1st International Conference Heritages and Memories from theSea.

Evora, Portugal, January 2015

Stories came from the Sea

Vicente Benítez CabreraMarine Scientist and Historian

http://www.museovirtualsubmarino.comPO Box 2069

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 35007Canary Islands, SpainVbencab37@gmail.com

Abstract

En este trabajo presentamos una parte de la historia oral de lasgentes de mar en los Puertos Canarios, a lo largo de las últimasdécadas del siglo XX.

Los objetivos de este trabajo han sido:

- Rescatar una parte de la historia oral de las islas, a partirde los testimonios, y plasmarlos como documentos que loconserven y difundan como instrumento cultural, en soportedigital audiovisual, manteniendo la frescura y la actualidad delos testimonios. Al mismo tiempo que sirva para la reflexiónsobre la protección y la conservación de nuestro patrimoniocultural sumergido, para que se conozca y se transmita.

- Contrastar las fuentes escritas con las orales, nos permiteconocer y transmitir esa historia no oficial de los documentos,la historia colectiva. No siempre queda registrado en papel todolo que ocurre, pero si queda registrado en la memoria y en losrecuerdos.

- Construir una forma de historia a partir de esos protagonistasanónimos, que enlace con la historia en mayúsculas. La historiaen las islas se ha elaborado principalmente en torno a losgrandes acontecimientos, los procesos sociales y económicos,

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olvidando como han construido esos procesos, las personas de apie.

- Escuchar a los que no tienen voz, devolver a la comunidad yrecuperar para la historia los testimonios como fuentes.

This paper presents a part of the oral history of seamen inCanary Islands Ports, over the last decades of the twentiethcentury.

The goals of this work have been:

- Rescue a part of the oral history of the islands, from theevidence, and translate such documents held by it and spread asa cultural instrument, digital audiovisual support, maintainingfreshness and timeliness of the evidence. At the same time servefor reflection on the protection and conservation of ourunderwater cultural heritage and is known to be transmitted.

- Contrast the written sources with oral, lets us know andconvey that no official documents history, collective history.Not always is recorded on paper everything that happens, but ifit is registered in the memory and the memories.

- Build a story form from those anonymous characters that linkto the story in uppercase. The story in the islands hasdeveloped mainly around major events, social and economicprocesses, forgetting as these processes have been built, peopleon foot.

- Listen to the voiceless, back to the community and to recoverthe history testimony as sources.

Introduction

In June 2010, Spain was elected to the Committee of IntangibleHeritage during the session of the General Assembly of StatesParties to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the IntangibleCultural Heritage, which was held in Paris.This committee, composed of 12 countries plus Spain and with aterm of four years, is the body responsible for deciding theapplications that become part of the Representative List ofIntangible Heritage of Urgent Safeguarding List and projectsthat best reflect the principles and objectives of theConvention.

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Note also that in this session of the General Assembly of StatesParties have been elected six NGOs Spanish's as organizationsaccredited to perform advisory functions to the Convention forthe Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage: UNESCO Centre ofNavarre, UNESCO Centre of Catalonia, UNESCO Center San SebastianUNESCO Centre of the autonomous city of Melilla, theMediterranean Diet Foundation and the Center for Studies of theinstitution Borjanos "Ferdinand".At the next meeting, to be held in November in Nairobi, Kenya,Spain presented as the National Representative List ofIntangible Heritage Flamenco applications, the Sibill-to Palmade Mallorca and Castellets; as international applications, theMediterranean Diet and Falconry.In September 2009 at the Committee meeting held in Abu Dhabi,Spain managed to include in this list the Water Court and theCouncil of Wise Men of Valencia and Murcia and Silbo Gomero ofthe Canary Islands. Also, at the same meeting the Museum ofElche Pujol School was chosen as project reflects the objectivesof the Convention. Note that only received this award threeprojects, one of which was Spanish.

Over recent years we have been collecting extensive informationand documentation, oral and written testimonies of some events,the little stories that arrived by sea, our Atlantic Sonoro asTomás Morales said.

