"...The Heat Has Been Gradually Increasing Day By Day As We Have Come Along..."

A 19th century photograph taken outside Victoria Gate, Valletta. Victoria Gate can be seen from the Grand Harbor. The foundation for the Gate was laid  27 May, 1884, several months before Charles King sailed by the island of Malta.  From Times Malta January 9, 2022. Article entitled Valletta Street Hygiene in Early British Malta by Giovanni Bonello. 

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 "...I think Malta is a lovely place the town of Valletta rises in streets or terraces running parallel to the harbour & are broken here and there with a large church or other large buildings.  The Government House is a very bold feature from the harbour. Here are (laying?) craft of the merchant services of many nations...Here are also a (training?) ship of the....

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British Navy...Here are Men of War ships & occasionally one or more from a friendly nation...There is the dock yard with its busy steam hammer & machinery. We are now surrounded by a host of (?) boats hawking various wares of almost every transportable sort & kind...grapes & other fruits of vary kinds & qualtitys (sic) are offered...tobacco and cigars are offered and very cheap they are at Malta & altogether in about an hour after our arrival our ship presents a lively appearance swarming with Maltese...a few staff officers of the garrison bring off the dispatches & exchange greetings & as the ship is going to coal Tommy Atkins mustn't go, so he is left to enjoy himself aboard & you may guess they are not slow to do this. It is a remarkable sight to see these Maltese diving.  Just throw out a threepenny piece over the side of the vessel & it isn't many seconds before...

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  ...(?) has got it and brings it to the surface...Visitors to Malta on their homeward journey generally avail themselves of the opportunity of purchasing something at Malta as a memento of their visit but we were going the wrong way for that (the following was crossed out ----but not withstanding this we were swarmed with Maltese offering almost every conceivable ware for sale as well as fruits food & other commoditys (sic) useful and ornamental---)  I always remember with pleasure my visit to Malta & whilst I am on the subject I may mention that Malta is the place where St Paul landed after being shipwrecked on his voyage to Rome, but you will notice (?) reading the account as given in the Acts of the Apostles  the island is given as Melita...I do not know if I may be right in my assumption, but I have a strong suspicion that the chief town of Malta, has had the original name of the island corrupted & applied to it for the similarity is at the least striking, Valetta, Melita.  We are now ready to resume our journey having...

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 ...coaled our ship & taken in what necessary provisions we need...we are about right for the remainder of the journey by sea. We have spent the major part of the day at Malta and as we are steaming out we get the full benefit of the bay (?) sun the heat has been gradually increasing day by day as we have come along, but we have not felt it so strongly as we have not been ashore since we have left England but still we are being prepared for our landing at Alexandria.  We notice several forts on the island in passing out & after getting well clear of the harbour we put on full speed & on the third day after leaving Malta we begin to think about reaching Alexandria.  We notice a look of anxiety of the countenance of the Captain & Officers & the whisper goes round that we are out of our course which however proves to be utterly incorrect for within an hour after the low lying coastline becomes faintly visible, & for two or three hours after all eyes are fixed on the object before us & every now and again fresh visions break..."

 And here the writings of Charles King transition to his experiences on the Nile  while stationed at Korosko  and Akasha, also written on the back of the Bazaar flyers. I almost feel like we are missing a page or two as his writing seems to fade off in mid sentence, and then picks up with a near drowning incident on the Nile. Fortunately, we have Part II which does pick up once the Rewa docked in Alexandria. 

  He wrote Part II in a small notebook, and in pencil, and then recopied this portion to a larger notebook and used pen.  Much easier to read and transcribe, thank goodness!...... In the interest of keeping to his timeline, I will start with Part II in the next post in which he describes his experiences in Alexandria and Cairo.   I will piece together his Nile experiences as best I can into Part II so that they make sense within the expedition narrative.  For some reason he excludes these Nile experiences from Part II altogether.  Perhaps near drowning, boils, frogs, flies, wolves and hyenas were just too much for his audience at the time! 

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 Just a few notes on Valletta and Maltese history......

A modern view of Valletta from Marsamxett Harbor. You can see the large dome of the Basilica of Our Lady Mount Carmel. Originally built in the 1570's, it was bombarded in WW2 and subsequently demolished. The current basilica was built in 1958.  The steeple of St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral stands to the right of the basilica.  Built in 1577 it survived the bombing in WW2. 

By Mandyy88 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113500980

HM Dockyard, Malta, 1865.  Iron sheers were used as a lifting device. 

 The Knights of Malta established dockyard facilities pre 1800's.  When Malta became a British protectorate in 1800 these facilities were consolidated by the British Royal Navy. A steam factory with machine shops and foundries was added in the second half of the 1800's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_Dockyard

 A Gozo boat in the Malta Harbor WW1. Gozo boats carried passengers and cargo between islands.  Trips from Gozo to Malta generally carried agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, as well as poultry and eggs. On return trips they generally carried manufactured goods such as cement, soft drinks or beer. These may be the type of boats Charles referred to that greeted the Rewa when it entered the harbor. 

