Guns that saved Europe

The year is 1565. It is July 15, mid-morning, and the temperature is soaring. The assault by land and sea on the Senglea peninsula has been raging since early morning.

Suddenly the keen-eyed look-out on the battlements of St Angelo gives a piercing whistle that cuts through the reverberating thunder of battle, and waves to the sweating gunners in the concealed sea-level battery on the rock just below, pointing towards the Senglea end of the Great Chain across Galleys Creek.

Ten of the largest Turkish vessels, each at least 50 feet long , which had been laboriously dragged across the Pietà hill from Marsamxett creek to the Grand Harbour, break away from the main Turkish flotilla which is attacking the west side of Senglea (and being mightily impeded by the chain and stake barrier erected in haste to guard against ships' landing troops) and, rowing round the end of the Spur of Senglea to where the great chain blocking entry to the creek was attached, intend to land their thousand picked troops at this relatively undefended spot. The watchers in the concealed battery, commanded by Francesco de Guiral, could scarcely believe their eyes.

The covered embrasures cut in the rock are suddenly unmasked. The Turkish vessels are virtually in line abreast crowding in to land on the narrow shore, just beyond the great chain. The range is less than two hundred paces. The gunners, mostly highly trained gun crews from the galleys, load a lethal mixture of anti-ship and anti-personnel half-shot, bars and calthorpes, aim with care and, on the command, fire as one.

A cheer goes up from those on the battlements and when the black powder smoke has cleared, an astonishing sight greets the eyes of the de Guiral gunners. Nine of the 10 Turkish vessels, each carrying a hundred soldiers, are sinking, the tenth turns away to flee.

An eye-witnesses actually involved in defending the spur of Senglea, Francisco Balbi di Correggio, has no doubt that this was the turning point in the battle. The landward attack on St Michael guarding the south of the Senglea peninsula was heavy and persistent; reinforcements had been rushed across the bridge of planks and boats, between Vittoriosa and Senglea, in a desperate effort to repulse this. The situation was critical. Had the sea-borne Turks succeeded in landing they would almost certainly have taken the Spur and attacked those defending of St Michael in the rear. Had they done so the Senglea peninsula would have fallen to the Turks, and Vittoriosa would have been totally defenceless against artillery placed there. The Vittoriosa-Senglea defence complex stood or fell as a whole; there were no bastions on the Senglea side. The battle, indeed the war would have been lost, and Suleyman would have gained the secure base he craved to threaten the "soft under-belly of Europe".

This, then, was an action of pivotal importance, not only for Malta, but indeed for Europe.

The site of this famous battery still exists... just; overgrown and neglected to the eternal shame of all those who surely have a sacred duty to preserve it.

The three embrasures hewn from the living rock below the bastions of St Angelo are silent witness to this epochal feat. It has been argued that five cannon fired that crucial salvo. This is difficult to sustain. Illustrations of the episode show various numbers of guns, but the remaining embrasures in the rock are but three, facing Senglea; there were possibly three or more facing north, but these cannon could not have been traversed to fire on vessels landing just outside the Great Chain. It is probable that two salvoes were fired as the galley gunners were well trained. The gun emplacement had been hastily dug out of the rock just before the Ottoman invasion, below the bastions of St Angelo, with the specific task of protecting the Great Chain. Only the three embrasures facing Senglea survive, in mute and crumbling testimony to this memorable feat.

However, once again the anniversary of this great event has come un-noticed; a magnificent historical site remains a neglected rubbish tip. When will we wake up to the irretrievable and relentless loss of our most priceless historical sites? No doubt some developers have an excellent record, but who can guarantee the safe preservation of these unique and peerless heritage sites which seem to be at their mercy? Who will guard against destruction by deliberate neglect? Is their safe preservation outside the effective jurisdiction of Heritage Malta?

After all, had this salvo not succeeded in saving the day, Valletta may well not have been built.