Building a Batana

by Michael Vlahovich and NWMC Staff

Over the past 150+ years, our region has become the adopted home of many people from around the world, some of whom have brought their own maritime traditions to our waters, adding to the rich maritime culture and technology of the indigenous people of the Salish Sea.

Croatian Migration to South Puget Sound In the 19th and 20th centuries, war, disease and diminishing resources ravaged the mainland and island of what is now known as the Republic of Croatia—formerly part of Yugoslavia. People who had lived among the islands of the Dalmatian Coast for generations brought their rich heritage of fishing, shipbuilding, and voyaging halfway around the world as they sought out opportunity, peace, and a new place to call home.

As early as the 1850s, Croatian immigrants’ maritime endeavors and industries were popping up around Puget Sound, with a special concentration in the South Sound. Emerging settlements on Vashon Island, around Gig Harbor, and in Tacoma gave birth to enterprises such as Barbara Bros. Shipbuilders, Martinolich Shipyard, Skansie Shipbuilding Co., J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Western Boat Building Co., and Kazulin Boat Co., among many others. Croatians were innovators in boat construction, commercial fishing, and seafood processing and were also the first to add motors to fishing boats, to employ ice to keep the catch fresh at sea.

Building a Batana Working with the Croatian nonprofit Maritima Educare

and Gig Harbor Boatshop, master shipwright, fisherman, and Tacoma native Mike Vlahovich has been building a batana—a Croatian flat-bottom fishing skiff which is a variant of design once common to the Northern Adriatic. His project began in July 2022 and can be seen in the Boatshop just inside Main Gate.

This is truly a project of international collaboration. The plans for the batana were donated by the Batana ECO Museum of Rovinj, Croatia, an organization listed in the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices for its dedication to the preservation of this design and its fishing heritage. Port Townsend’s Pacific Northwest Timbers has donated reclaimed Douglas fir for the boat’s construction—reusing quality lumber that may have still been “on the stump” when Croatians first arrived in the Pacific Northwest. The Artful Sailor is making a traditional lugs’l finished in the traditional Croatian checkerboard pattern. And finally, the Northwest Maritime Center’s Boatshop will build the batana’s spars using reclaimed lumber from the Schooner Martha mast project.

One of the project’s goals is to help highlight and sustain Croatian traditions in Gig Harbor and throughout Puget Sound. Throughout, they will gather even more maritime stories—histories of Croatian fishing and boatbuilding families that have been in Puget Sound for more than 150 years, the stories of their contributions to maritime industries, and how our area’s salmon runs and old-growth forests helped them develop thriving working waterfront communities. The team is excited to share these stories (and gather more of them) at Wooden Boat Festival.

Sustaining a Rich Tradition Although much has changed over the years, substantial Croatian maritime influence remains within the boats and the people that continue to maintain and preserve the proud traditions of our working waterfronts. The construction of the wooden Croatian fishing skiff batana is being undertaken in memory and gratitude for those that came before us. But also as a reminder of how important the natural resources of the Pacific Northwest were to our ancestors, and how important they need to remain for future generations.

Gig Harbor is one of many vibrant Croatian Communities around the sound that celebrates the incredible history of Croatians in the Puget Sound. Visit the Harbor History Museum, Skansie Netshed and Gig Harbor Boatshop to learn more about the history of Croatians in Puget Sound.