By Frank Henry Algernon Mason - http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//178/media-178226/large.jpgThis is photograph Art.IWM ART 3120 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31607279 

 

  Christianity has almost 2000 years of history on Malta. Tradition says that the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked on the island while on his way to Rome to be tried as a political rebel.  He and over 200 passengers swam to safety where they were warmly welcomed by the islanders.  He learned the name of the island was Malta.  While there he was bitten by a snake, but suffered no ill effects. The islanders took this to mean he was a special man. Paul lived in a cave and eventually converted Publius, Rome's leader on Malta, to Christianity. Publius became the first Bishop of Malta. https://www.visitmalta.com/en/a/st-paul-in-malta/

  The name Malta may be derived from the Greek word Meli "honey".  The Greeks called the island Melite meaning "honey-sweet".  Valletta was named after its founder, the respected Grand Master of the Order of St. John, Jean Parisot de la Vallette.  So, Charles didn't have the name origins quite right.  But, any way you look at it, Valletta is a magnificent fortress city built by the Knights of St. John and is a masterpiece of Baroque art and architecture.  It was named a World Heritage City and is one of the most concentrated historic areas of the world. https://www.visitmalta.com/en/a/info/valletta/

   Charles King sailed past Malta at a time when Victorian expatriates, writers and artists made the island their home and British citizens came to visit because of the climate. Malta's importance as a Naval base also brought troops, officers and their families. Even Queen Victoria's aunt, the dowager Queen Adelaide, came out in the winter of 1838 and funded the Anglican church St. Paul's Anglican Co-Cathedral.  The Queen's second son Alfred became Commander of the Mediterranean fleet and had a long connection with Malta. His third child, Victoria Melita, was born there in 1877; she was named after her grandmother and after the island of Malta.  https://victorianweb.org/history/empire/malta/2.html

 The journey from Malta to Alexandria by air would be almost 6 hours.  By ship it was 3-4 days.....Google maps

"This immense Fortified Rock".....The Journey From Gibralter to Malta

Keystone View Company, P. The Rock of Gibraltar, an important strong-hold of the British Empire. Gibraltar, None. [Between 1860 and 1910] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2020680548/.

The 100 Ton Gun  (also known as the Armstrong 100 ton gun). Two guns were installed in the British Overseas Territory of Gibralter, one at Victoria Battery and one at Napier of Magdala Battery in Rosia Bay.  The guns arrived in 1882 and 1883, and the first firings took place in 1884.  This is one of the four guns produced by William Armstrong's manufacturing company for Gibralter and the island of Malta; only two are left.  You can view them today on Gibralter and at Fort Rinella on Malta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-ton_gun

  

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"...We were now privileged to steame (sic) up the straites (sic) with land clearly visible on either side until the Rock itself is sighted, here we naturally expected to be greeted with some friendly faces from this immense fortified Rock. The first familiar face that was distinguished on the Rock itself was that of Armstrongs 100 ton guns just looking at us with his mouth wide open & with such a solemn gaze as though saying I would like to but I dare not. I am told that this gun if fixed in such a position to command the whole of the straites (sic) both from the Mediteranean (sic) entrance and the Atlantic approach, & that it is quite an easy task for it to throw a projectile across to Africa, a distance of 10 miles. (according to the website Welcome to Gibralter gibralter.com it was said that the gun's range was 8 miles but conservative estimates put it at around 5 miles).  We did not put in at Gibralter so were disappointed in meeting some of our old friends who we knew on the rock...but still in passing we had a fairly good view although to get a good view of the rock...

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...it is necessary to enter the Harbour. It was after passing Gibralter & getting well out into the Mediteranean (sic) that we felt the roughest weather & for a couple of days our ship tossed about just enough to make a seafaring life uncomfortable & I was now blessed with my first dose of sea-sickness. Before leaving England I was careful to buy a fairly good supply of Lamplough's Pyretic Saline for use on the voyage together with a couple of bottles of Doctor Collis Browne's chroladine (sp. chlorodyne) for use in case of dysentery or other disorders consequent upon the change of climate, & here I found it necessary to open my Lamplough's and take which I did regularly for a few days & used it occasionally after as I required it. It was not however an unpleasant run up the Mediteranian (sic) although for several days we had no land on either hand save a solitary island which I was told was inhabited by French prisoners. After leaving Gibralter about 6 days on the early dawn of the 11th morning from England the welcome sight of the Island of Malta broke upon the gaze of the...

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 ...watchers although the general company was not astir by this time but as soon as the word was passed down the gangway the whole were soon on deck watching with all eagerness to scan to the utmost the coastline of Malta & about 1 hour after she hove in sight, (between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning) we entered Valetta (sp. Valletta) harbour & were at once greeted by the hurrahs & shouts of many hundreds of troops & residents who had watched our approach. This was truly a delightful, a beautiful morning & a lovely sun rising over a delightful island...is a sight not always witnessed, even by those who are accustomed to travelling by land & sea."   Page 19 will continue in the next post.... 

 From The Railway Review issue no. 26 1881.  Pyretic Saline was an effervescent mix of citric acid with potassium and sodium bicarbonates that was marketed world wide as a remedy in case of cholera, small pox, tropical fevers, sea sickness and headaches. It was one of  the 'cure-all' patent medicines of the day, especially for travelers. 

Chlorodyne was one of the best known patent medicines sold in the British Isles.  It was invented in the 19th century by Dr. John Collis Browne, a doctor in the British Indian Army. Its principal ingredients were a combination of  laudanum (an alcoholic solution of opium), cannabis and chloroform...just the ticket for relieving pain or as a sedative anywhere in the Victorian Empire! Wikipedia: Chlorodyne

The route taken from Gibralter to the Island of Malta by the Rewa.  It was about 6 days of sailing. You can see the boot of Italy and the island of Sicily in the top right corner.   Google Maps.