Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna is organising a Victorian garrison day at Fort Rinella today between 10am and 4.30pm, and members of the public are being offered the opportunity to view the more recent renovations in this long-term restoration project.
Volunteer members from FWA dressed as late 19th century Victorian soldiers will take visitors on guided tours around the historic fort throughout the day. There will also be two main animated tours, which will recreate various aspects of the daily life of the Victorian garrison as it would have been in the late 19th century when the fort was in use.
During these tours a seven-ton muzzle loading gun will be fired using the drill of the time and soldiers will show how an attack on the fort would have been repelled making use of the built in defensive features of the fort. Military signalling exercises using period equipment will be carried out.
A novel aspect of this garrison day will be horse-mounted troops who will put on a display of military horsemanship. An infantry section attack will also be recreated by part of the garrison of the fort in recently acquired grounds that originally formed the glacis of the fort. A military field kitchen serving army food, tea and biscuits will also be open on the grounds of the fort. The British built Fort Rinella in 1878 to hold a single monster 100-ton gun. This gun was originally built by Sir William George Armstrong at his plant in Newcastle to combat the threat of the Italian navy. This was the time when Italy was reforming its naval service with newly designed powerful battleships armed with the world’s largest guns.
This led Britain to obtain the same type of armament to upgrade the coastal defences of Malta and Gibraltar. In all, four 100-ton gun batteries were built at the two naval stations intended to counteract the potential Italian threat posed by the presence of these guns on Italian battleships. After 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, Britain started using the Mediterranean as a quick route to India. As a result, Malta and Gibraltar became much-prized possessions on this strategic route. The 100-ton gun was far too big to be worked by hand, so Sir William designed a steam driven hydraulic mechanism for its operation and the gun could be turned, loaded and fired in just six minutes!
This gun fired a one-ton shell up to a distance of eight miles and was capable of piercing 21 inches of wrought iron armour. The cost of each round equalled the daily salary of 2,700 soldiers – a whole brigade of infantry! Apart from going down in history as the world’s largest muzzle loading cannon, the Armstrong gun also has the distinction of being the first mechanised ordnance in history.
FWA has been restoring this fort since 1991. It is open to the public every day between 10am and 4pm. Historical re-enactments are held here every day of the week except Sundays throughout the year at 2.30pm.
The first animated tour will take place at 11.30 and will be conducted in English. The next guided tour will be at 2.30pm in Maltese.
Entrance is Lm1.25 for adults and 25c for children under 16. Entrance will be free to paid up FWA members. All proceeds will go towards the raising of much needed funds to continue the conservation work at this site.
More information can be obtained from FWA website: www.wirtartna.org.