Proyecto Museólogico Museo del Mar San Ciprian. Traducción Inglés

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ENGLISH EVENT FLYER
Provincial Museum of San Ciprián
A museum for all among everybody
“The world makers”
San Cibrao is a land of the sea. It´s a peninsula, a portion of land that goes out to
meet the sea without fear. It´s hard, dangerous, brave, slave…but also an open door to
new horizons, sometimes uncertain but always hopeful.
San Cibrao was the birthplace of ship makers and brave men who travelled on board
combing the sea to get their fruits. They were able to sail to distant worlds. Unknown
worlds, worlds of memories, simple stories that forms people´s spirit. Stories to tell …
Our Sea museum is the best narrator. Not in vain, for more than forty years, this
museum, that has never stopped working as a school, leads us through a spiral of
emotions and sensations, heritage of our ancestors: the worldmakers.
To weigh anchors…! You are all welcome to this house: your sea museum of San
Ciprián.

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SECTIONS
The organization of the museum begins in a hall and continues in four rooms, each
one with a tematic theme. The route will be accesible in each section. There is a plan in
relief and marks on the floor to improve the itinerary and the accesibility. In the
museum you can profit from a wide variety of original artworks, scales and plates in
relief to touch in each section. Likewise, you can have print fliers with adapted texts:
cartels, room´s sheets, complementary information in braille, big characters or letters,
event fliers in different languages, information put in pictogrammes, ipod LSE,
language with signs…and we will introduce new Multimedia Information Points,
audioguides with narrative information, and other resource sounds and adapted phone
visits.
ENTRY AND ROOM NUMBER 1
0 The school: A museum for all among everybody. The Museum Heartbeat: ship
engines and photographic file.
ROOM NUMBER 2
1.The Ribeira´s carpentry: The example of San Cibrao.
2.Tipology of sailing ship built in San Cibrao.
3.The art of “marear”. Looking at the North. The nautic instruments and
astronomic navigation.
ROOM NUMBER 3
4.Trades of the sea
5.The fishing history in San Cibrao: fishing tackles and different
instruments.
6.The sea life: something more than fishes.
ROOM NUMBER 4
7.The whale hunters.
THE MUSEUM WE WANT AND LOVE
In the last twenty years, the “New Museology” has been developing in museum
fields, an idea for the democratization of valves and culture products, that means
looking for the way to bring culture to society, it doesn´t matter about culture or the
social status of the people. Because of this, several museums have moved their attention

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and action to the visitor, but in the words of Espinosa lecturer: “not for every visitor”.
This kind of museology usually forgets an important part of our society, that is those
people that have got a handicap that stops them from having a “normal” life and can´t
enjoy with completeness and equal conditions of this culture experience. Nowadays,
there are just a few museums that think about absolute accesibility as a priority at the
moment of investing in their new set it ups.
The Rede Museística Provincial of Lugo has been working and fighting for more
than ten years to make their museums accesible to the public with disabilities. Our aim
is withdraw the “excepcional” as an adjective refering to accesibility, and make it a
commun factor to have in mind in the planification of any social action and cultural
event.
The culture is an interactive experience, we make culture, and the museum is an
instrument of mediation that has the responsibility of communicating and establishing a
dialogue with the public. Therefore, the new project designed for Provincial Museum of
San Cibrao aspires to follow this philosophy and to become a model of an open museum
in all senses, even, with full attention to the diversity, that will be able to approach the
message and make everyone part of the activities.
We´ve been developing the practical application of Universal Design to the
Museologic and Museographic project from the conception of global message to
organization in space and in time, integrating different sensory languages (visual, oral,
tactile, kinesthetics),interactivity and comprehension acquire the highest grade of global
accesibility.
For the new project we count on the advice of people and associations linked to
discapacity, but also with the total implication of San Cibrao neighbours, of the Mariña
and museums staff. We´ve wanted everyone who has taken part in the new project of
the museum, counting on their colaboration and opinion.
The importance of San Cibrao museum is its special and singular character, beyond
its function as a cultural institution. Since its birth as a school, a deep social implication
with the institution has always existed. This was the reason, that made the institution the
first Galician sea museum with public character. It´s been making possible for years
both functions as a school, during winter, and a museum during summer between 1969-
1988.
The museum represents an icon for the region and, mainly for San Cibrao town, and
it´s an important part of the village. For these reasons, we want:

