DIVING NEWS
Dive into Malta’s Virtual Museum
A slick new website bound to appeal to wreck-divers is The Virtual Museum: Underwater Malta.
The site is the result of a collaboration between the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit at Heritage Malta, the University of Malta and the Malta Tourism Authority.
Its declared aim is to bring “Malta’s underwater cultural heritage to the surface, with 3D documentation and public outreach as the main goals”.
Most of the wrecks lie deep, down to 110m in the case of a 2700-year-old Phoenician shipwreck site, so technical divers will find the site a valuable pre-dive planning aid while less-advanced divers gain virtual access to appealing wrecks otherwise beyond their range.
27 July 2020
An interactive map shows that most of the 10 wreck-sites lie off the east coast of the island of Malta, with the ancient shipwreck lying west of Gozo and one of four aircraft wrecks, a Consolidated B24 Liberator, at 55m off Malta’s south coast. The other WW2 bomber aircraft are a Junkers Ju88 (57m), a Bristol Beaufighter (38m) and a Fairey Swordfish biplane (70m).
Also featured are the 57m-deep submarine HMS Stubborn and Schnellboot S-31 at 65m. On the shallower side at 16m is the bow section of the WW2 destroyer HMS Maori; the also-shallow Xlighter 127 and a set of Victorian guns in a collapsed section of Fort Ricasoli, only 3m deep but an awkward site to dive.
Each wreck is displayed as an interactive 3D model that can be explored in 360° and VR and is accompanied by high-quality videos, picture galleries, histories and wreck basics.