The goals of this work have been:

- Rescue a part of the oral history of the islands, from theevidence, and translate such documents held by it and spread asa cultural instrument, digital audiovisual support, maintainingfreshness and timeliness of the evidence. At the same time servefor reflection on the protection and conservation of ourunderwater cultural heritage and is known to be transmitted.

- Contrast the written sources with oral, lets us know andconvey that no official documents history, collective history.Not always is recorded on paper everything that happens, but ifit is registered in the memory and the memories.

- Build a story form from those anonymous characters that linkto the story in uppercase. The story in the islands hasdeveloped mainly around major events, social and economicprocesses, forgetting as these processes have been built, peopleon foot.

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- Listen to the voiceless, back to the community and to recoverthe history testimony as sources.

Cita “La orden ya fue ejecutada” Roma, las fosas ardeatinas, la memoria. AlessandroPortelli. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Buenos Aires. 2003. Páginas

“He entendido concretamente algo que sabía en teoría: una tradición es un proceso en el que también la simple repetición significa una responsabilidad crucial, porque el sutil encaje de la memoria se lacera de modo irreparable cada vez que alguien calla. No es solamente en África donde, como decía Jomo Kenyatta, se quema una biblioteca cada vez que muere un viejo; también en Italia, cada vez que un antifascista calla, se quema un pedazo de libertad.” Página 11.

“Una diferencia entre las fuentes escritas y las orales consiste en que las primeras son por lo común documentos y las segundas son siempre actos; no deben pensarse en términos sustantivos y de cosas, sino de verbos y de procesos; no la memoria y el relato, sino recordar, contar. Las fuentes orales no son nunca anónimas ni impersonales, como es justo que sean las institucionales. Por cuanto lanarración y la memoria pueden contener materiales compartidos con otros, los que recuerdan y cuentan son siempre individuos singulares, que asumen de vez en vez la responsabilidad y el compromiso de lo que recuerdan y dice. Por eso una entrevista,aún para una persona joven y alejada de los hechos, puede ser una mitzvah, un precepto – testimoniar en el sentido menos cercano a lo judicial y más al religioso-.” Página 24.

¿Why oral testimonies are a source of Maritime History of theCanary Islands?

Oral sources tell us stories of life, from them we build HO Inthe port of La Luz, are the living voices that staged fordecades history, who collected and reflected policy decisions ineveryday life. This intangible heritage tells the fate offamilies linked to the sea, and related groups including wherethe profession and transmitting knowledge.

The selected characters and professions have much in common,develop their profession in a remote environment, reduced, on aboat in the sea surface or below it, with a small group ofcolleagues, over long periods time, so that coexistence is partof the work, the workplace and life come together and times ofeach of these areas as well. The framework temporary space isalmost the same, more for some professions than others, and thiscan unite the ties of dependence on each other, the safety ofthe team members are interrelated

The story developed from written sources often not collectexperiences or vision of the protagonists of the people who arepart of groups with a remote or mythical character. The oraltestimonies enable us to give an identity from its protagonists,and explain a situation from their life experience. Respondentscharacters, we have considered, have extensive professional

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range: merchant seamen, fishermen, divers, migrants, salineros,lighthouse keepers.

Historical Context

In Canary Islands, underwater works developed with the rise anddevelopment of Puerto de La Luz and Las Palmas and other portsalong the last third of the nineteenth and twentieth century,especially linked to the ever increasing maritime activityvapors that linked European ports with America. In this samestage take off other professional activities, Cambullón orcambullo, divers, pilots, only port and high economic performance

Canary shipping in the late nineteenth century had heavytraffic, resulting from the strategic situation of the Atlanticislands with regard to the European, African and Americancontinents. The port of Light whose works began on February 26,1883, determined the establishment of numerous shippingcompanies, coal companies and maritime services, with a strongincrease in maritime traffic and number of stops in portscanaries, and especially in the port of refuge or Light.From 1850 until 1883 the existing port in the city was thespring of Palms, although the number of days that could beoperational very low, especially in the winter periods, since itwas open to the storms in the Northeast and South, so theanchorage of the islets was the most suitable area for portoperations in precarious conditions (Quintana Navarro, 1985).From 1883-1913 there was the development of the port,substantiated in the Port of Refuge, already before itscompletion, was that it would be insufficient to meet theservice demands of different shipping companies. The Puerto dela Luz also developed a multiplier effect on overall economicactivity, and in particular, the growth of imports and exports(Quintana Navarro, 1985: 38).The shipping companies present in the Puerto de la Luz and thosecalling at the same were numerous requests for administrativeconcessions to establish itself as shippers, suppliers of coal,water and other supplies 1 were on increasing.