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- A didactic museum a museum that must continue being a school, an
instrument for learning and social education, a method for reciprocal exchange
of knowledge, deposit not only of inert objects, but also of inmaterial heritage,
of historic memory, and of regards that forms the identity of a village.
- An adapted museum an accesible museum, in the expositive set it up
and in speech.
- A social and sympathetic museum, that establish a permanent dialogue
with its environment, an inside-outside museum that extends its action outside
and establishes a live conection of museum with its social and communitaire
origins.
- An interactive and dinamic museum, in constant evolution and in
continuous construction, that generates a positive synergy serves as a main
center for new actions. The new technologies of communication contribute to a
bigger fluency between the museum and the public and it will expand its
unlimited cultural activities.
- A museum of the future a museum close to people but also open to the
world. We want an open alive and human museum in words of Georges Henri
Riviére: “the success is not measured by the number of visitors but by the
number of visitors who were taught something”.
ENTRY AND ROOM NUMBER 1
Section 0: The school. A museum for all among everybody.
This building was born to be San Cibrao´s school in 1931, thanks to Mr. José Mª
Montenegro and his wife Mrs. Manuela Goñí Maíste, they had been emigrants in
Argentina. Their donation (60.000 pesetas) allowed the building to be made of granite
stone, divided in two wings, one of them for masculine school and the other for
femenine school.
The building distribution is determined by their uses as a mixed school. It had got
two doors in the fachade that give access to each classroom. In each classroom a room
existed that divide boys from girls.
In the sixties, the teacher, Mr. Francisco M. Rivera Casas, and 34 of their pupils
turned “Ancient Schools” into a museum. In 1969 thanks to Alfredo Sánchez Carro, the
Diputation of Lugo agreed as a political act to create the museum. All together they
started an important work of recollecting sea objects, that nowadays form an essential
part of backgrounds which are now part of the Museum of sea of San Ciprián collection.

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This work counted, since its origins, on the absolute complicity of society, interested in
protecting their traditional relation and link with the sea.
In 1994, the Nautic section of Provincial Museum of Lugo, in collaboration with its
direction and neighbours to set it up as a “museum” was inaugurated on the 12 th of
August in 1994. The Museum was managed by the Friends Association called “Cruz da
Venta” from 1994 until 2004. The Diputation of Lugo, through the gerency, took over
the direction of the Museum in 2004. Working with this responsibility, the “rede de
museos” started a reflection process and a study about identity of the museum as a
public institution that, besides its own functions that include conservation, adquire,
documentation, investigation and diffusion, it will be a new space as a cultural reference
for current society.
Nowadays, it´s one of the four museums that is part of Rede Museística Provincial.
A museum for all among everyone.
THE MUSEUM HEARTBEAT
In the next space, the steam engine symbolize the museum heart, the regenerator
beat that fill with life the memory corners and push us ahead. In this space, the
audiovisual methods serve as a communication channel between the museum and their
visitors. It is going to be a logbook where grafics evidences of our historic memory
were picked up and it´ll try to hummanize the objects that are part of the collection.
ROOM NUMBER 2
1. The Ribeira´s carpentry: the example of San Cibrao.
2. Tipology of sailing ships built in San Cibrao.
3. The art of “marear”: looking at North.
The theme of this area is the ribera´s carpentry of San Cibrao and the most common
constructive tipologies that went out of their shipyards, showed in some model of ships
in the exposition, reply to scale large ships that had got a special relevance in the San
Cibrao history such as “Paca Gómez”, “ O Industrial” ou Sargadelos schooner.
In the section 3 the art of “marear”. Looking at North. We will put together the
navigation instruments or nautic instruments, essential to understand the navigation
evolution and the magnitude of their conquests, that leaded human beings to discover
new lands and to expand new geograhic and intellectual horizons.
Likewise, we include “fanais” and position lights of ships as significative elements
for the navigation which function was to mark the ship ubication and advice about
manoeuvres during departure.

