Save the old guns!

The Sunday Times of June 15 carried a report about the restoration of an early 19th century smoothbore cannon and the reconstruction of a matching naval wooden carriage. It is one of the guns at the former Hilton Hotel and now to be allocated a prominent site at the Portomaso Complex.

My full support goes to this initiative and sincerely wish that the same process will be extended to the rest of the guns and reinstated. However, I feel dismayed at the fate of many other similar guns, those that had once adorned our harbours and used as bollards.

Due to various works within Grand Harbour; especially due to land reclamation, extensions of wharves, berthing complex, etc., many such guns are either being removed or left as a "decoration" on some roadside. Some are even becoming an obstacle in the middle of the road, like the one at the end of Coal Wharf.

During April 1997, the inter-ministerial Heritage Action Committee had given excellent service in rounding up such guns once having been uprooted due to such works. A deposit or 'Artillery Park', as it was even called, was created on the grounds of Fort Mosta. The old smoothbore guns were stored in the main ditch by placing them in rows on wooden beams.

It seems that this practice has been stopped and I have noticed a number of such guns lying in piles at various locations. If the Heritage Action Committee is no longer active or involved in such retrieval, I would expect that this has now been passed on to Heritage Malta or some similar body. However, these guns have been lying there for quite some time and can either end up buried under other material or stolen.

We must not forget that these are relics of the past and part of our history. They are just as important as the fortifications, temples and any other item within our museums. A project can be initiated where these guns can be restored by qualified personnel and placed on our vast fortification networks.

Good practice in their restoration is required as there have been instances when similar guns were ruined when their patina was removed either by chipping hammers or grit-blasting and any particular features were completely lost.

Although it is presumed that the guns are quite safe at Fort Mosta and not as bad as being dumped in a pile somewhere, they can serve to give a better interpretation to our Baroque defences. There are various examples of these in Valletta, the Three Cities and at the Citadel in Gozo.

Their carriages are not so much of a problem as a simple, temporary substitute can be made of local stone and can be replaced by proper wooden ones in due course.