The sea is big, the ships are small and this is why people who choose to tackle with the vast expanses of the sea have always needed enormous courage and persistence. Probably nothing simpler and easier than these words can describe the wonderful passion and unwavering of the members of the Bokovac family who have been resisting unbelief for fifty-four years and going through the scales and harbours of social and market change in a noble mission to tear away the ancient skill of Calafat art from oblivion.
The word Calafat from ancient times meant a special master in shipbuilding who took care of maintaining wooden formwork. Later, this term, whose root, except in the Romance languages, can be found in Greek and Arabic, began to refer to the most experienced and respected among the shipbuilders, to those who were greatly appreciated by all other workers in this field.
The Bokovac Calafat Workshop was created out of a pure love for the craft and for working with ships. Knowledge was gained through work, drawing from tradition, skill was gained through experience. In the 1960s, craftsman Petar Bokovac received a license to open a repair service without prior formal training in shipbuilding – therefore, as an unskilled worker. Namely, he was allowed to obtain a license because his work showed that he knew the craft he was practicing, although he did not have an official diploma to prove it administratively. The essence was stronger than form and history then was written by itself.
It took decades, and it wasn’t always easy. There was no significant profit in repairing the barge, but it still survived and worked – until about twenty years ago, Petar Bokovac and his son Nenad built the first 30-tonne fishing vessel. A new dimension of work was opened up. They continued to build the arsenal barges used by the military which were mostly built at then Tivat Military Shipyard, before their involvement in business. This barge model was upgraded by the Bokovac family and they are very proud of it. As the market situation has been changed, they are no longer producing them, but they are guarding jealously the last nine arsenal barges, which they consider to be the important part of the tradition and despite the frequent offers they still receive, they do not want to sell them. These unique barges also received the names of their family members, their friends and their dear people.
Today, the Bokovac Calafat Workshop is a worldwide brand in every way. After decades of hard work, they have been able to create a recognizable brand and they are very proud of it. They are the only ones in the world who have the right to use the name Calafat workshop, which is for them, as well as for Montenegro, a small coastal and Mediterranean country, truly an exceptional honour.
In order to maintain the brand exclusivity in the world, the members of Bokovac family must fulfil the condition that more than 80% of the material used in making the barge must be of Montenegrin origin. The wood they mainly use for construction is mulberry; in fact, it is a plant that is well known in our coastline under the name of mulberries and the Bokovac family also call it Montenegrin teak. It is extremely lightweight but also strong, which is key to the quality of the final product, as wood has to undergo long processing before being fitted into the barge. It’s not always easy to buy mulberry, but as more and more people in our area know that they need these materials for production, so there are more and more frequent calls from landowners who have mulberry trees on their property and who offer them for ransom.
The event that aroused the most media interest in our country and in the world over the past few years was the news that the Bokovac Calafat Workshop, was recognized by the royal family of Abu Dhabi, which ordered three barges from Montenegro: one small with an engine, other that is only a meter longer than the first one and a third 10 meters barge. Within the year Nenad and Petar worked hard with their team to fulfill all the requirements so they were able to finish the vessels on time. The barges were named ‘Baranke’, and after the vessels arrived in the Emirates, the Bokovac family has definitely become a globally recognized brand.
Today, Bar’s maritime beauties shaped by the skilled hands of enthusiasts from the Bokovac Calafat Workshops prance in one of the world’s most famous ports, so in the end we can only conclude this short story about them with words of George Bernard Shaw: ‘The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them’.
