Building on the success of the Filfla and Comino documentaries, the Malta Airport Foundation collaborated once again with award-winning production house Monolith Productions and one of Malta’s leading marine biologists Professor Alan Deidun, on the production of a series of mini documentaries, titled Submerged World.

The six-part series plunges audiences into the different depths of the Mediterranean Sea to explore six of the Maltese Islands’ most popular wrecks.

“Wrecks are one of the best ways through which man can attempt to turn back time and try to restore elements of the marine environment that have been lost through his actions. By concentrating marine life, wrecks very often act as oases within barren deserts, representing an opportunity for man to give back to nature and thus help to redress the balance.”

– Professor Alan Deidun, Executive Producer

UM EL FAROUD

The first episode from the Submerged World series takes viewers for a dive on the former fuel tanker Um El Faroud, which could be reached by a 250-metre surface swim from Wied iż-Żurrieq. Following a gas explosion during maintenance work in 1995, the tanker was deemed unfit for purpose, and was consequently scuttled off the southern coast of Malta back in 1998 as one of the Maltese Islands’ first artificial reefs. The vessel now sits upright on the sandy seabed with its top only 20 metres from the surface. Over the past years, different marine organisms, from the Triggerfish to sea urchins, have colonised the tanker’s decks, making for a most fascinating underwater experience for divers.

HMS MAORI

The HMS Maori, a once proud and mighty 115-metre-long destroyer, has become a popular diving wreck among both locals and tourists. Commissioned in 1938 with a crew of 190 officers and men, the ship was originally intended to escort convoys in the Mediterranean, before being involved in the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. The ship was struck by a direct hit from a German aircraft in 1942, and was cut into two pieces three years later, with the fore section being sunk near St. Elmo bastions in Valletta. This documentary delves into the history and current state of this fascinating wreck. Along the years spent sitting on the seabed, the wreck has become a veritable mosaic of marine habitats.

MV ROŻI

The third instalment of The Submerged World series, the Rożi documentary, explores the wreck of MV Rożi, a former 35-meter-long tugboat, which is one of Malta’s most popular dive sites. Located in Cirkewwa, north-west Malta, the Rożi is one of two wrecks in the area, alongside the patrol boat P29. The vessel lies on a sandy bottom approximately 120 metres off Ċirkewwa at a depth of 30 to 35 metres. Built in Bristol in the 1950s, the tugboat Rożi was scuttled in 1992 to become an attraction for divers and has since become a haven for marine life.

COMING SOON

MV COMINOLAND

MV Cominoland is one of the three diving wrecks found off the shore of ix-Xatt l-Aħmar in the southeast of Gozo, making this area a most interesting, almost continuous man-made reef. Found 30 to 45 metres deep underwater, the vessel is 34 metres in length and has an 8-meter beam.
MV Cominoland was built in England in 1942, as an ‘M’ class small minelayer, and was originally commissioned by the Royal Navy as ‘M6’. After retiring from the Royal Navy in 1966, she was sold to a Maltese company and began to operate as a ferry between Valletta and the islands of Comino and Gozo. The vessel was first renamed Minor IV and later MV Minor Eagle, until in 1976 when it was named MV Cominoland. The Gozo Tourism Association scuttled Cominoland on the 12th of August 2006, with its wide-open decks offering a unique diving experience which few other wrecks can offer.

IMPERIAL EAGLE

Targeted at more experienced divers due to the strong currents in the area, the Imperial Eagle can be reached by a northeasterly boat ride of around half a kilometre from Qawra Point. Currently found at a dive depth of around 45 meters close to Qawra reef, the Imperial Eagle was built in the 1930s to serve the Royal Navy in World War II and was first named New Royal Lady. Eventually, the vessel was brought to Malta to serve as a ferry between Malta and Gozo, carrying up to 70 passengers and 10 cars, before being used to carry livestock and supplies between the two islands. In 1999, the Imperial Eagle was scuttled to form part of a valuable underwater marine park.

PATROL BOAT P31

Located off the west coast of Comino, Patrol Boat P31 lies in the middle of the bay halfway between Lantern Point and Cominotto. One of the few shallow wreck dives around Malta, the vessel, measuring 52 meters in length with a beam of 8 meters, is found at a depth of 20 meters under the bow and 18 meters at the stern.

In its early days, P31, originally named Pasewalk, was a minesweeper working between East and West Germany. P31 then became a patrol boat on the islands in the 1990s, before being scuttled on the 24th of August 2009 to become a diving attraction and artificial reef.