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We´ve reserved an especial place for pieces from subacuactic rescues, as in the case
of shipwreck of Magdalena frigate and Palomo brigantine. It happened in Viveiro´s
estuary in 1810.
SECTION 1: The Ribeira´s carpentry. The example of San Cibrao.
San Cibrao has counted on a large lineage of ship markers for a long time. The book
titled “Geografía del Reino de Galicia” (1933) confirms that in the 14th century caravels
were already built in this area.
The definitive strength of naval construction in San Cibrao is linked to the birth of
Sargadelos factory at the end of the 18th century. As a result of the increase of comercial
flow, it also increased the construction demand of coastal shipping for the transport of
manufactures and raw materials that were needed in the factory. In this case, in the
shipyard of the village they began to build big sailing ships to travel around long routes,
mainly schooner and brigantine (and mixed variants of both), such as Sargadelos
schooner, and boats with less freight capacity like “quechemarines”, “faluchas” or
“pataches”, used for displacements of less category and importance.
Big boats were built with oars, like these boats “traiñóns” or “chalupas” were
employed for whale hunting or sardine fishing. The shore carpenters searched in the
woods for the most appropiate trees for the moulds of the ship´s parts. Oak and wood
were mainly used because it was strong, for the ship skeleton (keel and ribs) and pine or
eucalyptus wood, due to its flexibility and very useful for a ship part called “banzo” of
hull. Traditionally, cutting down the trees came about in autumm or winter months, with
crescent moon and at sunset, that is because it is the day in which trees growth is lower
(because it has got less sap) to make wood treatments easier and to avoid the rotting of
wood. For it cutting down the trees tools such as axe, “tronzador” (to cut up the wood)
and a diferent kind of saw such as “serra de aire”, “braceira” or “sierra portuguesa”
were used. To saw up pieces they used special saws called handsaw and there are lot of
varieties, such as “de costela”,” de punta” or “de cotilla”. To work and to smooth down
the wood, they had special tools to cut, both sharp blade or not, such as: plane, jack
plane (in Spanish “garlopa”or “guillaume”), a kind of plane called “cepillo de voltas”,
hoes, or other tools called “trencha” and gouge (in Spanish “gubia”). To measure:
metres, squares, compass, an ancient measure instrument that already existed in the
Roman culture and its name is gauge (in Spanish “gramil”). To hit and extract:

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hammer, mallet, pliers…and carpenter´s brace (in Spanish “berbiquí”) and brace and bit
(in Spanish “barrenos”) to make a hole. And, finally, to press and hold down a serie of
tools with Galician names, such as “barrilete” (in English ”cask”), “gato” (in English
“jack”), “parafuso”,”prensas” (“press”), “sargentos” or “sargentas” (in English sergeant
(masculine) and sergeant (femenine)).
When the hull is finished, they began the work of caulk. The caulk consists of
introducing between “banzos” of the submerged part of the hull, two cords impregnated
with pitch to waterproof the boat.
Sails, sticks and the rest of the rigging were finished after the ship was on the water
with the hull floating. Sails were replaced progressively by the steam machine, in the
same way that it was replaced by the explosive motor or diesel.
The apperance of iron to build bigger cargo ships headed for carpentry decline,
whose activity was reduced to smaller fishing boats construction and reparations. They
had got a new period of splendour in the 60´s decade of the 20th century with the
emergence of tuna fishing.
SECTION 2: Tipology of sailing ships built in San
Cibrao.
BRICBARCA
A ship with three or more sticks that distribute their sails in
all sticks except in the last, that elevate knife sails (“velas de coitelo”), generally a kind
of sails called in Galician “cangrexas” to ilustrate it, like the English crustacean “crab”.
BRIGANTINE (Bergantín)
This ship usually has two sticks with all the rigging made by “cuadras” sails (an
especific kind of sail). It was recognised by its displacement capacity, thanks to a big
surface of sails that was able to spread. They were faster than others and easier to
manoeuvre.
A variant of brigantine is the round brigantine, with two sticks that elevate
“cuadras”sails in the foremast and in the bigger stick. It also has a crab sail (“vela
cangrexa”) or scandalous (“maricangalla”).

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BRIGANTINE-SCHOONER
Ship with two or more sticks with mixed sails between brigantine and schooner. Its rigging
consists in sails called “cuadras” only in the foremast and knife sails (“velas coitelo”),mainly
crab and scandalous in the rest.

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SCHOONER
Regular pale, it had got two or more sticks of the same height and only rigging in the knife
sails.
Appeared in the 18th
century, it was able to reach great speed. The knife
rigging needs less people to manoeuvre. It is used to move less displacement than brigantines.
Schooner variants are:
Schooner called “velacho”
It was identified like “velacho” these with a sail cuadra in the foremast. This
element gives it more power when the wind blows on the stern.

