The History of Malta is a fascinating subject, with some of the oldest accounts of human settlements dating back to 6400 B.C. (more than 8000 years ago!) and some structures (the Megalithic temples) were found to be built between 3600 B.C. and 2500 B.C.
The geographical positioning of Malta has also made it a strategic point that was sought after by a lot of different civilizations, from the Phoenicians more than 2000 years ago, to the French and the English more recently. This means that over the course of history, a lot of naval conflicts took place in Maltese waters: this led to a high number of various types of wrecks. The earliest wrecks were Phoenician wooden ships, which were sadly lost to time: some of those ships, such as the Xlendi Phoenician Shipwreck, left various artifacts of significant archaeological importance behind, but more on those later. The more recent wrecks (from the 20th century onwards) present a lot of variety and include German and English Submarines, Destroyers, planes, amongst others.
One thing you’ll notice if you look at a map of the wreck in Malta (Here, for example: to see the wrecks of Malta on the map, unselect everything except the wrecks in the “interests” filter ) is that most wrecks are situated around the Grand Harbour (Port of Valletta): this makes sense as this is where most of the Marine traffic went through to enter and exit the country. However, there are two things to keep in mind: firstly, the “wrecks of Malta”, which are listed and mapped, are only the ones that were discovered – to give you an idea, there are only a little more than 70 wrecks listed on the maltadives.com website, and comparing to the to the naval casualties during the siege of Malta in the second world war (keep in mind, this is only one conflict amongst others, albeit an important one), there is a large discrepency to the recorded casualties, which total at a little above 2400 vessels (1 battleship, 2 aircraft carriers, 8 cruisers, 19 destroyers, 88 submarines, 2,304 merchant ships sunk). The second thing to keep in mind is that most historical wrecks (meaning wrecks which were sunk during a conflict) are far beyond a recreational depth: most historical wrecks in Malta are found below 50 meters, with a handful going past 100 meters (the deepest recorded wreck on the maltadives.com website is the P36, a submarine which lies at a maximum depth of 140 meters).
With all of this being said, let’s talk a little bit about the wrecks of Gozo: compared to the historical deep-wrecks found off Malta, the wrecks in Gozo were sunk on purpose – meaning they were scuttled for divers. As a matter of fact, they are sunk within recreational range (the 3 first being at a maximum depth of 40m, while only the most recent one, the MT Hephaestus, lies a bit deeper at 45m, which is only suitable for technical divers). In this article, I want to retrace their history and understand how they got where they are today!
The MV Karwela
The story of the MV Karwela starts in 1957 in the city of Papenburg, in Northern Germany. Built by the company Meyer Werft as a small passenger ship, this motor vessel was known back then as the Frisia II. She operated between Norddeich and the island of Norderney until 1977, when she was sold to another shipping company, which renamed her to MV Nordpaloma. In 1981, she was sold yet again to a company based in Travemünde, Lübeck (still Northern Germany); sadly, while in operation, the Nordpaloma got hit by a Finnish car-passenger ferry named MS Rogalin (better known as the MS Aallotar), which resulted in the Nordpaloma being put out of service.
It was in 1986 that the Nordpaloma was sent to Valletta in Malta for repair; however, it seemed that the Maltese took a liking to her as she was bought out by the company Mira Towage Ltd and was finally renamed to what we know her today – the MV Karwela. In 1992, she was sold to Comino Marina Ltd and was then used as a passenger ferry for leisure until 2006, when she was finally sunk off the coast of Gozo on the 13th August, the same day as the MV Cominoland.
The MV Cominoland
Image copyright: Kevin Aquilina.
The MV Cominoland was built in 1942 as one of eight M-class minelayers commissioned for the Royal Navy for coastal defense. As the Cominoland was the 6th boat of this class, it was named the M-6, and renamed Miner VI (N16) shorty after. She operated for the royal Navy for a little over 20 years, until 1966, when she was sold to Zammit E. & Sons in Malta: she operated as a ferry boat between Valletta and Comino, and between 1966 and 1982, underwent several name changes: First renamed MV Minor Eagle, before being renamed MV Cominoland a first time in 1976, and MV Jylland II in 1980. In 1982, she was sold to Captain Morgan Cruises, who decided to revert her name to MV Cominoland and used her as a tourist ferry/pleasure cruise in the Grand Harbor. She stayed with Captain Morgan Cruises until August 2006, when she was scuttled as an artificial reef next to the MV Karwela.
Nowadays, the MV Cominoland lies at a depth of about 40 meters off the south coast of Gozo in Xatt-L-Ahmar. It is about 20-30 meters away from the MV Karwela wreck.
The MV Xlendi
The MV Xlendi was the first scuttled wreck out of the Gozo wrecks, as it was sunk on the 12th November 1999 – sadly, during its scuttling, the wreck turned upside-down, making it hazardous to penetrate. It now lies at a maximum depth of around 42 meters.
To explore its history, we have to jump back in time to 1955 in the City of Helsingør in Denmark. The MV Xlendi was built by Helsingor Verft as a train ferry, at the time, she was known as MV Helsingor. She operated in Denmark for more than 30 years, until 1987, when she was sold to A maltese company operating in Valletta, and was renamed to MV Royal Sheeba for a short time until 1988 when she was renamed MV Borgshorn. It would be in 1990 that she would be acquired by the Gozo Channel Company, renamed to MV Xlendi to operate as a passenger and car ferry between the island of Gozo and Malta, being able to carry up to 65 cars at a time. During its operational years, the ferry encountered occasionally issues: in 1992, the MV Xlendi hit a reef in Comino, in 1995 she collided with the Mgarr harbour, and caught fire in 1999. No casualties were recorded.
The MT Hephaestus
Image copyright: kallandsovarv.com
The MT Hephaestus is the most recent wreck out of all the Gozitan wrecks, scuttled on the 29th August 2022. It drifted slightly from its planned sinking position and is now sitting slightly deeper than the other wrecks, at a maximum depth of around 45-46 meters, making it a perfect dive spot for technical dives.
The Hephaestus was built in Sweden by Oscar Jonssons Torrdocka Trellevarvet Jonsson in 1965 as a motor tanker – back then, she was known as the Eken, until 1973, when she was renamed to Mandoudhi. Some time, probably around the year 2000, it was renamed to MT Hephaestus and was registered to the Port of Lomé in Togo. The Hephaestus was grounded in 2018 and was later on beached near the Qawra Tower due to a severe storm. Though attempts have been made to repair the damage, in the end, it was decided to scuttle it.
Other non-scuttled wrecks
There are a few lesser-known -but nevertheless interesting- wrecks in Gozo: for instance, the Phoenician shipwreck(s) at depths exceeding 100 meters can be found a few hundred meters off the coast of Xlendi bay. On top of being extremely deep, a government approval is required for diving the site, and most dives are led by the Maltese Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit for research purposes. The “wrecks” themselves are not wrecks in the traditional sense as the ships themselves (which were made out of wood) have long been dissolved since the 7th century B.C. ,which is when it is dated back to. However, Amphoras in high density have been found.
