Lighthouses

Abstract

On 6th March 1889, HMS Sultan, a Victorian ironclad vessel, ran aground on an uncharted rock some 500 metres from shore, off the South-eastern coast of Comino in the channel between Malta and Gozo. The bottom was ripped open, and she started to take on water. A number of Royal Navy vessels were deployed to assist; however, all attempts to pull her off the rock failed and, during a gale on March 14th, she slipped off the rock and sank. She was raised in August by the Italian firm of Baghino & Co for a fee of £50,000, and then towed into the Malta Dockyard for preliminary repairs. She made the passage back to Portsmouth in December 1889. The grounding of HMS Sultan was well covered in the British and international press. This was not, however, an isolated ship grounding incident in Malta’s eventful maritime history spanning centuries.