Marsa Ghost Ships

A great desire. It was a while that I was trying to get on those abandoned ships in Marsa’s harbor. The accessible was five: three quite big cargo ships , a warship and a fantastic submarine! I wanted those Marsa Ghost ships.

Dreams come true. One day I was in Marsa with my friend Antonella, who works with migrants. For those who did not know Marsa, the port area, is a dirty and pitiful area where gather all the migrants who had the misfortune to land on the coasts of this island, populated by tendentially racist and closed-minded people. They then opened bars in the neighborhood where they gather and kill time, awaiting the next morning. when, at the big roundabout, the slave-makers of the construction companies (the real governors of Malta) will pick them up to take them to work, illegally and underpaid.

Let’s go back to exploration.
The warship seemed accessible only from a private yard. We approach and enter, there is no one in the guard, so we go further. We arrive in a square full of busy workers who do not mind about us. In total no concern, we climb the small jetty that leads to the abandoned ship, and we enter. We are surprised, is it possible that no one has been interested in us? No, indeed, so we had the time to visit the ship and also the submarine. Apart from the dashboard and some details, we find nothing interesting inside. Even the submersible has no surprises, the only thing worth mentioning, the machine gun lying on the deck. Let’s go back, quiet as we go.

Now I just had to figure out how to get to the other ships, as it was not possible from the private yard. A couple of months later I came back with a new friend with the passion of the urbex, an English boy named Scott. We wait for lunch by strolling around the harbor, and when we see that there is no one around, we grab one of the strong mooring ropes and we climb to one of the ships. We have to be very careful about how we move. The ship is tall and we see distinctly different people working in the adjacent yard. We enter the narrow spaces of the engine room where we find various parts of the engine, or at least I think.

The real surprise comes when we can slip into the top, which houses the cockpit and the day and night areas where the crew was staying. There are still many interesting details such as nautical maps and details that testify the life on the ship, the kitchen with still dirty dishes in the sink, and the sitting room with tv. Same thing more or less on the second ship, while on the third we could not get on.

Marsa ghost ships. Some fragmented information I collected, tells me that the warship and the submarine are occasionally used as props for movies running in the nearby Film Commission, while cargo ships have been abandoned for at least a decade.