Goodwin Sands

The Goodwin Sands are a 10-mile long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east of Deal in Kent, England. More than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked upon them and as a result, they are marked by numerous lightships and buoys. Notable shipwrecks include the Stirling Castle and the South Goodwin Lightship.

An annual cricket match is played on the sands at low tide.

Several naval battles have been fought nearby, including the Battle of Goodwin Sands in 1652 and the Battle of Dover Straits in 1917.

Legend holds that the sands were once the fertile, low-lying island of Lomea. This, it is said, was once owned by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, after whom they are named. When he fell from favour, the land was given to St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. The abbot failed to maintain the sea walls, leading to the island's destruction.

In 1974 a plan was put forward to build a third London airport on the Goodwin Sands, with a huge harbour complex, but the idea faded into obscurity.

Shipwrecks on the Sands

John, the son of Phineas Pett of Chatham, was involved in an ordeal in the beginning of October 1624, when occurred: "a wonderful great storm, through which many ships perished, especially in the Downs, amongst which was riding there the Antelope of his Majesty, being bound for Ireland under the command of Sir Thomas Button, my son John then being a passinger in her. A merchant ship, being put from her anchors, came foul of her, and put her also from all her anchors, by means whereof she drove upon the brakes [the Sands], where she beat off her rudder and much of the run abaft, miraculously escaping utter loss of all, for that the merchant ship that came foul of her, called the Dolphin, hard by her utterly perished, both ship and all the company. Yet it pleased God to save her, and got off into the downs, having cut all her masts by the board, and with much labour was kept from foundering." (From the Autobiography of Phineas Pett.)

Phineas received news of the shipwreck at Deal, and was dispatched by the Lord Admiral to attend to the ship and use his best means to save her. He used chain pumps, replaced the rudder, and fitted jury masts, by which effort she was safely brought to Deptford Dock.

In 1690 HMS Vanguard, a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line, struck the Sands, but was fortunate enough to be got off by the boatmen of Deal.

Between the November 24 and November 27, 1703, the Great Storm raged. The spires of churches, windmills and an estimated 40,000 trees were blown down. A minimum of 13 men o'war were wrecked on the Downs, with the loss of 2,168 lives and 708 guns, including the sailors of 40 merchant vessels that were subsequently lost, wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, and yet, to their great credit, the Deal boatmen were able to rescue 200 men from this ordeal.

The Great Storm, otherwise described as "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England" resulted in large-scale flooding and the devastation of countless buildings, including the Eddystone Lighthouse, which was blown down.

Of the naval vessels lost to the sands, Northumberland and Restoration were both Deptford built, and, from there locally manned, they were lost with all hands; also built at Deptford in 1697 was the 1,097-ton, 70-gun, third-rate Stirling Castle. The Woolwich fourth-rate Mary was totally overwhelmed with the loss of 343 men, and the boom ship Mortar was lost with all of her 65 crew.

The brig Mary White was wrecked on the Sands in a storm in 1851; seven men of her crew was rescued by the lifeboat from Broadstairs.

External links

Information on the sands from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist8_prog4c.shtml)