Show Notes
Captain Hugh Belasyse-Smith was a hovercraft pilot in the 1960s and 70s flying the Ramsgate to Calais route for what began as Hoverlloyd and eventually became Hoverspeed companies. He flew SR.N4 and SR.N6 hovercraft, the latter carrying 254 passengers and 30 cars and able to cross the English Channel in as little as 22 minutes under ideal conditions. Where conventional shipping would find the Goodwin Sands a dangerous hazard, the hovercraft route employed took advantage of the nature of the vehicle and was able to skate straight over the top of them with no fear of running aground. Here the Captain discusses his route to joining the company, writing over 200 letters of application following his completion of commercial pilot training, the wildlife and shipwrecks he observed on the Sands, and the sensation of piloting a craft which was never travelling in the direction towards which he actually steered it. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
More from Shipwrecks, Sailors & Lost Souls
Robert Peacock is a recreational diver of some 50 years' experience, 40 of which have been spent studying the Goodwin Sands and its many wrecks of various descriptions. His explorations over and around the Sands inspired him to attain a master's degree in maritime archaeology to better advance his research activities and understand the nature, history and context of the vessels and artefacts discovered. In this podcast he discusses issues around the identification and preservation of HMS Stirling Castle, a 1679 warship lost to the Sands in 1703 and rediscovered in 1979, the German Dornier 17 bomber raised in 2013 after 70 years submerged, and the Seehund midget submarine identified as U5377. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
John Nichols is the chairman of Thanet Fisherman's Association, and Vice-Chairman of Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. He has spent his life as a commercial fisherman working out of Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Scarborough, and Whitby. Here he talks about his childhood, as he puts it, "making a nuisance of himself" at Ramsgate harbour helping the boatmen moored there, building his own boat as an apprentice shipbuilder in Whitstable, and taking visitors on trips to the North Goodwin Light Vessel and the Goodwin Sands. He also mentions his part in the rescue of the Ross Revenge, Radio Caroline's broadcast ship. This is part one of a two-part interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. Additional music, "Magnetostriction" by Silicon Transmitter, used under Creative Commons licence. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
David Skardon is a fisherman and boatman who grew up in Brewer Street in Deal in the 1940s and 50s, son of a fishmonger. As a child he would help the local boat owners wind their boats up to the beach on the winches for a penny and tuppence a week (a good wage given that Wagon Wheels were a ha'penny at the time). David talks about his childhood on Deal beach and how it forged for him a life on the water, how at fourteen he was the youngest ever holder of a boating licence, why his grandfather's boat was seized, sawn in half and turned into two garden sheds, and how in 1978 he borrowed a tractor and outran the police with it in an effort to save the Deal boats from being smashed in a vicious winter storm. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.