Fort Manoel : a historical survey (1723-1900)

Abstract

In deciding to write this thesis on Fort Manoel I was mainly inspired by two motives. First of all, I was greatly impelled by an acute sense of curiosity which haunted my most unforgettable childhood days happily spent wandering round the Fort with my companions; secondly, I was even moved by a deeper impulse urging me to safeguard whatever could be saved of the Fort's history before the destructive elements that now threaten its very existence would inflict any further irreparable damage. The present history is only aimed at providing a historical survey of Fort Manoel. The few other works to be found on Manoel Island, including the Malta Drydocks Shipyard, the Lazaretto, the British Services' establishments, etc., do not fall within the scope of this thesis. Reference to these important works is only made in connect ion with the Fort's history and, thus, there should be no misinterpretation of this historic survey in the erroneous belief of its being a general account of Manoel Island. Fort Manoel is today entirely occupied by the Royal Malta Yacht Club. This Club, once intended to provide "probably the finest yacht club facilities in the Mediterranean or anywhere else' was first mentioned in November 1969 as part of an £8 million project for the development of Manoel Island by the Manoel Island and the Malta Marine Co, Ltd. (M.I.M.M.C.O.) over a period of five years. Unfortunately, none of the wonderful details of the project were ever executed since then and today, after the setting up of a new Company with different ideas to replace M.I.M.M.C.O. (i.e. the Mediterranean Oil Services Ltd.), Fort Manoel is still lying abandoned and neglected on the little island in Marsamuscetto Harbour. As a matter of fact, the conscious historian cannot but be appalled and shocked by the present deplorable state of the Fort since it had been finally passed on to the Maltese authorities in 1964. As such, my conscientious attempt to reconstruct the Fort's attractive history would have fully achieved its object if the Government were ever to realize the importance of safeguarding this Fort and, in appreciation of my genuine effort; take the necessary steps in upholding the remains of such a beautiful work once declared as "un modèle de fortification”. Meanwhile, if the Fort were to remain for long in its present condition, there would paradoxically be no valid reason why one should not prefer the time when Grandmaster de Rohan offered the defiant novice De Adrets the reasonable choice of remaining confined to his house or be shut up in Fort Manoel for a spell. Even the time when Vilhena prohibited the public from dirtying the Magisterial Palace under penalty of a fine of six ounces or six months' work without pay on the erection of the Fort, according to a ban of 2 November 1725, would somehow result as preferable. Unlike nowadays, the French Royal Engineers' verdict of 1761 describing the Fort as one “fait avec soin, et finis dans toutes ses parties”, had not yet become anachronism. Thus, when in April 1969 it had been announced that, on the advice of UNESCO Experts, several relics pertaining to World War I and II had been removed from the Armoury and transferred to Fort Manoel until such time as the proposed War Museum would be set up, the warehouses at Manoel were already: being considered "damp, dark, musty and totally unsuitable” for the purpose - "ideal for causing these relics to go rusty and to fall to pieces in a few months". Such was the miserable state of Fort Manoel merely five years after the British Military Authorities had abandoned the Fort. Thus, it is with the greatest satisfaction that one ought to receive the present Government's decision to start a cleaning-up and restoration works programme at Manoel Island as from the second week of April 1970 The Minister of Public Building and Works' indication that the area is to be developed and existing buildings utilised for "productive or other work” ought also to be favourably received. One only hopes now that Fort Manoel would this time benefit from any planned changes and improvements concerning the development of Manoel Island. The present historical survey covers essentially three successive periods in Maltese History, viz. the Order's Rule, the French Occupation, British Administration. Understandably enough, however, most of my research deals justly with the Fort's history under the Order's Rule and, consequently, several of the original sources consulted for this period were in their majority written in Italian and French - at times even in Spanish, Latin and Portuguese. On the advice of my tutor, therefore, several of these passages had been translated from the original into English so as to render the whole more readable. Only those parts which are clearer and more expressive in the original language have been left untouched. This was done, moreover, for the following reasons: (i) to familiarize the reader with the general atmosphere of the period under consideration, (ii) to avoid misinterpretation of the more precise original context mainly through lack of the proper word, phrase or expression, (iii) to add further detail to certain assertions which the original text is brought to support and elucidate, and (iv) to concur with the celebrated historian Jean Jaures (1859-1914) who, in his Preface to the "Histoire Socialiste de la Révolution Française", declared openly that very often “one twists the meaning of quotations by curtailing them too much". On his example, therefore, I also wanted “to put the reader in direct touch with the uncut original”. The major problem which I encountered in preparing this work was the disheartening scarcity of published material on Fort Manoel. There seems to be an enormous lack of such material on the general topic of fortifications as a whole and, consequently, the problem becomes even more acute when these already baffling circumstances have to be narrowed down to suiting one particular work of Malta's extensive defence system. The little information to be found in printed.books.is predominantly a repetition of detail to be found in the works of other authors, especially Vertot's, and not infrequently the data supplied is rather misleading. My aim, therefore, had undoubtedly to be one of careful interpretation and cautious originality. In trying to be comprehensive without being vague, for instance, I also attempted to solve such questions as: Why was Fort Manoel built? What was the real cost of the whole work? Was it de Tigné or de Mondion who built the Fort? Why does the gateway bear the date 1726 when the Fort was neither started more finished during that particular year? No dubious assertions or any other inaccuracies have ever momentarily been allowed to prejudice my judgements, and my personal convictions - including the one that the history of any fort is just as interesting and challenging to an academic mind as that of any other social, political, economical, or religious branch of history - have not been consciously interwined with my resolute attempts at objectivity. To my tutor, Prof. A.P. Vella, are due my first thanks for his unfailing help, interest and devotion throughout the entire period of research, compilation and typing of this thesis with all sort of advice and assistance so warmly appreciated by the incipient historian. Architect Michael Ellul of the Antiquities Section at the Public Works Department and Dr. Quentin Hughes of Liverpool University have both supplied me with useful references. To these two, as well as to Chev:. Joseph Galea, ex-Librarian at the Royal Malta Library; Miss Pamela Willis, Curator of St. John's Library at Clerkenwell; and r-Ir. E.K. Timings and Mr. David Lea of the Public Records Office in London, I also acknowledged special indebtedness for their help and suggestions. Above all, I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. G. Wettinger, Dr. A. LuttFell and Mr. R. Vella Bonavita, Lecturing Staff of the History Department at the R.U.M. for their ready assistance whenever I needed it throughout my research. Finally, I also think it's my duty to express my obligation to the delivery-men at the Royal Malta Library of Valletta for their patience and cooperation.