Anthony Zarb Adami
Ship chandling: A family tradition
Since time immemorial, the strategic location of the Maltese islands has always been exploited to the full by the different maritime empires who sought to occupy Malta starting with the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Sicilians Arabs, Normans and Genovese, to the Order of St John and the British during the First and Second Word Wars. The Maltese islands have served as a station where military and naval forces could be re-provisioned besides acting as a military base.
The Maltese ports, mainly the Grand Harbour, acted as the central British naval base at Valletta. When the dry docks were built; the first in 1848, followed by another in 1871 and by 1900 Malta was equipped with a total of four dry docks, a supply depot and arsenal. Malta's great strategic base was in full use during both world wars. After the Malta dry docks was closed in 1958, it was used mainly for the repair and construction of civilian ships.
Ship chandling is one of the oldest maritime professions in Malta, flourishing especially in the Valletta and Cottonera areas. Ship chandlery was central to the existence of the Grand Harbour and its waterfront environs as the principal ports of call. Ship chandlers are entrusted with the responsibility of providing supplies and services to vessels in ports. Supplies could range from provisions (foodstuff), crude oil, engine oil, water, engine spare parts, materials and whatever other supplies the captain of the ship may require.
The surname Borda in Malta is synonymous with ship chandling and naval contracting which includes services such as the provision of bumboatmen and mess and canteen management on ships. Most of the Borda family members were involved in this work up to the late 19th century and early 20th century when the family tradition died out.
At the turn of the 20th century, the family Borda ship chandling establishment was situated at Bighi Steps in Kalkara, Malta and styled, Baptist Borda & Sons. The main firms were Baptist Borda & Sons (as per the firm's letterhead), Antonio Borda & Carlo M. Borda Brothers (as per the firm's visiting card), Vincent Borda and Joseph Borda.
Family records show that Michele Borda and his son, Joseph Borda and sons, Baptist Borda, Vincenzo Borda (1841-1906), and Lorenzo Borda (1847-1915) were all involved in the ship chandling profession and the sons of Lorenzo (Antonio and Carlo Mammo) followed suit in their father's trade.
The family concern, Baptist Borda & Sons consisted of Baptist Borda, (who was the eldest of Joseph Borda's sons). Most of the Bordas employed members of the Borda family. David Arrigo (2005) in his book, Twin Rocks - The Malta-Gibraltar Connection mentions Family Borda as ship chandlers and brings out the connections between different Borda family members and how they settled in Gibraltar and established business there. The author also shows the connection between Family Borda and Salvatore Ellul who was married to Vincenza Borda (better known as Ellul Sullivan).
Recommendation Letters
The best certificate a ship chandler can obtain is the customers' satisfaction of a job well done. Recommendation letters by the ships' captains carry much weight in contracting further business. The family Borda members, notably Lorenzo, Baptist Borda & Sons and Antonio Borda received many favourable references from the ships' captains and crew and other high ranking officers in the different naval establishments.
Lorenzo Borda
One of the earliest recommendation letter in the family Borda records is dated 31 August 1869 when Lorenzo Borda provided the services of bumboatman for a nine-month period to Dr John Page Burke M.D. A bumboatman uses a small boat to ferry supplies to ships moored away from the shore. Many bumboatmen, plied the busy waters of the Grand Harbour with fresh provisions for the Royal Navy. Bumboatmen were sometimes also given exclusive contracts to supply naval ships. Originally referring to a scavenger's boat, the name comes from the combination of the Dutch word for a canoe - "boomschuit" ("boom" meaning "tree" and "boat"). Dr Page was Staff surgeon with the Royal Navy and worked at the Royal Naval Hospital at Bighi. This hospital was a major naval hospital covering the Eastern Mediterranean (Gibraltar covering the western Mediterranean). It opened in 1832 and surgical blocks were added in 1901 and 1903. It saw service through world wars and sustained heavy damage to the X-ray theatre, cot lift from the jetty and the east and west wings. The hospital itself was closed down in 1970 following the rundown of British forces from 1967.
