Angelo Emo

[Fluffy Fishy]

Angelo Emo (1731- 1792) was a naval reformer and commander, serving Venice during the mid to late 18th century he was the last grand admiral of Venice and worked tirelessly for his nation to bring prestige to Venetian shipbuilding, his achievements in life granted him the greatest honours for a servant of the republic, burial within the Basilica of Saint Mark.

Angelo Emo was born on the 3rd of January, 1731, he was the son of Giovanni Emo, a member of the Procuratore di San Marco. The Procuratore were a group of 9 men who were appointed for life by the Venetian government as one of the great bureaucratic titles within the republic, the only job carrying more prestige was the Dogeship itself. The Emo family are an old Venetian family, and in Venice that mattered a great deal, the old families having considerable networks and resources, serving the backbone for the Venetian state through their ancestral rights to serve on the great council, while there was never a Doge in the Emo dynasty the family enjoyed a long history of wealth, power and prosperity. The Pallazo Emo sits in a prime position along the Grand Canal just north of the Rialto, in the district of Cannaregio. the Emo family are also owned a fine estate in Veneto just outside the village of Fanzolo di Vedelago, this estate is one of the famous Palladian villas, designed by the architect Andrea Palladio in 1559. Angelo's Father himself while holding a considerable title is also notable for his abilities in high circles and is especially known and remembered for being a fine scholar and sailor, traits he passed onto his son.

Palazzo Emo:


Angelo took a great deal of interest in the hobbies of his father, a true Venetian showing talent for sailing from a young age, he had plenty of time to perfect his maritime ability as his family spent more time in Venice than most of the Venetian great houses due to the demands of his fathers job. As he approached adulthood he started to make his own contacts, joining the Venetian Navy in 1752 and serving aboard trade missions, a dangerous role as the Venetian state was ever pressured by the looming threat of the Ottomans, and the troublesome Barbary pirates. it was during this time where he started to make friends in the Arsenal, ever interested in ships and naval design with the same scholarly intrigue that his father was known for.

Having worked on the various expeditions undertaken by Venice and its trading families for some time during his 20s Angelo had managed to carve out a name for himself, he became a notable officer and gained his first commissioned role as a Noble Captain in 1758, at the unusually young age of 27, this this post came with the responsibility of commanding a galley, a feat not often achieved by someone before the age of 40. He spent 20 years in this role, over this time he rose through the commissioning system, being responsible for larger, more important galleys. It was also during this time that he was responsible for two distinct acts of merit. The first, earning him a huge amount of respect within the Venetian navy, both from officers and crew alike where he saved the ship San Carlo Borromeo while it was being tested in the Atlantic and came under difficulty in bad weather. It was during this time he also developed his second act of distinctive service, where he began working with the Portuguese court, becoming a personal friend to the king of Portugal, then negotiating close ties between the republic of Venice and the Portuguese, earning him a huge amount of prestige with the Venetian government and Great Council.

Thanks to his service in the Atlantic Emo was rewarded with some prestigious jobs working for the Venetian government, serving in the roles of Provveditore alla Sanita, the Venetian equivalent of minister for health, after completing his term he was then voted into the job of Savio Escutore alla Acque, Head of the Ministry of the Waterways, responsible for maintaining the canal systems of Venice, a vitally important job to keep Venice open as a city, as every canal needs to be drained and repaired every 3 years to keep it in a fit state again serving his term with considerable merit and earning himself a reputation as a thorough administrator. it was then that Angelo's reputation for administration and ability as a naval commander gave him his most prestigious job yet and he became Admiral of the Arsenal in the close of the 1770s.

The Venetian Arsenal


Now as Admiral of the Arsenal Angelo Emo was troubled by the turmoil that was caused by the American revolution and fearing the backlash that it was causing over mainland Europe, especially as tensions were rising in france Emo immediately started making the reforms he was known for, he set about a series of programs bringing the arsenal up to date, such was his dedication to achieving this he sponsored a large portion of the projects with his own personal wealth. He set about the intense study of French, Spanish and English designs, even purchasing a small English frigate so he could better study the methods of planking. Using this new information Emo worked with the key Shipwrights and Architects of the Arsenal to totally rewrite the construction methods used in the Arsenal. The new methods expanded on what he learned from his studies of foreign ships and combined them with the knowledge he had picked up from years of studying the history and construction of Venetian ship building. To consolidate these significant changes and modernisation processes Emo brought to the Arsenal, on top of the various modernisation programs Angelo built a new expansion in 1778, known as the Models Hall, it became a place for Venetian Naval Architects to come and study models and plans for ships and best combine and feed off of each other's knowledge and creativity. By 1780 the study of foreign ships was complete and the construction methods were implemented, to compliment the new methods a new ship was designed, the adventurously named "1780" Class. The reforms Emo had produced carried on growing until 1797 when Napoleon Capured Venice. Unfortunately these reforms took up vast swathes of the Arsenal budget meant that there was very little resources to build new ships and none were started until 1782 La Harpe being the first "1780", having been finished off during the French occupation. After 1782 more money was made available to the Arsenal due to increasing pressure from Barbary Pirates, it was then that several designs of the late republic were drawn up, most notably the Fama class and the more numerous frigate Palma class.

