Whereto sore - wounded men have looked for life, think not that for a rhyme, nor yet to fit the time, I name thy name, true victress in this strife; But let it serve to say that, when we kneel to pray, Prayers rise for thee thine ear shall never know; And that thy gallant deed, For God, and for our need, Is in all hearts, as deep as love can go 'Tis good that thy name springs From two of Earth's fair things  A stately city, and a soft-voiced bird; 'Tis well that in all homes, When thy sweet story comes, And brave eyes fill - that pleasant sounds be heard; Oh voice! in night of fear, As night's bird, soft to hear, Oh great heart! raised like city on a hill; Oh watcher! worn and pale, Good Florence Nightingale, Thanks, loving thanks, for thy large work and will! England is glad of thee - Christ, for thy charity, Take thee to joy when hand and heart are still! E.A.: Malta Mail, 5 October 1855

Florence Nightingale and her party left London on 21 October 1854 to travel via Boulogne to Paris and on the Marseilles. From Marseilles the party proceeded to Constantinople in the fast mail boat, the Vectis, with a stop in Malta on the 30 October 1854. The journey was far from comfortable. The journey has been described in the biographies of C. Woodham-Smith and I.B. O'Malley. "On October 27 the party sailed in the Vectis. She was a horrible ship, built for carrying fast mails from Marseilles to Malta, infested with huge cockroaches and so notorious for her discomfort that the Government had difficulty in manning her. Miss Nightingale, a wretchedly bad sailor, was prostrated by sea-sickness. On the second day out the Vectis ran into a gale. The guns with which she was armed had to be jettisoned; the steward's cabin and the galley were washed overboard. Miss Nightingale suffered so severely that when Malta was reached she was too weak to go ashore. The rest of the party went sightseeing in the charge of a major of the militia. The party was made up partly of Anglican sisters in black serge habits, partly of Roman Catholic nuns in white habits, and partly of hospital nurses. The hospital nurses were placed in the middle where they would have no chance to misbehave, and the major marched the party from point to point in military formation. The major would shout, "Forward black sisters', and the Anglican sisters in their black serge habits got into motion; but the white nuns would straggle, and there came a shout, 'Halt! Those damned white sisters have gone again.' Malta was full of idle troops, and soon the party was followed by a crowd of soldiers. One of the Anglican sisters heard a sergeant remark that he should think 'them ancient Amazons we read about took a deal of drilling'" [3]. At Malta, Mr Bracebridge took all who were well enough ashore sight-seeing. Putting his ideas of discipline into force - perhaps he learned them in the Militia said one of the Sisters, maliciously - he marched them through the street. Protestant Sisters first, Catholic nuns last, nurses in the middle where they could do no harm. In the Cathedral, Mass was being celebrated, the nuns began to fall out of their ranks and to sink upon their knees; he was much disconcerted and annoyed. The sun was blazing, the streets were insufferably hot, the glare from the sea and sky was blinding, and everybody was worn with sickness. On the whole, therefore, the Sisters were relieved when they got back to the ship" [4]. The local papers carried the news of the arrival of Florence Nightingale's party. The Malta Times of the 14 November 1854 wrote: "The party landed and visited the objects in Valletta most worthy of notice, and in passing through the streets attracted the sympathy and admiration of the inhabitants, many of whom expressed themselves highly gratified with the interesting and cheerful appearance of these persons" [5]. Later in the day, the Vectis resumed her journey to Costantinople. Miss Nightingale returned home in 1856 broken in health and remained an invalid until her death in August 13, 1910. She spent her life pressing for public health reform and the organisation of nurses training, obtaining the necessary information for her reports and publications through correspondence. The above accounts of Florence Nightingale's short stay in Malta fails to confirm the general idea that during her passage through Malta, Nightingale had visited St Vincent de Paule Residence and was impressed by what she saw [6].

Florence Nightingale's involvement with the Residence dated to much later years during the planning stage of the hospital. Action to build a new asylum for the aged and infirm to replace the old Ospizio at Valletta was taken in 1862. The plans for the hospital were drawn up by Mr. T.H. Wyatt of London with the assistance of the Comptroller of Charitable Institutions, the Hon. F.V. Inglott. Florence Nightingale was one of the people consulted and she expressed herself that "the plans are so good (far better than those of any hospital for men and women I have ever seen) that the difficulty was how to find a fault. I could not discover a single sanitary lapse". In another letter to Mr Wyatt she wrote that "It is consolation to know that there will be one good civil hospital in the British Dominions for an example". She however submitted various suggestions calculated to render the nurse's life in hospital more tolerable insisting that the night nurse should have a quiet room to sleep in by day by herself and that the scullery, if used as a Nurses' Day Room, should be comfortable and large enough. She also advocated the provision of water closets for the sole use of the nurses. Nightingale included a copy of the plans for this hospital in her book Notes on Hospital published in 1863. The new Asylum for the Aged and Incurables, later named St Vincent de Paul Hospital in 1940, was opened on 3 October 1892 [7]. A ward in the hospital has been named after Florence Nightingale.

