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Malta

From: <ian.thompson~at~ges.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:38:58 -0000 (GMT)
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

Having found the list of those aboard the St Michel III when she sailed
from Tunis to Malta in the National Archives (with one or two spelling
mistakes which can be rectified by reference to page 167 of Philippe
Valetoux's book) my next task was to visit the scene of Verne's arrival
and the arrest of Paul and Maurice Verne (refer to my map posted in
November 2005). The whole of this action took place along the sides of an
equilateral triangle of 2 kilometers each side based on Anchor Bay (Il
Prayet), The Red Fort (Torri l'Ahmar) and Mellieha village.In sweltering
heat I walked this distance over rough ground and it was not difficult to
reconstruct events.
1 As in the police report, there is no doubt that the St Michel would have
been practically invisible from the police base in the Red Fort,
especially in such poor weather.
2 For the St Michel to enter Anchor Bay must have demanded a very high
standard of seamanship, especially with a defective engine. It is a very
narrow rocky inlet, more suited to shelter small fishing vessels rather
than a steam yacht.
3 Once discovered, and arrested, it would have taken no more than 45
minutes for Paul and Maurice to be taken to Mellieha, at that time a small
hilltop village.
The site of Anchor Bay, which has a beautiful setting,has been disfigured
by the construction of a film set for a "Popeye" film starring Robin
Williams (Altman, 1980...one for Brian Taves to look up!)The set has been
retained as a sort of mini theme park.
From Anchor Bay I went to the ferry port for Gozo. From here there is a
good view of the North and South Comino Channels between Malta and Gozo.
Even though it was a beautiful day with no wind, there was a very strong
swell crashing against the rocks, and with the towering cliffs of Gozo in
the background, it is not surprising that Verne looked for shelter rather
than risk trying to get through one of the channels in the storm.
I have taken photographs of these various points and will try to post them
later.
Ian Thompson.
Received on Sun 29 Oct 2006 - 22:39:09 IST

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