1 Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gan Canaria. Intereses generales, 1880,Legº 2, Num. 26. 73 fols. AHPLP. Declaración del puerto de refugio. Idem. 1889, Legº 4, Num 84. Declaración interés general de 2º orden. 1900. Expte. 161. Leg 6. 8 fols. Solicitud compañía transatlántica depósito carbón flotante.1876. Expte 451. Leg. 13. Fols. 15. Obras en el puerto de la luz propuesto por la Sociedad de Amigos del País.

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The passage of ships and scale for delivery in Puerto de la Luzand Las Palmas, were also made frequent claims and someshipwrecks. Just months before the collision and sinking ofAlfonso XII in Lower Gando, Ville vapor Pará suffered the samesad fate in the same place. Some years earlier crashed in thesame place the English steamer Senegal, although he wasfortunate to win Salinetas beach, where it was repaired andcould continue their journey.

Lower Gando is located on the charts for some time, and itsposition was well known among sailors. The charts used in thelate nineteenth century were the letter of 1853, lifted by theLieutenant Arlet English Royal Navy, built in 1834, withcorrections and the letter of the island of Gran Canaria, flatBay Las Palmas, national and foreign works, address hydrography,Madrid, 1879. However, in the months prior to the collision andsinking of the steamship, there had been other maritimeaccidents with fatal consequences, at least in some cases.

The Steamships of the Transatlantic Company from 1881 began tomake stops in Puerto de La Luz thanks to the application of theCity Council to the Minister for Overseas León y Castillo. Thisscale of vapors Email boost trade in the islands with themainland Spain and the Spanish Antilles considering "allpassengers and fruits of the three islands of Gran Canaria,Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are forced today to go the Frenchsteamers touch at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, would embark with theSpaniards that would make stopover in Las Palmas, which wouldalso get the advantage of taking into Cádiz passengers for thisDistrict.

Temporal and spatial boundaries

The temporal and spatial boundaries for this work, is defined bythe geographical scope and the launch of the Canarian ports in1883, so we'll stick to this timeframe, from 1883 until the late

Concesiones 1900-1913

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twentieth century. Regarding the spatial framework, port,maritime activity itself draws on the Canary Islands, reachingother latitudes, and other seas, but to put some limits inartificial principle we focus on the Middle East Atlantic.

Why Oral History? Why Submerged Heritage?

The sources for this work have been mainly directed interviews.We chose this method to document port and maritime activities inthe Canaries, giving "voice to the Voice" as Emilio Lledó said,to record the little stories, listen to the voiceless and return to the communityknowledge these lives, full of experience give us the facts. Theremains of the day, everyday of the port is not reflected inliterature, in the official documentation, are small stories.

How can reconstruct the collective history or community frommemory? It is here that we find the cultural, unwritten story,told by its protagonists. Actually, HO, oral sources bring us acomplementary and distinct vision written documentation, becausethey reflect the intangible heritage, the lives of itsprotagonists, highlighting the contradictions, myths createdthemselves, contrasting memory each other with the documentarysources themselves.

