A String of Forts Against Enemy Ships: The British Coastal Fortifications of the South-East – Joseph Galea Debono

A String of Forts Against Enemy Ships THE BRITISH COASTAL FORTIFICATIONS OF THE SOUTH-EAST (PART 1)

By Joseph Galea Debono

The area covered in this article

In parallel with the project of the Northwest Front, in the last three decades of the nineteenth century the British embarked on another extensive one on the south-east shores all the way from the Grand Harbour to Marsaxlokk Bay. The ever-increasing importance of Malta as a staging post to the East after the opening of the Suez Canal necessitated an improvement in the security of its harbours. The constant improvement in naval artillery for shore bombardment gave rise to the improvement of the existing defences, and the erection of new forts and batteries to deter such attacks from enemy ships lying offshore.

In recent months, in the company of Professor Anthony Bonanno, I visited the whole string of forts in the area, noting their present use and condition and regrettably observing their misuse and degradation since they were abandoned by the military authorities in the second half of the twentieth century.

I visited the whole string of forts in the area, noting their present use and condition and regrettably observing their misuse and degradation

The rebuilt Baroque main gateway at Ricasoli

Fort Ricasoli

Lying astride the entrance to the Grand Harbour, it was evident that the British would give priority to the modernisation of Fort Ricasoli which had been built by the Order of St John in the seventeenth century. The Fort had acquired a measure of notoriety way back in 1807, when a regiment of mercenaries under Colonel Froberg had mutinied and threated to blow up one of its magazines, a threat that they had carried out before being forced to capitulate. The 140-year-old cannon mounted on the seaward and land fronts of the Fort’s bastions and curtains were gradually substituted by heavier muzzle loading guns protected and enclosed by casemates and armour-plated shields, which gave the Fort a somewhat altered profile in places.

With the development of the more effective and quick-firing breach-loading artillery coming on stream, the older rifled-muzzle loading (RML) guns were substituted by 6-inch BL guns. Some of the old guns were dumped into the sea below their erstwhile emplacements and can still be seen today in Heritage Malta’s Underwater Virtual Museum. Later, four 12-pounder quick firing (QF) guns were added. None of these new guns, however, saw any action during the First World War.

Double-barrelled 6-pounder quickfiring gun

Perhaps the Fort’s finest hour was at the crack of dawn on 26th July 1941 when its three doublebarreled 6-pounder QF guns added their fire power against the attacking Italian ‘barchini’ (fast small power boats with an explosive device at the bow) which had attempted to penetrate the harbour to sink the ships of an important convoy which had arrived on the previous day. These modern guns had been installed just before the Second World War to compliment similar ones installed on nearby Fort St Elmo. They were manned by officers and men of the 1st Coast Regiment Royal Malta Artillery, who gave a good account of themselves in repelling the attack.

These guns were installed in circular concrete emplacements housing chambers for ready expense ammunition, and were encased in a protective iron turret. Close by each of these three emplacements for ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ turrets rose a tall concrete fire-control director tower. These still survive today as landmarks on the Fort’s profile although their condition has sadly deteriorated due to exposure to the salty environment. Indeed, most of the seaward ramparts of the Fort are in a state of dilapidation and parts face the risk of collapse into the waters below the crumbling cliff edges.

Lying in a prime target area for over thirty months, the Fort suffered considerable damage from aerial bombardment. Its Baroque main gateway and the Governor’s house behind it were obliterated. The former was rebuilt after the war. The latter was not.

In recent years the Fort was repeatedly used by filming companies and this has also put new pressures on this iconic historical site. Broken props or their remains litter some parts of the Fort and its massive parade ground, and although over the course of the last couple of years restoration works have been undertaken on the casemated battery on No. 1 Curtain, parts of St Dominic Counterguard and St Dominic Demi-bastion, much more needs to be done. Besides, the fact that the ditches and open spaces between the outer ravelins and the main bastions on the land front are still taken up by huge oil tanks servicing the tank-cleaning farm, which was built beside the Fort in the 1960s, apart from the all-pervading pungent smell of oil products, really debases the status of this Fort.

Rinella Battery

By contrast, Rinella Battery, a couple of hundred metres south-east of Fort Ricasoli, is indeed a gem of restoration and valorisation, due to the professional care of the NGO Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, headed by that indomitable conservator Mario Farrugia. This one-gun battery houses the 100-ton Armstrong gun which luckily survived a British Army order to scrap all heavy coastal artillery in the mid-1950s, simply because at the time the site was serving as a depot for the Royal Navy.

