Six miles off the coast of Deal inward East Kent , England , lies 1 of the most treacherous stretches of sand inward Britain. Lying inward the optic of the English linguistic communication channel inward the narrow Straits of Dover , unopen to 1 of the busiest transportation channel inward the basis , the sands introduce a non bad challenge to navigators. Since the starting fourth dimension documented shipwreck on Goodwin Sands inward 1298 , to a greater extent than than 2 ,000 ships are believed to convey wrecked here. Dozens of wrecks nonetheless prevarication underneath the waves.
The Goodwin Sands is almost 10 miles long together with iii miles broad at its widest , but because of the tides together with currents , the shoals are constantly sifting. Usually , the sand remains completely submerged betwixt 8 to fifteen meters beneath the surface , but equally the tide falls , the sandbank intermission the surface together with expose almost a 10th of their full area. During these times , the sand is trouble solid plenty to walk upon.
Photo credit: www.dover-marina.com
Typically , a send would encounter the sand during petroleum atmospheric condition together with start out to break. Any survivor who manages to escape onto the sand mightiness convey been able to lite fires together with effort to attract the attending of passing ships , or the Boatsmen of Deal together with Kingsdown. If aid didn’t brand it inside hours , the tide would provide together with the sand would plough into quicksand , together with ships together with survivors would live on engulfed.
The biggest loss of life occurred during the Great Storm of 1703 when at to the lowest degree thirteen men-of-war together with xl merchant vessels were wrecked inward the Downs , resulting inward the deaths of 2 ,168 lives. One of the ships lost during that nighttime —the HMS Stirling Castle— was discovered past times local divers inward 1979. Other notable wrecks include an East Republic of Republic of India Company send the Admiral Gardner that wrecked inward Jan 1809. It carried a cargo of atomic give away 26 , guns , anchors , together with 48 tons of companionship coins. This wreck was institute inward 1984 , together with almost a 1000000 coins were recovered. The wreck of Admiral Gardner is directly designated a protected expanse amongst a 300-meter exclusion zone simply about its remains.
Modern navigation technology , specially that assisted past times GPS , together with detailed mapping of the channel directly allow ships to avoid the Goodwin Sands. There convey been no major accidents hither since a lightship capsized inward 1954 killing half dozen crew members.
There is currently 1 lightship on the terminate of the sands to warn ships. The sands were 1 time covered past times 2 lighthouses on the Kent mainland , 1 each roofing the due north together with southward ends of the sands. The South Foreland lighthouse is directly owned past times the National Trust , together with the North Foreland lighthouse is nonetheless inward operation.
The place of Goodwin Sands on the Straits of Dover.
Photo credit: www.dover-marina.com
Wreck of the SS Mahratta on the Goodwin Sands from an one-time postcard.
The Great Storm Nov 26 , 1703 Wherein Rear Admiral Beaumont was lost on the Goodwin Sands.
Sources: UK Shore Blog / www.dover-marina.com / Wikipedia