However, in 1783 Angelo Emo was given the title of Grand Admiral, taken out of his role of administration and thrust into active combat, the Barbary Pirates had become a serious problem for Venetian shipping and Venice needed her most respected admiral to help in the conflict. Angelo was assigned to a fast Galleass and sent out to hunt down pirates with a small fleet. Based mainly out of Corfu and Malta, Emo continually patrolled the central Mediterranean off the southern coast of Italy with some success. While the active patrols helped dampen the issue of piracy, the effectiveness of the Venetian fleet was limited as the pirates had more nimble ships. After a year of largely ineffective campaigning the table turned as Fama was launched in march 1784. Fama, a ship that consolidated the advancements that Emo had overseen himself became his flagship almost instantly, a fast ship with more firepower allowed Emo to out pace the pirates and properly conduct his mission, Angelo assembled a small fleet, including his new flagship and another of his new ships, the frigate Palma. With his small but powerful fleet, Emo conducted a serious campaign against the Barbary states, raiding their coastline, hunting down and capturing pirates, while destroying their docks to replenish and repair. During the height of the campaign Angelo Emo besieged Tunis, forcing the Bey of Tunis to bring an end to state sponsored piracy. For this achievement he received a personal thanks from Louis XVI of France.



Emo continued his missions stamping out Piracy against Venetian trade, his achievements brought him great respect and fame in Venice, stories of his work as a pirate hunter aboard the great ship Fama spread throughout the streets and canals, Emo and Fama became as significant of a combination for Venetians as Nelson and Victory did for the British following Trafalgar. He joined joined the likes of other legendary Venetian Admirals like Vettor Pisani and Agostino Barbarigo.

Angelo died on March 1st 1792, he was moored in Malta aboard the flagship he became almost synonymous with. His body was sailed back to Venice aboard Fama, out of respect, giving him one last trip on the ship he loved most of any vessel. His body arrived on May 24th where he was given a state funeral and Buried in the Basilica of Saint Mark and given a commemorative monument by the sculptor Antonio Canova. A service only given to the highest regarded servants of the Republic.

The Legacy of Angelo Emo was the continual progression of naval advancement in Venice until the end of the republic, his advancements and campaigns brought not only safety and prosperity to the Venetian republic but also the respect of the kings of France and Portugal, his stories became tales of success that were the talk of the Venetian court and nobility, respect was given to the Emo family for generations because of this. Following the fall of the republic, Napoleon ordered that the Venetian arsenal be stripped of all its knowledge and resources, its information to be sent back to Paris. The fast frigate La Muiron that helped Napoleon escape Egypt following the disaster of the Nile was built involving Emo's reforms, perhaps one of the most cruel ironies after the damage Napoleon had done to Venice in 1797. The designs and methods brought in by Angelo's reforms were then studied, critiqued and then influenced the French designs following the rebuilding of the French after the battle of the nile, the influence being most relevant in the designs of frigates and corvettes.

Angelo Emo's Tomb


Thank you very much for reading this snippet about one of Venice's most notable historic admirals.

A link to the plans for Fama where there is some more information about the ship:
http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16277-la-fama-venetian-4th-rate-1784/

Edited September 12, 2016 by Fluffy Fishy

[Capt.Pig of the seas]

Amazing story about the last victoriuos Admiral of the "Serenissima" (Most Serene). A glorious 1000 years history of republic closed with the service of this great man.

Great admirer of the Royal Navy, tried to modify the Venetian fleet on the model of Royal Navy. Unfortunately he didn't have enough time.

 

Thanks a lot my dear friend for this article, and made from a RN sailor, give that much more value and significance

Edited September 13, 2016 by Capt.Pig of the seas

[Fluffy Fishy]

 

Amazing story about the last victoriuos Admiral of the "Serenissima" (Most Serene). A glorious 1000 years history of republic closed with the service of this great man.

Great admirer of the Royal Navy, tried to modify the Venetian fleet on the model of Royal Navy. Unfortunately he didn't have enough time.

 

Thanks a lot my dear friend for this article, and made from a RN sailor, give that much more value and significance

Thank you, I put a lot of time and effort into this, I am just glad that someone enjoyed it. its a shame people don't seem so interested in the topic though, I'm sure if I posted something similar about someone like nelson people would be much more impressed and receptive, never mind I had fun researching it . As far as I am aware its the most information available in English on him too, which I am pretty proud of.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Fluffy Fishy