This study examines the shipbuilding and maritime activities of the Pilato family from Gruž during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, focusing on Antun Pilato. Archival reports show that Pilato served both as a master shipbuilder in Ulqin and as an intermediary between the Republic of Dubrovnik and Pasha of Ulqin.

Through a series of reports submitted to the Ragusan government between 1775 and 1795, Pilato builds ships or the Pasha of Ulqin while also gathering valuable information to his homeland.

Antun Pilato

The Adriatic in the late 18th century was a dynamic maritime zone shaped by commerce, piracy, diplomacy, and craft-mobility between the Republic of Ragusa (Ragusa / modern Dubrovnik) and neighbouring Ottoman territories. Among the actors who operated at this crossroads were shipbuilders from the Gruž district of Dubrovnik, whose expertise was in demand in ports such as Ulqin and Shkodra. Within this context, the Pilato family — particularly Antun Pilato — emerges as a significant figure whose activities illuminate the fluid boundaries between technical labour, political service, and intelligence exchange.

Drawing upon governmental correspondence and reports preserved in Ragusan archival records, this article seeks to examine the multifaceted role of the Pilato family and reconstruct the movement of Adriatic shipwrights between Dubrovnik and Albanian ports during the concluding decades of the eighteenth century.

The Pilato family and the Gruž shipyards

The Gruž shipyards were among the most active industrial centres of the Republic of Ragusa. Skilled craftsmen from this community were frequently contracted by Ottoman officials for the construction and repair of naval vessels. The importance of Ragusan shipbuilding is well attested: Ragusa, already from the late Middle Ages, maintained several shipyards (e.g. in the old city port), and from 1526 the new shipyard in Gruž, which significantly enhanced its ship-building capacity.

Ship-building masters from Dubrovnik enjoyed a reputation for excellence throughout the Mediterranean. Contemporary sources from the 16th–17th centuries praise Ragusan shipwrights as among “the most capable for building galleons and large ships.”

Although direct archival evidence linking the Pilato family to the earliest centuries of Ragusan shipbuilding remains to be located, by the late 18th century they appear to have held a defined position within this tradition. Antun Pilato is referred to in government correspondence as “Proto Antun” (master builder), suggesting that he held an official or semi-official status within the shipyard hierarchy. [archival source: Ragusan state records, 1794–1795]

Shipbuilding in Ulqin and the role of Antun Pilato

According to a report submitted to the Ragusan government by Petar Bratić upon his return from Albania, Pilato was commended as “a loyal citizen of the Republic, attentive to its interests and well-informed on political matters.” In that letter, Bratić recounts that while employed in Ulqin to build a ship for the pasha, Pilato informed him of the arrival of a Montenegrin delegation in Shkodra for peace negotiations.

This suggests that Pilato — despite being engaged in technical duties under Ottoman authority — maintained lines of loyalty to Ragusa and served as an informal intelligence conduit. Additional correspondence from Ivan Valjalo indicates that Pilato traveled to Albania with his son, who assisted him in the ship’s construction, suggesting a family-based transmission of skilled craft, typical of Adriatic shipwright dynasties. [archival source: Valjalo’s report to Ragusan government, 1794]

By 1794, Antun is documented as working in Albania; in 1795 he is again recorded in Ulqin, still engaged in the pasha’s naval construction and traveling to Shkodra to receive instructions or hand-over orders. [archival source: Ragusan government records, 1794–1795]

Health crisis reports

In February 1775, Pilato reported to official Mato Kazilari that six houses in Ulqin had been infected by plague; these houses were promptly quarantined under guard. Kazilari later confirmed this information through his associate, Safal Rais. [archival source: Ragusan health correspondence, 1775]

Such a report implies that Pilato held a status beyond that of a simple craftsman — he functioned as a semi-official informant or local liaison, trusted to communicate matters of public health and security. The presence of Albanians regularly travelling between Dubrovnik and Ulqin for trade, maritime labour and other purposes helps explain why the pasha remained well informed about developments in the Gruž shipyard area.

Subsequent to this plague-report, the pasha is said to have requested at least ten shipbuilders to be sent to Ulqin, offering wages higher than those typical in Dubrovnik. This episode indicates both the strategic maritime importance of Ulqin and the attractiveness of working conditions for Dalmatian craftsmen. [archival source: Pasha’s demand notice preserved in Ragusan records]

Information and diplomatic Intelligence

Antun’s role as an informant is further evidenced by multiple recorded instances in which he carried back to Dubrovnik news from Albanian ports. On one occasion, he brought intelligence from Albanians he encountered at the port of Ploče; on another, he delivered information acquired from the Dubrovnik vice-consul in Durrës. These submissions were taken seriously by the Ragusan authorities and preserved in official registers. [archival source: Ragusan foreign affairs correspondence, 1794–1795]

In 1789 the pasha of Shkodra explicitly requested the presence of “Archpriest Antun Pilato,” according to a report by Valjalo after his government-mandated mission to Albania. This request highlights both Pilato’s recognised value to Ottoman authorities and possibly his role as religious or diplomatic intermediary. [archival source: Valjalo’s 1789 report]

Interpretation

The documented activities of Antun Pilato reveal that shipwrights in the late 18th-century Adriatic were not merely technical labourers but key intermediaries navigating complex political and economic spheres. His dual function — as a master shipbuilder serving Ottoman patrons, and as a loyal subject of Ragusa transmitting strategic information — underscores the permeability of political boundaries in the Adriatic world.

The Pilato family thus embodies the ways in which skilled craftsmen, often organised in dynastic or family-based workshops, formed part of a wider network of maritime diplomacy, trade, and mobility during a period of shifting allegiances and contested sovereignty.

Conclusion

The Pilato family of Gruž represented more than a lineage of skilled shipwrights: they were integral to the maritime, economic, and diplomatic fabric of the late 18th-century Adriatic. Antun Pilato in particular stands out as a figure whose work and correspondence demonstrate the entanglement of craft, commerce, and politics, illustrating how technical expertise could translate into socio-political influence.

Future research into Ragusan and Ottoman archives may yield the exact documents referenced here (contracts, letters, reports), shedding light on contract terms, wages, family status, and the material history of shipbuilding that connected Dalmatia to the Ottoman Adriatic coast.

References

• Đ. Bašić, Shipping in Dubrovnik between the Fifteenth and … (2017). hrcak.srce.hr+1
• “Ottoman Merchants in the Adriatic: Trade and Smuggling.” scispace.com
• Academic studies on the economic history of the Republic of Ragusa. academia.edu+1
• More general background on Ragusa’s maritime tradition and its shipyards. hrcak.srce.hr+1