Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Martin Vella

(00:30) He finished the trade school as a carpenter, however when he entered the dockyard, as an intermediate trade trainee, he was sent with the chippers. He told management, that his school certificate was that of a carpenter, so he was sent to Manoel Island to work for three months, eventually his foreman Spiru Xerri, wanted Vella to stay at the Manoel Island yacht yard, and he spent 29 years working there on yachts.

(01:45) One of his first works was on the Lespasia (?), and he was assigned to work on an arms locker. After only three/four months, he was already being asked to stay over time. He even remembers working on one of the biggest yachts which was the El Petal, that belonged to Robert Stickwood. It was brought in yard for a full refurbishment. In fact, Vella states that they dismantled and re-built all the cabins. The bathrooms were also reconstructed. Due to its size the yacht could not be slipped at the Manoel Island, and it had taken to be taken to the Dockyard for docking and installation of its masts. On completion, the owner was so satisfied with the work done, that he offered a bonus to practically all the workers.

Education-Interesting training and skills

(05:00) His trade was a carpenter and he continued working with wood. In fact, he mentions that he did a lot of wooden decks. He worked on Daniela, Ashley of Sant Mary and the Lotus Eater. Vella also worked on Captain Morgan’s boats, where he changed and repaired the deck grooves (fili). He also worked on the patrol boat, that was involved in an explosion. It had damage at the forward end. It was taken over to Manoel Island to be cleaned and carry out some work on aluminium structure. Its cabin was constructed and brought over from the dockyard. They even had fishing boats for replacement of planks (fallaki). Vella states that they did several works, but most of the time the task assigned to him had to do with wood. 

(07:30) Vella states that they had a stipulated time to complete the work. He said that they worked with man hours. The estimator gives an estimate of the man-hour required for the work and then the manager allocates the man-hours according to the number of workers.

(08:45) He recalls when once Captain Neil entered the port with a yacht the ‘La Grande Blue’ and wanted him to work on his yacht. At that time, this yacht was ranked 1st in America and the 3rd most luxurious yacht in the world.

He even remembers a yacht from the ‘Helsien tal-Palestina’. During the slipping they noticed something suspicious attached to the hull, which resulted that it had two magnetic bombs attached to the hull. Police were assigned to watch the ship, every time it entered Malta.

(11:15) On the Lotus Eater he made the wood decking, the cabins, the wheelhouse, and other tasks. Most of the time Vella worked on his own, but sometimes he was also assisted by other workers. 

(12:15) He remembers that every machine had an operator and remember when Giuseppi had his fingers cut on his machine. Another episode he recalls is when they were installing gas cylinders and as soon as they walked away one of them exploded and luckily no one was hurt.

He also remembers when once they were working in a waste tank in the double bottom on the yacht Gardenia and a pipe broke hurting slightly the workers. 

Family and Social Life-Friendships between workers

(14:00) He was one of four members in charge of the Manoel Island Sports and Social Club. He remembers talking to agents and yacht owners and ask them for a donation. In fact, he states that some even gave them £100. They used to organise Christmas parties for their children and other children from the orphanage. 

(15:45) He remembers that when the Um El Faroud exploded, they had work in No.1, where the Rocky and Karweka owned by Captain Morgan were to be drydocked. On the day of the accident, Vella and his friend went up on the same ship that exploded that evening. So, on the day of the explosion he was working in the Dockyard on the Capitan Morgan boat, where they were installing a bow thruster. 

(19:30) He remembers the El Petal owner gave a donation to all the Manoel Island workers to improve the site surgery, including buying stretchers, etc. 

(21:15) Vella was once on Slip No.7 on the ‘Rimas 3’ and they were assigned to cover the ceiling with some designs. The owner was very satisfied with the work they did. Once he was on holiday in France and saw the yacht berthed there. The captain asked him to go onboard and was full of praise for the work that they carried out. 

(24:15) He mentions that Manoel Island was taken over by a group of 5 Maltese companies. Vella was part of the works committee and was set up to discuss the work related to the Manoel Island only. 

Looking back-Reflections

(25:00) When the dockyard closed down, the Manoel Island workers stayed an extra two months to complete the pending work. When Manoel Island was transferred to new owners, Vella was not chosen to work there. At that time, he was disappointed but by time he realised that it was better for him. 

(29:45) Vella worked with several owners and Captian’s and that was a great experience for him. When he worked and notice other damages somewhere else, Vella used to make the owner aware about it.