The voyage of the San Pietro

A shipment of with olive oil packed in large stipe casks, bales of tobacco, and wheels of cheese, loaded in Nafplion and destined for the Genoa. After a routine call at Zakýnthos the vessel stood proceeded north-west towards the Adriatic under fine weather, but on about 4?May, when roughly 150 km short of the Gulf of Venice, it was struck by a sudden shifting north and north-west gale force winds that caused stormy seas with huge waves. In the violent pitching that followed, the oil casks battered one another until their staves sprang, disgorging a large portion of their contents into the bilge; the crew could only keep two casks intact. The violent winds also snapped the main yard, tore the foot?ropes and clews of the mainsail, and shredded the mainsail itself, leaving the vessel under?rigged and unable to continue northward. The captain then steered towards the south?west and, after two days of moderated sailing, entered the port of Augusta in Sicily on 8?May. The ship was placed under quarantine by the Health Guard and the captain immediately lodged sworn protest before the French Consulate To staunch the continuing leakage, the captain purchased five fresh casks ashore and began re-racking the surviving oil while local shipwrights started replacing the broken yard and repairing the mainsail.