluded to a great extent from these expeditions; but the Ragusans, although their Government from time to time issued decrees forbidding them to serve under foreign flags, so as to avoid international complications, continued to do so, the prohibition being more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Throughout the seventeenth century we find Ragusan ships, manned by Ragusan officers and crews, taking part in all the Spanish naval expeditions. These active adventurers, whether serving in the war fleets of Spain or on board its merchant ships, usually succeeded in accumulating large fortunes; some of them came back to Ragusa to enjoy them, while others remained in Spain and rose to high positions at the court of His Catholic Majesty. But even these did not forget the land of their fathers, and utilised their influence in the Spanish king’s councils for its advantage, by obtaining favourable commercial treaties and valuable protection, which stood it in good stead in times of danger. On the other hand, the heavy losses endured in the many unsuccessful enterprises of Spain were a severe drain on Ragusa’s resources, and ended by ruining her commerce.
There were a whole series of merchant-adventurers, whose wandering, seafaring lives form a picturesque chapter in the history of Ragusa. One of the most remarkable of them was Michele Prazzatto, a native of the Isola di Mezzo. Like most of his fellow-islanders, he devoted himself at an early age to commerce; but his first two ventures failed, and his ships foundered. He was thinking of giving up trade in despair, “but a lizard that he saw trying to climb up a wall taught him the lesson of Robert Bruce’s spider. Like the lizard, having failed twice, he succeeded in a third venture, and rose rapidly to wealth.”[482] He served Charles V. with his galleys, and brought large cargoes of grain to Spain in a time of famine. The Emperor appreciated his services, and treated him with friendly familiarity. According to a local tradition, on one occasion Prazzatto was assisting at Charles’s toilet, and on being asked what reward he wanted for his services, replied: “I am rich enough not to desire wealth; I am king on board my own carracks, and have no need for honours; I am a citizen of Ragusa, and desire no titles; but, as a memento of your favour, you may give me this shaving towel.” The request was granted, and the towel is religiously preserved to this day in the parish priest’s house at Isola di Mezzo. At his death Prazzatto left his whole fortune, amounting to 200,000 ducats, to the Republic, which rewarded his munificence by placing his statue in the courtyard of the Rector’s Palace—the only public monument ever erected to a citizen of Ragusa. The fame of Charles V. and of his exploits, owing to the part which Ragusa took in them, are a living memory to this day.
Another distinguished family of Ragusan mariners was that of Ivelja Ohmučević, Count of Tuhelj. The Ohmučevići were among the earliest exiles from the Herzegovina, who took refuge at Ragusa at the time of the Turkish conquest, and were granted lands at Slano. They at once began to devote themselves to maritime affairs, and in 1540 and 1541 the Republic hired their ships to transport grain from Italy. Their house at Slano was a miniature court, and fitted up with every luxury and elegance. It was a haven of refuge, where hospitality was dispensed to all sailors or voyagers who entered Slano harbour to escape from the tempest or from the pirates. Thus the Greek prince Alexius Comnenus, after having been defeated by the corsair Karakosha, put in at Slano and repaired his ships in Ivelja’s docks in 1569. He eventually settled there, and married into the Count’s family. Ivelja’s sons all entered the Spanish service, in which they greatly distinguished themselves. The most famous of them was Don Pietro d’Ivelja Ohmučević-Grgurić, who took part in the expedition to Portugal in 1580, where it is said that forty Ragusan vessels were lost, and in 1582 he commanded some Ragusan ships in the expedition to the Azores, under the Marquis de Santa Cruz. Later he raised a force against the pirate Passareto, who was eventually killed. He fitted out a fleet of twelve ships, known as the “Twelve Apostles,” for the service of Spain, manned by 3200 Ragusans and other Dalmatians, at a cost of 190,000 ducats.[483] This squadron took part in an expedition to the Indies and in the Invincible Armada. One of the ships, the Annunciation, was commanded by Count Peter’s brother-in-law, the Almirante Don Estevan de Olisti-Tasovčić, “a very brave youth, of high spirits and beautiful manners,”[484] who behaved with conspicuous gallantry in the Armada. “Finding himself separated from the body of the Spanish fleet, he was bombarded by the enemies’ batteries, and escaped out of the range of their fire with difficulty, and in such a terrible plight that he was in danger of foundering, and unable to repair the damages. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia, grasping the situation, at once sent two pataches[485] to the rescue, so as to save at least the crew. Don Estevan made for the Irish coast near Limerick, and succeeded in transferring his men from the doomed galleon to the pataches under a heavy fire. He then burnt his ship, to prevent her falling into the hands of the English, and sailed away to Santander, which he reached without the loss of a single man.[486] Afterwards he joined Count Peter at Cape Finisterre with a new galleon, which he had fitted out at his own expense, so as to complete the “Twelve Apostles.” When Count Peter died he left the fleet as an inheritance to the King of Spain. But the vessels foundered soon after, and Don Estevan was sent to Terceira with another squadron. This, too, came to a similar end, and sank with all hands in a sudden Atlantic storm.
