Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Duminku Borg

Education-Apprenticeship process 

(00:30) He entered the dockyard in 1971 with another 59 apprentices.  The dockyard offered them various opportunities through the apprenticeship scheme. They had an allowance and together with the practical training, the yard offered them other various incentives to encourage them to keep studying. He recalls the first day he entered the dockyard in September, there was written on a blackboard: “Necessity is the mother of invention” which impressed him.

The apprenticeship had a duration of five years, however there were opportunities to reduce the apprenticeship by 6 or 12 months, if one obtained the Technician’s intermediate and final certificate in one’s trade, which in his case was in Electrical Studies. 

(03:00) In that year there were about 800 applicants who sat for the dockyard examination, out of whom 80 were chosen. This meant that competition was high. 

(03:15) When he entered the dockyard, the workers were just coming out of a 9-month strike, and were keen on the changes that were happening. On the other hand, for the new apprentices, everything was new. 

(04:00) He recalls that, as new apprentices, during their first induction courses, they were assembled in the senior staff canteen where everything looked new and clean, food and pastries. Then when later on during the apprenticeship, they went into the workers’ canteen, it was just a metal sheet hut and they had to run to get a seat otherwise they would not have a place to eat. That was when they started to feel the sense of discipline where they had to show respect to their seniors, who wore white overalls.

(05:30) At eighteen years of age, he was already fixing faults on cranes and machinery on board with other fitters. That was where he realized how different the dockyard environment was from that, that he was used to in his village.

Education-Interesting training and skills 

(06:45) Mercury arch vapor rectifier-a five-foot glass bulb filled with mercury that he used to use at his place of work, and it is his wish to see it working again. He deems it as part of the electrical trade history.

Safety-Accidents 

(08:30) He went through some losses while working there, friends/colleagues, who came to work with him yet did not make it for the end of the shift, which was hard on him, and even harder when he could not speak about them with anyone outside the yard, as they could not understand. Even the people who worked in the offices were not able to experience the same sorrow and bond they had on the field.

(10:00) They had no technology, compared to the technology we have now-a-days. At that time, most of the testing was done manually. For example, when setting the cranes, their way of communicating with the crane driver was through a whistle, up to the time when radio communication was introduced. 

(11:45) He also mentions an incident of misunderstanding when they started using radios, when there was some confusion between exchanges. These incidents made them doubt on the new technology.

(12:45) The weather did not affect their work, sun or rain they still had to work, especially the difficulty in walking on deck in the sun with normal shoes, as they had no safety shoes. He remembers once in August, when he had an apprentice with him and soon as they completed their work and going out of the ship, they were advised to stay a bit inside to cool down. This was because of the difference in temperature, which was so much hotter inside the ship than the outside August temperature.

(15:30) He remembers at that time he entered yard in the 70s, there was a lot of work and a lot of ships at the same time. Nowadays when he looks at the yard from the upper Barrakka and it is practically always empty.

Education-Projects 

(18:30) They had an underground system where they had the diesel generators. This had a control room that supplied electricity to various parts of Malta. The yard had systems particularly designed for the yard requirements. Rain always created problems in the electrical system and his department was very busy repairing faults.  

(20:15) He appreciates the work that the workers before their time, was very laborious and required a lot of effort. On the other hand, during his time, the work that they did was quite different due to the advances in technology.

He mentions the work on aluminium structures, which was introduced through the structural work required on the Vistafjord; another example he mentioned was the work on bronze propellers that is done at the shipyard. This type of work was never carried out in the yard in the 70s. The above shows the specialised work that the Drydocks used to do.

Looking back-Skills gained 

(25:00) The exposure to a lot of international clients with different cultures, gave the workers of the shipyard more knowledge and experience. The technical knowledge was the communication.

Family and Social Life-Friendships between workers