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Schooner called “de gabias”
Its rigging was formed with “gabias”, a kind of sail
with square shape in the high part of the biggest stick.
QUECHEMARÍN
Ship with less charge and importance. It had got stick with sails in the third, a small
mesana stick to stern, with an important element (“botalón”) to prow where there was
“foques” and flying “gavias”useful when light winds blow.
PAILEBOTE
Its name came from “pilot boat” or pilot ship of USA East Cost. Its rigging is
usually the schooner, with crab (“cangrexas”), scandalous and “foques”. Its use was
spread in the Mediterranean as a comercial ship.
The agility of this type of ship made it one of the favourites during the war periods
in England.
FALUCHOS
A boat with Mediterranean origins, was used mainly for coastal shipping, but was
also employed for fishing. It was characterized by its lightness. It had got two sticks
placed in two bigger latine sails (triangular). With a large botalón in the stern as a
“bauprés”in which was placed a bigger foque.

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A GLOSSARY FOR BEGINNERS
 Prow (popa): front part of the ship.
 Stern (proa): back part of the ship.
 Port (babor): looking to stern, left part of ship.
 Starboard (estribor): looking to stern, right part of ship.
 Side (costados): two parts of hull.
 Amuras: curved parts of sides that converge to make the stern.
 Wings (aletas): curved parts of sides that converge to make the prow.
 Obra viva or “carena”: part of hull that it´s under the water.
 Flotation line (línea de flotación): it´s the line that separates the live part
(obra viva) of the dead part (obra muerta), that´s to say it is determined by water
level regarding the hull.

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A SHIP DIMENSIONS
Length (eslora): ship length measured since stern to prow.
Manga: maxime width of ship, part until starboard.
Puntal: ship height from keel to high part of deck line.
Soaked (calado): vertical distance between keel and flotation line.
Measurement of the part of the ship under the water (waterproof).
FORMER PARTS OF THE SHIP
Rigging (aparejo): in a sail ship the rigging was made by the
group that forms “arboladura”, “xarcia·” and sails.
Arboladura: it was formed by sticks and hangers, that was used to
hold down and manoeuvre sails.
Sticks: each of one masts that serve to hold down the hangers and
to distribute sails. The main sticks of ship used to be, from stern to prow,
foremast, bigger and “messana”.
Foremast: stick near stern.
The biggest: it´s the main stick of ship, the highest.
Mesana: stick near prow.
Bauprés: stick that jut outs off hull like a prolongation of stern
and it was placed horizontally regarding this.
Cofa: tableland placed horizontally in the higgest part of stick to
make the manoeuvre of high sails and place “vixías” easier.
Xarcia: group of cable that is used to hold down and manoeuvre
arboladura and sails. It was standed out between firm “xarcia de
labor”formed by cables used to raise, lower or direct rigging.
Sails: pieces of wollen material held down by stick and hangers,
they received the wind that allowed the boat to be propelled. We could
divide the types of sail in two big groups:
- Sails “cuadras”,round rigging or in cross, placed to part to starboard
and “aúrico” rigging and knife sails placed as longitudinal shape from stern to
prow.

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PARTS OF HULL
 Hull (casco): ship body without its “arboladura”.
 Keel (quilla): the main part of hull structure, placed longitudinally in its
part. It forms the spinal column of ship.
 Rib (cuaderna): they are like the ship´s back. It has got “U” or “V”
shape, and it is place symmetrically to each side of keel and finishes in the
highest part of side, giving shape and resistence to the ship. The banzos were
nailed over them.
 Baos: reinforcement transverse that join the ribs to the high part, from
part to starboard, and they are used as a support for the decks.
 Cover (forro): ship revestiment. Plank driven over ribs.
 Mamparos: they are the partition that divide the inside of the ship.
 Borda: superior part of side that juts out of deck.
 Rudder (timón): giratory pole installed in the prow in vertical axle, join
to mechanism in deck (since the 18th century, the rudder) allowed the marking
of the direction of thes ship.