Count Peter’s other son, Don Jorge d’Olisti-Tasovčić, served under Francisco de Mendoza in various expeditions to Tunis and elsewhere. With his brother Estevan he provisioned Naples during the famine of 1592-94—a risky operation owing to the perpetual raids of the pirates. After various encounters with the latter he fell in with a fleet of them of a hundred sail, commanded by one Cicola, in the Straits of Messina during a calm. After a very severe engagement, overwhelmed by numbers, he was forced to surrender, and sent as a prisoner to Constantinople, losing his three galleons, valued at 80,000 ducats, and their cargo valued at 20,000. He remained in captivity for three years, until he managed to raise the 3000 scudi required as his ransom, and returned to Spain a ruined man. But the King gave him a new command, and a pension of 40 scudi a month. He served with distinction with the Levant fleet on the coasts of Anatolia and of Albania in 1605-6, and later with the Western fleet. He died, loaded with honours, in 1625.
Another member of this family, Don Juan d’Olisti-Diničić-Tasovčić, was equally conspicuous, and fought under Stephen and George, and then under Don Luiz Faxardo in the attack on the coast of the Sea of Marmara (1614). He subsequently commanded twenty-six galleys in Catalonia, fought with the corsairs, and was appointed Captain-General of the Neapolitan Vice-regal fleet in 1639.
With the death of Count Peter in 1599 the male line of the Counts of Tuhelj became extinct, but some years previously he had arranged a match between his daughter Aurelia and Andrea Ohmučević-Grgurić, of the cadet branch of the family, also a captain in the Spanish service. The marriage did not take place until 1617. Andrea’s brothers were all sea-dogs in the Spanish service. One of them, Don Pedro, led a successful expedition to Brazil, and was afterwards appointed Spanish consul at Ragusa (1623-1631). Don Pablo, after knocking about in various parts of the world, ended his life in retirement at the family place at Slano. Don Andrea himself served Spain for fifty-seven years, commanding various fleets, and was created Spanish Admiral of the Neapolitan fleet, which position he held during the Masaniello rebellion. In 1614 the Tuhelj estates in the Herzegovina, which after the Turkish conquest had been confiscated and then restored to the family on payment of a tribute, were once more confiscated on account of the part which its members had played in the Spanish wars against the Turks. Don Andrea tried in vain to obtain redress from the Pasha of the Herzegovina, and then appealed to the King of Hungary, who in two rescripts of 1650 and 1654 recognised Don Andrea’s rights and those of his heirs, but there was no hope of enforcing them until the country should again be under the rule of a Christian Power; 224 more years were to elapse before this consummation came to pass!
ISOLA DI MEZZO
Owing to the annoyances and prohibitions imposed by the Venetians, all the more enterprising Ragusan captains gradually abandoned the Adriatic, and extended their operations to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Another of the great seafaring families was that of the Mašibradi. Girolamo Mašibradi was the founder of its fortunes, but his first ventures, like those of Prazzatto, proved unsuccessful, and he was surprised and captured by a fleet of twenty-two pirate galleys from Rhodes, and sent as a slave to Scio. But he was soon ransomed, and with his brothers ended by accumulating great wealth. He was eventually appointed Captain-General of Spain, and granted a salary of 2400 scudi a year. His brother Nicholas was in the Spanish service for many years, and was created Marquis and Knight of St. James of Compostella, and granted a large pension. Other Ragusan families attained to eminence, such as the Martolossi, the Bune (Bona), &c. All this brought riches to the citizens, but, on the other hand, it denuded the city of both ships and men. Gradually all the Ragusans who were not in the Spanish service sold their vessels, notwithstanding the laws forbidding these sales. The number of new ships built at Ragusa decreased to an alarming extent, and soon even the Spanish merchant navy began to decline owing to English and Dutch competition. Don Andrea, Count of Tuhelj, Admiral of Naples, made a series of proposals with the object of reviving the shipping and the trade of Spain and its vassal States, especially Ragusa. In a letter to the Senate of that city, dated March 4, 1634,[487] he mentions the fact that there had been at one time from 70 to 80 large ships of 1000 to 5000 salme flying the banner of St. Blaise, manned by 5000 sailors, “employed in traffic throughout the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, voyaging even unto Lisbon, Flanders, and England. These vessels were well armed with artillery and ammunition, and manned by excellent officers and crews who were ever ready to withstand any enemy attempting to molest them. The assurance that the ships were so good and so well armed, and that the seamen were so brave and trustworthy, induced all European merchants to employ them for the transport of their goods. They were consequently almost always making voyages, and the profits were so large that not only were they kept in good repair, but new vessels were constantly built, and the full number was thus maintained. Ragusa increased in wealth, in honour, and in population, for the Republic was greatly esteemed by the princes and potentates of the world. But in consequence of the recent truce concluded by His Catholic Majesty with the Netherlands, Michael Waez, Count of Mola, was able to introduce Dutch ships into the Mediterranean and the Adriatic for the purposes of commerce, and these vessels, not being exposed to the attacks of the Turks, the Moors, the English, and the other enemies of Spain, were under no necessity of defending themselves. They were therefore able to sail with small crews at small expense, and charge lower freights. Wherefore most of Ragusan ships began to fall into disrepair and were not renovated.... The only remedy for this woeful decline is that His Catholic Majesty, in the interests and for the maintenance of this most excellent Republic and of his own vassals, should grant to all those who build large ships special exemptions and privileges throughout his kingdoms of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, and that preference should be given to those designed for the transport of grain, salt, wool, and other similar goods.”