Mellieħa Bay is one of the most popular beaches in the Maltese archipelago. Its natural beauty and shimmering sea make it very attractive to tourists and locals alike. Furthermore, the surrounding hotels, various restaurants and shops make this area very welcoming.

However, in the past this beach posed a great threat to the Maltese islands as it attracted different types of visitors: corsairs, pirates and Ottoman troops. For this reason, the northern shores of the Maltese isles were referred to as la parte deserta (the deserted part) as this area was sparsely populated.

A plan of Westreme Battery, dated March 9, 1748.

Eventually, a series of coastal fortifications were erected to defend Mellieħa Bay. These included the Torre Rossa, Batteria a Sinistra della Melleha, Batteria a Dritta della Melleha, Ridotto della Melleha and Ta’ Qassisu entrenchments.

Hospitaller Batterie or coastal batteries and redoubts were among the first examples of French military architecture in Malta. The coastal batteries built in Malta were based on patterns evolved in France towards the end of the 17th century, with the Maltese examples being much smaller in size.

Fort Lupin dated 1693. The similarity between these two layouts is indisputable. Photos: Courtesy of the National Library of Malta and Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Hospitaller coastal batteries consisted of three elements: a semicircular or polygonal gun platform; one or two blockhouses; and an enclosing loopholed wall with a redan. The redan in coastal batteries consisted of a V-shaped wall that protected the landward approach to the fortification.

This article takes a look at a unique hospitaller coastal battery protecting il golfo della Melleha.

Batteria a Dritta Della Melleha, also known as Westreme Battery, was constructed along the right-hand side of Mellieħa Bay. It was erected to protect the easily accessible Mellieħa Bay in conjunction with Batteria a Sinistra Della Melleha. These two batteries were sited opposite each other in such a way so that the crossfire from their guns would ensure that no enemy ship reached shore without being sunk or severely damaged, hence limiting landing or disembarkation of troops.

Westreme Battery was built between 1715 and 1716 during the reign of Grand Master Ramón Perellos y Roccaful. Most probably, the building of this battery was financed by a knight bearing the name Westreme.

Like most other hospitaller coastal batteries, Westeme Battery borrowed heavily from French coastal batteries, particularly Fort Lupin at Saint-Nazaire-sur-Charente, Charente-Maritime, France. Westreme battery consisted of a semicircular gun platform, a large blockhouse and two sets of enclosing walls protecting the landward approach to the battery.

The layout of Westreme Battery is quite interesting. It consisted of a diagonally-mounted blockhouse across the gorge of the gun platform so that two of its outer walls would form the redan. Two adjoining enclosing walls sealed off the rear of this fortification.

Nowadays, this blockhouse serves as the Tunnara Museum

This layout is unique to Westreme Battery and St Mary’s Battery in the Maltese isles and both greatly resemble Fort Lupin. Fort Lupin’s tour-reduit was also positioned diagonally along the land front, but in addition to the two enclosing walls, it was also equipped with two large barracks on either side of the tour-reduit. These layouts may be seen in the accompanying in plans.

Unfortunately, nowadays, the only surviving parts of Westreme Battery are its impressive blockhouse, the remains of the semicircular gun platform and its rock-hewn ditch.

The surviving blockhouse bears a number of distinctive features. It consists of two adjoining and interlinked barrel vaults. A barrel vault is an architectural element that is created by building a series of arches adjacent to each other, along a given distance. Barrel vaults can support massive loads, and during the period of its construction these barrel vaults rendered such a blockhouse à prova di bomba (bombproof). These barrel vaults or volte are not commonly found in hospitaller coastal batteries as most had their blockhouses roofed by a series of stone slabs (xorok) supported on rib arches or archi.

The walls of the blockhouse were around two metres thick in some places, and as with other hospitaller coastal fortifications, these were made up of an inner and outer masonry shell with soil and rubble infill in between. In order to strengthen the wall and solidify the structure, transversely placed bonding stones were also used.

One of the barrel vaulted rooms is further subdivided by a dividing wall to form a smaller room, probably used for the storage of gunpowder. In fact, this part of the blockhouse lacks any musketry loopholes. However, the plans of the Order show that this room was meant to be equipped with loopholes. This means that they were either never built during construction or they were blocked up in order to render this room as secure as possible.

Another peculiar feature is the fact that the blockhouse is pierced with feritori or musketry loopholes in all four walls. These allowed the soldiers inside the blockhouse to defend not only the landward approach but also the seaward approach of the battery by musket fire.

Underneath part of the blockhouse there is a cisterna, or a water reservoir that used to collect rainwater from the roof of the blockhouse.

The battery also had a semicircular gun platform hewn out from the ground. A parapet with embrasures covered the eastern face of this gun platform directing the artillery towards the entrance of Mellieħa Bay, while a low parapet covered the rest of the gun platform, allowing guns to be mounted enbarbette. This is in concordance with its function so that its cannons would fire at any enemy ships sailing in Mellieħa Bay. Unfortunately, during British rule, this parapet was destroyed to make way for a machine gun emplacement and search light housing. However, some large boulders that used to form part of the parapet can still be seen today.

A photograph of Westreme Battery’s redan and one of its enclosing walls on the brink of collapse. Photo: Courtesy of Joe Attard

The enclosing walls of Westreme Battery did not survive the ravages of time and nothing is left of these structures nowadays. Up to a few years ago, some of the foundation stones of this wall were still present, but with further recent human intervention, they have disappeared. Luckily, one of these enclosing walls – on the brink of collapse – was recorded in an old photograph, above.

The picture below, shows a graphic simulation of Westreme Battery with a cut-away showing the interior layout, reproduced courtesy of Dr Stephen C. Spiteri, taken from his new 640-page book on the building of Hospitaller Coastal Batteries and Redoubts currently being prepared for publication.

A graphic simulation of Westreme Battery with cut-away showing the interior layout. Photo: Courtesy of Dr Stephen C. Spiteri

This battery served various roles throughout the years. In 1748, Westreme Battery’s blockhouse was converted into a tuna store house, since it conveniently lay very close to the route of the migrating tuna. Its sister battery, Batteria a Sinistra della Melleha was also converted into an officina della Tonnara (office for the Tunnara enterprise).

The blockhouse acquired a defensive role once again during World War II, when under British rule, four large machine gun portholes were cut into two corners of this building. Furthermore, underneath the gun platform, a beach post was constructed and the area was equipped with a search light emplacement and surrounded by barbed wire entanglements so as to provide a further line of defence to any invading enemy force.

Nowadays, this blockhouse serves as the Tunnara Museum. The displays include various nets, anchors as well as models that illustrate how our forefathers managed to trap the blue fin tuna in Mellieħa Bay. 

Unfortunately, over the years, wide fissures developed in the walls of Westreme Battery’s blockhouse, which threatened to bring down this priceless fortification. In 2016, this situation became particularly worrying, and as an emergency measure, large concrete blocks had to be placed against its walls in order to stop them from collapsing. This blockhouse is currently being restored through funds acquired from the European Regional Development Fund and the Mellieħa local council.

The author takes this opportunity to congratulate all those involved in the restoration and upkeep of this important historical asset.