His name may not be renowned on the “famous Maltese” list, however I found Mr Joe Borg much more interesting than many of the personalities I have read about in recent times, no offence intended. As I approached the Mona Lisa II sitting in her tender rowed by our common friend, I thought I was merely about to enjoy one of the simple pleasures of life that I don’t often have the chance to experience: sailing away for a few hours from the hustle and bustle of every day life on the rock we call our country. Yet I was in for a surprise because I was met by a middle-aged man whose warm smiling eyes told me immediately that he has many stories in his repertoire that have given him a broad outlook on life; they had a sparkle of youth that is not typically present in people I usually met of his age group.
On this late autumn day, we chugged slowly out of St Julian’s bay and out into the open sea, aiming straight out at the line where light blue met dark blue as we turned due north. Once the sail was up, and the engine out, all I could hear was the splash of the waves as the boat moved forward at five knots, and the clank of metal as the wind played with the ropes on the mast. Joe looked right in his element… he had already told me that he was sixty-six years old, from Sliema, and an ex-British Navy diver. I was extremely interested, having a personal fascination with the “Big Blue” myself, and probed him for information. This was a man who was related to the sea, who knew its personality intimately. Our conversation was totally informal, and only later did I ask his permission to share what he had told me.
When and how did your relationship with the sea begin?
When I was eighteen I joined the British Navy as a seaman and before long became a diver. When I was not diving, my duties consisted of helping out during navigation, and keeping lookout.
How was diving in the 1950s different from today?
In those days, I undertook my training in a suit that consisted of layers of insulation that would pressure around my body, and a round copper helmet that we still see depicted in pictures today. I would feel as though the whole of me existed only within that small round space. Air was pumped continuously by hand through a thick pipe running from above water level. If that constant flow of air stopped, I would have died from CO2 poisoning. Your life depended on another person’s competence.
Did you train for search and rescue?
I did several things. Once we were sent to Livorno on the Italian coast to pull out the corpses of four paratroopers who died in a plane crash. I pulled out one of them. It wasn’t such a bad experience because I only had to hook onto his parachute to have him pulled out, but I could see he was already a little decomposed.
So what else did you do?
After I left the Navy in 1979, I was assigned a job looking for oil by setting off explosives on the ocean bed. The explosion’s blast could be recorded and by the vibrations on radar they could tell where to dig.
Did you ever have any encounters with sharks or other big fish?
I was stationed in the Red Sea and there were a lot of sharks in the area, yet somehow it did not quite sink in that we were swimming with them, although we could often see their fins when we were on the ship. They would come to feed on the fish that were killed in the blasts. Once I was coming to surface and I saw one circling around me closer than they would normally come. I surfaced as fast as possible but as I quickly eased myself up onto the small boat, he came swiping up at slapped my thigh. He did not try to bite me, but wanted to hit me. From that point there was no way I would go down again, so they assigned somebody to sit behind me and be the eyes at the back of my head while I worked, so down I went again…
So fear did not overcome you…?
Once we killed a shark in the blast and all my colleagues wanted me to fetch him so we could take some pictures. I was petrified to touch him, even though he was dead, in case he would suddenly wake up and bite me! Every time his weight shifted as I lassoed his body I freaked out, but we managed to take him to the beach, and they had their pictures taken to send to their families!
When did you own your first boat?
I had my first boat at sixteen years of age. It was a small wooden boat with a car engine! At the time I would fish and use the money from the sales to upgrade the boat and later to purchase better personal diving equipment! In the 1970s I bought an 18’ cabin cruiser, a Kingfisher that was built in Malta from fiberglass. In for some speed, in the 1990s I turned to an 18’ Zodiac rubber dinghy, but only a little later turned to sailing…
When did you swap over to a sailing boat, and why?
The first experience of sailing was with the eldest of my two sons. That was about eight years ago. We went out for a leisurely sail so he could show me his new boat, however a storm whipped up, and I was impressed with how well the boat behaved in such adverse weather conditions. I would even go as far to say that I had fun! As soon as we returned to land I began searching for a sailing boat… and found Mona Lisa II.
What does the boat represent in your life?
She takes up almost half of my time! Saturday is the day I clean her and prepare to take her out, Sunday is sailing day, and often I would return again on a Monday after having spent the night out… the rest of the week is dedicated to anything else that needs doing in the house or running errands. In winter the sailing time is alternatively spent doing maintenance and installing new fittings and gadgets!
Do you have a marriage with the sea for the rest of your life then?
I love to travel around the Mediterranean with my boat - to Sicily, Italy, Lampedusa, Tunis - at least once every year! I would take one or two companions with me in order to help sail and take shifts during long stretches, but due to circumstances it may no longer be possible to go on these trips so I might sell… but my dear sail mate (looks over smilingly at thirty-two year old Jason Muscat) keeps hiding the “For Sale” sign under the seat or in dark cupboard corners promising he will buy the boat as soon as he can afford a deposit. He wants us to keep sailing together, but he will own and maintain the boat instead! We have always sailed together, from the very beginning…
What is the roughest sea adventure you have ever experienced?
We were crossing the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy, and suddenly the rain came in such heavy buckets that I could barely see Jason’s silhouette from inside the cabin as he kept a look out. The currents were so strong that at five knots we were still just barely moving forward and came dangerously close to the cliff face. This year as I passed through that same area I phoned Jason, who could not make it this time, just to remind him. While I was on the phone I could see the same weather conditions building up, and had to cut the conversation in order to deal with it again!
We talked on and on… he showed me some sailors’ knots, explained about meteorology and about the rules of traffic and communication at sea. As he spoke I could see his life and soul were connected to the sea, whether the world below the surface or riding above it. Here was a man with salt water running through his veins, and eyes and a smile of wisdom that only the sea could have taught!
