MIDI plc would like to invite interested members of the public to a lecture entitled ‘‘Sotto Le loggie – The Lazzaretto – Corsairs at Manoel Island’’ delivered by Mr. Liam Gauci on Tuesday 13th June, 2017. The lecture will be held inside the chapel dedicated to San Anthony of Padua at Fort Manoel, Manoel Island. Please find further details on the lecture.
An introduction and a brief historical background of the chapel will be delivered by Architect Edward Said, Curator of Fort Manoel.
The Fort will open at 6.00 pm with entrance through the main Couvre Port. A welcome speech will commence at 6.45 pm followed by Mr. Gauci’s lecture.
Light refreshments will be served after the lecture. Interested parties are to book their attendance by sending an email to [email protected] referring to Fort Manoel Lecture or by telephone on 20655500.
Vehicle access into Manoel Island will be permitted to pre-booked visitors and the activity is free of charge.
‘Sotto le Loggie - The Lazzaretto: Corsairs at Manoel Island.’
Liam Gauci
Bio:
Liam Gauci is an alumni of the Department of History at the University of Malta. He has been the curator of the Malta Maritime Museum for the past 10 years. Liam has published his first monograph in 2016 entitled In the Name of the Prince: Maltese Corsairs 1760-1798.
Synopsis:
All corsair ships in the 18th century had to spend a good number of days under the bastions of Fort Manoel at Lazzaretto. The time spent there was idled away cooking, smoking recently captured tobacco and drinking wine. Many captains would prepare themselves for the sale of their human merchandise and the spices recently impounded off Ottoman shipping. It was an interesting part of any Corsair cruise, which was usually not as plain sailing as many hoped it would be. Crew men sometimes rebelled against their captain, at times the crew threatened to burn their prize in harbour. On other occasions duels and scuffles broke out. Even badly timed practical jokes with loaded pistols could turn sour and many a sailor was killed in quarantine. Others waited for the local bumboat men to illegally ferry some prostitutes over. In all it was a busy period which immediately followed the harsh realities of life out at sea on a corsair cruise.