Following the demands made on the Maltese medical military facilities during the Crimean War, the Governor Sir William Reid in 1857, on the advice of the military medical authorities in Malta, advised the British Government that the Valletta Military Station Hospital was inadequate and emphasised the necessity of building a new military hospital. The proposal of a new military hospital in Malta was taken up by Florence Nightingale in her book Notes on Hospitals first published in 1859. In the 3rd edition of her book dated 1863, Nightingale suggested that a new General Military Hospital should replace permanently the Valletta Station Hospital. The new proposed hospital was planned "on the pavilion principle for 300 beds, with the extensions differently arranged from any existing example. The site chosen as the most healthy in the garrison, is limited, and the arrangement of the parts has to be conformed to the shape of the ground. But so flexible is the pavilion construction that it suits itself readily to this requirement. There will be six pavilions arranged side by side, each containing two floors of wards, and the whole connected by open arcades sufficient to afford shelter from sun and rain, but to leave ventilation perfectly free. The entire administration is detached and placed in front of the hospital. The walls on the sides towards the sun, and the roof, will be double to ensure coolness". The site chosen for the hospital was the bottom of Melita Street facing Marsamxett Harbour. The book included a design and block plans, which were prepared by the architect Mr. T.H. Wyatt at the insistence of the Malta Government, though it appears from a marginal note in the copy of Nightingale's book held at the National Library of Malta that the plans were made in the first instance the Comptroller of Charitable Institutions Dr. F.V. Inglott and given architectural proportions by the architect Mr. Wyatt. This new hospital remained a proposal and was never built [8].

A number of Maltese were recruited to serve in Crimea. Several other Maltese were employed with the Ordinance and Commissariat Department to do secretarial work in Turkey, a hundreds of muleteers were recruited in the Land Transport Corps in Crimea, while a further number of Maltese were employed as labourers and kitchen workers in the hospitals in Crimea. Nightingale's experience with these Maltese recruits was on occasions far from satisfactory. Nightingale in Crimea received a large number of contributions collected in England for the troops. It was difficult to keep check of these stores since "the Maltese, Greek and Turkish labourers who worked round the hospital were dishonest almost without exception." On another occasion, two Maltese kitchen-workers were discovered to have hidden goods from the Free Gift Store in their rooms. "The beds of the Maltese were found to be entirely constructed of piles of stolen goods" [9]. Other Maltese recruited included six medical officers - Drs. P. Grillet, A. Bellanti, A. Arpa, V. Muscat, F. Ellul, and S.L. Pisani - and the ecclesiastic Can. Paolo Le Brun. Dr. S.L. Pisani served with Florence Nightingale at Scutari. In her letter to Dr. S.L. Pisani, Miss Nightingale not only addressed her thanks for his services in her hospital at Scutari, but she also urged the military authorities to secure his services as a military surgeon. Writing to Sir William Reid, the British Governor for Malta on 26 May 1856, Nightingale commented that "I had the opportunity to witness his skill when serving under him and I have always heard Dr Pisani's immediate medical superiors at Scutari speak most highly of his services both as to skill and attention in treating the cases entrusted to his charge when he accompanied Dr French to Scutari in October 1854". Dr. Pisani had a subsequent outstanding professional career being raised to the Chair of Anatomy and Histology, of Midwifery and Gynaecology and of Surgery at the University of Malta. He was subsequently appointed the first Chief Government Medical Officer for Malta in 1885 [10].

Malta's acknowledgement to Florence Nightingale and her interest in the Islands should now be repaid by careful re-evaluation of present day nursing standards and concepts in the light of her ideas and concepts of what a nurse should be. 

NOTES
1. M. Galea: Malta, Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War. St. Luke's Hospital Gazette. 1974, 9(2):148-155; M. Galea: The lady with the lamp in Malta. Woman's Journal - The Sunday Times. 15 December, 1991, 12:28-29
2. C. Woodham-Smith: Florence Nightingale 1820-1910. Fontana Books, London, 1968, p.104-106
3. ibid, p.109-110
4. I.B. O'Malley: Florence Nightingale (1820-1856). London, 1931, p.223
5. The Malta Times, 14 November 1854
6. H. Muscat: Miss Nightingale - The lady with the Lamp. Gallarija - The Malta Independant. 23 March 1997, p.7
7. Letters by F. Nightingale to Hon. F.V. Inglott (23 May 1862) and Mr. T.H. Wyatt (23 August 1862) [manuscript]. In: P. Cassar: Medical History of Malta. Wellcome Hist. Med. Libr., London, 1964, p.378, 400-401
8. F. Nightingale: Notes on Hospitals. London, 3rd ed, 1863, p.103; C. Savona-Ventura: Malta and the "Lady with the Lamp". The Sunday Times [of Malta], 22 December 1991, p.30; C. Savona-Ventura: Hospitals in Malta throughout the ages. 4: Military Hospitals. Plexus, in preparation.
9. C. Woodham-Smith, 1968: op. cit. note 2, p.168, 175
10. M. Galea, 1974/1991: op. cit. note 1; P. Cassar: Professor Salvatore Luigi Pisani M.D. (1828-1908). Malta Today, 1982, 17(3):14-16