Do you know who was the most famous person in the world from the island of Brač? His name is Mario Puratić. Puratić was born in 1904 in Sumartin on the island of Brač in a Croatian family of farmers and fishermen. Poverty and difficult island life forced him to follow the footsteps of many other people across the ocean to America in 1938. While working as a tuna and sardine fisherman in San Pedro, California, Puratić began to think about the difficulty of hauling nets. A good catch of fish meant that many men were needed to haul the net aboard. Within a few months, he invented the “Puratić power block”, a special type of mechanized winch used to haul nets on fishing boats. A job that once required 8 to 10 people could now be done just as quickly with only 5 or 6 people. The ship with Puretić’s “power block” is printed on the five-dollar bill, which has been in circulation since 1972. Our sculptor Lovre Jakšić is in the process of creating a monument to Brač inventor Mario Puratić. The monument will be erected in Sumartin, the birthplace of the inventor. The project was made possible thanks to the Local Action Group in Fisheries LAGUR and the Selca Tourist Board.