Labour of love for model ship builder

The grandeur of the HMS Victoria will adorn an office in London, 120 years after it sailed out of Grand Harbour and was accidentally rammed and sunk off Tripoli in Lebanon. This is one of some 40 ships that Joseph Abela brought back to life through scale models which he builds from scratch. It will be exhibited in Andrew Gidden’s office, whose father was a seafarer. Mr Abela is often commissioned to build models abroad, and his work includes a model of the 16th century flagship La Real, which is the centrepiece at the Lepanto Battle Museum in Nafpaktos, Greece. His models can also be seen at the Navy Museum in Norway in the rescue boats section, and there are more than 10 models at the Maritime Museum. He makes no use of plans, but drafts his own following detailed research and thorough leafing through visual documents, paintings and history books. His love for ship model building was bred in his hometown of Senglea, which is surrounded with boats and ships day and night. He learnt his skill through trial-and-error, and what started off as a hobby has become his job. Mr Abela, author of The Maltese Merchant Fleet of the 19th century, joined the Museum Department in 1991 and is...