A Lone Bookship in a Sea of turbulent Electrones

Since Sir John Julius's History proved to be too dry for fast reading (my problem is probably that I am not conversant with the history of Venice pre-baroque era - but hey, that's the reason I picked the book in the first place). I'll leave it for bit-by-bit reading.

Now Roger Crowley in another case entirely.

And he came highly recommended as regards to the historical accuracy too, unlike many of his peers, popular history writers.

Embarkation was a central metaphor of the city’s life, endlessly repeated in art. In St Mark’s, a mosaic boat departs with swelling sails to carry the saint’s body to Venice; Carpaccio’s St Ursula treads a realistic gangplank into a rowing boat while the high-sided merchant ships wait off shore

That's the gangplank in question: