The establishment and organization of the Order of St John's sailing ship-of-the-line squadron 1701-1741

Abstract

Naval historians have somewhat neglected the eighteenth century naval history of Hospitaller Malta for reasons discussed in the preface. The present dissertation tries to fill a gap in the Order of St John's naval historiography by discussing the origins, establishment and the organization of both the administrative and executive branches of the ships squadron. The causes for the introduction of the squadron are treated in a wider frame than the local circumstances permit us to perceive at first glance, by treating the origins of the sailing-ship of-the-line, and its early inroads into the Mediterranean and Malta of the seventeenth century. The main aspects discussed in the present dissertation include the work of the commission of sailing-ships; the political quarrel between the Grand Master and some bailiffs which developed over it; the description of its ships and problems of replacement; the attributes and disadvantages of the new shipyard at the Cospicua-Senglea area; the quantitative analysis of the economy, finance, provision and consumption of the ships; and the social implications of the working conditions of the crews. The general approach from political to administrative to executive aspects followed in the dissertation may be considered to be the result of the attempt to treat the establishment and organization of the squadron from a thematic and analytical standpoint, rather than from a purely narrative approach to events. Whenever possible, a comparative analysis with the Order's galley squadron and with other European naval establishments has been made in all aspects discussed.