Malta's tech wrecks - part one

In December 2008 I watched a video from Stuart Keasley (www.bottlefish.net), which depicted the bow of HMS Southwold lying in 68m, close to the coast of Valetta, Malta. From that moment I knew I had to dive the wreck! A brief search revealed a dive centre, Divewise, which would provide all that Howard, my regular dive buddy and model, and I would need in the way of cylinders and helium mixes. In addition to being a PADI five-star centre, Divewise is also a DSAT technical centre, with Paul Toomer and Alan Whitehead their resident DSAT technical instructors.

While setting up the trip, Alan suggested that we should also dive HMS Stubborn at 57m, and the Polynesia in 68m, as these classic wrecks are ‘must dives’ for divers who frequent the Maltese technical diving scene. Due to the depths in which the wrecks lie, helium is a requirement both to reduce narcosis and to reduce the decompression obligations. Alan and Paul both run DSAT normoxic trimix courses, which allow you negotiate these depths safely - and with a clear head to remember the dive. To spice things up the course qualifying dives are usually conducted on the wrecks in this article. Undertaking the courses in Malta also means that you are almost guaranteed fine weather and superb visibility - something you cannot guarantee in the UK.

We flew out on the Thursday night and Alan met us and took us to a cheap-and-cheerful hotel a five-minute walk from the dive centre. The plan for the Friday was to dive HMS Stubborn, which lies in 57m. There is only one RIB which is set up for technical diving, and this is run by Owen from BarraScuba in Valetta. Normally you have to join the boat in Valetta but seeing as Howard, Leo (the technical guide from Divewise) and I were the only people diving from it and HMS Stubborn lies only a seven-minute ride out from the dive centre in St Julians, Owen brought the boat to us. There is one problem with conducting technical dives in the warm weather of Malta and that is dehydration. The air temperatures were around the 26-30 degree C mark, but the water temperatures at depth were only 15 degrees C. Consequently, we were dressed in warm under-layers (Fourth Element Xerotherm Arctics) beneath our drysuits, to deal with a potential flood during the 90-minute run-times.

The ride out to the site was quick, and Owen’s RIB is an incredibly stable platform with minimal bouncing despite the 25-knot speeds we were operating at. A fast boat is essential for technical diving to transfer a diver suffering from DCS to the shore, as there isn’t the Search and Rescue coverage that we are used to in the UK.
HMS Stubborn was a 66-metre-long S-Class submarine which was launched on 11 November 1942. She was involved in many successful attacks on German ships and submarines in the Bay of Biscay and Norway before being deployed to the Far East in 1945, where she was successful in sinking three Japanese vessels. Unfortunately, she hit a depth charge and sank, hitting the bottom at 166m (design limit of 90m!) damaging the stern section. She returned to Malta where excessive damage was noted and she was scuttled to be used as an ASDIC target.

Looking over the side of the RIB, the sea was a deep cobalt blue and both Howard and I knew there was going to be cracking vis. With the camera and strobes across my lap and decompression stage clipped on, we rolled backwards when Owen gave the signal. We swam to the shot and conducted a quick bubble check at 6m before descending down the shot line. At 35m we could start to see the seabed 25m below us and at 45m I looked through my legs and saw a beautifully intact submarine lying on a barren white sand and shale seabed. I let out a whoop of joy at the sight!

It had taken us only two minutes to descend the shot line, and after a quick check to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be, we swam off to the front to get some shots of the three bow torpedo tubes. I have dived the M2 off Weymouth several times before but never in really good visibility, so trying to make out the different parts of a submarine hasn’t been that easy. However, swimming over this particular submarine, you would be hard-pushed not to recognise the features; the intact conning tower with the open hatches, the venting hatches, the sleek hydrodynamic bow section and finally the large torpedo tubes set back from the knife-edge bow.

After taking some photographs we made our way towards the stern, passing the conning tower and pausing to look down the hatch there. Howard signalled that he would like to go inside, I gestured something back to him about my thoughts of such an idea, especially as the hatch is only just wide enough to get a normally clothed man through, let alone a diver in a twinset!

At the stern another hatch is visible. However, we were nearing our planned bottom time, and so started our ascent after spending 23 minutes at an average depth of 54m. The decompression was uneventful other than huge smiles adorning the faces of Howard and I! The RIB doesn’t have a lift, but Owen is a strong boy and lifted the stages from us before we climbed the ladder. We commented that this was going to be a cracking weekend if the rest of the wrecks were going to be the same as HMS Stubborn.
Back at the dive centre we planned the following day’s dive to the stern section of HMS Southwold, which lies in 75m. The plan was to dive three stages (one bottom gas of 15/40 trimix, one 50 per cent and one 100 per cent) and a twinset of 15/40. This would enable us to get around 25 minutes on the bottom while maintaining minimum gas requirements.

HMS Southwold was an 85-metre-long Type II Hunt-class destroyer which was launched on 29 March 1941. In the spring of 1942 she was involved in a series of battles with the Italian navy in the Gulf of Sirte 150 nautical miles north of Libya. During the battle HMS Southwold and other ships made way for Malta and while trying to rescue MS Breconshire, Southwold hit a mine. She was put under tow but split, sagged and then sank. The wreck lies in two parts approximately 300 metres apart, the shallower bow section in 68m.

This time we drove down to Valetta to meet the RIB in the harbour, and were joined by a local diver who Leo buddied up with. Following a massive five-minute transit to the site we started to get ready. I considered that clipping three stages on while I held the camera as being too difficult, so Owen passed the third stage (which is clipped off on the hip D-ring and sits behind in the water) after I had rolled in. Leo had suggested that Howard and I go down the shot first to get clear shots of the wreck and also because they were on a shorter bottom time so we would be on deco at roughly the same time. Again I led down the shot and at 45m I saw the wreck below us - wow! As well as the wreck I could see a dozen or so large white fish which Leo said later were probably white grouper (and having spoken to Leo since our return, he has recently seen a two-metre mola mola on the wreck as well).

The shot was on the debris field of the break and as we moved down the port side we passed the superstructure and the four-inch shells which cover the deck area. Looking aft we could see the four-inch guns pointing out to port and just below them are the depth charges still in their racks.
 

continued in part two...