Saint Mary's Tower (Malta)

The Tower of Santa Maria was built in 1618 to defend the island of Comino, as ships traveling between Malta and Gozo were often attacked by barbarian corsairs located towards the cliffs and coves of Comino. It also served as a communication link between the island of Gozo and the island of Malta in the event of an attack on Gozo.

Funds for its construction were raised mainly through sales. The total cost is 18,628 shields, 5 tari and 10 grains, making it the most expensive of all towers. However, the high costs are likely due to transportation and construction difficulties on a desert island.

The architect of the tower is unknown. In 1647 Giovanni Francesco Abela claimed it was designed by Vittorio Cassar, but this is extremely unlikely as Cassar was dead when work on the tower began.

In times of crisis, his garrison numbered up to 60 soldiers. In 1791, its armament consisted of two 12-pound iron guns, a 10-pound bronze cannon, a 4-pound bronze cannon, and two 3-pound bronze cannons. After 1715 the Battery of Sainte-Marie and the Redoubt of Sainte-Marie were also built around the coast of Comino which had a garrison of 130 men and housed eight 32-pound and ten 24-pound guns, which dominated the north and Canali of the South.

Subsequently, the Order also built a barracks in Comino, not far from the tower, which was later used as a hospital.

In the 17th century Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for knights errant. The latter, convicted of minor offenses, were sometimes condemned to the dangerous and solitary task of keeping watch at the Sainte-Marie tower. During the blockade of Malta from 1798 to 1800, the Tower of Santa Maria served as a prison for Maltese rebels and their British allies for suspected French spies or sympathizers. In 1799 the insurgents transferred the cannons from the tower to block the batteries and bomb the French positions. Captured cannon-armed rebel positions in Comino included the Tas-Samra battery and the Ta 'Għemmuna battery.

The British army abandoned the tower in 1829. For several decades it was considered the property of local civil authorities. It may have been used as a hospital or even as a wintering enclosure for farm animals. The tower again saw active service in both World Wars and was on the 1925 Antiquities List.

Between 1982 and 2002 the tower was used by the armed forces of Malta and served as a lookout post and stopping point for protection from smuggling and illegal hunting of migratory birds at sea.