Jone asked me what I wanted to do monday afternoon, and I thought we would just hang around Tolosa. Then she suggested going to see the construction of the San Juan in Pasaia. Why not?
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| Pasaia San Juan from San Pedro. Photo by Jone |
I learned about the San Juan at a talk on "Traditional Boat Building in the Basque Country" given a few months ago at the
Center for Wooden Boats. It was wrecked in the 16th century in Red Bay, Labrador while on a whaling expedition. Parks Canada launched an archaeological
effort to study the wreck piece by piece, giving today's boat builders crucial information for the reconstruction. There were no boat plans in the 1500's!
I knew the San Juan was being built in San Pedro, so Jone pointed the car in the general direction. We drive until we reached a pedestrian zone, then parked the car and walked around a corner... And there it was!
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| Looking up the slipway |
Albaola, the organization, has a neat setup. A museum tells the story of Basque ship building, whaling, fishing, and the San Juan. At the end of the display you walk into two workshops with viewing galleries, giving patrons full view of the work. Only the keel is currently in place in the slipway, but stacks of templates show the hull's future geometry.
A documentary on a trip undertaken in traditional whaling great a few years ago can be found
here.
Becca, great boat! Maybe a ride when it's done.
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