Documenting the last surviving traditional boats on the Maltese Islands: a case study on the firilla

Abstract

This report focuses on research carried out on the collection of firilli boats found at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, Malta. The objectives were to document and record this boat type, by collecting knowledge from oral traditions and literature, paintings and photographs, tools and materials and ideologies. An environmental and historical background is outlined at the beginning of this study, providing the context for the firilla boat. Following this, previous literature dealing with documentation of traditional craft is presented. The methodology applied to document the primary sources is explained, along with a brief description of the secondary data collection. The subsequent section describes the results of the boat documentation, leading to a discussion of the most prominent differences.