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Archival description
Officium navigationis (Office for maritime affairs)
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Venditae caratiorum; Vendite di caratti (Sales of ship shares)

The series consists of only one volume in which between 1799 and 1800 the purchase and sale of shares were recorded. Records of share trading contain the following information: date of sale, name of the seller, number and price of shares sold, name of the buyer, name of the captain of the ship the shares of which were sold. Share sales were most often recorded in a following format: Adi 2 Luglio 1799; Capitano Cristoforo Milich ha venduto caratti mezzo a Jacob Israel Russi per ducati settanta cinque nel bastimento diretto da quondam capitano Niccolo Marassi (vol. 1, f. 5).


The volume is very important for researching the history of maritime business of Ragusan Jews in the 18th century since almost all the Jews were co-owners of ships of the Republic at that time. Most of them owned 1/2 to 3 shares of one or more ships. The cases where Jews owned half of one ship (12 carats), or more, were very rare. Ragusan Jews sometimes had the ownership of the entire ship, and this data is recorded in the fonds Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30). There are many records in this volume in which Jews appear both as sellers and as share buyers. Most records refer to members of a Ragusan family Ambonetti, and other records refer to members of other Ragusan families such as Costantini, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russi, Tolentino, Valenzin, Venturra. The records show that even Ragusan women also traded in shares at that time, and some of these women were Jewish, such as Lydia, the wife of Israel Maestro, and Judith, the widow of Nathan Ambonetti (e.g., vol. 1, f. 30).

Patenta, Concessiones navigationis et Renovationes concessionum; Patenti, Congedi, Proroghe dei Bastimenti (Permits for navigating beyond the Adriatic Sea)

Ragusan sea captains that sailed on the ships of the Republic had to have a document called patente for legal navigation. They also needed a special license (congedo) to navigate beyond the Adriatic Sea, which was usually issued for a period of three and a half years. The consent to extend that permit was called a proroga and was usually issued for a period of six months. In the first volume of this series the records show different prorogas which were issued on the basis of congedos in the period from 1744 to 1807. On the left page of the book, congedos are recorded, and on the right page, prorogas. The format is the following: Antonio Brateglich Capitano del Brighentino nominato S. Catterina ha avuto il primo Congedo per tre anni e sei mesi di rispetto da computarsi dal adi 10 Marzo 1799 (left page); Ad istanza di Reuben Vita Ambonetti adi 27 Giugno 1802 avuta la proroga in iscritto per sei mesi dallo spirare del contranotto primo congedo, cosiche li scorrono li quatro anni (right page; vol. 1, ff. 9v, 10). The second volume of this series contains documents patenti and congedi.


The first volume of this series is important for researching the role of Jews in maritime affairs of the Dubrovnik Republic. Requests for the extension of the permit to sail outside the Adriatic were requested by the co-owners of the ships, among whom there was a large number of Ragusan Jews from different families such as Ambonetti, Costantini, Levi Mandolfo, Maestro, Pardo, Terni, Tolentino.

Litterae Officii navigationis; Lettere dell'Offizio della Navigazione (Official letters from the Maritime Office)

The series contains official letters from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century sent by the Maritime Office to consuls and representatives of the Dubrovnik Republic in Italian, Ottoman, African, Spanish, and Portuguese ports. Due to a new increase of maritime affairs in the Republic at that time, the Republic of Dubrovnik had established about 80 consular offices in these ports. The series also contains circular letters and instructions to Ragusan sea captains, to all consuls of the Republic, and specifically to all consuls in the Ottoman Empire and to all consuls in the countries in the Western Mediterranean parts of Europe.


The series contains a small number of letters sent to Jewish people by the officials of the Maritime Office. Among those people, in the second half of the 18th century, there are references to the administrators of the consulates of the Dubrovnik Republic in Algeria, Abram and Raphael Jacob Bussara, (e.g., vol. 8, f. 3). There is also another reference to Abram Aruch, who was responsible for Ragusan ships in Alexandria at the time when there was no Dubrovnik consul in the city (vol. 1, f. 110).

Intentiones navigationis; Intenzioni della Navigazione (Evidentiary proceedings in maritime disputes)

The series contains only two volumes covering the period from 1767 to 1811. The documents in the series relate to evidentiary proceedings based on lawsuits in maritime disputes. Prosecutors presented their allegations through one or more charges, and for each charge they would list a witness or witnesses, who would then be heard. These proceedings were conducted by hearing witnesses (intenzione). The introductory formula of the evidentiary procedure was: Reuben Vita Ambonetti nei nomi come al Libro dei Comandamenti della Navigazione del 1801 f. 28 d'innanzi li Signori Senatori Officiali intende provare gl'infrascritti Capitoli ad ogni buon fine ed effetto ... (vol. 2, f. 163).


