One hundred years on, another century expected

One hundred years after it started being built, the breakwater protecting Grand Harbour is expected to last another 100. Its structure remains intact, the zonqor of which it is made showing hardly any signs of wear.

Perhaps it is nothing to wonder at, people might think - there are buildings in Malta which have survived centuries, and Malta's prehistoric temples go back in time to beyond the Egyptian pyramids' builders.

But those are buildings on land, which do not have to withstand countless tonnes of water pounding into them by the minute whenever the wind blows hard, as the breakwater does in Gregale storms.

With its foundation stone laid 100 years ago last week and work declared complete seven years later, Valletta's breakwater has more than withstood the test of time.

It is among Malta's most precious assets.

Alfred Xuereb, capital projects department manager at the Malta Maritime Authority, said in an interview that the British appreciated the natural beauty of Grand Harbour and wanted to do a good job of the breakwater.

Hard-wearing aggregate from Gozo quarries was used and the annual inspection the authority makes on the breakwater to see to any required maintenance shows that it is only the joints, and not the structure proper, which have suffered.

The breakwater was used as a means of defence in the Second World War - a net had been strung across the water from the breakwater's arms to prevent enemy shipping going in, which had damaged the breakwater.

But Mr Xuereb said that as it was, the breakwater should have a life span of at least another 100 years. It could be improved upon and improvements would further extend its lifespan.

The aim of the breakwater today remained the same as when it was first built - to protect the harbour interior from the stormy Mediterranean, but if it were to be built today it would be made more effective - it would break up the waves, not just hold them back.

Grand Harbour's breakwater did not break the waves and in the not common strong north easterly winds to which it was exposed, huge volumes of water went over the breakwater as mountainous waves pounded into it.

Gozo's breakwater, which was much more recent, was in fact much more effective in its job. However, for the time that St Elmo's breakwater was built, it was a very good system.

In the book The Malta Grand Harbour and its Dockyard, Joseph Bonnici and Michael Cassar wrote that plans for the breakwater were commissioned by the British Admiralty in 1900. Tenders were issued in 1902 and among the conditions imposed was one that coins and artefacts found during dredging or excavation works were to be handed over to the Admiralty.

There was an obligatory bond of £20,000 and the supply of two names as a surety for the execution of works. The contractor had to procure his own supply of materials, which would at all times be available to the admiralty for inspection, testing and approval.

"The stone for the concrete had to be hard crystalline limestone, the sand was to be clean, sharp and free from lumps and impurities. Portland cement of British make had to be used; it required regular aeration after delivery. Cement had to be inspected chemically and mechanically and the setting time noted. Granite for the hardstone facing or ashlar was to be free of crystal, felspar, veins, strains of iron, flaws, sandbed shakes and other imperfections," according to the book.

Joseph Bonnici and Michael Cassar wrote that S. Pearson and Son were awarded the contract. Pearson estimated costs at £476,327. But by March 1907, the revised estimated costs had shot up to £625,000.

Most of the underwater work was performed by divers wearing standard suits or working from diving bells. Compressed air was supplied from the surface through an umbilical cord by a manually operated pump.

Depths at St Elmo ranged from 34 to 70 feet at a distance of 1,240 feet. Some 150,000 cubic yards of concrete were laid.

Apart from the Gozo quarries at Ghar Dorf and Hondoq ir-Rummien, the most important facility in the building of the breakwater was the block making yard which the company built at Mistra Bay.

Pearson employed 477 men on the breakwater contract, the figure including some, if not all, of the men working at Gozo and Mistra.

The building did not all go smoothly - raging north-easterly winds in February and November, 1904, caused damage estimated at some £20,000.

The first underwater blocks were finally laid in 1905 and the admiralty declared the work ready in September, 1910.

Breakwater-related incidents have been registered over the years. Casualties were mostly merchant ships, but in January 1930, the battleship HMS Ramillies ran aground at Fort St Angelo Point.

Mr Xuereb said that accidents still happened occasionally, but the casualty was usually the ship not the breakwater.

Maintenance operations usually involved opening up grooves and closing them again with special grouting. The last time this was done was about four years ago - more enduring material was helping make maintenance works less necessary.

The operations involve underwater work by a diving engineer and another two divers who swam around the breakwater checking for damage. Each maintenance operation costs an average of Lm10,000.

On the surface maintenance operations involved another six to eight persons.

While repairs above ground could take up to a month, those underwater lasted two to three days and followed meticulous planning as one could not afford them to last too long due to the cost of renting the equipment.