2At the core of our research is the collection of a complete “catalogue” composed of ship representations in paintings, stamps, photographs, and archival and bibliographical descriptions, along with other information from current underwater archaeological excavations conducted on the coast of Corsica. The aim is to describe the characteristics of the different coasters and identify adaptations to their environment and to the local societies that built them. We also try to present the differ­ences and similarities in the coasters’ building traditions in the different regions covered by our research.

1. The tartane-type vessel

3A comparison of the various drawings of tartane-type vessels allows us to follow the evolution of this type of ship and possibly the diversity of its regional adaptations (fig. 1).

(drawing H. Botcazou, AMU-LA3M, Ipso Facto)

4The tartane generally corresponds to a one or two mast ship that has an average tonnage around 70 tonnes, though it can displace from 25 to 100 tonnes for the largest. Its wide bottom is easily recognisable, as well as its lateen rigging. As an exam­ple­, the Tartane Provençale from 1789, drawn by Admiral Pâris (Pâris 1882), the first French maritime ethnographer and curator of the National Maritime Museum between 1871 and 1893, measured 12.90 m long, 3.20 m wide, with a draught of 2.30 m (fig. 1.3).

5It seems that the first tartanes appeared in the 16th century (De Nicolò 2012) in Provence, southern France. The last of them was used in L’Estaque, Marseille, to transport tiles (Damonte 1990).

6During the 17th and 18th century, tartanes for hauling cargo had a greater rigging, composed of a main mast (mestre), which was a lateen mast situated a little beyond the master frame, and a fore mast (trinquet) with a 25° inclination (fig. 1.1). This fore mast gradually disappeared during the 18th century. Ships like the Tartane Provençale of 1789 drawn by Admiral Pâris tend to adopt some of the features of the one-masted tartane used for fishing or transporting ballast as drawn by Jouve in 1679 (Jouve 1679). Here, a large jib called polacre replaces the fore mast (fig. 1.2).

7Another type of tartane is represented by the Albanaise, a model from the 18th century held in the French National Maritime Museum in Paris (fig. 1.4). It is a lateen-rigged boat with a main mast and a mizzen (méjane) situated at the stern of the boat. The mizzen is balanced at the bow by a polacre (Pâris 1882). This type of rig can be related to both the Italian bovo and pareggia vessels that were in use in the 19th century, especially between Corsica and Liguria, and to the Spanish ­balancelles from Catalonia.

8During the transition from the 19th to 20th century, the surviving tartanes are of the one-masted type. The yard of the lateen sail (antenne) becomes more rigid and is topped up so that the triangle of sail situated in front of the mast is reduced. We often see a triangular topsail rigged to a topmast attached above the lateen one. The front part of the yard will slowly disappear to look like a fore and aft rig, and a large jib is used beyond the main mast (fig. 1.5). This system demands less effort and people for handling. It allows the division of the sails, which are as a result lighter to use. This organisation is cleverly complemented by a curtain sail (voile à rideau), which allows easy furling of the main sail without lowering the gaff (Burlet 1988).

9The one-masted tartane with a lateen rig was related to fishing activities from at least the 17th century (fig. 1.2). The term tartane is also the name of a specific net. These boats were involved in pair-trawling (pêche aux boeufs). The last versions of these vessels were still in use in the first half of the 20th century in the harbour of Sète in Languedoc. André Aversa, a local traditional boat builder, witnessed the changes in technology during his life, and testified that he adapted the original shape of the bateaux boeufs, a tartane-like fishing boat, to the engine and to the new nets that are now hauled in from the rear of the boat. Little by little the sail disappeared and, with the engine, a transom appeared (Vigne 2003).

2. Conclusion

10This ongoing research has led us to understand that the tartane-type vessel, which seemed at first sight to correspond to a very distinctive type of coaster, effectively reflects a varied range of successive adaptations over time. The rigging of the tartane has been successively modified to answer the needs of the local populations: it has influenced other types of coasters (e.g. the bateaux boeufs of Sète); and it has itself been influenced by external practices. The fore-and-aft coaster from the first decades of the 20th century, for example, sheds light on this last case. The successive adaptation of the rigging of the tartane corresponds to the global evolution of the lateen rig. The big two-masted tartane from the 17th century abandons the fore mast in the subsequent century, and then follows two different paths. The first is inherited from the one-masted fishing or ballast ship, and will later be influenced by the Atlantic fore-and-aft rigging. The second corresponds to a widespread rigging from Catalonia to Liguria, composed of two masts (a main and a mizzen) and a jib. This efficient balanced rigging was also used to fit the bovi and paregge, both types abandoned at the end of the 19th century in Liguria, Corsica and Provence.