Other recommendation letters to Mr Lorenzo Borda date back to 6 July 1875, where Lieutenant L. Moore of H.M.S. Monarch wrote a recommendation letter for excellent services and another dated 13 July 1875 by I.W.L. Barnpfield, chaplain of the Royal Naval Hospitals. Royal Navy chaplains were commissioned by the Sovereign but do not hold military rank other than that of Chaplain Royal Navy. They are usually addressed as Padre, Reverend or more informally Bishop. (Chaplains are recruited from a number of Christian denominations). The Royal Navy chaplains served at some time during their career on ships which were part of the Mediterranean Fleet, whereas the Army chaplains spent part of their service based in Malta.
Baptist Borda & Sons
Baptist Borda & Sons also received letters of recommendation during the First World War when in the most difficult of times ships, staff of the firm travelled in all parts of the world under the precarious state of war since August 1914 and the firm successfully ensured that the canteen supplies on the H.M.S. Inflexible showed no falling off.
It was on 21 July 1916 when the Chief Petty Officers and 1st Class Petty Officers of the H.M.S. Inflexible issued a letter commending Baptist Borda & Sons for the zealous way in which Baptist Borda and his staff carried out their job in canteen management and other multifarious duties on the ship (between 1 November 1912 and 1 August 1916) and especially during the Falkland Islands campaign on 8 December 1914, the bombardments at the Dardanelles during 19 February, 4, 5 and 18 March 1915 and the Battle of Jutland between 31 May and 1 June 1916. During these campaigns, staff employed by Baptist Borda & Sons also perished as shown in the holy pictures presented here. On 31 May 1916, the first day of the Battle of Jutland, Emmanuele Cuschieri, aged 34 perished. He worked with Antonio Borda as writer in the canteen of H.M.S. Black Prince (keeping records and other paperwork during the journey). Mr Cuschieri was survived by his wife and children. During the same Battle of Jutland, another Antonio Borda, aged 25 died on the frigate, H.M.S. Indefatigable.
Boarding ships required certain formalities and permits such as General Boarding Permits. These were issued by the Military Port Office in Valletta and one such permit issued to Anthony Borda for Baptist Borda & Sons dated 15 January 1918 gave permission to approach all French Men-of-War who deal with and require the services of Baptist Borda & Sons as canteen contractors. This pass was renewable every month and bears the signature of P.C Swayne, Captain, Military Port Officer while a permit dated 6 June 1918 issued to Antonio Borda and five labourers was granted to board the S.S. Llan Beris using boat number 40 to provide ship cargo. This was valid for one journey and return. Another naval permit to board H.M.S. ships at Malta was issued to Antonio Borda for naval contracts on 30 July 1919 with a monthly renewable date.
H.M.S. Inflexible and the Falkland Islands, Dardanelles and Jutland Campaigns
In 1915, British and French battleships launched a massive attack on Turkish positions at Cape Helles and Kum Kaleh at the entrance to the Dardanelles, the narrow strait separating Europe from Asia in northwestern Turkey and the only waterway linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. The largely unsuccessful Allied efforts to force their way into the Dardanelles continued over two months, including a disastrous attempt on 18 March in which three ships were sunk and three more badly damaged by Turkish mines before the attack had even begun. Over Churchill's protests, the naval attack was called off and a larger land invasion involving 120,000 troops was planned.
H.M.S. Inflexible was an invincible-class battle cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was built before the First Word War and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battle cruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship Invincible sank the German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau during the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Inflexible bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while maneuvering. She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent to Malta, and then Gibraltar for more permanent repairs. Transferred to the Grand Fleet afterwards she damaged the German battle cruiser Lützow during the Battle of Jutland and watched Invincible explode. She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold for scrap in 1921.
Antonio Borda
The first letter of recommendation for Antonio Borda is dated 9 October 1893 and is signed by Captain H.W. Logan (?) who was in charge of the Royal Navy Musketry at the Royal Naval Rifle Range, Ricasoli. Mr Borda had been responsible in supplying refreshments at this rifle range for years.
A personal recommendation signed by Rear-Admiral Fredrick Dundas Gilpin-Brown dated 26 September 1901 heaps praise to Mr Borda for his three years' service as Canteen manager on H.M.S. Vulcan, while another dated 16 April 1912 is signed by Rear Admiral Arthur William Waymouth. The table shows other recommendations for different services provided by Mr Borda including interpreter of Greek and bumboatman.
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