Scuba Works Malta
Welcome to Scuba Works Malta – Your Underwater Partner

Lady with a lovely name – Davina

It is Sunday early morning – drizzling. The Pope is on a 2 days visit in Malta. The streets are not busy as we predicted. No cars are on the roads but pedestrians only on their way to the Holy Mass on the square.

I driving my car through the rain and thinking why this people are doing this sacrifice to wake up early in the morning and to go hear the Words!? Why I’m awake?

We all have our own religion, believes and faiths.  I believe in the harmony that one can find under the water and using every single opportunity to charge my mind with positive energy.

This morning I’m on my way to meet the guys and girls so we can spend 1 hour in peace and relax. Today the plan is to dive the wreck of HMS Greetham/ Lady Davina.

HMS Greetham (IMS34) Launched in 1955 Pennant Number M2632 and completed in 1955.  Built by Herd & Mckenzie and the parent firm who were responsible for supervising the constructions was Samuel White of Cowes, Isle of White.

The HMS Greetham was one of 93 ships of the Ham-class of inshore minesweepers, their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. This minesweeper was named after Greetham, Lincolnshire or Greetham, Rutland.
The vessel displaced 164 tons fully laden and was armed with one 40 mm Bofors or 20 mm Oerlikon gun. It is 32.5 metres long overall by 6.4 meters beam. The construction is of wood to minimise magnetic signature. The crew complement was 15, rising to 22 in wartime.
The engines of this class were Paxman diesels, some of which were built under licence by Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln.

The HMS Greetham was loaned to Libyan Navy as their first ships in 1963 and transferred permanently & renamed Zuara in September 1966 – Decommissioned in 1973.

She was later acquired by a Maltese Tour Operator and re-named Lady Davina.

For some years she had a distinctive red and white Kit Kat paint on it.

From 2007 onwards she was laid up in Sliema Creek awaiting her fate until one day it just sunk at its moorings.

The rain stopped and we jumped in our suits. After short briefing the plan was set and everyone was aware of it.  We wanted to dive the wreck and later to explore the massive anchor chain that is on sea bed across the creek.

My buddies Paul and Debbie are ready and asking what is the visibility? Is it the same as Kalkara Creek? We will soon find out.

On our way to the bottom we discovered that the vis is not very good and we had to navigate with the compass. After 3 minutes only I spotted the shade of the Lady! And O Miracle! The light came   from the sky and the wreck was in it full length in front of us. Beautiful in the light with a lot of colours and marine live.

We slowly moved around exploring every place and open part. The wreck is not very safe so one have to be extremely careful when penetrating.

The captain chair is still there and it looks like he just went to grab a beer from the fridge (there are few more left so take a cold one on your next dive) and will be back to call someone on the radio. You can spot maps, magazines and other books left there too.

After 20 minutes of swimming around we dived to the bottom to find the chain that we will use as our navigation.

The bottom is full with different things to explore – old bottles, plates from British Navy Ships, pottery, metal and many big and small bits and pieces.

On our way back we saw a big octopus in his hole and Debbie was very happy.

So let’s recap – wreck, treasure hunting, history, marine life and all in one spot just in the one of the busiest parts in Malta.

Who said we are not lucky!?

Tags: Diving for beginners in Malta, HMS Greetham, Lady Davina, Scuba Diving in Malta, Shore dive in Malta, Wreck Diving in Malta