Alessandro Portelli wrote in page 27 "La orden ya fue ejecutada" “No hago entonces historia “solamente con las fuentes orales” sino que son las fuentes orales las queme interesan. En primer lugar porque documentan historias personales demasiado privadas como para despertar la atención de la historiografía, de las fuentes institucionales y de la prensa, que se concentran casi siempre en los hechos en un estricto sentido y saben muy poco de las vidas que los han precedido y ante todo deaquellas que los han seguido, excepto cuando las redescubren como congeladas en el tiempo...”(...) En segundo lugar, y justamente por ello, me fascina la importancia de los relatos erróneos, de los mitos, de las leyendas, de los silencios que se han espesado y reunido alrededor de estos hechos. La historia Oral, en realidad, distingue entre hechos y relatos, entre historia y memoria, justamente porque considera que los relatos y la memoria son ellos mismos hechos históricos. Que una versión errada de la historia se vuelva sentido común no nos llama solamente a rectificar la reconstrucción de los hechos, sino también a interrogarnos sobre cómoy por qué este sentido común se ha construido, sobre su significado y sobre su utilidad. La credibilidad específica de las fuentes orales consiste en el hecho de que, aunque no correspondan a los hechos, las discrepancias y los errores son hechos en sí mismos, signos reveladores que remiten al tiempo del deseo y del dolory a la difícil búsqueda del sentido.”

Methodology

The methodology has followed the proposals developed by authorslike Benadiba, Laura. Oral history, stories and memories. 1sted. Ituzaingo: Maipue, 2007, 144 p. and Perks, Robert."Orientacions i Recerques. Oral History. Speaking of the past,

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"Workshop d'Història. D'Estudis Centre Local d'Història, num. 4.Semester 1994.

There have been a series of individual personal semi-structuredinterviews with open design and prior preparation of a series ofquestions to serve as a guide, based on previous conversationsin which the respondent, supplemented by written documentarysources is known finals and hemerotecas.

For the interviews we used the following equipment:

For the interviews we used the following equipment:1. Support DCPRC115E MiniDV Video Camera2. Camera Canon HV-40 HD MiniDV Support3. Camera Canon PowerShot G9

  From the interviews we have outlined a profile of eachcharacter, with a picture, summarizing some biographical data,highlighting some of the most significant memories / events, andsome texts to personal experiences.Sometimes, it is very interesting to see how the interviewee isconnected with his memory and often seems inconsistent with whathe told us before. This is very interesting for analysis becausethe trigger her memory is different (first is the question, thenit is the image).

The respondent group is diverse and heterogeneous, retireddiver, the merchant marine captain, the lighthouse keeper, thefisherman, an instructor of dive tourism a salt, an emigrant toLatin America, the worker Lime ovens . Each represents a role, avision, an experience of the sea.

Interviews

1. Diver in U-167 Boat: "It was a tough job, my father taughtme, but it paid well"

Interviews audiovisual Benigno Domínguez by VBC in Las Palmas,days: on November 13, 2009 and on February 12, 2010 and January15, 2011

The diver Benigno Federico González Domínguez, born in 1929, waseighty-one, and remembering his life, tells us that he was thefirst to get off to a German submarine in 1951-52 on the beachof Las Burras Gran Canaria, U-167, to refloat because that shiphad torpedoes in and had some danger and risk. The media used

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were very rudimentary and he had to solve the problems foundbelow with what they had, but the prize was important: "Nothingless than a German submarine of World War II, enterito"Benigno already had enough experience in the raising anddismantling of warships, over the years 1945-1950; Years beforehis father was in the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm, the "Kaiser" asthey called it, on the coast of the Sahara where he was buriedin the First World War. His father (Pedro Dominguez Castilian)and his uncle (Juan Dominguez Castilian) had a boat with a craneplatform with which they went from one boat to another diverdoing work, scrapping and other work until the Spanish Guinea.At that stage he worked with "a mesh to protect sharks werealways turned upside down, thirties forty feet deep ....""I am alive because God is great"

They worked under the name Compañía de Recuperaciones Marítimas,S.A.Benigno recently found a photograph dating from the seabed,which will awaken memoriesThe equipment weighed more than one hundred kilos ... ..In the barge had eleven people to work, was 16 meters, gorgeous, ....He believes that now there is not seriousness, dignity, honesty. He devoted his life towork, made much money and spent it. It paid very well, much money moved and spent,¿Diving wells? Forgot? Be Quiet? It hurts not talk be as it is.

Pictured Mr Pedro Dominguez Castellano, Benigno´s father.

