It always amazes me how such a tiny island like Malta has a high concentration of cultural heritage sites. Yet there is one other site that few of us are aware of.
A small wreck by the name of X127, (erroneously known as Carolita barge or Carol) is completely sunk but intact in Lazzaretto Creek, just a few metres from the old quarantine hospital on Manoel Island.
It is the only vessel still remaining of its kind. Originally, the British Department of Naval Construction had commissioned 200 such X-lighters, as they had been named, back in 1915.
Their purpose was to carry supplies, ammunition, horses, food and water, to the British militia and Allied forces in Gallipoli, during World War I. Only the X-lighters could do this at the time, as their spoon-shaped bow permitted beaching onto the nearby shelving bays in Gallipoli, reaching soldiers better.
Our X127 is one of 14 which were modified to carry water. Following the war, it was left in the hands of the local harbour authorities, and resumed its duties as water lighter, until it was hit during an air raid during World War II. It sank on the spot during the night of March 6, 1942.
The wreck has since stood there untouched, except for the marine life that dwells in it, and the occasional scuba diver. Its 199 sister vessels have all vanished, either through decay, or because they were scrapped, destroyed in battle, or sunk deep, in Ernle Bradford's words: "through the silt and mud of the ages".
Only X127 remains almost intact and in a known location. It was Dave Mallard and his friends who in the past few years, managed to reveal its true identity. Yet this great treasure may soon be gone.
Despite their knowledge on the value of this underwater cultural heritage site, MIDI has pushed ahead with the proposed development for Lazzaretto Creek, and its sketch plots a super-yacht berthing facility just above the site where X127 lies.
Not only would this restrict access to scuba divers, but it will also probably destroy the entire seabed, for the sake of yet another yacht marina! Could not another site be found to meet the demand for another marina? Does it really need to be just on top of a heritage site? Can we afford this loss?
I appeal to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the Museums Director, Heritage Malta, diving schools and the authorities concerned to stop this before it is too late.
X127 was there long before the proposal for this yacht marina was made. Besides, according to Maltese law, having been underwater for over 50 years, it should benefit from the status of underwater cultural heritage.
One might propose salvaging the wreck and moving it elsewhere. This cannot happen for two reasons. First, the wreck is fragile, and secondly, it goes against the 2001 Unesco Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
This heritage is not only ours. It belongs to the world at large, but it is our duty, as a nation, to see that the future of X127 is safeguarded, in the best way possible.