Return to Malta
30 Sep 2024 - Earlier this month, your humble Webmaster & Vice Chairman (Rob Hoole) and his wife enjoyed a holiday in Malta. This was my first return since 1971 when I was a cadet in the Type 12 frigate HMS SCARBOROUGH which, together with her sister ships HMS TENBY and HMS EASTBOURNE, formed the Dartmouth Training Squadron for its autumn deployment in the Mediterranean.
HMS SCARBOROUGH entering Grand Harbour in the autumn of 1971
My wife and I stayed in the Waterfront Hotel in Sliema, overlooking Sliema Creek towards Manoel Island and Valletta beyond. The hotel had been recommended by my old Mine Warfare stalwart friend Brian ‘Sam’ Cook who has occupied the same room in the same hotel for each of the past years. He had served in minesweepers in Malta on several occasions. The view of Sliema Creek from our balcony had certainly changed since the departure of the Ton Class MCMVs of the Mediterranean Fleet and their depot ship HMS WOODBRIDGE HAVEN, affectionately known as ‘Woo Ha’, in 1969.
Sliema Creek containing Ton Class MCMVs of the Mediterranean Fleet and their depot ship HMS WOODBRIDGE HAVEN prior to their departure in 1969
Almost the same view of Sliema Creek from our hotel balcony in September 2024
Just along the road from us was Tony’s Bar which had been a popular haunt for RN sailors in the Med Fleet’s heyday. Note the red pillar box.
Of course we also had to see Strait Street, what was known as ‘The Gut’ containing bars and other dens of ill repute in the old days. It is now a highly respectable thoroughfare.
‘The Pub’ is better known as ‘Olly’s Bar’. It’s where Oliver Reed, who was in Malta filming ‘Gladiator’, challenged members of HMS CUMBERLAND’s ship’s company to a drinking competition in May 1999 and suffered a fatal heart attack in the process.
The ‘Nelson Hook’ is situated near the junction of St John Street with Merchants Street in Valletta and dates from the Knights of Malta. The Nelson legend of the hook is based on a story that, when he was ashore in Malta in 1803, he and several of his officers, having attended a dinner party in Valletta, had to walk down St John Street to return to their ship in the harbour. On reaching the top of the street one of the officers dared Nelson to try and squeeze through it. As with everything Nelson did he tried and succeeded. After the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the hook became known as the ‘Nelson Hook’ and midshipmen were told on entering the Royal Navy that if they wished to be assured of promotion in the service they had to follow Nelson's example and crawl through the hook. A photograph taken in 1972, showing a Fleet Air Arm naval officer climbing through the hook, later appeared in The Daily Telegraph and it was placed on display in the barber's shop situated directly opposite the hook.
The rickety old Barrakka Lift which used to connect Customs House Quay (where sculled dgħajsas landed libertymen from moored warships) to the Upper Barrakka Gardens has now been replaced by a modern design.
Customs House Quay is now used to berth cruise liners.
On our first full day, my wife and I took one of the harbour tours to re-familiarise ourselves with the geography. We departed from Sliema Creek in Marsamxett harbour and rounded Manoel Island into Lazaretto Creek and Msida Creek, all of which previously contained moorings for different-sized Royal Navy warships. We then rounded Valletta and entered Grand Harbour where we nosed into Menga, Marsa, French, Dockyard and Rinella Creeks.
Aerial view of the Valletta peninsula with Grand Harbour above it and Marsamxett Harbour, containing Manoel Island, below it
Marsamxett Harbour. From the top: Msida Creek, Lazaretto Creek, Manoel Island and Sliema Creek, all of which once contained moorings for RN ships and submarines
From the top: Sliema Creek, Manoel Island, Lazaretto Creek and Msida Creek, then and now
On 1 October 1962, the Malta-based 108th MSS (Mine Sweeper Squadron) was renamed the 7th MSS. In this photo, it comprised (from the top in the accompanying photo) HMS CROFTON (M1216), HMS SHAVINGTON (M1180), HMS WALKERTON (M1188), HMS STUBBINGTON (M1204), HMS ASHTON (M1198) and HMS LEVERTON (M1161).
Here is a selection of the TONs and their support ships based at Malta at some time or another.
On 31 March 1969, the ships sailed for Gibraltar where most paid off into reserve.
During our visit, I took the opportunity to wander around Manoel Island, the previous location of the Med Fleet Clearance Diving Team & RN Diving School and it is in a sorry state. The team later moved into the citadel at HMS ST ANGELO and withdrew altogether in 1979.
Almost everything on the island, once a bustling hive of naval activity, is being flattened and redeveloped, much to the chagrin of some of the locals.
This is how the buildings on Manoel Island looked until recently when they were still being used by divers of the AFM (Armed Forces of Malta).
This is how they look now.
I would like to thank Denis Darmanin and Michael Schembri (the Mayor of Qrendi), both of whom are divers, EOD operators and former members of the Armed Forces of Malta, for kindly entertaining my wife and me during our visit and giving us personal guided tours of Malta and Gozo.
Incidentally, no one seemed to have heard of Marsovin & 7-Up although it was de rigour during my first visit all those years ago. It featured in some riotous drinking games in the pubs along the ‘Barbary Coast’.