Rest in peace in your beloved „stari kraj“
– from the coffin of Mario Puratić (1)
Few nations in the world have more members and descendants living outside their homeland than within it. Croatia is one such nation. This is a story about the impoverished, painful, and difficult destiny of generations of people who, amidst the struggle of building a life, wanted and/or had to seek their fortune somewhere else, because there is no prophet in their homeland. (2) Or, there are no conditions in the homeland to develop all the potentials of its inhabitants. Of course, not all who left across the world were successful, but we remember those who were with great admiration, asking ourselves: why couldn't they achieve that success at home? Just some of these examples are: Đuro Baglivi (physician), Ruđer Bošković (astronomer), Nikola Tesla (inventor), Ivan Meštrović (sculptor), Miljenko Grgić and Ivo Jeremić (winemakers), Branko Lustig (producer), Boris Mikšić (innovator and entrepreneur), Marin Soljačić (physicist), and numerous others.
One of them is Mario Puratić (1904 – 1993), an inventor from Sumartin on the island of Brač, who improved the entire global fishing industry with his patents (he has as many as 20). Puratić is best known for his invention of the mechanical power block, which he patented on August 16, 1954, in the USA under the name Puretic Power Block, and he further improved it over the following years (Figure No. 91).
This is a device that enabled fishermen to haul heavy fishing nets with catches much faster, with less manual labor, and with fewer people than was the case before its use. Due to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and overall facilitation of fishing operations, this device very quickly found application worldwide and is considered to have revolutionized the entire industry. It was of great help even when hauling nets by hand, and the whole procedure became additionally simpler and easier with the use of hydraulic pumps.
In 1974, the Association for the Advancement of Invention and Innovation established the Inventor of the Year award, and as early as the following year, it was awarded to Mario Puratić for his contributions to, as they stated, „the advancement of science and technology.“ Even the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cites the Puretic Power Block as a key invention that advanced net fishing mechanization more than any other. The significance of this invention by Mario Puratić, a native of Brač, is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that in 1972, Canada, a major global fishing power, issued a 5-Canadian-dollar banknote featuring on the reverse an image of a fishing boat with Puratić's mechanical pulley (Figure No. 92).
Mario Puratić died in the American city of Santa Barbara, California, in 1993. His final wish was for his remains to be returned to his homeland, to his native island of Brač, which was done, but only a few years after his death, due to the Homeland War that was raging in Croatia at the time. He was shipped from America to Croatia in a coffin bearing the text from the beginning of this chapter.
Notes
(1) In translation: „Rest in peace in your beloved old neighborhood.“
(2) This is a Latin saying that originally reads: Nemo propheta in patria.
(3) The name of the device comes from the Americanized version of Puratić's surname.
Author: Ivor Altaras Penda
Source: Jakšić, Ida (2015). „Mario Puratić. Od bračkog ribara do američkog izumitelja“. Ethnologica Dalmatica, 22, 295-315
This text was originally published in the book “Memento moneta: Historical tales and mishaps told through money”author Ivora Altarasa Pende.
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