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Small pictures from left to right:

My father and my uncle Alfonso Pérez Juan Dominguez on the wreckpoking at low tide Remains of scrapping on the beach ...My mother Rosa Dominguez who went to the expedition.My father Alfonso Pérez and uncles Peter and John with theinhabitants of beach ...My father at the door of the Castle ...

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2. "I did it all, because no one wanted to go down"photography

Rogelio Soto audiovisual Interview by VBC in Las Palmas onFebruary 12, 2010

The Navy diver Rogelio Soto, 81, was sailing in the trainingship Juan Sebastian Elcano, heading to South America, and had tojump into the water to make a repair probe ship at sea, andthere were sharks.

He dove into wells to search and rescue missing persons. Rescuedin 1971 the bodies of the crew died in the crash of DC-3 inPlaya de Vargas, and later participated in the operation toremove the two engines on the plane and take them to the repairshop

Since retiring, no plan for the futurePending photos and documentsTeam, colleagues, studentsHis son browse Hydrographic Ship “Tofino”

Working with a private company, long ConSubSA

Contrast: internal consistency testimony narrative with otherhistorical sources

Story ------------------------------- center of gravity--------------- -------------- documentary Contrast

3 .- "Always secure the work first, before lowering"

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Interview with Miguel Rodríguez Bresicht by VBC in Las Palmas onJune 8, 2010; September 23, 2010.

A diver was born on May 1, 1931, Miguel Rodríguez Bresicht builtone of his stories about where some anchors are located in theport of Las Palmas in the 1960sAlthough marine charts, nautical (1964) and saved photographs,preserved, and you are thrilled, and help stimulate the story,memories

The center of gravity of Miguel Rodríguez Bresicht is on theircoworkers because it always refers to Juan Morales, Rodri, theDutch, and more. The consistency of the narrative of Miguel RB, his speech isaround memory without just documents, it is an exercise of"lived experience".

There have been many years and many adventures with members ofhis team, that's what matters, his team. It does not standhimself on others, Juan Morales was who taught him, admire him.

Scrapping did the work seasonally, depending on sea state andsummer working in the Carbonero in Tenerife, and in winter inthe Alfonso XII, and other vessels in the lower Gando. The crew,the team

He met and remember Rogelio Soto, navy diver.

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Miguel remember to Juan Morales, his friend, everyday.

The owners of the company: from Mallorca Mr Antonio ClapéColomar, Mr Vicente Marí (n) Colomer, (Carlos Roselló uncle),Mr. Barceló, Mr. Ferrer, father Antonio Rosello Management andAccounting Antonio Rossello, other than before citedThey had a small scrap company in Lepanto street in Guanarteme,who developed the activity during the decade of 1940-1950, lateremigrated to Venezuela. Photography boat ISLA XXI

Michael and the other divers (Willhem Goezinnen, Curbelo,) since1950, worked for seasons: winter in scrapping Alfonso XII, Villade Para and others in the seafloor of Gando, and in summer in

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Tenerife in the scrapping of coal "Westburn" sunk in 1916 offthe coast of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

It is a pride to have preserved photographs and documents (ShipProperty title "Alfonso XII", really is the grant of the Navy toextract metals, regularizing a factual situation which alreadypracticed for years).

It has an own expressions of the divers, "Estrobar metal load,or an object with a wire", "had aguaje", "hit shots of dynamite"

Pilots boat were two sailors, Antonio and Domingo de Ojos deGarza, knew the waters of the bay so well that they were able totake a mooring anywhere on any ship (sunk).

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4. Juan Morales who was older than Miguel RB, was born on April17, 1927, the Kaiser Wilhelm pulled a big silver coffee machinethat was sent as a gift to the head of state, Francisco Franco.Juan Morales died in November 2009.

