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Malta - Mid Range Wrecks 9-16 September 2010 |
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Targets - HMS Southwold, Le Polynesian.
Some pics of the trip here
Travelling from Manchester on the evening of 15th we arrived Malta early morning on the 16th. Alan of Techwise met us at the airport, we loaded up the gear and headed to the hotel. The gear was quickly dispatched to a storage room and we headed off to wind down with a few beers in St Julian.
Being very close to all the nightlife was convenient this time but proved not to be on other nights (for some). An early nigh it wasn’t but it was very short. Alan collected us the next day at 11:30 and took us and our equipment to the dive centre where we sorted out our cylinders and weights ready for a weight check on the “house reef”
Day 1(10-9/10) - dive 1 – House reef – depth 6.3m. Run time 15 minutes A quick run out to check the buoyancy, a fairly uninteresting reef.
Day 1- dive 2 – Um El Faroud – depth 31m. Run time 61 minutes
The entry/exit is reached by a short walk down a hill, down some steps and entry off a small concrete platform. The wreck lies some 150 meters away in 32 meters of water. This isn’t a wreck that required all the equipment that we were carrying but was a “shake down” for the coming dives. We could have done without the extra drag of stages for this shore dive. We approached the wreck on the port bow and headed down the companion way beside the bridge, entering the bridge we crossed to the starboard side, there was easy access in here to the lower deck and a couple of divers took that route, coming out of a large opening at the rear of the bridge. We entered through this cap and dropped a deck, not much remains of any interesting artifacts, all removed over the years it seems. The wreck’s broken in half along the storage tanks area, we crossed this and swam to the rear structures passing many shoals of fish including barracuda and tuna. Retuning along the port side of the ship we headed for shore from the same area we’d landed on the wreck, port side bow just forward of a small winch. The swim back was another drag with all the paraphernalia we were dragging and the exit ladder is more suited to “lighter” equipment.
Day 2- dive 0 – La Polynesian – Blown out
Day 3- dive 3 – La Polynesian – depth 64m. Bottom time 35 mins. Run time 91 mins.
Flat seas and bright sun greeted us next morning On descending, the wreck started to come into view from about 30 meters, the vis was so good that at 40 meters it seems so close that we could reach out and touch it, it took another 17 meters before we could. On reaching the wreck we dropped over the side of the ship and down to the sea bed swimming toward the stern. Swimming up onto the deck spotted the large rear deck gun, The wreck listed to port, the gun mounted toward the starboard side was silhouetted by the blue water above. We headed toward the bow rummaging along the way, electric fans, chandeliers, portholes and fixed windows among the other fixings lying along the deck. The bow was sheared off and raised up, but we didn’t get much time to investigate here as it was time to turn back toward the shot and begin the ascent. Looking back down the line as we ascended,we watched as the ship slowly faded back into the blue of the Mediterranean. A fantastic dive and one which we’d all be pleased to dive again.
Day 4- dive 4 – Schnelboot – depth 65.5m. Bottom time 24 Mins. Run time 79 mins
The shot was spot on. Down we went and at about 35m the wreck started to appear with the shot just off the starboard bow and the line running across the wreck. No current at all as we descended to the seabed near the port bow. Looking down the torpedo tube the torpedo still lies in place with the small arming “propeller” clearly visible on the nose. Swimming around the open bow (plates missing) and down the starboard side we passed the starboard torpedo tube the front end on the seabed and rear still on the deck. Passing to the rear the powerful rudders were still in place and arriving on the deck again there lay one of the navigation lamps and not far away what appeared to be a clock. Moving on to the cockpit/bridge the throttle controls were hanging by their cables,.and the splash windows were lying nearby. Moving from the cockpit back toward the shot the back end of the port torpedo tube also appears to have a splash window, perhaps these were line sighted by eye for the target run. 19 degrees on the wreck and 25 during the deco at 6 meters
Day 5- dive 5 – HMS Southwold (Stern) – depth 71.3m. dive time 22 minutes. Run time 82 minutes.
Planning the deployment so that we wouldn’t all be deco-ing on the shot at the same level at the same time, we entered the water in three teams. Myself and Paul were last in, the job of removing the shot was to be done by the last team off the wreck. As it turned out the shot wasn’t as accurate as the skipper had predicted and wouldn’t need moving. Free ascent down keeping the line in view we passed the second team, we could just make out the first team on the sea bed from about 40 meters, heading toward them we noticed that they were heading back along the bottom, swinging around and we could see the wreck below us and adjusted our descent to head for that. We arrived at the wreck about the same time as the first team who’d brought the line with them. Shell cases from the 4” guns lay around the seabed in the scour created by the rudder. We headed up and over the stern and down the port side leaving the others to inspect the lower rear gun. Under the overhang of the companionway was a pile of more used shells these looked as though they’d been thrust aside in the thick of action to make way for reloading, and brought to mind pictures of the last minutes of this ship, fighting air and surface craft but finally sunk by a mine . Continuing along to the break there was what looked like a depth charge lying amongst the torn debris, traversing to the starboard side we swam a little way along the sea bed before raising up again to the deck level. Here at the deck we peered through a window at the shelves of boxes and jars that contained what looked like white grease. Moving further along to the rear the area of the gun had by now been vacated and we took a swim around this and then with a little time remaining moved up to the rear upper gun deck. On the upper gun deck the running plate was obvious but there was no sign of the gun, torn away and apparently lying forward of the stern section. Heading back toward the shot we again passed the rear gun, then past the rack of depth charges and onto the line to head for the sunshine. If visiting this wreck and you happen to find, what looks like a mortar crater about 20 meters astern, it isn’t, It’s where Ash landed after a somewhat uncontrolled descent. On investigation later we found that he lower dump toggle of his wing had wrapped itself around the cylinder valve and held the dump open. This misfortune occurred on entry as examination of photos later showed. All’s well that ends well and we headed back to the hotel for a lounge by the pool in preparation for a night out. 19 degrees at 71 meters and 25 degrees during the deco. |
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