Page 402 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

402 from Italy to the Canary Islands

of Genoa on the island; moreover, he also finds a treasure chest buried
beneath the beach containing a parchment that belongs to the Vivaldi
brothers (those explorers who had not been heard from in thirty years).
This little book was written for the petty bourgeoisie, or maybe the
youths, of the thirties and forties; its literary genre managed to inspire the
popular cinema of that time.
Given its complete lack of scientific value, it may be cited only as a
mere curiosity.

* * *

The Italian Navy honoured the Ligurian navigator Lanzarotto Malocello
by naming a scout cruiser after him that later became a destroyer; not a lot
to report here either.
The history page of the Italian Ministry of Defence website simply lists
some technical data; the ship was launched in 1927 and entered service in
1930, it was 107.7 meters long by 10.2 meters wide, it was armed with six
120mm and two 40mm guns, in addition to four 13.2mm machine guns
and six 533mm torpedo tubes.
Based on his research in the newspaper and periodical libraries of the
Berio City Library of Genoa and of the Las Palmas Canarian Museum
of Gran Canaria, Sandro Pellegrini recounts in his text entitled La prima
crociera transatlantica di Italo Balbo (The first transatlantic cruise of Italo
Balbo) that the “Navigators” class scout cruiser Malocello was part of a
team of eight that accompanied the air squadrons of General Italo Balbo,
the supreme commander of the Italian Airforce, in his famous flight over
the Atlantic to Brazil in January 1931, making a stop in the Canary Islands,
in the harbour of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on their way back.
The destroyer Malocello (whose motto was, “At all costs”) was operative
for a long time, participating also in World War II although it was obsolete.
Even then, Malocello’s name was honoured, because the destroyer named
after him was involved in the famous “Battle of Mid-June” off the coast
of Pantelleria.
In his monumental La guerra italiana sul mare (The Italian war at sea),
published by Mondadori, 2001, pp. 370-373, Giorgio Giorgerini states that