A new 18th century Maltese Galera
About eight months ago Ing. Flavio Pallaoro contacted me because he was interested in having a model of a traditional 18th century galera or galley. I started drawing out plans and those of the scholar's Chapman seemed best choice. After this I started creating the basic structure.
Following that, I moved on to create the beams and later on the planking of the hull. The next phase was to indicate the areas for the rumbate, the benches and the carousse. This included the painstaking job of cutting and placing 58 benches (29 on each side) accordingly. On the portside there is one less which made room for the kitchen. Creating 57 identical oars was no easy task either - it took me considerable time until each one was finished appropriately. Three masts were fitted to take the lateen sails. One of the tricky bits was finding appropriate coloured cloth to create historically accurate sails. No galley would be complete without its boats namely the double-ended fellukka and the kajjikk with transom. Five guns were then mounted on the bows just beneath the rumbate. The carousse with its gilded decorations adorned the poop of this warship.
It took me about 7 months of hard work and long hours to complete this 73cm traditional warship model. This built up scaled model was made in oak for Ing. Flavio Pallaoro who is very much interested in Maltese maritime history and the complexities of its mechanisms. Today this 18th century model of a galley is already in Italy - Trento.
