Malta November 2017

Four go to Malta: By Jerry Brockelsby

Myself, David Goulder, Terry Schiller and Colin Tapp signed up for a Jack Ingle run trip to Malta during the first week of November. We set off on the morning of the 30^th October. The 3 ½ hours flight was a pleasant affair with champagne and capes on the flight (for some).

The weather was a pleasant 25 ⁰C all week with occasional rainy showers, but this didn’t stop the diving. We were greeted at the dive shop with the friendly faces of some old dive pals that had been on Jack trips previously; namely Marian, Geoff, Kirk, Brian and some new ones. 

The first dive of the trip was a check out dive on the NHS Stubborn. This was a s-class submarine that was sunk in 1946 as a ASDIC; it lies in 55 meters of water. With all equipment tested and found to be mostly working we were set for the rest of the week.

The second dive was to the Polynesian: this is Malta's equivalent of the Titanic. She is a 19th century passenger liner sunk by a German U-Boat towards the end of World War One. It lies mostly upright in some 60 meters of water. This was an impressive dive in view of the great size of the vessel and all the White Star artifacts to see.

The third dive was the bow section of the Southwold; this is the largest piece, approximately 40 meters in length and completely on its starboard side at a depth close to 72 meters. This is another impressive dive with lots to see, with the forward gun still in place.

The last dive was to the famous Schnellboot S-31; this is one of Malts most impressive dives; it is one of the many World War II wrecks around Malta. S-31 was a German fast motor torpedo boat (Schnellboot, S-boot, E-boat). On 10th May 1942 while laying mines in close proximity to Grand Harbour of Valletta, S-31 collided with a loose mine (possibly one of its own) and sank. S-31 wreck lies at around 70 m depth in upright position on the sandy/silty seabed. There is much to see on this small wreck with two torpedoes still in situ.

This was great technical dive trip with most of the divers on rebreathers; the company made it even better. Unfortunately, we had to return to good old blighty to return to our day job (well some of us).

Photos from the trip