The Goodwin Sands are a ten mile long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east of Deal in Kent, England. The sands are known for the large number of shipwrecks which have occurred on them, estimated at over 2,000. 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, and the Battle of Goodwin Sands was fought near them.
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 1690 ‘The Vanguard,’ a 90 gun ‘Man O’ War’ struck the sands, but was fortunate enough to be got off by the boatmen of Deal. However between the 24th and 27th of November 1703, the Great Storm of that year raged like an angry god! Besides the spires of Churches, Windmills 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 gun, 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 wanton and wretched 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 uncounted buildings, including the Eddystone Lighthouse, which was completely blown down. In total this storm was reported to have sank an inestimable count of ships and boats. The Thames estuary took the brunt of the full force of the Gale and in London, over one million pound’s worth of damage was recorded. The maritime community at Greenwich and Deptford was seriously afflicted by this, perhaps the worst storm to be visited upon these Isles during its long recorded history, and, as at Thanet, it was the terrible toll in lives lost at sea that most shook the town.
Of the Naval vessels lost to the sands, the ‘Northumberland’ and the ‘Restoration’ were both Deptford built, and, from there locally manned, they were lost with all hands; also built at Deptford in 1697 by Master Pett was the 1097 ton, 70 gun, Third rate ‘Stirling Castle’ about which conflicting reports state that during the storm she lost either 206 of her crew of 276, or 379 of her compliment of 446?
The Woolwich Forth rate ‘Mary’ was totally overwhelmed with the loss of 343 men, and the boom ship ‘Mortar’ was lost with all of her crew of sixty five.
It was during these tumultuous events that a Deal Lugger saved sixty four of the seamen. A few hours later - it then being low water - a number of men were seen from the shore, stranded on a part of the Goodwin Sand, which was then high and dry, the shipwrecked seamen were making frantic efforts to attract some attention. Their were but a few Luggers and other large boats then belonging to those Deal boatmen, still further, anyone with the slightest knowledge of sea conditions thereabouts also knew that these could not be launched from the beach, for some considerable time before and after low water.
Given these plain facts the boatmen went to the Officer in charge of the Customs House and begged the loan of one or two of his boats, which were of a size to be got afloat, so that they could make an attempt at a rescue. Remarkably, he refused! With this contemptuous and shameful behavior the response to their plea, they went to the Mayor, a Mr. Thomas Powell, who repeated the request to the said Officer who again refused any assistance, whereupon the Mayor authorised the boatmen to proceed to take the boats, by force if necessary.
He also personally undertook to reward them for any lives saved. This endeavor was duly carried out and over 200 of the stranded seamen were saved and brought ashore. The unnamed Admiralty Officer’s (the Captain of Deal Castle was then Sir Francis Wheeler, Kt.) delay caused some loss of lives, as the operation clearly necessitated several return journeys of approximately six miles in each direction, and consequently not all of the men were rescued before the tide rose to sweep the remainder away.
The Mayor of Deal was then left with some two hundred of Her Majesty Queen Anne’s seamen (reported not to be worth the trouble, having been ‘pressed’) on his hands ~ many of whom were injured or in a state of collapse from long exposure.
He appealed to the Queen’s reluctant Agent, there being a regular Naval establishment at Deal, but again could obtain from him not the slightest assistance whatsoever in the forwarding of these servicemen to their homes or stations. Thomas Powell, the Mayor, a Clothier by trade was nevertheless himself a man of great courage and humanity, personally shouldered the responsibility. Still no record of any reimbursement for his very considerable outlay has been produced.