CROATIAN MARINERS IN SPAIN

By Adam S. Eterovich

Spanish Fleet Contracts

Increasingly during the seventeenth century, contracts were taken with foreign adventurers offering to serve the king in the Atlantic fleet. They sought employment, a share of the booty, and the prestigious title of general of a squadron. Their offers were warmly received by the Council of War in a period of chronic shortages of ships and men. Ragusans-Croatians were particularly valued for their valour and expertise in navigation. Perhaps the most esteemed of all was Jeronimo Masibradich who left Ragusa in 1624 to serve Philip IV. His squadron of six galleons would serve continuously in the Atlantic fleet for a quarter of a century. After his death his heirs extended the much valued contract into the 1650s. For similar reasons there was a conspicuous trend to naval contracting with peninsular provinces.

Spanish Ship Building

The crown, however, continued to chase after specifications of the perfect ship. In the early 1640s this resulted in an injection of foreign influence in Spanish shipbuilding. Vicente Martolosich was appointed to produce new ordenanzas. He was a Ragusan-Croatian who had come to Spain to serve the king with his squadron, and subsequently rose to superintendent of construction in the Atlantic fleet. Dismissive of the crown's specifications, he offered to supply new data for the production of 'perfect ships', the fruit of long study. He had 'discovered the truth which so far no one has achieved'. The secrets would be imparted to the king of Spain in return for the naturalization of his two sons, giving one the command of a galleon, the other an ecclesiastical benefice; and for himself the title and pay of a general. 'I do not think this is too much to ask, he added, because these favours were temporary, in contrast to his gift of 'knowledge that is perpetual. The king succumbed to the offer of absolute truths for building perfect ships, By 1643 Martolosich had been given his generalship and was described as the author 'of the currently observed ordenanzas. And those specifications were carried to Italy by his son Tomas, who had worked with him and was now appointed to direct the building of six galleons in Naples for the Atlantic fleet. The new regulations were never published and their sole record is that Martolosich specified a higher keel to beam ratio Of 3. This influenced the design of the new flagship of the fleet in 1649, which, compared with its predecessor of 1628, showed a 5 per cent increase in the keel to beam ratio.

Croatian Mariners in Spanish Service

Stronger bonds of friendship linked Spain to the Adriatic republic of Ragusa-Dubrovnik. Staunchly Catholic, it had maintained its independence as a protectorate of the Ottoman Turks, paying tribute to the sultan. Ragusa had sent ships and men to bolster Spain's naval power from the beginning of Philip 11's reign. In 1614 Luis Fajardo, captain-general of the Atlantic fleet, reporting on worsening manning difficulties, said 'the only solution is to bring a substantial number of gunners and seamen from Ragusa, since they are Catholics and tried and tested in His Majesty's armadas'. A few years later Philip III approved a contract with three Ragusan captains to bring over 500 seamen to serve in the fleet. Some of these men settled permanently, becoming vassals of the king of Spain. Captain Blas Cunich lived with his wife and children in Lima, Peru for eighteen years, sailing on fleets. The longest serving of all the Ragusans were the Masibradich family who provided the command and crews for what became a permanent unit of the Atlantic fleet. Its commander, Jeronimo de Masibradich, married into one of Spain's most illustrious military families, the Fernindez de Cordoba. But by 1640 the source was drying up just when Spain was most in need. When a Ragusan naval captain, then serving in Catalonia, was asked to bring over Ragusan seamen, he replied that there were 'few seamen' in that republic and they had lost interest in serving the king of Spain because of failure to give missed pay.

To make up the remaining requirement, hopes rested on Genoa and Ragusa, and on English and Dutch volunteers or prisoners, depending on whether there was peace or war. Still the necessary numbers were not achieved. Philip III abandoned the proposed strengthening of the Atlantic fleet from twenty four to thirty vessels. On this occasion he rejected the suggested recruiting of Ragusans because it would take too long to bring them.

(Goodman 1997) David. Spanish Naval Power, 1589-1665. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Masibradich and Martolosich provided Spain with ships and men for service in Spain. Over 500 Croatian mariners were taken into Spanish fleets in one year.