In this series there is a smaller number of references to Jews, which could be relevant for the research of their involvement in maritime affairs during the Dubrovnik Republic. The names referenced in the series indicate mostly members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Costantini, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo, Volterra. The Jews referenced appear in these documents in multiple roles: as prosecutors, defendants and as witnesses.

Apolitiae onerum; Polizze di caricho (Bills of lading)

There is no reference to any Jew in the series.
The series consists of only one volume in which bills of lading are bound. The receipts are in a printed form with the following information: date of loading the goods on the ship, names of traders to whom the goods belonged, type of goods, name of the ship's captain, type and name of the ship, destination of the ship and names of traders who would receive the goods.

Diplomata navigationis (Maritime documents and certificates)

There are no references to Jewish people in the series.
The series consists of documents that were handed over to the State archives in 1941 from a legacy of a private person. These are mainly health certificates issued to Ragusan sea captains in Dubrovnik and in Dalmatian, Italian, Ottoman, French, Spanish and Portuguese cities. Other documents in this series are navigation permits (patenti), navigation permits for sailing outside the Adriatic (congedi), lists of ship's crews and shipowners (ruoli), health certificates (fedi di sanità), consignment notes, contracts on ship insurance, ship charter agreements, permits to build a new ship, etc.

Provedimenta navigationis; Provedimenti della navigazione (Terms of navigation)

There are no references to Jewish people in this series.
After a new increase of the maritime affairs in the Dubrovnik Republic in the 40s of the 18th centuries, basic provisions for navigation were published in a so-called Book of Rules on National Navigation (Regolamenti della Republica di Ragusa per la navigazione nazionale; 1745). Over time, these provisions changed and were supplemented. This series, which consists of one volume, contains the Senate's provisions on navigation adopted for the period between 1745 and 1806 and specify working conditions of sea captains and crew members, working conditions of Dubrovnik consuls in the Ottoman ports, conditions for obtaining a citizenship of the Dubrovnik Republic, conditions for the navigation outside of the Adriatic, payments of port, customs and other maritime taxes, and conditions for the construction of new ships. The provisions of the Maritime Office for the period 1747 - 1804 were written a tergo.

Diversae terminationes et notae Officii navigationis; Diverse terminazioni e note dell'Offizio della navigazione (Various provisions and notes of the Office for Maritime Affairs)

The series consists of two volumes of various decisions of the Maritime Office made between 1746 and 1811. These decisions are primarily permits for navigating beyond the Adriatic, permits for navigating in times of war, as well as different decisions, and/or regulations for the construction of new ships, decisions on legalizing the purchase of ships in foreign countries, decisions on payment of various maritime taxes, decisions on regulation of financial obligations between sea captains and ship co-owners, decisions on debt collection, or decisions on maritime insurance policies, etc.


There are only some references to Jews in the series, and the data can be used to analyse their involvement in maritime affairs. The Jews referenced in these documents appear in the role of co-owners of ships, owners of marine insurance policies, maritime lenders, and debtors. Certain members of Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Curiel, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo are mostly referenced in the series (e.g., vol. 1, f. 41).

Diversa navigationis (Various documents regarding navigation)

The series contains transcripts of various documents issued in the consulates of the Dubrovnik Republic in the ports of the Mediterranean, as well as in the city of Dubrovnik itself. The files were registered in the books of this series at the request of the captain and some other persons, whose function was not defined, so that it can only be assumed that these were co-owners of ships, providers of maritime loans, and/or merchants. The content of the files is very diverse: from instructions of the co-owners of the ship to the captain, lists of merchandise, invoices, consignment notes, and lists of co-owners of the ships, to various powers of attorney, private letters and testimonies of shipwrecks.


The series contains a very small number of references to Jewish people, and the data can be used for the analysis of their involvement in the maritime affairs of the Republic. The referenced Jews are members of some Ragusan Jewish families, such as Ambonetti, Levi Mandolfo, Pardo, Tolentino, Venturra. The Jews referenced appear in these documents as co-owners of ships, merchants, providers of maritime loans, proxies of maritime captains (e.g. vol. 1, f. 255).