To see Venice in a grain of sand : an experiment in writing a microhistory of waterway erosion instigated by a shipwreck, 1607–1622

With an overwhelming volume of studies on Venice's port architecture and coastal protection, the challenge remains to convey to lay readers how the science of hydraulics was applied. This article reports an experiment in creating a vivid narrative of the movement and effects of sand over a relatively short period of twelve years (1610–1622), which, in this case, started with the fifteenyear-old carcass of a shipwreck at risk of capsizing. I emulate how the erosion of sandbanks triggered by the stranded wreck affected the subsequent silting of the canal. This, in turn, influenced the relationships between land and sea, access and obstruction, and arrivals and departures. Such a microhistory of sand offers a broad picture of the maritime know-how and technology that came into play. Finally, the essay reflects on microhistory's potential to explore port architecture's technicalities. This approach yields an understanding of the exquisitely practical, in-depth details of the engineering response to significant, contemporary, normal, and catastrophic events.