Albaola Elkartea

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The work the Canadian researchers have been doing on the remains left by Basque whalers and cod-fishermen these last few decades have uncovered one of the most important episodes in Basque maritime history. As a result of this work, international maritime history is being rewritten, placing Basque naval technology among the most advanced of the age.

However, paradoxically, that extraordinary past is practically unknown in the homeland of the men that made it happen, due to the lack of published works and diffusion activities. Albaola is aware of the urgent need to fill that void so, apart from the aforementioned replica-building projects, the association is establishing cultural links with different Canadian cultural agents working with the Basque maritime past.

Albaola also promotes activities intended to bring together the Old World and the New World, based on a common past. In that context, Albaola has designed a sea-expedition on board one of the replicas of the chalupa built in Ontziola, in Pasaia. The expedition will start on 5th June 2006. It will take six weeks, sailing and rowing, and more than a dozen sixteenth century whaling and cod-fishing stations will be visited, most of which have been (or are being) researched by Canadian archaeologists. The expedition will also visit the Aboriginal communities that used to have contact with Basque whalers and cod-fishermen, to discover their cultures and, especially, their oral tradition.