Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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M G l td 24-26 amber The people of MalTa are as inTeresTing as iTs buildings and hisTory. Essex personnel blankeTed The small island and reTurned To The ship having observed sTrange and colorful cusToms. In The counTryside, ouTside ValleTTa, many an Essex man looked curiously aT old women in black manTles and enormous black hoods going abouT Their daily Tasks. These manTles and hoods daTe Tram T565 when The Turks laid siege To MalTa buT were ThwarTed by The KnighTs of ST. John. The women of ValleTTa swore a sacred oaTh ThaT IT God would granT The defenders vlcTory over The Turks They and Their descendanTs would wear The black garb Tar Two hundred years IT has now been nearly Tour hundred The boaTmen of ValleTTa harbor whose Task IT is To TransporT passengers To and Tram ships are almosT a race by Themselves They have Their own Tull seT of supersTiTions The mosT imporTanT of These is ThaT The boaT musT never under any condlTions Touch land even To The slighTesT scraping aga1nsT a sTone ieTTy They invariably make Their cusTomers lump over a gap of a TooT or so beTween boaT rim and wharf lesT some unTorTunaTe lurch cause The boaT To Touch shore bringing disasTer To The owner YeT despiTe many old cusToms and TradiTions MalTa is an imporTanT parT of The TwenTieTh CenTury ln World War ll ValleTTa and iTs naval harbor Took a Terrific beaTing Tram lTalian and German Bomber planes buT The island never surrendered During our walks Through ValleTTa many of us saw reproducTions of leTTers in praise oT MalTese courage wriTTen by King George VI and Franklin D Rooseveh on The TronT wall of The Governor s Palace lVlalTa did noT offer The luxuries of Barcelona or The French Riviera buT subsTlTuTed an hisTorical Treasure house which made even The leasT curious among us wonder as we walked The sTreeTs

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'wi XTX ! T ,m N Do you See The shapely loss in The eTT background? Woilring Tor Cm QCD Buses dOI'1,TTUVT on Time on MGITG eiTher