Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Emanuel (Lino) Bonnici

(00:30) He was born in Bormla, but during the war, they went to Ħaż-Żebbug with some of his father’s relatives and in 1947 they moved to Paola. He only moved to Bormla again, after he had entered the dockyard. 

(01:15) In the dockyard examination, he ranked 50th and chose the trade of engine fitter. During the second year as apprentices, they were stationed underground, During the third he remembers one experience that remained in his memories when they took them to visit the cruiser HMS Belfast, which is now anchored in London on the Thames. They took them on the ship for them to see the turbine main propulsion. He remembers that working there was Mr Baldaccchino, who later on became the Dockyard machine shop manager.

(02:30) In 1956, before the Suez war, in the dockyard, there was a vessel named Ibrahim which was held in Malta as it required a full overhaul from fore to aft. He was an apprentice, shadowing Johnny Ellul. The main engine had turbines, HP/LP, on both sides-the HP ones were taken to the factory for re-blading of the casing and rotors, while when it came to the LP, they took the top cover but they had to re-blading on the bottom cover, onsite-and he had the opportunity to see the whole process of fabricating these blades and even got to work night shifts, even if apprentices were not allowed, but the inspector at the time Mr Northmoore, gave him that permission. 

(05:00) He goes on to mention how, during a night shift, this Johnny Ellul, went up to fix the floodlight they were using to work when he got caught by the boom (boma) pulling him from his shoes and started dangling down, but Lino Bonnici managed to switch off the machine in time. Thankfully Johnny was only slightly hurt. 

Entering the dockyard-Dockyard layout

(06:15) Fitters, at that time, were split intofourgroups-FA1 was in charge of large cruisers; FA2, which were the ones he was part of, was in charge of the destroyers; FA3 worked on light crafts; FA4 worked on submarines. He completed his apprenticeship in 1958 and remained the gang FA2 with chargeman Frendo.

Education-Dockyard school 

(07:15) He goes on to mention, how one time he was in the store talking with George Camilleri when someone came in asking his colleague whether he knows someone who speaks Italian as they need a fitter for 10 days to work with Ceretti (crane manufacturers), to align the crane crown (kuruna) of the vessel. This George referred Mr Bonnici, since he was interested in languages, and was immediately taken to the worksite. There he was introduced to Marco Cartabia, who worked with ‘Ceretti e Tanfani’ from Milan. They went up on the crane and showed him how they were going to do the levelling of the crown. Through this experience, he also learned how to level, from one side to another, using water, a pipe, and bottles-which was actually how the Egyptians used to level when they were building the pyramids. Furthermore, his time working with this man, lasted around a year and one month instead of 10 days. He ended up being a translator in the midst of the various gangs from different trades. After that crane there were other cranes that he was involved with. These episodes were 1959 to 1962 during the Bailey time. 

Trade Union-Strikes 

(14:30) in 1958, the big strike, where the workers were fed up and they started to even throw things in the dock such as fire engines. The captain of the dockyard also came in by boat but the commotion was too big and he had to leave immediately. 

It started from the dockyard, but it spread to the whole of Malta causing a huge chaos. 

Education-Apprenticeship process

(16:15) In 1959, he was working on CMSs (Coastal Minesweepers)-which were the last few vessels that the Admiralty had left here-when someone told him that Major Clews, wished to speak to him. Due to the fact that Mr Bonnici was a scout leader, Major Clews wanted to involve him in organising a Gozo camping trip for the apprentices. He recounts details of the organisation of this camping including some minor problems they had in Gozo, which at that time was quite rural. Due to the success this outing had brought with it, he organized the next apprentices camping for the following three years as well-up to 1962.  In 1963 Mr Adams who was the education officer, continued to organise these camps with the training department.

(21:30) During the re-sizing of No.4 and No.5 docks, there was a Mr Spiteri (nicknamed tal-Lejxu) chose him as a chargeman to take care of the yard machinery (docks, pumping stations, boilers, penstocks & all the auxiliaries).

When the dock gate was going to be built, he was the chargeman of fitters and the only work they had was to install on the 6 penstocks, some small valves on the side plus a control board with 12 to 14 in number valves, connecting pipes to the bottom and top ballast tanks.

(26:15) He had some conflicts with the department he was in and went afloat again. At that time Major Clews sent for him, to speak about the situation and to maybe send him elsewhere. Due to him having another child, he needed more financial stability, Major Clews sent him to Mr Charlie Rowe, who understood his situation perfectly.

 

(27:30) Then, at the beginning of 1965, he, his chargeman Guzeppi Grima, and a couple of other colleagues went to Egypt to board a ship at the Suez Canal. They met the Suez agent who advised them that the ship is delayed due to a storm, so they had some free waiting time. After a day waiting in Suez, the agent took them to Cairo, where he saw the Egyptology Museum, which was a fascinating trip for him. The morning after, they joined the ship Aristan on its trip to the Persian Gulf, a 7-day trip, where they had to change the rubber of the butterfly valves. They disembarked on Kharg island and travelled back to Malta.

Safety-Health and Safety procedures

(31:00) After some time (about 1966), he was advised that he is needed to go to work in Libya. An Esso representative asked for some people from the dockyard to work on the rehabilitation of a small oil refinery at Marsa-el-Brega. He went together with a boilermaker and a shipwright. When they arrived there and met with the superintendent, he advised them that they had to wear proper work clothing not how they used to wear in the dockyard with flip-flops and no overalls. At that time at the dockyard, they did not have any health and safety measurements enforced.

(32:30) In Libya, they spent around three months and came back to Malta for the holidays. Moreover, when he was going back to continue the work in Libya, he was called at the office of the General Manager Mr J M Calleja, who told him that he was chosen to go to Brown Boveri Baden, Switzerland for a technical course.

(35:00) In 1970, he applied and got the position of an estimator, where the requirements for going on various jobs abroad. 

Family and Social Life-Home life

(36:00) As soon as he became estimator, he was sent to the London office to take the place of someone who was leaving. They told him to do a month there to get a handover and then decide whether he wishes to continue. In the end, he came to the decision of not going due to having three small children that were soon starting school and his wife back home. 

(37:45) Estimating department-he had a lot of experience traveling abroad for work. One of the latest experiences he remembers was that of going to Morocco, where there was a vessel awaiting them. They had to travel to Fiumicino to wait two other yard personnel to travel together to Morocco. While waiting at Fiumicino, he was informed via telex that the other yard personnel were not coming and he had to proceed alone. Even though he had no idea of Morocco, he went on ahead. When he arrived, he had some visa problems, which he managed to fix and met with the vessel’s representative. 

(43:15) He also went on visits to Algeria, Tunisia and Libya and other places.

(48:00) In 1993, he retired from the dockyard, at the age of 56, with early retirement. 

Entering the dockyard-Reasons for joining 

(50:15) He deems his time at the dockyard as very adventurous and nice. He also goes on to speak about how at his age the dockyard was his life, due to the fact that his father and most of his ancestors gained their daily living. Furthermore, at their age it was expected of them to work as soon as they finish school instead of continuing to study or else, they would have to emigrate. In fact, he still remembers a lot of people that emigrated to Australia or Canada, especially from 1956 to 1969. In fact, in 1959 he was going to Canada with his wife’s brother but after speaking with his father, he decided to not go. 

Looking back-Reflections

(53:00) He worked in the dockyard, starting out with the Admiralty, so he has been through most of the management, but he still believes that the teaching and leadership there was under the Admiralty was what carried the work throughout and many of the workers there that started like him, still used the same techniques and work culture.