The P29 Minesweeper Patrol Boat

The Kondor Class minesweeper was orginally built for the German navy but later used by the Armed forces of Malta as a patrol boat.

The sinking of the Patrol boat as a diving attraction was arranged by the Malta Marine Foundation and sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority.  A sister ship is due to be sunk later off Comino.  The P29 was sank quite some distance from shore but can be dived by the fit.  It is much more easy to dive this wreck by boat and it has been a huge hit with our diving clients.  The wreck is around 52 metres long and hit the bottom end on before lying flat at 37 metres.
The superb photos of the sinking were taken by  Welsh diver Susan Davies from shore with an Olympus camera.

Of course as soon as the P29 was sunk, we couldn’t wait to dive it. Our instructors went that same afternoon to familiarize themselves with the wreck before taking clients. The first row of underwater photos of the wreck were taken by our instructor Willem Weeseman and the second row by our client Prof. Ernst Luecker.