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SECTION 3: THE ART OF “MAREAR”. LOOKING AT NORTH. THE
NAUTIC INSTRUMENTS AND ASTRONOMIC NAVIGATION.
The story of navigation: The art of “marear”
The sea control supposed an irrevocable break in the world conception both from
the point of view of the reason as the faith. In the earliest days of Middle Ages, the
navigation world was an important and real art called “a arte de marear”. Since the
introduction of nautic needle1 (or in Spanish “aguja de marear”) in the 13th century, the
most popular method was the navigation “a estima” whose only references were speed
and direction to determine an approximate position of the ship in the sea. The speed was
measured with the “corredera” it consisted in a board linked to a string with knots tied
to irregular gaps. When a certain time passed the pilot threw the string to the water by
the stern and let it go during a while (about 30 seconds) and helped by an hourglass
could count the knots, that´s to say, the nautical mile 2 and he also calculated the
distance sailed.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the combination of magnetic needle with the
compass card3 (in Spanish the “rosa de los vientos”) brought to the nautic compass, an
essential instrument for navigation until up to now.
The group of basic sailing instruments is completed with the binnacle, whose initial
purpose was to protect the compass from bad weather conditions and to give stability to
make the direction lectures easier.
The 16th century is made up of points of inflection in the navigation story. The
Golden Age of discoveries begins. The most powerful countries in the world started a
fight without respite to obtain new territories. They also needed to consolidate the
control over their territorial possesions and keep a fluent communication with them. All
of this is going to be the reason why they invested their efforts to investigate new
techniques and more efficiant and exact navigation instruments than the previous ones.
In this way the transition to astronomical navigation happened which is based on direct
observation of stars position in relation to the earth to determinate with precision the
1 It always marks magnetic N of Earth.
2 Nautic mile: 1.852 m.
3 It´s a disk in which appears marked 32 directions, “cuartas” or “vientos” posible in the navigation.

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coordinates (length and latitude) that also allowe the ship´s situation to be established
when it is out at sea and the coast is not seen as a reference point anymore.
There was an improvement in the isnstruments already well-known from the Middle
Age as the astrolabe, “ballestilla”, or the quadrant and the necessary steps to made new
instruments were taken, like the “octante” or “sextante” (in the 18th century). These
new objects were used to take down angular measures of sun´s height on the North (or
polar) Star when it passes to meridian regarding a fixed point like the horizon and that
was very important and necessary to latitude (N-S) calculus.
At the beginning of the third part of the 18th century John Hadley´s octante appears.
The instrument worked with the physics idea of light reflexion. It measured height until
90º. The “sextante” came up later like an “octante” evolution, because it got to expand
measure angle until 120º. Likewise it incorporated a mirror system that allowed putting
on top in just one plane the planet position over horizon. Also it was used to calculate
length giving the method to moon´s distances based on the moon sistematic
displacement regarding stars. The results lack of neccesary and exact precision.
The determination of the length (E-W) was the weak point of navigation lengthways
of Modern Age, because to calculate with exact precision, it´s neccesary to know in
each moment the exact hour of the place where the ship is. Therefore, it won´t be until
futher into the 18th century, with the nautic chronometer when the definitive technic
solution to the dilema was found out.
THE SHIPWRECKS
The marine depths keep an interesting part of humanity history in their bowels.
Proof of that is as an important testimony will be found in the museum from shipwrecks
happened in waters of Viveiro river, the dawn of 2nd of november in 1810. Inmersed in
a belic conflict with Napoleonic France, a English and Spanish squadron in charge of
guerrilla Antonio Renovales weigh anchor from Ferrol, with the mision of controlling
some of the Cantabric strategic parts, when they were surprised by strong north-west
winds. Some of the men could look for shelter in the Viveiro river, but it was too late.
The storm got worse, and ships were not able to support the strong colera of the sea.
Among these ships were Magdalena frigate and Palomo brigantine, with a lot of

