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The legend of Thomas McSweeney lives on
by Charles Mizzi
The story of a young Irish mariner hanged in Grand Harbour 171 years ago has haunted me for ears.
The macabre spectacle was witnessed by thousands of Maltese and British sailors and when the last breath had left Thomas McSweeney’s body, it was taken ashore to Kalkara Bay and brought uphill to the old historical chapel of San Salvatore, which is still there in a narrow street named Triq is-Salvatur.
It is recorded that many Maltese from Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua, joined members of the Carmelite Rosarianti confraternity who conducted the religious ceremony and organised the procession with the body, passing Fort Salvatore (which today is in total ruins) to St Lawrence Cemetery in Vittoriosa. It was a religious tradition that members of the Rosarianti confraternity accompanied the bodies of the executed to the burial.
A leading member of the Rosarianti carried a massive iron cross of the Crucifixion, a cross that is still exhibited at the St Lawrence Museum in Vittoriosa.
The old headstone of his grave can still be seen on the left wall of the cemetery, surrounded by metal railings.
When I visited the grave recently, it was decorated with artificial and fresh flowers and lit candles were flickering in the wind, proof that many families in Vittoriosa still revere the memory of Thomas.
The story of Thomas McSweeney end in Malta but it did not start there, indeed it had no connection with the island until he was brought here to be executed.
McSweeney joined the HMS Rodney when it was commissioned in 1835. He was the only Roman Catholic amongst the crew, most of them Protestants. On several occasions he was taunted by crew members and officers because of his religion and his Irish blood. His superior officer was Lance Sergeant Allen, an English Protestant.
On the evening of July 16, 1836, when HMS Rodney was in Barcelona, his superior officer discovered that McSweeney was not at his post. He found him on the main deck slinging his hammock and reported him for being off deck during his watch.
The young sailor was so infuriated that he rushed towards Sergeant Allen and pushed him. Allen lost his balance and fell a considerable distance, striking his head on the solid deck below. The officer died of his injuries some days after.
An onboard court martial was chaired by Commander Scott who heard evidence from Royal marines and two Royal navy witnesses. In his defence, McSweeney declared that he was agitated at having being reported for so banal a matter as well as at the way that Allen had sneered at him: “he said as he passed me on the gangway ‘You bog trotter, you are in for it now’.
“I thought I would not let him do so for nothing, so I made a short run to catch hold of him, without even thinking he could possibly fall in the waist (of the ship). On oath, I declare it was without the slightest intention or thought of taking his life,” he said.
However, the Court unanimously agreed that the charge was fully proved and sentenced McSweeney to death. The sentence was approved by the Commander in Chief of the Admiralty in London who ordered that the sentence was to be carried out on HMS Rodney. The ship was ordered to proceed to Malta.
Kept in isolation on HMS Ceylon, McSweeney was not allowed any outside contact, except for 2 Maltese clerics, Padre Maestro Tonna and Reverend Carmelo Falzon, who made every effort to prepare the young sailor for his forthcoming execution.
On Thursday, 8 June 1837, McSweeney was brought to his old ship HMS Rodney, which was moored in front of the Senglea peninsula. The Valletta and the Senglea bastions and every window overlooking the harbour were crowded with people. More than a dozen Royal Navy ships, with their crews on deck, surrounded the execution ship. People also hired small boats to get a better view.
It was a dramatic scene in Malta’s Grand Harbour, one that was never seen again.
A few minutes before 1800h, a chilling silence fell over the spectators as the captain read the death sentence out in front of the doomed and distraught Thomas.
Padre Tonna stayed with Thomas till the very last moment. The noose was adjusted around Thomas’ neck by the hangman while the other end of the rope was firmly held by marines and sailors selected from every ship of the squadron.
As the sentence was readout, a single gun was fired and the group of marines and sailors ran across the deck, hoisting McSweeney up the yard arm of the sails to about 60 feet above the deck.
The corpse was left hanging for half an hour. It was then taken ashore and a procession with hundreds of Maltese filled the chapel of San Salvadore and the surrounding narrow streets behind Bighi Hospital in Kalkara. After mass and prayers, the Rosarianti followed by mourners carried the coffin up the hill for burial at the newly inaugurated St Lawrence Cemetery in Vittoriosa.
For the people of Vittoriosa, time and age have not tarnished the memory of Thomas McSweeney.
Some believe that Thomas is a saint and that he was hanged because of his Catholic beliefs. Others think the sentence was unfair since what happened on the HMS Rodney was an unfortunate incident. Others believe that the young, polite fair-haired man who appears briefly to people in the cemetery must be Thomas.
Historians point to the fact that around 1837, the bodies of accused criminals were buried at Blata l-Bajda cemetery in unmarked graves, which means McSweeney’s body would also have been moved from Vittoriosa.
The grave is rather smaller compared to ordinary graves and it is probably more of a monument erected by the people of Cottonera who insist that Thomas’ deeds did not justify the death penalty.
But most insist that Thomas was not a common criminal but a victim of an extraordinary circumstance and prejudice, hence the fact that he was allowed a decent burial in a Catholic cemetery.
Until further research and more evidence are uncovered, Thomas McSweeney remains close to the hearts of the people of Cottonera.
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