Show Notes
Continuing our mini series on the fascinating maritime history of Malta, we jump several centuries forward to the Second World War, in which Malta, an isolated rock in the middle of the Mediterranean, suddenly found itself at the very heart of the war. To the north the Italians were flexing their naval muscles; to the south the Germans had invaded North Africa; to the east and west ran a crucial maritime artery of global trade and military movement between Gibraltar and Suez. To find out more about Malta's strategic importance during World War II Dr Sam Willis visits the National War Museum in Fort St Elmo and speaks with Keith Gatt, curator of Malta's WWII history at Heritage Malta. They discuss how Malta's central Mediterranean location made it crucial for controlling sea lanes and interfering with Axis convoys. The island faced severe air and naval attacks, with over 6,000 tons of bombs dropped in April 1942 alone. Key events include the Taranto raid in 1940, the 10th submarine flotilla's operations, and the pivotal Operation Pedestal in August 1942. The discussion also highlights the human cost, with around 1,500 civilian casualties. Sam goes on to explore numerous artefacts recovered from the war with Curtis Callus, the museum's Assistant Curator. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Mariner's Mirror Podcast
On 21 October 1805, HMS Victory led the British fleet into one of the most famous battles in naval history. But what was Trafalgar really like for the ordinary sailors who fought it? Six weeks after the battle, David Johns, a Welsh sailor from Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire, sat aboard Victory at Spithead and wrote a remarkable letter to his parents. He described the terrifying intensity of the fighting, the enemy ships surrounding Victory, and the death of Admiral Nelson. His words offer a rare and deeply personal account of Trafalgar, written before the battle had passed into legend.
When we think of historic ships, we tend to picture warships, explorers and celebrated voyages. SS Explorer is a different kind of maritime hero: a ship built not to conquer the sea, but to understand it. In this episode, recorded on board the Explorer in Leith, Scotland, we explore how this pioneering 1950s fisheries research vessel became a floating laboratory, measuring fish, plankton, currents, temperature and salinity to answer an increasingly urgent question: could the sea continue providing indefinitely? The painstaking science conducted aboard Explorer helped transform our understanding of the oceans from an inexhaustible larder into a living ecosystem—and laid foundations for modern fisheries management and marine conservation. Now undergoing restoration she is a rare survivor from a transformative period in Britain’s scientific and maritime history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 1677 Charles II embarked on one of the most ambitious shipbuilding programmes England had ever attempted: thirty great new warships, built to challenge the naval power of France and the Dutch Republic. Two years later, a young shipwright and draughtsman named Edmund Dummer began travelling between the dockyards, measuring their hulls and recording their shapes. His aim was extraordinary — to capture on paper knowledge that had traditionally lived in the hands, eyes and memories of shipwrights. But political crisis intervened, Dummer’s work was left unfinished, and much of it was subsequently lost. In this episode of the Mariner’s Mirror Podcast, Sam Willis talks to historian and shipbuilding expert Richard Endsor, who has spent more than twenty-five years piecing that lost fleet back together. Using Dummer’s surviving measurements alongside ship models, Van de Velde drawings, official records and wreck archaeology, Richard has reconstructed the architecture of Charles II’s vanished warships in his magnificent new book The Lost Ships of Charles II's Navy. Their conversation explores how seventeenth-century ships were actually designed, how far Charles II involved himself in naval affairs, and whether putting the shipwright’s craft onto paper helped transform not just shipbuilding, but the ability of the state to understand and control its navy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is episode 5 of our Heritage Harbours short series, celebrating the Heritage Harbour initiative which seeks to protect and revive historic ports, docks, canals and waterfronts that still retain a genuine working maritime character.
This is episode 4 of our Heritage Harbours short series, celebrating the Heritage Harbour initiative which seeks to protect and revive historic ports, docks, canals and waterfronts that still retain a genuine working maritime character.