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supplies. The Magdalena frigate in its anxiety, attacked with violence against England
frigate Narcisus and finally it ran aground in Castelos, a little island that flanked the
Covas beach. In the frigate piled up more than 550 people, rescued by others boats
flooded by the storm. The brigantine Palomo run aground in Sacido beach.
The Santa María Magdalena frigate measured 41,70 m. of length by 10,25 of
manga, and it displaced around 500 tonnes. It was armed on deck with a battery
composed of 18 canons of 18 pounds, and two canons of 18 pounds had to be added,
two canons of 6 pounds in the prow and 12 obuses in the fortress.
In the tragedy more than a million people died. There were a lot of victims, that
authorities undertook to bury the drowned people in graves in the dunes of Covas beach.
In memoriam of these shipwreack, a monument of Castelos in Covas beach
(Viveiro) was inaugurated in 1934.
ROOM NUMBER 3
4. TRADES OF THE SEA.
5. FISHING HISTORY IN SAN CIBRAO: RIGGING, TACKLE AND
FISHING ART.
6. SEA LIFE: SOMETHING MORE THAN FISHES.
In this room we will take the San Cibrao case as reference to show, in particular to
general, the symbiosis between coastal village and its sea. Of this relation, trades
directly linked to work of catching fish of elaboration, its processing and its marketing,
and objects associated with these duties appear.
Fisherwomen, in Galician called “peixeiras” or “pescantinas”,
and working with their traditional instruments: bacías, patelas…
Women who work with nets. They are “redeiras”and employ
wood needles and “malleiros”.
Cordeleiros: instruments that allow the elaboration and repairing
cables of boats.

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We inclued some of fishing arts employed by sailors of San Cibrao during its
history. In this space, there are two important pieces to pay attention to:
A complete wetsuit of three pieces ( casaca, pantalón faenero to
work in the sea and cap), all made in traditional shape with linen
“encascado”.
An especific boat called “traiñón” or “txalupa baleeira” with 3
m. of length with two sails.
We can´t describe this room without referring directly to the aim of these works: the
fruits of the sea. We inclued several representations of marine fauna, mainly, collecting
of malacología made with shells (around 70% os total backgrounds of the museum),
total or parcial skeletons of marine animals (whale and shark jaws, spades of spade fish,
skeleton of dolphin, etc), dissected animals like turttles, coral, fossil, seaweeds…
SECTION 5: FISHING HISTORY IN SAN CIBRAO: THE RIGGING AND
PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION.
Traditional Galician song
“Hei ven o maio
que trai o tempo bo,
hei ven o maio
para pesca do
traiñón.
Hei ven o maio
Viste de señorito,
hei ven o maio
para pesca do
bonito”.
Since its origins, San Cibrao has kept a close link to the sea. The socioeconomics
rhythms of the region are condicioned to the rhythm of tides.
The early normal fishing as a complementary ocupation of agriculture became in
the vertebrador axle and the local economy was organized around it. The fishing

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activity generated a serie of trades (carpenters, “cordeleiros” people who works with
barrels, fisherwomen, “redeiras”, etc) who directly or indirectly give work and
occupation to an important percentage of population.
In the early 20th century, the sardine was the protagonist. At that time, there were
three factories of “salgadura” in San Cibrao. But from the 30´s, tuna began to be
important. In spring people fished “bocarte” or anchovy. Tuna fishing was in the
summer months, and from its end until winter other kind of fish was fished: spade fish
and “marraxo”. In the sixties, San Cibrao was, after Burela, the port with more tuna
boats. In these years, the comarca lived a crisis in the fishing sector and because of that
a lot of sailors changed the fishing to the marketing navigation.
Now it´s the moment to describe briefly the most fishing arts used on our coastal.
We can establish a first division between net arts and hook arts.
The net arts are divided in:
1. Fixed they are net material that were soaked vertically through
anchors in its inferior part, and with a bark or floating line in the superior. It
could be fixed at the bottom or between water.
2. Volanta this kind of art is
documented on our coastal line since the
beginning of 16th century. It was formed by an
unique material that can reach 8 km. of
length. It was placed at the bottom to capture
bigger fishs, like hake, sea bass or angler fish.
3. Trasmallo it was formed by
three materials of superimposed nets, the
exteriors with bigger mesh than interior. It
was soaked at the bottom, to capture rock
species like “faneca” or conger eel.
4. Beta or volantilla it´s similar to volanta, but smaller, the size
would be the same as the mesh. It was used to fish: pescada, faneca, meigas,
sargos…
5. Rascos art of bottom of the sea with a big mesh, is use for sea
food capture (lobster, spider crab, etc) as fish (ray, turbot…)

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6. De deriva a technique of mesh, by means of floating or drifting
the net materials.
7. Xeitoa variety traditionally used for sardine fishing. In the 17th
century it was made in linen with smaller mesh. It´s a surface art.
8. De cerco dedicated to certain capture, like sardine or “xurelo”.
The rigging is placed around the “cardumen”and the art is closed with a string
called “xareta”, forms a sack of fish.
9. Traíña in the 17th century, the “ traíña” was formed by
fishermen apportation of materials or “quiñones”. The result was a rectangular
net. It was thrown from the coast and then hurled by the other extreme from a
boat: “traíña”or “trincado”, until it formed a circle over the fish bank.
10. Terrafa or terrafiña a variety used since the appearance of
steam ships.
11. De copo or de arrastre net materials from a kind of closed sack
that it´s pulled along by one or more boats. The dragging can be from the
bottom (bentonic) or between two water currents (pelagic).

