Order’s naval warehouses are in danger

I fully agree with Terrance Duggan (The Sunday Times, May 1) regarding the ‘disembowelment’ of the warehouses of the Order of St John’s sailing ships-of-the-line. I refer to these warehouses in Chapter 8 of my book The Maltese-Hospitaller Sailing Ship Squadron, 1701-1798.

Mr Duggan’s letter highlights the precarious state of the stores’ level of protection as an important heritage site. Both Malta Environment and Planning Authority and Heritage Malta should take immediate and effective steps to halt any undue structural damage to the historic building.

Alterations should be kept to the minimum. Leaving only the façade from the original edifice would not have saved it.

One reason why such aberrations are allowed to happen is because there is little awareness of the historical importance of such buildings. Unfortunately our heritage is often appreciated only for tourism purposes or as raw material for Melitensia books that are bought for investment and often left unread on the bookshelves.

The warehouses were built around 1709 probably by architect Romano Carapecchia shortly after Grand Master Ramon Perellos set up the Order’s four men-of-war squadron in 1701.

Until then Senglea’s Main Gate complex had been used for their stores. This marked the birth of the shipyard at Cospicua.

A total of 25 capital ships were commissioned until 1798, 13 of which could carry 60 guns and hold the line of battle.

Most of them were built in French Creek but serviced at these warehouses. Each warehouse served for only one ship, a luxury at the time found at Rochefort in France.

Of a total 1,500 crew members of the first four ships, 1,000 were Maltese. About 12 per cent of Malta’s population was directly dependent on this squadron.

Most of these ships were large, mightier than frigates. Their memory survives in the paintings at the Palace, Valletta, and in the original models at the Malta Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa.

Throughout the 18th century, knights, Maltese and foreign sailors, passengers and captured slaves, money from the Order’s estates, materials (especially wood), as well as works of art, were disembarked at the warehouses.

The warehouses are material proof of such heritage and should never be altered unduly. They should be appreciated, restored and put to proper use.