Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Alex Debono

(00:30) Alex Debono joined the Dockyard on 4th September 1978. He started as a shipwright apprenticeship. 

(01:15) During the apprenticeship period he remembers going to the training centre and even remembers Sur Meli, Sur De Gray, De Giovanni, etc. In 1978 the apprenticeship period was reduced to three years. Debono states that at the training centre they learned various trades, and he was allocated to the plate shop. In 1980/1981 they were assigned to their trades and Debono was sent or work with the new building section. His chargeman was Duminku Borg, and he remembers Mr Mallan and Mr Buhagiar as managers. He describes his experience at the new building section as amazing. At No.1 dock there were two tankers from China under construction. Then they worked on barges.

Education-Projects 

(03:45) 1984, one of the first projects he worked on were the two Chinese supply ships in No.7 dock (the Boathouse Basin). At the same time, he recalls that he went to work on the Marsa power station. He enjoyed his time working with the new building section.

In 1987 they were working on the Gozo Channel project and at the same time the new building work at the drydocks was reduced, as this was being done at the Malta Shipbuilding at Marsa. So, his gang with chargeman Felic Camilleri, were transferred to the drydocks afloat section, where the environment was different from new building as the work was more dangerous. In 1990, the ship, Robert E. Lee, entered the Drydocks for repair. At that time, he was acting as ‘primalista’. When the Robert E Lee entered the yard, there were a lot of ships in the yard, and he was sent onboard to inspect the work, and when he arrived there was a crew member who wanted to get rid of some food such as watermelons, cakes, etc., so Alex got his guy and other workers and they took it all.  

(08:30) On the Robert E. Lee, Debono acted as ‘primalista’, but Mr John Damato encouraged him to become a liner, and when this project was completed, he applied for the post and became a liner. The ship Robert E. Lee had a grounding damage and required extensive work. Another major work he remembers, when he was a liner, was on the Ya Mawlaya. This ship had extensive damage on the fore-peak. 

Entering the dockyard-Trades (From approval to the departure of a vessel) 

(10:00) As a liner, his work starts and ends on a ship. They start from the defect list that they receive from the accountants (he means Planners), and go through the jobs (and relative job numbers) that will be carried out on the ship, related to their trade (Shipwrights). Based on the job list the liner checks and orders the steel material required. Then he co-ordinates with the ship crew and the classification surveyors during the work progress, marking all steel that will be renewed and compiling final detailed reports of all the steel work carried out. The reports formed part of the final documentation that is presented to the ship superintendent, during the discussion and finalisation of the invoice.   

One particular job that the liner had was to open the drain plugs located at the ship bottom of the tanks. They had a special procedure to remove and finally make sure that all the drain plugs are refitted to their original location.  

Alex Debono states that he spent about 18 years working as a liner. His trade covered a lot of items related to the repairs of the hull of the ship. Their work was in fact acting as the right hand of the shipwright’s foreman. 

(12:30) The ship Ya Mawlaya spent 6 months at the drydocks, it was a very big job including welding work. His job as a liner was to make sure that each and every piece of steel material was available, and all the necessary to fabricate and fit in place.

They also co-ordinated with other trades such as welders, painters, and fitters, to make sure that the steelwork is completed in full. Debono mentions that they also were responsible to mark the draft marks on the ship.  These are sometimes just painted on, and sometimes they are cut out from a steel plate and welded on to the hull. They were also involved with the classification surveyors when the work was a class requirement. 

(16:15) Debono explains that the ship Um El Faroud was in No.3 Dock and he was working on another Libyan ship in No.6 Dock and he remembers that after the tragedy happened, on Saturday, he was going to work and he met with Fredu Vella at Marsa who gave him the news about the nine workers that died.

Safety-Um El Faroud 

(19:00) Alex remembers how when he started working at the Drydocks, safety was practically non-existent. In fact, he mentions, that although some protective clothing was available, most of the workers did not use it, and went about shirtless, with no helmets, light shoes, etc.

After the explosion of Um El Faroud, safety measures were imposed and was taken more seriously.

(20:15) Debono had quite a number of small accidents at the drydocks, including once he injured his head after bumping with a stopper. Another time he fell because two timber planks (falakki) were not placed correctly. 

Life after the Dockyard-Finding a new job 

(21:15) He finished working at the Drydocks in August 2008. The following year he worked a similar job of a shipwright, but then began working with a construction site at Fort Cambridge in Sliema. When doing certain tasks, it was easier for Debono as he was used to doing certain jobs at the Dockyard. In fact, he mentions ships like the Lampas and Lepeta that were two very difficult repair projects that involved a lot of handling of steel plates.