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12. Xávega it was introduced in Galicia by Catalonian people.Its
use generated conflicts in the marine communities because they were predatory
in excess. It consisted in a “cope” net that loosened from land, and by another
cable out to sea. Fishing done in land, or with human traction or with animals
help.
13. Rapeta common variety on our coastal since Modern Age. It´s
also known as little back, ·”traíña menor” or “rapeta de traíña”, it was
characterized by not having “cope”.
14. Boliche or chinchorrowith an important
difussion in the 2nd half of 17th century by its user-
friendliness because of its smaller size than “traíña”. It can
be used in spaces more reduced, normally to fish sardines.
Nowadays, it has got dimensions of 40 m. of large by 10 m.
of high. It was formed by two parts: “cope”and sack.
In Modern Age, nets and strings were made in linen or in hemp, and later in cotton
thread. For giving them resistence, nets must be “encascadas”. The “encascado”
consisted in boiling them in cauldrons which bank of willow, oak or pine were added.
Once it is scalded, nets extend over furniture called “maseiros”or “artesas”, where the
cauldron water was depositated, dyed by effects of banks. In this shape, giving colour to
materials.
OF HOOK
Lines
It consists of a thread rolled around cork (“sirgo”) or wood (“grádella). In the
extreme, the line has got lead, and one or more hooks.

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Fishing line with hooks (palangre)
It was formed by a main line in which others shorter that
were drawn that go hold down the hooks. The fishing lines with
hooks can be from the bottom to capture conger eel, or surface
to capture pelagic species like tuna, “marraxo”or spade fish.
Curricán
This art is used in Lugo coast to capture tuna. It consists of
putting large sticks on the ship sides which go coupled to thread, or brazolas, and
extrems the hooks. It works “á cacea”, that´s to say, with ship in movement. Up to a
short time ago, the addition was made by whitening corn leaf and combed with combs
of wire to convert it in threads.
Poteras
They are formed with lead covered with coloured threads, and finished in its
inferior part with a crown of small hooks. It was used to capture of “luras” and squids.

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To capture octopus and sea food, fishersmen employ the “nasas”, that are a kind of
cage or trap supplied with aberture or mouth in shape of funnel that makes the entry of
capture easier and prevents its exit. They are made of different materials, mainly wood,
willow or metal. Their shape is different depending on the capture (octopus, “faneca”,
shrimp, lobster, fiddler crab…)
Besides fishing, the shellfish is one of the other relevant activities of the sector. The
shellfish can be done on foot or from a boat (shellfish afloat). Now we are going to
describe some of the rigging employed in this
activity:
1. Sacho it´s similar to one
used in agriculture. It´s useful to
remove sand to search: “chirla”,
clam…
2. Angazo a kind of rake that
employed to collect cockle,
“ameixa”,”coquina”, etc.
3. Rasqueta it´s like a spatula
that serves to pull up rock barnacles
and mussels.
4. Rastro it was used from a
boat to capture “ameixa”,cockle… It
was formed by a rake in which a piece

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of net was added, and all the group go joined to a stick with appropiate
measurements depending on the depth.
5. Raño and gancha it´s similar to rake, but substitute “cope” by a
metalic bars. Both are lighter than others and are easier to use.
6. Can or endeño it´s very useful to pull along because of its size,
it´s necessary to throw it to the water and then it´s going to be pulled along
by the boat. It´s allowed depths of more than 20 m. It is used to catch
species like “ameixa” and scallops
(vieiras in Galician).
Some auxiliary rigging, useful to a
fishing and shellfish also exist:
7. Trueiro it´s composed by a
stick with a hoop joined to incorporated
a net back.
8. Tina or espello box of
wood with a glass at the bottom that
permits the capture of spider crabs or
sea urchins.
9. Bicheiro stick with an iron
hook in one of the extrems that is both
used to fish and to couple cables or
move the boat closer to land.
ROOM NUMBER 4
The protagonists of these room are bone rests of whale. They were collecting in the
surroundings of San Cibrao beach, speacially in the Cubelas where the hunted cetaceans
were processed in the 16th- 17th century. In the 20th century, whale hunting returned to
be a source of resources distinguished for local economy. The family Massó, one of the
maior canning saga of Galicia, installed one of the whale factories in Morás (Xove).
SECTION 7: THE WHALE HUNTERS
The whale hunting was documented in Vasquian ports since the 12 th century. In the
14th century, a crisis in the capture, made the Vasquian whale hunters, specially from

