When I was requested to inaugurate and close the 4th Congress on the Maritime History of the Mediterranean Network, I felt like one of the luckiest women on the planet. A congress in one of my favourite museums? The Maritime Museum of Barcelona? This museum housed, among other temporary exhibitions, one that was dedicated to the sailing Patin, with photographs that closely followed the history of the Catalan Patin from its origins till its most evolved form today. Characteristically, it has neither rudder nor board, those indispensable elements for sailing. Its features make it ideal for plying coastlines.
The congress looked at sailing from another point of view, that of the “big vessels”. We listened to Carlos Martínez Shaw, who with “A Complete History of the Sea and its Shores” delighted the audience in the opening speech with a review of this “Our Sea Mare Nostrum”, giving us the keys to understanding the growth of trade and navigation through time. Truly a pleasure.
