In the late nineteenth century, the Austrian Adriatic was divided into 8 marine districts, one of which was Trieste. There, the coastal fishing fleet counted no less than 16 types of vessels bearing names now largely forgotten: barche, barchini or barchete, battelli, battelline, bragozzi, brazzere, gaete, guzzi, lance, leuti, passere, portolate o portellate, sandali, topi and zoppoli. In the early twentieth century, the old dugouts called “čupa” were replaced with the “topo”, a light vessel five metres in length, which could be loaded onto larger fishing boats like the “tartana” and “bragozzo” and used as a lighter to carry the fish ashore. At the same time, another coastal vessel, the “tartana” was replaced by a type of boat that was handier for a small crew, the “bragozzo”. This was 9 to 12 metres long and had a crew of just 3 or 4, while the “tartana” was a flat-bottomed boat 20 metres long needing a crew of 6 to 8. Since the earnings from a catch would be divided between the crew, the reason for abandoning the “tartana” are clear.