Shipwreck Films has been to the Mediterranean three times during the last few years. In March 2002 Alex Vassallo organised a Starfish Enterprise trip to Malta to explore some of the local wrecks and carry out research for a future expedition to locate and dive the Duncan class battleship HMS Russell. This was a really fun trip in spite of the windy weather. Strong winds offshore meant that, on a couple of days, we had to dive shallow wrecks close to shore. This actually made a pleasant change from the deep technical diving we are used to. The bomber and oil tanker were easy dives but fantastic wrecks nonetheless. There isn’t much left of the warship in Valletta harbour but, as it’s in only 15m we couldn’t resist plopping in on the way back to base.
The best wrecks are further out. The Polynesian is one of my favourite wrecks. It’s a French freighter and lies in 65 - 70m. I have dived her four times but there is still a lot of the wreck I haven’t seen. The destroyer HMS Southwold is split in two and during 2002 we dived the bow section which sits in about 70m.
June 2003 saw the Starfish Enterprise deep exploration team back in the Mediterranean. Alex Vassallo with the help of Teresa Telus led an expedition to locate and dive the battleship HMS Russell, lying in 112m. We also dived the stern section of HMS Southwold, the Polynesien, the sub HMS Stubborn and a German e-boat. This is the best expedition I have been on. Fantastic wrecks, luxury accommodation (aboard Princes Duda) and the only day we didn’t dive was the day we arrived in Malta!!
During 2002 Teresa and I were honoured to be invited to join Carl Spencer's team to dive and film the hospital ship HMHS Britannic. September 2003 saw us on the island of Kea, in the Aegean Sea, to dive the largest shipwreck in the world. Thanks Carl.
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