Heritage Malta staff at the Malta Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa have just made an important and unexpected discovery which will throw new light on the history of the building which was formerly the Naval Bakery.

The discovery was made during structural upgrading works. During a survey of the site a feature was discovered in the ground that led museum curators to believe that there was a trench which had been filled in. The construction works were stopped and excavations carried out which led to the discovery of a 2 metre long trench which led to underground tunnels, previously unknown to Heritage Malta. At the bottom of the trenches a shaft was found, including gearwheels buried under layers of rocks and gravel.

It is believed that these gearwheels along with the shaft were buried to make way for upgrades undertaken at the Naval Bakery in the 1930's. These machines date back to the 1840s when the Royal Navy Victualing Yard was built. These machine parts were probably the first machines to be used on the island, making them the oldest remaining machinery on the Island. Many believed that all machinery from the bakery was destroyed or sold for scrap metal in later years. It turns out though that these gearwheels and shafts were too bulky to dismantle and remove and were therefore buried and forgotten for years.

It is envisaged tht these new finds will be incorporated in the permanent display of the museum The Maritime Museum charts Malta's maritime history and lore within a Mediterranean context and also illustrates the global nature of seafaring and its impact on society. It is housed in the former British Naval Bakery at Vittoriosa. The building, designed by British architect William Scamp, was erected between 1842 and 1845 on the site of the old covered slipway of the Knights of St John. The bakery was the hub of the Victualing Yard and supplied the Royal Navy with its daily requirements of bread and biscuit. After World War II, it was converted into offices and stores and as the headquarters of the Admiralty Constabulary. The building remained part of the naval establishment up to the closure of the British base in 1979.