1 · POSITION
The Grand Harbour, the port of Valletta, is a natural harbour halfway along the Mediterranean, heavily built up with docks, wharves and fortifications. Every power that wanted the middle of the sea wanted it. The register holds it as the reason for everything else it records on Malta — the auberges, the hospital, the hotels. [1]
2 · THE KNIGHTS
The Order of Saint John made the harbour its base for 268 years, from 1530 to 1798, settling first at Birgu. In the Great Siege of 1565 the Ottomans tried to drive the Order out and were defeated, and afterwards the capital, Valletta, was built on the Sciberras peninsula on the harbour’s northwest shore. [1]
3 · THE ROYAL NAVY
After the French capitulated in September 1800 Malta came under British protection, and the harbour became a key Royal Navy base and the home of the Mediterranean Fleet. [1]
4 · A QUIETER HARBOUR
Most of Malta’s commercial shipping now goes through the Freeport near Birżebbuġa, and the Grand Harbour is far quieter than it was in the first half of the twentieth century. The register holds the Knights’ Sacra Infermeria and auberges under their own codes. [1]
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
⚑ Checked on 22 October 2026. Phoenician use of the harbour was not found; the sources read mention possibly Phoenician temples under the Castrum Maris and a Carthaginian port at Cospicua, and the note now begins with Carthage. The last British forces left Malta on 31 March 1979. [1–2]
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 22 October 2026.