The fight to save the Silvia Onorate

On this day, 1948 Another ship on the GoodwinsWithin ten minutes of the maroons being fired the Walmer lifeboat Charles Dibdin was launched from the steep beach. The weather was …

The disappearing lightship

On the 21st October 1940, the South Goodwin lightship disappeared from her station close to the South Sand Head. Fortunately the crew had been taken off a few days prior …

Goodwin Sands Treasure

Over hundreds of years, the 10 mile stretch of sand called the Goodwins has been the demise of thousands of ships and their crews. This natural hazard has trapped and …

Lost Patrols

It is a little known fact that there are at least twenty Hull and Grimsby deep sea fishing vessels sunk within eyesight of the Goodwin Sands. It has not been …

SS Mahratta 1939

At the beginning of the Second World War the anchorage in the Downs was full to overflowing with ships awaiting inspection from naval officers of the Contraband Control. Neutral vessels …

Another ship on the Goodwins

Within ten minutes of the maroons being fired the Walmer lifeboat Charles Dibden was launched from the steep beach. The weather was starting to deteriorate with an increasing southerly breeze …

U 48 – Death on the Goodwins

In the latter part of the First World War, German submariners were feeling the effect of the diligent Royal Navy and losses of U-boats were mounting up. Volunteers for the …

The mysterious U boat

Many years ago a television company was filming a pilot programme about a Goodwin Sands shipwreck, the U-16, in our local maritime museum. Although one of the presenters of this …