‘A difference of opinion soon arose as to the most effective method of fortifying the island: whether the Order should direct its main effort towards the completion of those fortresses under construction, or whether it would be better to fortify the coast-line so as to prevent the enemy gaining a foothold on the island. Tigné and his followers favoured the former course and recommended that the fortifications of Floriana and Sta. Margherita be completed while, at the same time, work on the coastal defences be continued. However, this was probably too ambitious a programme to be carried out at one time, the halfbuilt fortifications which were vulnerable to attack by the dements should be, Tigné felt, perfected first, and only then should the Order direct its energies to defending the shore-line. Vendôme and Folard, on the other hand, could see little wisdom in adding to the proliferation of forts around the harbour when the islands’ coast-line offered such an excellent natural barrier to an enemy. Those few places where a landing was possible could be protected by redoubts and entrenchments and the whole island defended by a far smaller body of troops than would be necessary if all the completed and half built forts had to be garrisoned. As Floriana required, however, only the finishing touches to make it perfect, they were prepared to allow this work to continue. The congregation of fortification and war met on 4 June to consider the conflicting views put to it, but being unable to decide on either course of action, came to a compromise solution. The council in turn reacted unfavourably to Vendôme’s actual proposals for the coastal fortifications, as did Tigné and his engineers, but Vendôme’s position and background were such that it would have been impolitic to reject his views out of hand; besides, his opinion commanded support among a section of the Order. The council therefore compromised by accepting Vendôme’s scheme without instructing that work elsewhere should cease. This was made possible, in part, by the prior’s offer to advance an interestfree loan of 40,000 scudi repayable in three years, thus removing any problem caused by the lack of
immediate funds. Once the scheme had been sanctioned Vendome made a donation of 4,000 scudi which proved a stimulus to other knights to contribute, albeit on a rather less generous scale. The engineer Maigret was put in charge of the project and Tigné confined his attention to the major forts surrounding the harbours.’25
ARX - OCCASIONAL PAPERS - ISSUE 4/ 2014 - FORT MANOEL
were strong advocates of coastal defences. The struggle is best defined by Alison Hoppen in her book The Fortification of Malta by the Knights (1979), and is reproduced below:
It is perhaps more than just a coincidence, then, that the two proposed schemes for the Isolotto so uncannily mirror the two diverging opinions held by the Order’s military advisers and leading knights. The third plan (M19), therefore, may have been an attempt to reconcile the two views, creating in the process an extensive fortification scheme covering practically all of the surface of the little island. It is difficult to comprehend, however, how the Order, who was then having serious trouble finding the resources to build a basic fort, could afford the implementation of this extensive project. Not surprisingly, the ambitious project was not taken in hand, especially after Brig. de Tigné and his military advisors went on to re-classify the fort as non-urgent and were ready to postpone its construction to a later date when the Order’s financial position would prove itself more favourable.26 The opportunity finally presented itself with the election of the new Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena in June 1722,who anxious to show his zeal and devotion to the Order, chose to finance the work out of his own pocket. By this final stage, however, the trace of the fort, although still reflecting the fourbastioned configuration first recommended by Brig. de Tigné some eight years earlier, had evolved significantly to included various other novel features. The redoubt and battery, however, were quietly dropped from the scheme.
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