I refer to Lina Brockdorff’s article ‘Unsung Maltese hero as Ohio brings salvation to besieged Malta’ (The Sunday Times, August 12).

Domenico Attard, my father, had three brothers, Luigi, Lorenzo and Giuseppe, who were also harbour pilots. Their father, Emanuele, was himself a harbour pilot.

His brother, Spiridione, worked with his brother and nephews as a boatman. He was hailed for his courage when the Sardinia caught fire as she left Grand Harbour on November 25, 1908, and sank. Spiridione rushed to the site and saved a number of passengers by helping them reach his boat.

Brockdorff writes that Lorenzo’s mother tried to dissuade him from going to the Ohio. This could not be as his mother Carmela, my grandmother, had died in 1935.

The pilot Frans in the picture was not an Attard. His surname was Galea. He was married to Teresa who was my mother’s sister, Lorenza.

Thank you for an excellent article.