A wooden hulled 1950s minesweeper that became a Libyan patrol boat, then a Maltese tour boat in Kit Kat colours, then a wreck on her own moorings in Sliema Creek. Broken up as a navigation hazard in 2011, so there is very little left to dive.
WreckDivers rarely, if ever, come here.
We found no record of anyone diving this site. It is charted so the picture of what lies under the water is complete, not because it is a place to go: there is no set route, no local briefing to lean on, and nothing on this page has been proven in the water.
Sea conditions
Marginal right now
Some chop (2.7 m NW) · Gusts to 65 km/h
Done for today. Tomorrow: diveable all day. Lowest point 71 around 06:00.
Forecast for the site, updated 19:45 · Models disagree
Measured at Fort St Elmo (2.5 km away, 19:45): 36 km/h from WNW, gusts 39. The next hours lean on it.
- Waves
- 2.7 m
- from NW, biggest 3.9
- Wind
- 36 km/h
- WNW, gusts 65
- Swell
- 1.4 m
- 10 s period
- Sea temp
- 22 °C
- air 18 °C
Hour by hour
Next 7 days
56 2.8 m38 W
59 2.6 m37 WNW
99 0.8 m11 W
78 0.4 m13 ESE
70 0.5 m11 E
72 0.6 m18 NNW
76 0.5 m15 SW
Sunrise 06:25, sunset 17:05
Waves: Copernicus Med-Waves 4 km + MFWAM 8 km + EWAM 5 km + ECMWF WAM 9 km. Wind: ICON-2I 2 km + ECMWF IFS 9 km + ICON-EU 7 km + UKMO 10 km + ARPEGE 11 km. Read a few km out on the side the site is open to, then blended.
Exposed to wind and swell from: NE (45°). Deep inside Marsamxett Harbour and sheltered from almost everything, with only a north easterly pushing any chop into the creek. Visibility is the limiting factor rather than sea state, and it drops sharply after rain or a busy ferry hour. Best season: Any time of year in terms of shelter, though the site is effectively of historical interest only.
The dive
This is a site with an excellent biography and, these days, almost nothing to show for it. Greetham was one of the small Ham class inshore minesweepers, built at Buckie in Moray of wood and non magnetic fittings so that mines would not notice her. She was loaned and then given to Libya, renamed Zuara and used as a patrol vessel, then sold on to a Maltese cruise operator who renamed her Lady Davinia and, for a memorable few years, painted her in red and white livery that everyone on the Sliema seafront knew on sight.
Laid up in Sliema Creek after being decommissioned in 2007, she quietly filled and went down on her moorings in 2008. For a short while she was a novelty dive: shallow, easy to reach from the Sliema shore, and quickly claimed by marine life. Divers of that era described an odd, disorientating little wreck, wooden and rotting, with a wheelhouse frozen mid voyage and a child's chair sitting on the sand beside the hull.
That is where the story stops. In 2011 she was declared a hazard to navigation and partially broken up, and what remains is scattered and unremarkable. Treat this entry as history rather than a dive plan. If you want a wreck in Marsamxett, the X127 lighter off Manoel Island is the one to book.
- Three lives in one hull: Royal Navy sweeper, Libyan patrol boat, Maltese tour boat
- The famous red and white Sliema cruise livery, now only a memory
- Sank quietly on her own moorings rather than in any drama
- Briefly one of Malta's easiest shore accessible wrecks
- Largely removed in 2011, so the entry is a history note more than a dive
Typical plan
Not recommended as a target dive. If a local operator is still running anything at this spot, it would be a single tank, shallow, fifteen metres or so, with a surface marker up throughout because of ferry traffic, and expectations set low. Divers wanting a Marsamxett wreck are far better served by the X127 lighter off Manoel Island at 5 to 22 m.
What the bottom looks like
- 1Mooring chain leading out from the steps8 m deep · 25 m out
- 2Scattered remains of the hull after salvage17 m deep · 85 m out
- 3Silty creek floor17 m deep · 110 m out
Soft silty sand on the floor of Sliema Creek, littered with harbour debris and salvage remnants.
Who you might meet
Almost always
Sometimes
Marked ones can hurt you. What they do and what to do about it is under Getting in and staying safe.
Getting in and staying safe
Only for serious professionals who know exactly what they are doing. With no record of anyone diving here there is no one to ask and no set route, so treat every line below as the start of your own planning, not a briefing. Plan it as an expedition, not a dive.
Historically a shore dive: steps down from the Sliema waterfront below the Fortina, with a ladder for the exit, and a mooring chain to follow out to the hull. Parking along the Strand is metered and fiercely contested. Since the 2011 clearance there is no reason to plan a dive here, and the creek carries constant ferry, water taxi and yacht traffic, so anyone poking about should do it with a marker up and eyes on the surface.
- Very little of the wreck remains after the 2011 clearance
- Constant ferry, water taxi and pleasure craft traffic in Sliema Creek
- Poor and variable visibility in enclosed harbour water
- Sharp broken timber, jagged metal and salvage debris
- Old mooring chains and snagged line
- Surface current through the creek can be surprisingly strong
- Harbour water quality after heavy rain
Marine life to respect
Bearded fireworm · Busuf Can hurt you
Bristles snap off in the skin and burn for hours. Never touch; lift them out with tape, then hot water.
Mediterranean moray · Morina Can hurt you
Bites hard if a hand goes into its hole. Keep hands out of cracks and never feed one.
Red scorpionfish · Ċippullazza Can hurt you
Venomous spines, and it sits still on the rock. Look before you kneel or hold on; hot water if stung.
A bit of history
HMS Greetham, pennant M2632, was one of ninety three Ham class inshore minesweepers, built by Herd and McKenzie at Buckie in Moray and launched on 19 April 1954. She entered service in 1955, was lent to the Libyan Navy in 1962 and transferred permanently in 1966, serving as the patrol vessel Zuara until 1973. Sold to Captain Morgan Cruises in Malta, she was renamed Lady Davinia and worked the tourist trade for decades, latterly in a striking red and white paint scheme. Decommissioned in 2007 and laid up in Sliema Creek, she sank at her moorings in 2008, the exact date unrecorded. She became a brief but popular shallow dive before being named a navigational hazard and partially demolished in 2011.
Divers say
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Further reading: Wikipedia, HMS Greetham (M2632) · Malta, a wonderful dive: the Lady Davinia · Wrecksite, Lady Davinia · Military Wiki, HMS Greetham