As your mobile phone rings and u contact our friends and relatives overseas with the touch
of a button, you may be surprised to learn of the time when you physically had
to book a call for a specific day and time with the firm Cable and Wireless at
Pender Place in Sliema in order to call someone overseas.
The history
of telecommunications on these islands, which has come a long way. An artifact
that is closely connected with this history is the cable-laying vessel, the
Levant II, that has sat on the sea bed undisturbed till found by Emi Farrugia, the executive producer of X'Qala l-Baħar, in 1999 but it
was unclear which ship she was, till 10 years later when his team identified her.
This ship
was used by the Eastern Telegraph Company, which was opened by John Pender.
Offices the company had in St Julians were built on a parcel of land that is
still known as Pender Place. Built as a trawler, the vessel was refitted as a
cable layer.At the start of hostilities during WWI, the Levant II was
requisitioned from the Eastern Telegraph Company to serve in Gallipoli to lay
submarine communication cables there.
When the
Anzacs landed at Suvla Bay, the captain of the ship started laying a cable, a
dangerous operation in the prevailing circumstances. For the deed, the captain
and crew were awarded a war decoration.
After its
return to Malta, the vessel laid and maintained cables connecting Malta to
Sicily, Libya and Alexandria.
In 1952, the
vessel was beyond repair and of no more use so it was decided to scrap it. As
she was being towed out to the spoil ground outside Valletta, the Levant II
started taking on water and sunk about a kilometer off Grand Harbour. Now
sitting in 58 meters…… upright! Fantastic dive!
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