Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: George Scicluna

Education-Dockyard school 

(00:30) He joined the dockyard at age 17. He mentions that they were about 2000 students to sit for the dockyard exam, and only 60 went through-him came in the 60th place. Then they chose the trade they wanted, depending on their order of merit. Since he came in the 60th position he had no choice but to take the remaining trade which was that of a smith. Scicluna states that he used to attend private lessons too prior sitting for  the exam. 

Entering the dockyard-Reasons for joining 

(02:00) His decision of joining the Dockyard was quite natural as he had his family members working there too. In fact, his father spent some time working at the Dockyard, at Manoel Island. His two brothers were already there, one was a fitter and another as a welder, and he also had his uncle working there too. He states that working at the Dockyard at that time was perceived as an achievement. 

(03:00) During the apprentice time, they had training in all the main trades which gave them   a general know-how of each trade. As examples, they spent 6 weeks at the boilershop, another 6 weeks at the boathouse, etc. He states that the last trade training was on the trade he had chosen, where, instead of six weeks they spent a year.  His instructor was Joe Grech.

Looking back-Skills gained 

(04:15) The general training on each trade helped him to carry out work at home. He mentions that all the electrical installation at his house, he did by himself following the diagrams and notes that he had from the trade lessons.

(04:30) At first, at the Smith shop, they were assigned to an instructor, and they were usually given small tasks to get acquainted with their tools. They used to do a lot of dock blocks staples (klieb). They learned how to fire up the forge (forga), and how to clean it after work. This helped them to familiarised themselves with the work.

(06:30) In the smithery they did heavy duty work, bending metal and heavy forging. He mentioned the maintenance that was required on the forge (forga). 

  

(09:00) During his apprenticeship he remembers one major work, where a 1¼ inch plate was first rolled semi-circular and the then bent again length wise. This work took about a week but was appreciated by everybody. He mentions that practically all work related to heavy forging was considered major.

Apart from work in the Smithery, the smith’s work also included work on board the vessels, like refurbishment of all the derricks for class certification. They also were responsible for work on the ship’s chains, which was also a class requirement. Normally the end part of the chain which connected to the anchor was the most vulnerable. If this part of the chain was worn out, they used to transpose the ends.

(15:15) They also encountered several anchors damages. The repairs were done at the smithery. In general, the work on the anchors was either to change the shackle pin or change the shank pin, which held in place fluke (nappi).

The smith had work on the derricks. They were a group abseilers (xabbaturi) and they used to make harnesses themselves for safety.

After the work, he derricks with all those wires were tested. The test was done by the shipwrights with calibrated weights.

The smithery also had the test house, where the dockyard tools and lifting equipment were tested. To test the slings, they had a machine to do the testing. Originally the machine worked with water and then it was changed to work with hydraulic oil. For the chain-blocks, they used the same machine, their job was to clean and re-furbish the chain-block and then test and certify them. There had also a person that was a lock-smith working on locks especially on the passenger ships.

(24:15) He experienced an accident while he worked there, he was working on a chain, and due to an unforeseen situation, the chain slipped and hit him on his leg. Consequently, he had to spend 10 months on sick leave. 

(27:00) Other major accidents he recalls was the Um El Faroud, and when a buoy in No.1 dock exploded, other accidents like electrical shocks and the accident at No.6 Dock when the dock arm collapsed. 

They even were involved in other projects, because since they were a group used to working at heights, like the pavilion at Kordin, where they installed the roof beams, etc.

(28:45) He states that in comparison to other trades, especially the shipwrights, the smiths did not have a lot of overtime, so they did not make a lot of money.

Looking back-Relationships formed 

(30:00) He mentions that when he had to leave the yard, he missed the job a lot, but what he really missed was the people who worked with him. After working in the shipyard, he spent five years working in three different places, and he stills states that the people did not have the same attitude as those who worked in the Dockyard.