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Guipúzcoa and Vizcaía, look for new places, at first it was because of temporary that
the tradition had to move progresivelly around Cantabrian Coast.
In Galicia, the whale industry had their apogee between the 16th and 17th century.
The most important whale bases were placed in Lugo coast (Mariña Lucense for Lugo
people), in Rinlo, Foz, Nois, Burela, San Cibrao and Bares ports. In the atlantic coastal,
only Caión and Malpica ports developped successfully this fishing. The hunting system
was imported from Vasquian tradition:
“They were killed in this way: they come up in a vantage point, the point of a saw
falling down over the sea and here begins to jump a big amount of water making a lot of
foam, and when the whale has got half body outside the water, the vantage point
warned the sailors, who armed their boats and putting inside a bigger quantity of rope
and with parts tied in the cabbles and with harpoon, go to catch them and throw darts.
The whales feel attacked and furiously go out to sea very furious, with the harpoon in
their skin and fishermen following the rope until they bleed and abandon their life. In
this moment, the fishermen bring them to cost where lots of oil is extracted from those
whales by making fire”
(Bartolomé Sagrario de Molina, Ldo. Molina, in his book Description of Galicia
Kingdom and its main important aspects)
The group of cetaceans, mainly Vasquian whale (Eubalaena glacialis or Eubalaena
Biscayensis) take care of them in the Cantabrian sea in their emigration route from
North Atlantic, between October and March months. In this time, the fleet, formed by a
main “chalupa” and other auxiliaries, had got the rigging ready to go out to sea in the
moment when the vantage point sees the whale and gives the warning. The Galician
chalupas measured belween 6 and 8,5 m. of length and had got two sticks with their
correspondent sails. The tripulation was composed by eight or nine men. The animal
was caught with iron harpoons, with the point in the shape of an arrow. To exhaust the
animal, they pinched it with a sharp blade, destined to bleed the animal. Both rigging
were tied to”estacha” (hemp string).
When the whale was dead, it was tied between several boats and lead to the coast
for its displacement. For this operation different types of knifes were used: carving
knife (trinchante), hard knife, axes, knife with double blade, etc.

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The whale flat or “saín” was melted generally in the same beach or in their
surrounding area, in big cauldrons, and then it was canned for marketing. The obtained
oil was used as combustible for lamps or for boats as time passed new uses were found:
it was made butter, soap, varnish…and uses in perfumery and in pharmacy, etc.
With the whale whiskers, or “fanóns” wire sticks for umbrellas were made, corset
or fans, to pour out the wine, horn…From cachalote´s head (Physeter macrocephalus)
extract the “espermaceti”or whale sperm, a liquid that anciently was used as oil to
spark plug and nowadays serve for elaboration of cosmetics and pharmacy products.
In some places such as San Cibrao, Foz or Burela, the whale industry took over to a
productive comercial change with rest of Cantabrian aerea in the first half of the 17th
century for example arriving to France.
Between the end of 17th century and the start of 18th century, the definitive
decadence of whale hunting in our coasts took place. It wasn´t until 1965 when whale
turned to acquire leading role in San Cibrao life, when the canning company Massó
installed one of their factories in Portiño de Morás (Xove). The factory counted with
modern instalations that allowed the complete process of whales for obtaining and
canning oils and flour, and also for preparing meat to eat. The captures were carried out
from whale (baleeiros) ships, like the “Carrumeiro” or “Cabo Moras”, with harpoons
armed in its prow.
It was closed in 1976, just before the declaration of international moratory of
comercial haunting of whale (1986). Nowadays, these areas are occupied by Alcoa
factory, one of the basic pillars of economy of the area.