When news spread in the early hours of August 15, 1942, that a battered tanker laden with fuel and food was entering Grand Harbour, none of the harbour pilots was eager to steer it in. Sarah Carabott spoke to the surviving son of Lorenzo Attard, who took over the tanker that saved Malta from famine.
“My father told my mother that if he did not die trying to steer the tanker into port, he would die a few days later from starvation,” recalls George Attard, Lorenzo’s only surviving son.
“Still full of fuel and with bombs dropping around the harbour, the sinking vessel could have blown up if it came under attack again. But he lived to tell the tale – and with him, many Maltese.”
Now 76, Mr Attard speaks from his home in Mellieħa, more than 70 years after his father, the pilot, manoeuvred the Ohio safely into the capital’s harbour.
Flanked by his wife Frances, he spreads several cuttings and pictures out in front of him – the only accounts left to hail this unsung hero.
Mr Attard hopes that he will live to see his father receiving national recognition for his heroic act.
“I learnt the story of the arrival of the Santa Marija Convoy from him, but it was not until Lina Brockdorff mentioned my father in her book Sereni u Serenati that the story was made public,” the father-of-three says.
Mr Attard is the only surviving son of Lorenzo, while his sister Emma lives in the US.
“When I was a kid, my father would take me, the youngest of six, to Customs Steps, where his office was, and pointing at Parlatorio Wharf would jokingly tell me: Son, over there is where I brought in a ship full of food that fed all of Malta.
George Attard recalling his father’s bravery. Photo: Jason Borg“At that age I didn’t really understand what he meant and it was only as I grew older that I understood how he risked his life to get to the sinking tanker.”
Since the harbour was a main target during the war, vessels were only anchored in the centre of port, to avoid any unexploded weapons and not to risk damaging the surrounding buildings if they got hit. However, Mr Attard berthed at the jetty so as not to risk losing the precious supplies the ship carried.
The Ohio is seen as the saviour of the besieged island. By 1941 food was already scarce in Malta and a convoy sent out in June of 1942 never made it to the island
Another 14 ships left Liverpool on August 3 but the convoy was heavily bombed on August 11. Two days later three ships made it to Grand Harbour. The freighter MV Brisbane Star sailed in on the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the badly damaged Ohio tanker arrived on August 15 with a destroyer on each side.
For centuries, Maltese harbour pilots have scrambled to merchant vessels to guide the ship’s captain into the harbour.
During the war, however, these pilots suffered famine as their livelihood depended on the arrival of ships which were not making it to Malta.
Meanwhile, the Admiralty asked the captains of Navy ships to steer the vessels into harbour themselves.
Still, on that day the Admiral decided that a Maltese pilot should assume responsibility and chief pilot Ġużeppi Zahra had to decide who should do the job.
Lorenzo volunteered, to the protestations of his wife Antonia and his brothers, but he dismissed their concern because, he argued, if he did not die bringing in the tanker, he would soon die of famine.
Carrying a substantial amount of wheat, food and fuel oil, Mr Attard manoeuvred the Ohio to Parlatorio Wharf to the cheers of starving Maltese and the playing of a band.
A marble plaque was unveiled in Ponsonby Street, Mosta, on the residence of the late Lorenzo, who passed away in 1964. However, the family is still hoping for national recognition, such as a bust erected in his hometown Vittoriosa.