Save Our Military Remains & Shipwrecks

The Goodwin Sands are one of the most important maritime archaeological areas in English waters. With their wealth of historic wrecks and the potential remains of crashed World War II aircraft it has been suggested that the Goodwins should be treated as a conservation area. Dover Harbour Board’s own Impact Report admits that there is a very high chance of finding nationally important historical and archaeological material in their proposed dredging area. Dover Harbour Board recognises that damage to heritage assets is irreversible and a permanent loss to mankind. The first indication of discovering fragile archaeological material such as wooden shipwrecks, aircraft structures or prehistoric remains will be after they have been destroyed by the dredge head and appeared in broken pieces on board the dredge vessel. Then it is too late and these irreplaceable historic artefacts will have been destroyed for ever. Dover Harbour Board has already decided to source the sand and aggregate for the start of their project from another dredge site in the Thames Estuary. Clearly this new source provides a suitable alternative to using the controversial Goodwin Sands and should be used for the whole project. This marine licence application for dredging the Goodwin Sands should be refused. Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, August 2017.

The British Sub Aqua Club is the Governing Body for the sport of Sub Aqua Diving and Snorkelling in the United Kingdom. As the governing body we do feel that part of our role is to support the protection of our underwater cultural heritage (UCH) whenever we feel it may be threatened.

The dredging proposals for the Goodwin Sands concern us. We recognise that surveys have been done to ensure that no obvious material culture is threatened with catastrophic removal. However, we are mindful that some UCH may well not show up on the surveys currently undertaken. There is also the need to remember that there may well be material down there that we do not know how to see. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

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Since the sea covered the land bridge to the continent and we became an island seafaring nation, thousands have navigated the channel and through the historic timeline of our naval history both Royal and Merchant, no-one knows the total thousands of seafarers who have been lost on the Goodwin sands. As a seaman and whilst on watch when coming up the channel heading for the Thames estuary one thing stands out on the Admiralty charts, the vast number of wrecks marked on this foreboding area.

Coming into the channel in good clear weather the senses are calm, in fog and a “Southerly blowing” the first haunting sound of the Dover fog horn catches your ears you become wary and conscious of the danger ahead from those days of study.

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There are few other places I can think of that have so many shipwrecks that have been so well preserved in such a small area as the Goodwin Sands.  The heritage that lies buried is hard to detect so we know little of what lies within, but occasionally a sandbank shifts a little and some new historical treasure is revealed.  The Goodwins is a special place so please let us keep it that way.

PeterHolt BEng CEng CMarEng MIMarEST MCIfA MHydSoc
3H Consulting Ltd
August 2017

Dover Harbour Board’s own Impact Report recognises that the potential for the presence of previously unrecorded wrecks on Goodwin Sands is very high and that damage to UCH is irreversible and a permanent loss to mankind. In respect of the historic maritime environment it would be difficult, if not impossible, to contemplate a more inappropriate locality in English waters in which to conduct dredging operations.

The Nautical Archaeological Society
August 2017