But prior to the handing over of the Fort to the Fondazzjoni in the 1990s, the group ‘Teenagers Din l-Art Ħelwa’ in the late 1960s and early seventies used to hold regular summer camps there, led by university history lecturer Roger Vella Bonavita and his wife Judith. I have it from Din l-Art Ħelwa Council Member Ann Gingell Littlejohn, a former treasurer of Teenagers Din l-Art Ħelwa and eventually a group leader, that groups of some twenty youngsters would live in the

Concrete fire-control director tower under restoration

3D graphic simulation of Fort Rinella (courtesy of Dr Stephen C. Spiteri)

The orderly and manicured entrance to Fort Rinella

Above: The contraption devised to transport the 100-ton gun from Rinella Bay to the Fort Above right: The restored 17.72-inch, 100-ton gun Fort and spend their time cleaning up the gun, the ditch and the area around the Fort. At one stage they even obtained a sponsorship from Malta Film Facilities and managed to have the gun sandblasted by the Drydocks. The need for the construction of this unique fort came about after Italy had ordered 100-ton guns from Armstrong in Great Britain to mount on their newly built Duilio class of battleships. This constituted a grave threat to the security of Grand Harbour as these naval guns would have completely out-ranged the guns in the existing coastal forts at the time. In 1876 Britain purchased four such guns and two were assigned to the defence of Malta and the other two for Gibraltar. The operation of these huge guns necessitated the construction of a purpose-built complex built around them on either side of the entrance to the harbour , one on the coast near Fort Tigné and the other one at Rinella on the outskirts of Kalkara.

This battery was completed in 1884 and was built around its sole 17.72 inch, 100-ton Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) gun in an open barbette emplacement. The battery was surrounded by a ditch 7 metres wide, which in turn contained three caponiers and a counter-scarp gallery. The Fort’s main entrance was reached through a curved cutting in its landward facing glacis and over a Gutherie rolling bridge which could be withdrawn into the main entrance in case of attack from landward.

The actual transportation of the enormous gun from the Dockyard on barges to Rinella Bay, up the hill to the ridge on the Fort Ricasoli side and then on to its place within the Fort was a massive operation in itself; considering that no modern heavy-lift vehicles and cranes existed at the time. Still the Royal Engineers were not deterred and they excogitated efficient contraptions by which the gun could be lifted and transported to its destination.

The shell weighed 1968 pounds and left the gun at a muzzle velocity of 1,548 feet per second at a rate of fire of one round every four minutes. It had a maximum range of some 6,800 yards. The loading, traversing and elevation of the gun required the application of hydraulic and steam power and a video clip screened for visitors in the Fort’s lecture hall, clearly explains how all these complicated movements were carried out. Efforts are underway by Fondazzjoni to restore part, if not all, of this elaborate hydraulic mechanism. The gun is occasionally fired on the Fort’s open days using a blank charge and once I had the opportunity to press the firing button setting off the electrically operated detonation.

The Fort was also protected against an attack from its landward side by musketry loopholes in the iron shutters of the windows flanking the garrison accommodation quarters as well as from loopholes on the parapet on the roof of these quarters facing the land front. These quarters have now been converted into a walk-through pictorial museum of Victorian arms, accoutrements and memorabilia in well organised display showcases. It is a pleasure to walk through, and one must be prepared to dedicate some time to be able to appreciate all the exhibits and absorb all the information.

Regular re-enactments by soldiers in various kinds of Victorian period uniforms and drill exercises are held. Battle scenes and Cavalry exercises in the open area adjacent to the Fort are held on special open days to the delight of visitors, young and old. Indeed, the professional efforts of this non-governmental organisation to restore, preserve and display this military establishment are indeed laudable and an example to be followed.

Fort St Rocco

The original Fort St Rocco was completed by 1878, six years after works had started on the higher ground to the south-east of Fort Rinella. It had a fan-shaped plan with a detached square keep on its landward side. Three 12.5-inch 38-ton Rifled Muzzle Loading guns constituted its coastal armament. But come 1900 further works were undertaken to build a much larger complex and these were completed by 1905, removing practically all the previous structures, except for part of the enceinte and ditch.

New armament was installed consisting of three 9.2-inch Breach loading, Mark X guns in open barbette concrete mountings each with its underground magazines. On the seaward side, below the gun emplacements, there was a wide ditch which extended to the flanks of the Fort. The landward side was protected by a high wall built with ashlar blocks next to which were built three barrack blocks. A perimeter machine-gun bunker or blockhouse was built on the southern extremity of the site. Other barrack buildings were built on the centre of the enclosure, one of them containing the fire control bunker on the second-storey level accessible from a flight of steps.

According to Dr Stephen Spiteri, author of various books on Malta’s fortifications, before the outbreak of the Second World War the 9.2-inch guns were dismantled and their emplacements concreted in. They were replaced by three 6-inch Mark V breach loading guns in newly constructed emplacements. The Fort was manned by officers and men of the 1st Coast Regiment of the Royal Malta Artillery. During the sea-borne attack of the ‘barchini’ mentioned above, these guns engaged and damaged one of the supporting vessels at a range of some 10,000 metres.

Aerial view of Fort St Rocco

One of the circular gun emplacements at Fort St Rocco The underground tunnel to one of the caponiers of the Fort

Prior to the handing over of Fort Rinella to the Fondazzjoni in the 1990s, the group ‘Teenagers Din l-Art Ħelwa’ in the late 1960s and early seventies used to hold regular summer camps there

The sad state of Fort St Rocco Steps to Command Post The 5.25-inch dual purpose (coastal & anti-aircraft) gun

Caponier at Fort St Rocco

In 1958 the Fort had another change in its armament when, like Fort Benghajsa, it received three 5.25-inch dual role High Angle / Low Angle guns adaptable both for anti-aircraft fire and coastal defence. These however did not last long in situ as the Fort was soon de-commissioned.

