LIKE many of his Molfetta compatriots who’d sailed across the world to Fremantle, Joe Caputi seemed to have struck it lucky.
He’d joined the crew of his uncle Gennaro’s boat the Molfetta on arrival and was soon helping to haul in incredible catches of rock lobster from rich fields that had only recently been discovered.
The pay was exceptional, and within 10 years he’d saved enough to buy a house and was driving around with one of the first FJ Holdens off the assembly line.
Fleet seized
But that’s only part of the story. Back in Italy, his family was struggling.
• Joe and Serafina Caputi.
His father had been a successful fisherman, but during World War II his boat—along with most of the Molfettan fleet—was seized by Benito Mussolini.
The dictator had entered the war with poorly equipped defence forces and desperately grasped what he could to further his imperial ambitions.
His campaign failed, and when Caputi senior got his boat back at the end of the war, there was no one left to pay for the damage it had suffered.
• The original Molfetta.
With his father crippled by mounting debts and too old to start a new career, Joe stepped up and started sending money home each month.
“They needed money to eat and my sister went into a convent,” Mr Caputi said.
“My brother wanted to study to be a priest, but he didn’t like it, so he had to go to a big town to study—eventually he became a banker.”
Mr Caputi continued to send half his pay back for five years.
“But I’m not one to complain,” he says.
And with good reason. Life in Australia was going from strength to strength.
He was finally getting a handle on English, after years of struggling to ask for food in restaurants, or even mastering the driving of his prized FJ.
“Then in 1958/59 I bought a boat with a friend, because my uncle had said he didn’t want to have shares in his boat because he already had a partner. It was just a little boat — a 32-footer.”
Two years later Mr Caputi’s uncle bought a bigger boat, which left the Molfetta without a skipper. With his own partner Donato Rutigliano itching to buy something himself, Mr Caputi jumped at the opportunity to take over the Molfetta.
The name stuck, and 10 years later when it was time to update he had famed Fremantle wooden boat builder Marko Sambrailo build the Molfetta II.
“A few years later I bought a bigger 45-footer fibreglass boat and I fished until 1992,” Mr Caputi says.
He’d returned to Italy in 1959, where his mother was keen for him to marry a local girl. But Mr Caputi laughs that he fled back to Australia, where he fell in love with his cousin Serafina and they were soon wed and had three sons and a daughter.
As if that wasn’t lucky enough for him, Mr Caputi also won Lotto.
He was invited onto the Blessing of the Fleet committee in 1970 and says while this year will be his last, the festival will always hold a special place in his heart.
Beer and talk
“Because it was the beginning of the season, and I really used to look forward to going fishing and we used to enjoy the bar after work at Lancelin, because most of the people there came from my old town and we used to just sit together and have a beer or two and talk.
“On school holidays we used to bring the kids, and it was great because it was right on the beach. But there’s nothing there now. During the hard times six, seven years ago the co-op went bust and Multiplex bought the block, pulled everything down then did nothing.