Waves of Memories

Photo by Dee Hayman

There they float, with their bright colours and painted eyes, bobbing gently on the sea. Sturdy, old-fashioned, Malta’s colourful traditional “family” of floating crafts has rendered good service and survived centuries of stormy seas. The “youngest” member, the fishing luzzu, filled the stomachs of many with large catches, eventually coming to symbolise our islands’ intimacy with the sea and the way it has shaped our lives.

Now, however, the somewhat large traditional luzzu is in danger of being lost, being replaced by more modern fibre boats which take less time to make and are easier to maintain. Still, many Maltese are fond of their old smaller wooden boats, maintained by an investment of time, patience, dedication and an inclination to care for them properly.

“The only wooden boats which are built from scratch nowadays in the old traditional method are rowing boats for the local regatta events and larger commercial fishing or passenger vessels,” says Svetlik Agius. Clearly at home among boats – both those shored up and those bobbing serenely on the sea, he is one of the few fast-dwindling individuals who are proficient in the craft of building and overhauling traditional Maltese boats.

As we walk through the Malta Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa – where he points out the various exhibits which he personally worked on, Svetlik recounts how he learned his trade at an early age, just like many others did in the past.

Born and raised in Gzira, a maritime town in Marsamxett harbour in the vicinity of a traditional boatbuilding centre in Manoel Island, Svetlik was fascinated by boats. Early in his teens, he began to lend the boatbuilders a hand, becoming an apprentice to the shipwrights of the day.

Now, aged 38, he is one of the last Maltese shipwrights with traditional boatbuilding skills who still practise the trade regularly. “There are many others who learned the craft, but preferred to take up more modern methods, forgetting the old ways…”

Currently, part of his job within Heritage Malta is at the Maritime Museum, looking after the 60-strong traditional boats collection. Here, one finds the oldest surviving luzzu dating from 1909 as well as one of its fishing forebears, a firilla, dating to 1870.

Hopefully, more people like Svetlik will face modern challenges by means of old traditions... then, perhaps, the traditional luzzu will not become just another traditional Maltese boat, adrift on a sea of memories.

POCKETMALTA would like to thank the Malta Maritime Museum Senior Curator Emmanuel Magro Conti and the curator Liam Gauci for their assistance.