The evolution was rather fast, from carved trunks to more elaborate manufactures, until, after millennia, real pieces of art such as the famous "clippers" were built. The building of these magnificent vessels was conducted by expert builders who carried out their work "off by heart". They didn't usually have any plan drawn, but they used to build small "half-models" , working with gouges, chisels, and planes, reproducing what they had in their mind, which was the result of fantasy and intuition.

Every single sailing vessel was a "unique piece", every single one different from the others, created to be the quickest and safest. The clippers were built by expert carpenters, shipwrights, joiners, and caulkers. With the declining of the clippers, the usage of wood for naval constructions began to decline as well. Nowadays, wood is used solely for fishing vessels and for a few pleasure boats.

The profession of shipwright is provided by article 117 of the navigation law, and by article 280 of the rules for the execution of the navigation law, in which the requirements to practise it are specified. In article 280, it is specified that in order to practise the profession of shipwright one should have worked at least for 36 months as trainee shipwright in a shipyard or a company of naval constructions.

According to the Italian law, a shipwright is allowed to build and repair ships and boats made of wood up to a gross tonnage of 150 tons (at the moment I think that this limit has been increased up to 200 tons). For many years our Sardinian shipwrights have designed and built wonderful fishing boats, the famous "gozzi", rigged with latin sails. Cagliari, Stintino, S.Antioco, Carloforte e Alghero are the places where there were the most important shipyards run by expert shipwrights.

Here, the boats for the fishermen and for the local transportation were designed; from these shipyards left many different types of vessels: the ships for the transport of minerals from the mines of Buggerru to the harbour of Carloforte; the steamboats for the passengers; the sail-vessels for the fishing industry. For almost a century the boats travelling along our sea were designed, built, launched and repaired in our shipyards by our skilled builders.

Even today, in a few yards, like the one of the Sitzia brothers in Sant'Antioco (one of the few still active in Sardinia), wooden vessels are built according to the old style of the Sardinian shipwrights. In this shipyard I have witnessed some phases of the building of a fishing boat and the mending and restoration of other wooden boats.

The bodies of the boats are built starting from a half model in scale, which is realized after years of experience and careful observations. During this phase they use the knowledge gained by Mr Stizia during many journeys on board of steamships, by working as fisherman, and by being trained at his father's shipyard and after many years of work in several yards all around Italy. The careful choice of the wood and the building of the models are the result of a lot of experience. Even today the whole work, especially the finishing, is still done like it was a century ago, by hand with an axe.

It seems such unreal and anachronistical to see the shipwright kneeling over a layer of sawdust near the stem wheel of the skeleton of a big fishing boat, with an axe in his hand finishing this part of the body. It is a hard and tiring job, but in this yard, like in all the shipyards in the world, the shipwright works with a living matter, such wood is. Every single shipwright with his own experience creates ships with superb lines, born to work in the sea, safely. And the satisfaction pays for all the hard work.

In the few shipyards still active, such as the one visited, shipwrights design and build the "gozzi", with the same technique, love and passion. These boats, rigged with latin sails, take part in particular regattas. The most important one for this type of boat is the one in Stintino, at the end of August, known by the name of "President of the Republic Challenge Trophy". In the shipyard I met one of the Stizia brothers'son , who is only fourteen. He is still too young to undertake the same activity as his father, but by looking at him poking his nose around, one immediately understand that he isn't foreign to the love and passion for such a profession.

There are also encouraging signs in other parts of the Island. In Carloforte for instance there are two young men that after having learned the art from old shipwrights, build wooden boats. Unfortunately, despite these encouraging signs, the role of the shipwright, the artist that with his own hands, experience and knowledge creates and gives life to bodies with superb lines and exceptional naval quality, is disappearing. The introduction of fiberglass and the low costs of these boats, together with the scarcity and the cost of the wood for naval construction, helps to contribute to the slow but constant declining of this old and wonderful art. Nowadays, there are very few Sardinian shipyards where shipwrights are still at work. Therefore , this great heritage is at risk. This will be another piece of sailorly art that will be destroyed, another piece of history that will stay alive only in a few photographs, in the boats that still are at sea, and in the mind of those who have met these artists.