The Chain
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"One precaution only the Order had taken. The chain was across Galley Creek, the hand-forged Venetian chain whose every link had cost the Knights ten golden ducats. It sealed the mouth of the middle of the three blind seaways entering the long southern coast of the fjord, and from its vast capstan on the left to its rock bed on the right, joined the two tongues of land between which all the galleys and brigantines of the Order usually lay. On the left tongue was Birgu, the fishing village the knights had made convent and home of the Order, with the fort of St Angelo at its tip. On the right was the peninsula called L'Isla, with a watch tower and scattered houses which stared across Galley Creek to Birgu." |
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The Disorderly Knights, Part Two, Chapter Two
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<<Anchor point at L'Isla? | |
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<<Possible line of chain: L'Isla seen from below the walls of St Angelo. | |
| "A skiff, running alongside the shallow boats supporting the great chain from side to side of the creek, freed the middle stretch from supports, and the taught line sagged and dipped as, invisibly, the slaves below St Angelo flung their weight on the capstan bars. De Villegagnon, silent in the bows, turned and nodded to the Master, and the brigantine slowly gained speed and slid over the line" |
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The Disorderly Knights, Part Two, Chapter Two
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The existence of Chain which guarded the entrance of Galley Creek (now called Dockyard Creek) is well documented, together with its price. However, there appears to be no precise information the anchor points. It's even possible that the anchor points that existed during Lymond's time were later changed during the building of Senglea and the strengthening of Ft St Angelo, which occurred between 1551 and the Great Siege of 1565. During the Great Siege the fortifications were greatly damaged (though the chain was not breached) and even stronger fortifications were built afterward, so again the chain may have been moved. The chain was permanently anchored. There was a windlass on the Ft St Angelo side, and on the L'Isla/Senglea side the anchored was "embedded in rock". In times of crisis, the windlass was tightened and the chain was raised. In peaceful times, the windlass was unwound, and the chain rested on the bed of the creek. When the chain was raised, it was sometime buoyed up in the centre by being tied to boats or logs. This would stop it sagging in the middle and thus permitting a small boat from sneaking ove the top of it. In Disorderly Knights, Dunnett talks about the possbility of the Turks sneaking their boats over the neck of Mt Scibberas this ending up "within the chain". She is mistaken: the boats would have to be dragged from Marsamuscetto, over Mt Scibberas, sailed across to L'Isla, and then over the L'Isla peninsule to get into Galley Creek. |
Updated 08 Jul 2001
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