Baltasar Porcel portrays in La lluna i el cala Llamp some sailors who fight to get out of the world of misery that surrounds them.
When they came around the northern tip of Dragonera, they saw a vessel fishing for prawns, going like crazy, zig-zagging around and being beaten by the sea very close to the Calafats rocks. [...] Suddenly, the boat was still, made a half-turn, and a great wave, wide and black, powerful, lifted it in the air and dropped in on the Calafats rocks. The blow to the wood sounded dry, immense, and it reigned over the infernal sound of the storm. When they were close to the boat, the people from Cala Llamp saw a small boat, capsized and drifting. The larger vessel had lost it. On the deck of the larger vessel two or three sailors ran around, waving their arms and seemingly shouting. The sea, the nervous and implacable fury of the waves, was exploding against the side of the stranded hull and was shaking it up and down.
La lluna i el cala Llamp (The Moon and Llamp Cove), 1963
Translated by Richard Mansell.
(Andratx, 1937 - Barcelona, 2009). Baltasar Porcel wrote novels, short stories, travel literature, opinion columns, interviews and theatre plays. In 1960, he moved from Andratx to Barcelona, devoting himself fully to writing. Particularly worthy of mention during this early period are his articles in the magazines Serra d’Or and Destino. Although he made his début as a playwright with Els condemnats, Porcel mainly focused on narrative literature. Man and his passions are a central theme of his novels. These are set in a variety of places although Andratx, the town of his birth, is an important source of inspiration. Andratx can be identified with the fictional town of Solnegre, portrayed as a traditional world and backdrop for a rural and maritime fiction that serves to explore the huge change that the Balearics have undergone over the last fifty years. La lluna i el cala Llamp (The Moon and Llamp Cove) is a tragic story of seafaring men who struggle to survive in a world of poverty.
A tireless traveller, Porcel also described other places, in particularly Barcelona and accounts of his stays and experiences elsewhere, particularly in the Mediterranean. Porcel is one of the most powerful voices in 20th century Catalan literature and his work was singled out to receive leading Catalan literature awards. The writer died in Barcelona in 2009.
The hamlet of Sant Elm was originally called sa Palomera. The change of name was the result of the construction of a hospital and oratory to improve care for sailors in the area around Andratx. The oratory was dedicated to Saint Elmo, the patron saint of sailors. This building was fortified during the 14th century and extended in the 16th to become a watch tower defence fortification. It bears witness to the centuries of danger on Majorca's western coasts. In 1886 it was bought by Archduke Ludwig Salvator and it is currently the property of Fundació Illes Balears. Few metres from the coast is the island of Sa Dragonera, a spectacularly beautiful place which rises at its maximum to 343 metres above sea level. It is also rich in nature, comprising plants that are typical of Majorca's mountainous coast exposed to extreme conditions. Its animal life is also very interesting, owing to the great many endemic lizards.
