Responsive Menu
Add more content here...
Skip to main content
Flag

BOAT AND SHIP BUILDING

To Share

BOAT AND SHIP BUILDING

The Cottonera region has always been well-known for its boatbuilding skills. This is where the Knights of St John built their arsenal or shipyard and the British, the dockyards. But before that, a shipyard already existed in late Medieval times, which was used mostly for ship repairs and maintenance.

According to the historian Godfrey Wettinger, a galley-repair slipway near the Castrum Maris (now Fort St Angelo) was first mentioned in a document from 1374. This document, found in the Archivio di Stato in Palermo, referred to the repair area as the “tarsenale” of Malta.

In the 1800s and 1900s, builders from Senglea, Cospicua, Vittoriosa, and Kalkara built hundreds of different kinds of boats and were considered the true experts in this craft.

Traditional boat building

Boatbuilding skills were often passed down from father to son, using family moulds for the hulls (bottom of the boat). Some boatbuilders never went to school but still created excellent drawings, moulds, cross-sections, and profiles of their boats through trial and error. One such self-taught builder who made a name for himself is Willy Delceppo, who together with his grandson Andrea, has a workshop in the ‘Xewkija’ district of Kalkara. Willy first made a model of a frejgatina aged 10 from a drawer taken from his mother’s credenza (chest of drawers) and incredibly rowed in it from Kalkara to Xgħajra’s tower! The frejgatina looks like a Luzzu (see below) with a flat back and means ‘little frigate’. It was generally only used to move from the shore to a larger boat anchored away from the land (offshore). Willy has built over one hundred traditional boats in his lifetime and has designed seven different types of frejgatini for his customers. Aged 14, Willy enrolled as a deck boy in the Merchant Navy. Before that, he worked alongside his father on a dgħajsa as a boatman (barklor). After travelling the world, he left the Navy when he was 28 years old and started building boats. Instead of playing football as a child, he would visit shipyards, buy books about the craft, and study shipbuilding designs by himself.

Most Maltese traditional boats evolved from the xprunara. For almost two hundred years, this boat carried passengers between Malta, Sicily, and Naples. Using oars and sails, the trip from Malta to Sicily took twelve hours. Paying passengers sat in a cabin at the back (stern) of the boat.

The first mention of the smaller dgħajsa tal-pass, a passenger boat, was in 1601. Later in the same century, the firilla and the kajjik were developed. The fast dgħajsa was used to ferry people across the Grand Harbour with just one boatman. Seeing a dgħajsa tal-pass under construction is impressive. The delicate skeleton of the boat is held in place and perfectly balanced by a system of supports from the ground to key parts of the frame. It stays like this until the boatbuilder decides it is perfectly balanced and aligned according to traditional boatbuilding rules. The thin timbers used on a passenger boat help reduce costs and make the boat light. This design is strong enough to carry ten passengers but light enough for one person to row it.

The construction of modern September regatta boats is focused on speed, so some traditional features are changed to make them faster. These racing boats were originally the same as the dgħajsa tal-pass used in the Grand Harbour. In the 1930s, local racers started asking for lighter boats from the builders. Looking at a racing dgħajsa for four rowers, you might wonder how such a delicate boat made with very thin wood can handle the stress of four men rowing—two standing and two sitting.

Boat transport was very important for both the Three Cities and the naval base in Tigne (Sliema). The boatmen had a monopoly on harbour transport, and by 1856, there were already 42 licensed boats.

However, these boatmen faced strong competition with the start of the Motor Ferry Service in 1881. The ferries initially ran from Valletta (Marsamxett) to Sliema, and despite protests from the boatmen, it became the best and cheapest way to travel on the island. The ferries continued to operate even with the introduction of steam ferryboats in Marsamxett in 1882, in the Grand Harbour in 1906, and then buses in 1918. As a result, the dgħajsa service became less important.

By the 1930s, both the tram and railway companies were struggling, so the government had to close them down. This turned out to be good news for the dgħajjes operating from Valletta to the Three Cities and Sliema, but the final blow came when the British forces left Malta.

The firilla is a bigger and stronger version of the dgħajsa, with a taller front part (forestem) and a higher deck. It was rowed by four fishermen and had removable wooden slats (washboards) on the sides (gunwales) to lower fishing nets into the sea. The firilla stayed close to the coast to avoid bad weather or pirates and was the favourite boat for fishermen until 1900.

When the Knights of St John needed to cross from Birgu to Valletta, they would ask a bonavoglie to row them on a caique, a small working boat attached to their galley. The Kajjikk evolved from this caique and was also used as a fishing boat. It was built just like a dgħajsa but with a flat stem. Originally, the kajjikk was rowed, though it also had a single mast for a spritsail. The Kajjikk tal-Gangmu had low bows and was used in the Grand Harbour to dredge coal and fish for seashells. Nowadays, modern kajjikki are made from fiberglass.

Id-Dghajsa tal-Latini was the name for the large boat that carried passengers and goods between Malta and Gozo until the 1960s. It gets its name from the Lateen, triangular sails rigged on its two masts. The Caruana family, who were based in Kalkara, were thought to be the best Gozo boatbuilders. These boats were sometimes over 45 feet long and were made with very thick timbers on a strong keel. They were built just like any other traditional Maltese boat but with a bulky bow (front part) that was designed to go over waves, and they were wide enough to hold a lot of cargo.

They kept running between the Maltese Islands even during World War II, though one was lost when it hit a mine. Most probably the last Gozo boat to be built was the Sacra Famiglia in 1934. By the 1920s, the Dgħajsa tal-Latini and the Kajjik, were outfitted with inboard engines, which replaced the need for sails.

The carvel-built luzzu evolved from the Italian gozzo to become the main fishing boat in Malta by the early 1900s. It looks a lot like the firilla but has a shorter front stem and higher sides, and is made with stronger wood than other traditional Maltese boats.

Early luzzijiet were small, about 30 feet long, and used mostly for transport. Four men would row them for harbour work, but they used sails (a sprit sail and a jib) for fishing. Later, the luzzu was also fitted with engines.

The Luzzu tal-Gadraj had enough space and equipment to supply provisions to ships in the harbour. Today’s fishing luzzu has a deck and a cabin in the middle, along with powered winches and navigational instruments.

Painted in bright blue, green, red, and yellow, these boats make for a colourful sight bobbing on Malta’s blue seas. They often have the Eye of Horus painted on the front or moustache of the boat for protection, and the owner usually gives it a holy name. The Luzzu is also decorated with floral designs and its license number.

Very few traditional boats are built today because they are expensive, and most people prefer fibreglass boats, which need less maintenance. The last few professional boatbuilders now focus more on repairing and maintaining existing traditional boats.

The Malta Maritime Museum has a large collection of traditional Maltese boats and models, which helps preserve the history of these boats.

Written with reference to:

Close Menu