Juan Morales and Miguel Rodriguez Bresicht, recovered manyobjects, lanterns from Alfonso XII and other objects, trophies,brass, bronze, which had very high value as collectibles, beforethere were laws protecting maritime historical and culturalheritage

5. Juan Manuel López Garrido "It seems to me that you canfind it, among so many ships and papers"

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Picture

Audiovisual Interview with Juan Manuel López Garrido, conductedby VBC in Las Palmas, on November 18, 2009

The center of gravity in the case of Juan Manuel López Garridois a seaman, he traveled the world sailing, he representsmaritime tradition, although current issues with rigor arisesfrom knowledge. It is documented memory

Speak from now, look to the present and future plans, write,order, collect various items and projects the story of atugboat, a visual encyclopedia, catalogs, inventories,

It is a Merchant Mariner career, his work is ongoing researchfile. Since retiring, he has devoted himself to developing andpreparing various inventories jobs shipwrecks, injured in theCanary Islands

Story ------------------------------- center of gravity--------------- -------------- documentary Contrast

6. Gonzalo Barba Krohn: "He have known andtravelled all the world, but does not writeletters"

Audiovisual Interview with Gonzalo Barba Krohn by VBC in LasPalmas de GC, on Monday August 23, 2010, Friday September 3,2010, September 21, 2010, February 2011

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Gonzalo Krohn BarbaMerchant Captain, he studied in Madrid, Barcelona, Cadiz, LaCoruña

6. Ramón Santana de León, Lighthouse keeper25 and September 26, 2005, in Morro Jable,Fuerteventura

Wounded in spanish civil war in one eye (left) was assigned as alighthouse keeper in the Puertito de Jandia. He was working on aboat and enlisted for war.

The ship that supplied the headlights of Eastern Lanzarote andFuerteventura, Pechiguera, Alegranza, Tostón and Jandia islandscame every 15 days

The distance from the port of light to the lighthouse of Jandiaare 48 nautical miles, it was known that the lighthouse wasbuilt in 1867. Address and heading. How can you explain thewrecks?The ship wrecked in Lower Greek, sank a few miles further east,near of Vigan beach

Landed supplies on the lighthouse Muellito..

Communications between Jandia and Puerto goats it was by boat,no roadsHe was walking from Morro Jable to Gran Tarajal (20 km go andback) several times in his life, to enlist, enroll, ... ..

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Conrado Morquecho, Francesco Campanalunga, his brother, , EmilioTorvisco, and others divers and port workers.

Conrado Morquecho and Francesco Campalunga, 1967. Las Palmas Port

CONCLUSIONS

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Seamen memories, their forgotten stories, myths which have grownup souk streets of the harbor, we have collected and exposed in a documented and direct.Situations, their living conditions (physical, mental and emotional) define their atmosphere and world, a style very different from other group life, risks and rewards, the remoteness of the family, have invested in these professions andwho are, of very singular personalities

Acknowledgements:This work is mainly due to their protagonists, to the memory of all those who generously agreed to share their time, their livings, their experiences, talking to me: Jose Velazquez "Cheo"Juan Manuel Garrido, Miguel Rodríguez Bresicht, Benigno Dominguez, Gonzalo Krohn, Rogelio Soto, Ramón Santana de León,

REFERENCES

“La orden ya fue ejecutada” Roma, las fosas ardeatinas, la memoria. Alessandro Portelli. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Buenos Aires. 2003

Benadiba, Laura. Historia Oral, relatos y memorias. 1ª ed.Ituzaingo: Maipue, 2007, 144 p.

Perks, Robert. “Orientacions i Recerques. Historia Oral.Hablando del pasado”, Taller d´Historia. Centre d´estudis d´historia local, num. 4. Semestre 1994.

Quintana Navarro, Francisco. Barcos, negocios y burgueses en elPuerto de la Luz: 1883-1913. Madrid. Confederación Española deCajas de Ahorros. 1985. 242 pag. Colección Caja Gran Canaria.ISBN 847580201X

MUNILLA, G.; GARCÍA, D.; FERRO, E.; (2004) Seguimiento y evaluaciónde plataformas virtuales para la difusión, documentación ycomunicación de instituciones culturales y del patrimonio(ÒLIBA, 2002-2003).

MUNILLA, G.; GARCÍA, D.; SOLANILLA, L. (2003) “TIC i Patrimoni: Seguiment, Avaluació iEstudi de públic. Museu virtual & Museu presencial. (ÒLIBA,1999-2001)”Informes IN3<URL: http://www.uoc.edu/in3/dt/20092/20092.pdf>

http://historiaoralort.blogspot.com/

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