Biography
João
Silveira Tavares son of João Silveira Tavares and Zelia Silva, was born on October
27, 1946, in the village of Ribeiras in Lajes do Pico county.
João Silveira Tavares was born on the 27 of October, 1946, in the
village of Ribeiras near Lajes of Pico. In the 70s, he was in Angola, and he
developed the basic traditional technique and knowledge of shipbuilding. He builted
in Luanda, on his own, his first boat: a fishing boat for a friend countryman
living in the city. Returning to Pico island in 1973, he was invited to
coordinate the work of conservation and maintenance of fishing boats for COFACO
in Lajes do Pico and the city of Horta, on the island of Faial.
After five years in this service, he began working on his own, working
on different types of craft for repairs, conservation and restoration on
various Azorean islands. On the island of Flores he worked on boats for the
company of the Master José Augusto; in Faial he worked on service boats for the
Port of Horta. On Pico, he worked on many craft for local traffic, on Azorean tuna
fishing boats, on Salazar for Manuel
Silveira Alves and on the island of São Miguel he worked
on Conchinha, Lajes do Pico and Santo Antonio.
In addition to these work he was doing work for private
individuals, repairing but also building from scratch the construction of small
artisanal fishing boats. He was using traditional artwork standards for the
boat construction. On the island of Corvo he made a large barge for the service
vessels transporting goods.
In 1998, he was invited to join a project to restore and
safeguard the process of construction of traditional boat Azorean whaling
ships. The project was proposed by the American Daniel Thorne and with the
support of a school of shipbuilding guided by Lance Lee (famous builder of
boats in wood) in the State of Maine, USA. The objective focused on the
construction from scratch of a Azorean Whaleboat. They had to do a study of the
traditional process of boat building and
do research concerning the types of materials used in traditional techniques.
Two young Americans, apprentice carpenter (J. Adam Stone and Bruce Halabisky)
went to the Azores and followed the Master João S. Tavares throughout the
process of construction of the boat Bela Vista, in the city of Horta. The
project able them to recovered traditional
knowledge, concepts and traditional methods that could been lost forever. The
whole process was recorded and documented in the book Twice' round the Loggerhead (texts of Lance Lee and watercolours of
Yvon Le Color). It was the first new Azorean Whaleboat built after the Azorean
whaling period.
This project encouraged and was the starter for a larger project
in the area of reactivation of whaling heritage and would be decisive in the
career of Master João S. Tavares. Between 1999 and 2000 he was invited by
Azorean Maritime Heritage Society to go to New Bedford (MA, USA) build two
whaling boats, Faial and Pico. From this date instituted the international
races, competing crews that take turns moving to the city of New Bedford and
the islands of Faial and Pico.
Since then, Master João S. Tavares has dedicated his career to
the construction of the scratch and the maintenance of Azorean Whaleboats. His
work, both by the importance and notoriety, for the recognition
of the quality of his work makes him one of the most renomned master for
Traditional Azorean Whaleboats in the Archipelago.
In 2015, he was invited by Marc Larose to participate in a
project to promote the Azorean culture and the Traditional Azorean Whaleboats heritage
by creating new original, hand made models in wood of half hull of an Azorean
Whaleboat. A high-quality product, certificate and that includes interpretative
documentation. We will have a single register of Master João S. Tavares, his
art of working with wood and experienced field of Azorean traditional shipbuilding.
Márcia Dutra
Antropóloga
NÚCLEO DE MUSELOGIA (OMA)
Observatório do Mar dos Açores
Fabrica da Baleia do Porto Pim, Horta-Açores-PT
www.oma.pt
Photo : From whale Hunting to Whale Watching