At present the Fort, which is not easy to access, seems to be used as a sort of store for film facilities as a number of disused cine props lie strewn along its main open space. The concrete emplacements for the guns on elevated higher ground provide a very good vantage point of the sea approaches to the harbours to the northwest. Very close by to the south-east however, there is extensive ground disturbance resulting from excavations connected to the Smart City project and dumping of earth is also taking place between the Fort’s glacis and the seashore, rendering this erstwhile pristine stretch of coastline a veritable eyesore.

Delle Grazie Battery

The next military post along the south-east coast is to be found on the outskirts of the urban sprawl of Xgħajra located in between Fort St Rocco and Fort Leonardo. It lies about two miles to the east of the Grand Harbour close to the site of the Santa Maria Delle Grazie Tower built by the Order of St John in 1620. This Tower had to be demolished so as not to limit the field of fire of the new guns of the new British Battery.

Armoured gate at entrance to Delle Grazie Battery

Work on this site began in 1888 and was completed by March 1893. It was constructed in the shape of an elongated hexagon with four open barbette emplacements for two 6-inch and two 10-inch breach loading guns mounted on disappearing carriages. The four emplacements each had their underground magazine from which shells and cartridges were hoisted by davits on mechanical trays. The 10-inch guns fired a shell weighing 500 pounds which could penetrate 25.4 inches of armour plate. The 6-inch guns fired a shell weighing 78.44 pounds which could penetrate 10.5 inches of armour.

The Battery is entered from a parking space for the village’s school through an infilled causeway crossing the ditch. This causeway has musketry loopholes in the masonry walls on either side. Past this, one comes to a small building which used to serve as a guardroom and stores and now houses the premises of the Xgħajra Local Council.

The Battery is surrounded by a deep rock-cut dry ditch in which two bulbous shaped caponiers with bomb-proof domed roofs are located at the front right and left corners of the ditch on the seaward side covering that entire length of the front as well as both flanks of the ditch for enfilade fire.

In the early years of the twentieth century all the guns were dismantled and the Battery started being used as a military depot. By the Second World War, the Battery was used to house a searchlight and a sound locator. The searchlight, when not in use during daylight hours, was kept in a garage-like structure. The sound locator was built on the traverse which separates the erstwhile gun positions from the place of arms, and is characterised by a rectangular structure with sloping concave walls intended to deflect wind and external sounds from the sound locator equipment.

Infantry units of the Dorsetshire Regiment, stationed in the vicinity, made use of the Battery for the administration of the various beach posts in the area. After the war, the Battery was used as a depot by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps until it was handed over to the Malta Government in 1965. It then was used as a cattle farm and sustained considerable damage through fires and demolition of structures.

The loopholed causeway beyond the gate

Steps to underground magazine

A bulbous domed caponier in the Delle Grazie Battery’s ditch

While most Maltese are somewhat aware and appreciative of the fortifications built during the time of the Order of St John, there is far less concern and attention paid to the extensive fortifications built during the British period

Second World War sound locator Gun emplacement

Fortunately, on the initiative of the Xgħajra Local Council, the Battery was taken over with a view to its restoration and part of it started being used as the offices of the Local Council. Volunteers of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna started on a project of cleaning the site and in particular the area of the gun positions. Some work seems to have been undertaken. However, what was intended to serve as an open space for visitors with the active assistance of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, has somewhat degenerated and a lot of discarded material lay dumped in the gun positions and the open spaces behind them as seen during a visit some months ago. Evidently, Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna had long ceased to be involved in the project, which is a great pity.

While most Maltese are somewhat aware and appreciative of the fortifications built during the time of the Order of St John, there is far less concern and attention paid to the extensive fortifications built during the British period, even though these were built by our own skilled forefathers with primitive tools and under difficult social and economic conditions and in spite of the fact that these defences stood us in good stead in the hour of danger in the first half of the last century. They certainly deserve better. n

Interior of sound locator

SOURCES: The One Hundred Ton Gun (Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna); Denis Rollo, The Guns and Gunners of Malta (Mondial, 1999); James Quentin Hughes, Fortress: Architecture and Military History in Malta (Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, 1969); James Quentin Hughes, Malta, A Guide to the Fortifications (Said, 1993); Stephen C. Spiteri, The Knights’ Fortifications (1989); Stephen C. Spiteri, The British Fortifications (1991); Stephen C. Spiteri, British Military Architecture in Malta (1996); Stephen C. Spiteri and E. Formica, Fortress Malta 360 (Miranda Publishers, 2007); Stephen C. Spiteri, The Fortifications of Malta (BDL, 2017).

Joseph Galea Debono is a retired judge. He graduated in Modern European and Maltese history from the Royal University of Malta and has a special interest in Maltese military history. He has authored various publications on the subject in local and international media.