Stop 13 of 16
Dock No. 1
Where the Royal Navy dug in
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- Every stop from here to The Gardjola, narrated
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The written guide below is open either way.
Guide to Dock No. 1
The first dry dock in Malta, cut by the British between 1844 and 1848 at the head of the creek where the Knights kept their galleys. The dockyard that grew from it was the largest employer on the island for a century and a half and the reason the Three Cities were the most industrial, most political and most bombed corner of Malta.
From Galley Creek to Dockyard Creek
The Order kept its galleys in this sheltered creek. The British saw a naval base in the same water and the skilled population around it, and cut Dock No. 1 between 1844 and 1848. Ships entered on the tide, the gates closed, the water was pumped out and the work went on in the dry basin. More docks followed until the yard could take the largest ships of the Mediterranean Fleet.
What the yard made
For 150 years the dockyard was Malta’s largest employer. Thousands walked through its gates each morning from Cospicua, Senglea and Birgu, and their trades made the Three Cities the most industrial and most political towns on the island. The unions were born here, and much of Maltese politics with them.
The Navy left in 1979 and the shipyard closed in 2010. Dock No. 1 was cleaned out and reopened as a public space, with the American University of Malta in the dockyard buildings beside it. The cranes further down the creek belong to the successor yard, which still repairs ships.
What to look at
- The stepped stone sides of the basin, cut for men to stand on while working on a hull
- The dock gates at the seaward end
- The old dockyard buildings alongside, now the university
Practical
- Facilities
- Benches around the dock; cafés along the waterfront towards Senglea.
- Terrain
- Level along the waterfront from here.
Walk to stop 14 · Il-Maċina
Follow the waterfront with the creek on your right, along 31 March Street, to the corner of Senglea. Il-Maċina is the heavy bastion block at the foot of the steps; the Senglea ferry landing is close by.
About 9 min · 560 m