Completing a triptych of articles, Andy Torbet considers Malta’ s lasting mark on history and underwater exploration
TORBET ON THE TUBE
PHOTO: BECKI BIGGINS
Malta: Legacies
Completing a triptych of articles, Andy Torbet considers Malta’ s lasting mark on history and underwater exploration
I
have been visiting Malta, on and off, for a quarter of a century. But its maritime legacy stretches back much further than the arrival of a young, enthusiastic soldier, with silent joints and fewer hours underwater than the one penning this column. Sitting at the eastern crossroads of the Mediterranean, history’ s busiest sea, this maritime hub has witnessed civilisations rise and fall. From Phoenician traders and Roman merchants to the military might of the Knights of St Johns and the Royal Navy. This legacy of trade and conflict has produced a seafaring museum across the country’ s seabed.
It could be argued that Malta’ s most famous‘ wreck’ was an old British minesweeper, which by 1950 was being used as a ferry. It was discovered, bought, renovated and transformed into MV Calypso by Jacques Yves Cousteau, whose global filming and exploration adventures inspired generations of underwater explorers.
In the 1960s, underwater archaeology began to formalise in Malta when archaeologists started excavating Roman ships. Vessels from periods throughout history were discovered and studied using increasingly technical dive methods culminating in 2018 with the world’ s first excavation by divers below 100 metres on a 2,700-year-old Phoenician ship. Technology has assisted outreach as well as diving and this deep, ancient wreck can now be viewed in Malta’ s Virtual Museum.
The legacy of exploration is not restricted to history. Recently, cold-water reefs, deep coral systems and world record aggregations of eagle rays have been discovered. As abundant as the marine life is, it is possibly the islands’ geology that gives its history the most competition. The Mediterranean has spent millions of years sculpting the submerged limestone bedrock of Malta into cliffs, gullies, caverns and tunnels. Some of Malta’ s most iconic sites, accessible to snorkellers, are purely the outcomes of erosion. The Inland Sea, with its tunnel to the Med, the Blue Hole, said to
Andy and Becki on their first Malta holiday in 2006
64
Youngest son carries on the family tradition