One of the British Military Boats left in Malta was the 1943 built former Army GSP, converted as a yacht of which back in 1978 she was acquired by Marsaxlokk Fishermen family and renamed her as TEMPTATION registered as F 143.
She was 17.83 m long with the Maltese Registry of Shipping Official Number (O.N.) as 319. Her radio callsign was 9HKW with 38.24 as GRT, 24.02 as NRT and 410 BHP as machinery doing maximum speed of 15 knots.
Back in 2006 the owners were granted over Lm80,000 from the European Union to give up their fishing vessel and have it removed from the Maltese Fisheries Register and the European register when their fishing licence expires. On Wednesday 17th May 2006 the Parliamentary secretary for farming and fisheries Dr Francis Agius attended the signing of the agreement that saw the Cutajar brothers handing over their vessel to Heritage Malta.
Dr Agius said this agreement was possible thanks to a financial grant given by the European Union. The grant is being used to bring down the number of category A and B fishing vessels registered in Malta, and applies to vessels that are more than 10 years old. The vessels are either scrapped or used for other purposes.
A total of 10 applications were received but only three were eligible, Dr Agius said. They will benefit from a total of E 511,760 or Lm 219,699.
Seventy-five per cent of the funds are paid by the EU and 25 per cent by the government.
Dr Agius said the vessel was being given to Heritage Malta because of her long service history. In fact she was brought to Boiler Wharf at Grand Harbour back to July 2009.
She was lifted up from the sea on Thursday 11th February 2010 from onboard a flat top barge supplied by Malta Shipyards onto a trailer supplied by Malta Shipyards towed by a Leyland truck.
Later on she was transferred inside the Boiler Shop to be stored for the Transport Museum dream but she was broken up few years later with no Transport Museum in existance.
All Photographs are by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
