U.S. - Malta Maritime Relations at Senglea Maritime Festival

CDR Jane Moraski and LCDR Philip Webb speaking with a group of boy scouts who visited the Embassy exhibit. Full Size	Visitors check out the Embassy exhibit. Full Size

The rich history of maritime relations between Malta and the United States was showcased at the Senglea Maritime Festival on Sunday, with members of the U.S. Embassy’s Defense Attaché Office and Marine Security Guard detachment presenting an exhibition called “U.S.-Malta Maritime Relations: Past and Present.”

The exhibition included informational displays about the USS Constitution deploying from the Grand Harbour to counter Barbary Coast pirates in the early 1800’s, the Great White Fleet’s historic visit to Malta in 1909, the summit meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that took place in the Grand Harbour in 1989, and current cooperation between the Armed Forces of Malta and the U.S. Coast Guard on the AFM’s Search and Rescue Training Centre.

The Embassy’s exhibit focused on these historic ties through the featured artworks of Mr. Edwin Galea, a world-renowned marine artist who served as an official Combat Artist for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard.  Several of Mr. Galea’s watercolor paintings are permanently displayed in U.S. galleries, museums and Navy and Coast Guard Headquarters.

The exhibition was very well attended with over 300 people visiting it, including the Hon. Dolores Cristina, Minister for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, the Hon. Chris Said, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue and Information, Brigadier Carmel Vassallo, Commander, Armed Forces of Malta, and the Mayor of Senglea Mr. Joseph Casha.