The formidable sentinel on Comino

The Comino tower will be open to the public between June 18 and 24 and visitors will be hosted by Malta's foremost military architecture specialist Stephen Spiteri.

Dr Spiteri will conduct personalised tours and make a power point presentation. Visitors will be able to admire the architecture and enjoy the breathtaking 360-degree views of Comino and its surrounding seas from the tower's roof.

"In the late middle ages, a journey across the Fliegu was not a pleasant experience. Those making crossings then would not have been able to sit and enjoy the scenery. Instead, they would have been nervously scouring the seas for any sign of suspicious vessels, ready to turn back at the double at the least sign of danger," Dr Spiteri explained.

"Their real troubles would have started midway across the channel as they sailed past the island of Comino. For rather than the idyllic and tranquil location it presents today, Comino was then a treacherous haven for pirates and corsairs, waiting to pounce upon hapless boats plying between the islands. Many were those inhabitants unfortunate enough to fall prey to these marauding corsairs and then being dragged away to a miserable life of slavery.

"Among the most unfortunate of these was Federicus Bajjada, an administration official for Gozo, who twice fell captive to the Moors infesting the seas around Gozo. On the first occasion he was ransomed and reinstated to his office by King Martin. On the second, around 1413, he was killed," Dr Spiteri said.

The Maltese and Gozitan authorities were gravely concerned with this state of affairs and, as early as 1416, the Università of Malta was determined to build a tower on Comino. In the following year the inhabitants petitioned King Alphonse V for his royal approval.

Dr Spiteri said the king, through his viceroys, approved the request but rather than forking out the money, decreed that the Università would have to impose a local tax to cover the building costs.

"The Maltese dutifully accepted, imposed a tax on all the wine they imported, and collected the necessary funds. But the money found its way into Alfonso's war-starved coffers and the tower was never built.

"The need for the tower did not fade away and its absence continued to be sorely felt throughout the course of the 15th century. The knights of St John, too, were quick to appreciate the threat posed by the little island to the safety of their new island home. In 1533, 10 Barbary galleys, after having raided Malta and sacked the hamlet of Gudja, carrying away four peasants and their livestock, proceeded to Comino where they stayed for three days.

"Grand Master L'Isle Adam, wishing to prevent a recurrence of the situation, quickly sent Piccin, his Florentine military engineer who had just returned from repairing the castle of Tripoli, to visit Comino and draw up plans for an adequate tower. In the event, however, with so many urgent defence requirements to be attended to, Piccin's design was soon forgotten and more than half a century would pass by before the issue was raised again," Dr Spiteri said.

"It was only after the Order was securely settled in its new fortress city of Valletta that the knights began to seriously address the problem of the defence of the remote parts of their little domain. The first Grand Master to consider the threat to the Fliegu was Nicholas Garzes, who left in his will money for the building of a strong artillery tower at Mgarr Harbour, overlooking the channel. It was his successor, Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, however, who finally erected the desired structure.

"On October 11, 1618, Wignacourt informed his council of his intention to build a tower on the island of Comino at his own expense. This was to be the sixth in a series of seven coastal towers built during his magistracy. At 17,628 scudi, the Comino tower was to prove the costliest of them all. Work on it began in 1618," Dr Spiteri recalled.

St Mary Tower, as the Comino tower came to be called, has many unique features that set it distinctly apart from other towers. Its height of 65 feet (19.6m), is some 25 feet higher than the other towers, an extension deemed necessary to provide a commanding view over the island and its environs.

"Internally, the tower's structure consisted of two barrel-vaults, one built above the other, with the uppermost having a greater height. At some later stage, the upper vault was subdivided into two floors, each, in turn, subdivided into four square rooms. This was possibly made to enable the tower to accommodate the 25 to 30 soldiers stationed there during the emergencies of 1635 and 1645, or perhaps, even later, the prisoners of war who were incarcerated there during the blockade of 1798-1800," Dr Spiteri explained.

To defend itself and command the surrounding seas, Comino tower had its own battery of guns. By 1761, these numbered six, the heaviest of which were two 12-pounders. The battery was mounted on the roof of the tower and, as such, was only useful in a long-distance counter bombardment role against ships sailing through the channel. Given the height, the guns would have been of little use for close-in defence of the tower itself.

St Mary tower saw little military action. It served its time as a visual deterrent and as a signalling post, relaying messages from Gozo to Malta, its guns used more to fire salutes whenever the Grand Master's galleon sailed past the island than for defence.

"Comino was by-passed by Napoleon during his invasion of the Maltese islands in 1798 and, during the subsequent blockade by the Anglo-Maltese forces, the tower served as a place of internment for spies and suspected Francophiles. The tower was abandoned in 1829 and devolved to the local civil authorities. However, it was recruited back into service briefly during both world wars. The Armed Forces of Malta took it over in 1982 as a lookout post against smuggling and illegal hunting at sea until, in 2002, it was handed over to Din l-Art Helwa, Malta's national trust, for restoration and cultural use.

Restoration works were undertaken between 2002 and consolidated and rehabilitated the building. Structurally, the tower has retained its integrity reasonably well throughout close to 400 years.