At the turn of the 20th century, poverty was rife among most of Mellieħa’s peasants and fishermen. They made a precarious living tilling the hard, rocky soil or hauling their nets and then quickly getting rid of their catch for any price before it went bad. Even the garigue around the village was stripped bare; every single thistle or shrub ended up in the ovens or stone hearths.

Therefore, it was considered a godsend if a local, on the way to his fields early in the morning, spotted some wooden plank, barrel or battered box on the seashore. But there was a catch! Every single man-made object washed up by the waves had to be reported to the police, who then confiscated the item and kept it in storage hoping that its owner would appear to reclaim it.

The police reports of these finds make fascinating reading.

On June 5, 1885, Giovanni Borg was walking along the Mellieħa Bay coast when he came upon a broken barrel which still contained 10 rotoli (7.9kg) of spices. In December of that year, Salvatore Debono collected an empty wooden box from Marfa.

On January 15, 1886, Police Constable Carmelo Bezzina found three planks, 10 palme 2.6 metres in length, ashore at Ċirkewwa Bay, while Constable Salvatore Debono picked up a similar board from ir-Ramla tal-Bir. These were kept in storage inside the Red Tower, while a wooden tea box found by another policeman while doing his rounds at ir-Ramla tat-Torri l-Abjad was taken directly to the Mellieħa police station.

Storage space sometimes became a problem, especially when there was some tragedy at sea and the bays around Mellieħa were swamped with wooden masts, planks, ropes, oars and a million other things.

For example, in March 1889, parts of what was described as a frigate washed up along the northern coast. The policeman stationed at the White Tower had his hands full dragging ashore 22 large barrels, 13 planks and hundreds of wooden bits and pieces. The Marfa constable was also kept busy collecting 10 barrels, two windows and a hatch cover. Most of these objects were placed inside the White Tower, Marfa Palace and the fishermen’s room at Mellieħa Bay.

But some wooden masts were left on the beach under police surveillance, since they were too heavy to carry. And when Clemente Debono reported that there were other relics on the rocks at Irdum id-Delli, the Mellieħa police clambered down the cliff face and brought up a life-ring and a barrel, leaving behind a cinquantin (a large wooden block) which was impossible to lug along the treacherous steep path leading to the top of the cliff.

Sometimes, the flotsam was claimed by its owner. On June 10, 1886, tuna fishermen who were off Irdum ix-Xquq spotted a drifting oval iron buoy, some three metres wide, to which was attached a 55-metre chain. Impressed on it was the mark ‘S.G.W.I.↑.’ The fishermen towed it to x-Xquq inlet, from where the admiralty retrieved it a few days later.

On December 27, 1887, Police Constable Bonaventura Grima discovered a brand-new 30 palme (nine metres) long wooden beam, together with other odds and pieces, on the sandy beach at Ċirkewwa. Later that day, a civilian, Felice Sciberras, also picked up a newly hewn plank from the same spot.

The next morning, the police were informed by contractor Salvatore Mizzi that the sea had washed away a ‘port’ which he was building at Irdum il-Qawwi and that the wood belonged to him. This ‘port’ was probably a wooden quay from where rock quarried from beneath the cliff face was loaded onto barges, to be transported to some yet unknown building site. In fact, the author, together with Dr Simon Mifsud, recently discovered the remains of an old quarry near the seashore close to Ċirkewwa Bay, which is most probably the site of the ‘port’ mentioned by Mizzi.

The Royal Navy also lost many things at sea. On October 23, 1912, the destroyer Kennet, with Captain Ballad in charge, fired some training torpedoes off St Paul’s Bay. Two of them, which the crew had nicknamed ‘Albatross’ and ‘Stag’, disappeared and a report was made to the police.

A month later, a party of fishermen spotted a floating torpedo off Ċirkewwa Bay, while on January 24, 1913, another one was found at Irdum id-Delli. It was not reported if these were the missing ‘Stag’ and ‘Albatross’.

The police took note of anything inscribed or printed on objects found at sea, presumably to help them in tracing the owners. When in December 1887 and January 1888, several barrels of edible oil floated ashore along Mellieħa’s coastline, it was noted that all the casks were imprinted with the phrase ‘Oil Giumer Yellow, Dlorcano laí’.

And, of course, some of the finds had to be messages in corked bottles. On January 17, 1894, Clemente Debono from Mosta was walking along Għajn Tuffieħa beach when he noticed a floating bottle. Inside, he found a piece of paper which contained this message: ‘‘S.S. Balmur of Dundee, Scotland. 7th September 1893. This bottle was thrown overboard off Tarifa in the straits of Gibraltar. The finder is requested to kindly communicate by post with John Mac Swan, Barnhill, Broty Ferry, Scotland.”

A similar find was made by Water Policeman 100 G. Fenech, who recovered a bottle from the mouth of Marfa Bay. Inside, he found some pieces of lead and a message in French. Unfortunately, the police did not copy the note’s contents.

As mentioned earlier, all objects found at sea were stored inside police stations, coastal towers and sometimes even in private ‘remissi’ or garages. When these became crammed with paraphernalia, the police got rid of some of the stuff.

Therefore, in December 1888, Constable Carmelo Bezzina was given a door which he had found four years earlier, while Constable Giuseppe Bonanno went home with a wooden box which he had picked up from Għajn Ħadid Bay. Even Dun Franġisk Maria Magri, the parish priest of Mellieħa, got lucky. In April 1889, the police gave him two large planks, a wooden beam, nine timbers and a door.

The sea reclaimed some of its flotsam. In March 1889, a ship’s mast which had been on the beach of Għajn Tuffieħa for a long time was carried away by the waves. That same month, another mast which had been under police supervision for two years at Ir-Ramla tal-Bir was chopped to pieces by some soldiers, who then used the wood to cook a meal.

That same year, another wooden pole vanished from it-Torri l-Abjad, with the police unable to determine if it was stolen or had been carried out to sea by the breakers.

Sometimes, Poseidon varied his gifts. On December 12, 1885, Filippo Grech was fishing in his boat off Comino when he heard some splashing and spotted what he thought was some large, wounded fish floundering on the surface. He rowed towards the struggling creature and to his amazement found a swimming goat. He pulled it onboard, informed the police of his find, which he estimated to be worth five shillings, and told them that he was going to keep it until its owner turned up.

A dead dolphin that was found stranded at Xemxija Bay in September 1888 gave the police a lot of trouble. They hacked it to pieces and then hailed two fishermen, whom they ordered to take it offshore and dump it there.

A month later, Constable Giovanni Mifsud had to dig a deep trench to bury a sheep he found on the sand at ir-Ramla tal-Bir. In January 1914, a bull that was found at Ċirkewwa Bay was burnt on the spot, saving the policemen a lot of work.

The quick disposal of dead animals was carried out for two main reasons. The decomposing carcasses were a health hazard but there was always a chance that the flesh of dead animals, especially fish which looked fresh, would end up being salted and consumed.

The most interesting find during this period was made in September 1920. Some fishermen spotted a strange contraption, some 14 metres beneath the surface of the sea off Mellieħa Bay. According to newspaper reports, it was a German wireless apparatus, used for transmitting information about Allied ships to German submarines during World War I. The device was dismantled and taken by the dockyard authorities so its secrets could be unravelled.

 

Acknowledgements

The author thanks David Vella, Ruben Vella, Dr Simon Mifsud and the staff of the National Archives, without whose assistance this article would not have been possible.