K098 ROYAL MALTA ARTILLERY MONUMENT

Monument erected to those killed in an explosion of 120 grenades at H M Dockyard Malta on 5 October 1915.

K091 Gio Batta DALLI, Gunner 1571
K092 Paolo CARUANA. Gunner, 2876
K093 Fedele BARBARA, Gunner, 3193
K094 Francesco GRIXTI. Gunner, 2837
K095 Giuseppe BORG, Gunner, 2934
K096 Francesca FARRUGIA Gunner, 2965
K097 Giovanni BONNICI, Gunner, 2688
K098 Giovanni Maria DEMICOLI. Gunner 2879
K099 Giuseppe GAFA. Gunner, 2911
K100 Giuseppe TANTI, Gunner, 2849
K101 Paolo XERRI. Gunner, 2683
K102 Lawrence CALLEJA. Gunner, 2963
K103 Carmelo GAUCI. Gunner, 2659
K104 Carmelo FARRUGIA. Gunner, 1350

Also K090 Carmelo ABELA HM Dockyard (not on memorial)
and
A PACE Sergeant, 1957 Royal Malta Artillery, buried elsewhere on the island
M ABELA Gunner, 1248 do. do.

In response to a need for grenades on the Gallipoli front, it was decided to produce a number of these weapons at the Naval Ordnance Department in H.M. Dockyard (Malta) as of August 1915. The external cases were manufactured at the Carlo Pace foundry in Hamrun. Each was made from cast iron a quarter inch in thickness and had a diameter of two and three-quarters of an inch. These were then transported to a laboratory set up in tents at the dockyard, where 50 volunteers from the Royal Malta Artillery filled the cases with gun cotton and sealed them with a brass plug which had a hole in the centre for a fuse.

On 5 October 1915, a stack of some 120 grenades exploded - killing 16 of the Maltese volunteers and wounding nearly as many again. The main explosion was followed by another two smaller ones in rapid succession. Assistance was rendered by military and naval personnel in the vicinity. French sailors also participated in the rescue of the wounded, and one of their chaplains administered the last rites to the dead and dying. The wounded men were taken to the Bighi Naval Hospital for treatment. All of the deceased, save two, were buried at the Naval Cemetery in Kalkara/Capuccini where a monument was erected to their memory.