Spring Tide marker for general dive planning around Dover. Use as guidance only. Final dive timings depend on skipper judgement, weather, sea state, tidal data and site conditions.
35 events found.
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On 17 July 1880, Hydaspes was under tow by the tug Napoleon in thick fog off the Kent coast when she collided with the steamship Centurion near the Dungeness / Dover approach. The inquiry records that Centurion struck Hydaspes just abaft the fore rigging on the starboard side, cutting her down below the waterline. Passengers and crew scrambled aboard Centurion, while her master, chief mate and pilot left by the tug’s boat shortly before Hydaspes sank with everything still aboard. Crucially, the crew and passengers were saved, which is a rare civilised moment in Channel wreck history. For divers, Hydaspes has the pull of a big lost sailing ship: emigrant voyage, Australian-bound cargo, fog, collision, towline drama and a wreck story rich enough to make even a lump of iron seabed feel personal. |
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On 23 March 1916, Sea Serpent struck a mine laid by the German submarine UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow, and sank off Folkestone Pier, at approximately 51°02’N, 01°12’E. At least two crewmen are recorded as lost: fireman George James Anderson, aged 24, and mess room boy Frederick William Barrow, aged only 16. For divers, this is a classic Channel war-loss: a modest merchant steamer, a practical cargo, a minefield off the Kent coast, and a wreck with the quiet weight of ordinary men caught in extraordinary danger. |
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Her end came on 20 July 1940, when she was attacked by German aircraft off Dover while engaged on Channel convoy duties. Badly damaged in the air raid, HMS Brazen later sank in the English Channel, where her wreck now lies in about 30 metres of water at roughly 51°01'N, 1°17'E. Contemporary naval records note that one member of her ship’s company was killed. For divers, Brazen is a classic south-east coast war wreck: a sleek destroyer, a Battle of Britain era loss, and a site where the story of Britain’s desperate Channel defence still clings to the metal. |
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Her final voyage ended in the Channel on the night of 25-26 November 1878, while returning from New York to Hamburg via Plymouth. Off Folkestone, she was struck amidships on the starboard side by the iron-hulled Welsh barque Moel Eilian, which was bound from Rotterdam to Cardiff. Four of Pommerania’s nine lifeboats were smashed in the collision, and she sank in less than half an hour. Sources vary slightly on the death toll, giving 48, 50 or 55 lives lost, but the scale of the disaster is beyond doubt. Today she lies in about 25 metres, a classic Channel liner wreck with machinery, scattered structure and real human history behind every plate and rib. For divers, this is Victorian steamship history at touching distance, and considerably more exciting than another tidy spreadsheet pretending to be a wreck. 
For divers, Loanda is one of those wrecks that rewards curiosity as much as good buoyancy. She lies upright in roughly 17 to 23 metres, standing several metres proud, with exposed engine remains, an intact propeller, and a cargo story worthy of a Victorian dockside whisper. Reports mention gin and champagne bottles, clay pipes, perfume bottles, trading beads, and the persistent tale of newly minted shillings, although the shilling story is not supported by the manifest. It’s shallow, atmospheric, artifact-rich and very much a slack-water dive, the kind of Dover wreck where every broken bottle and clay pipe feels like it has been waiting 116 years to be noticed. |
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On 14 April 1916, Shenandoah struck a mine laid by the German minelaying submarine UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow, and sank about 1.5 nautical miles west of Folkestone Gate. Historic England records two lives lost, with the probable wreck remains lying south of Folkestone in the Dover Strait area. For divers, this is a proper First World War Channel wreck: Atlantic trade, German mine warfare, wartime cargo, and a steel steamer lost almost within sight of home. Not flashy. Better than flashy. It has that quiet, heavy, "something happened here" feel that makes a wreck worth diving. |
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Her career was brutally short. On 28 November 1864, Mindora collided in the English Channel with the Khersonese, another outward-bound sailing ship, reportedly on passage from London to Calcutta. Contemporary shipwreck listings place the collision about 8 nautical miles south-west by west of South Foreland, with Mindora sinking and the other vessel abandoned in a sinking condition. For divers, this is a proper Victorian mystery wreck: a young barque lost almost as soon as her story began, a collision in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, and a seabed site that still gives up small clues from a long-vanished age of sail. |
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On 31 October 1915, Toward struck a mine laid by the German minelaying submarine UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow, near the South Foreland / Dover area. The explosion tore into her beneath No. 2 hold, just forward of the bridge. She caught fire, settled quickly, and was abandoned. Remarkably, all the crew were rescued, including men who had jumped into the sea. For divers, Toward is a proper First World War Channel wreck: mine warfare, wartime cargo, a dramatic sinking, and a site still rich with clues from a ship that went down in one of the Dover Patrol’s most dangerous corridors. 
The wreck known as the Orangeman is one of Dover’s more curious local names, generally linked to the steamer Helene, which was lost off the coast while carrying a cargo of citrus fruit from Valencia to Antwerp. For divers, it is one of those Kent wrecks where folklore and fact overlap, the nickname surviving because the cargo was memorable even when the wreck’s true identity became muddled. |
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On 27 October 1915, Bonar Law sank on the South Goodwins after a collision, with sources specifically placing her loss after contact with the South Goodwin Light Vessel. She had been patrolling and minesweeping in one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the Dover Strait, where shoals, mines, traffic and weather all queued up to ruin someone’s day. For divers, this is a classic Dover Patrol wreck: small, purposeful, historically loaded, and tied directly to the hard, often overlooked work of the hired trawler crews who kept the Channel routes open. No grand liner glamour here, thank heavens. This is tougher stuff. 
On 17 January 1889, Romulus was in the English Channel off the South Foreland when she was run into by the French steamship Felgrano and sank in the early hours. Contemporary wreck listings record one crew member lost. For divers, this is a strong Dover Strait collision story: a Sunderland steamer outward bound for the Mediterranean, a night-time impact off the Kent coast, and a wreck with the quiet appeal of Victorian working steam, iron, coal trade and Channel fog. Not a showy wreck, thankfully. The best ones rarely are. |
2 events,Neap Tide marker for general dive planning around Dover. Use as guidance only. Final dive timings depend on skipper judgement, weather, sea state, tidal data and site conditions. 
These dives are for curious divers who like a bit of mystery with their slack water. The wreck may have been rarely dived, poorly recorded, misidentified, or never properly explored. There may be no neat answer waiting on the shotline, which is half the fun and also the reason humans keep buying expensive torches and calling it a hobby. Look for clues: boilers, engines, winches, cargo, crockery, ballast, armament, construction details, anything that might help bring a lost name back from the seabed. You are not booking a routine wreck dive. You are joining a proper offshore puzzle, and the next clue might be yours. |
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On 31 October 1915, Eidsiva struck a mine and sank, part of the grim run of losses from UC-6’s newly laid field that also claimed or damaged vessels including Toward, HMT Othello II and HMY Aries. For divers, Eidsiva offers a proper First World War Channel story: a neutral Norwegian collier, a cargo of coal, a Dover Strait minefield, and a wreck lying in the busy waterway where commercial trade and naval warfare collided in steel, steam and bad luck. |
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Her end came on 24 January 1945, around 10 nautical miles off Dover, when she collided with SS Twickenham Ferry, the Southern Railway train ferry then running wartime Channel service. Empire Rupert sank after the collision, with sources giving the position as roughly 51°03'N, 01°32'E. The best tug-specific source I found gives 11 lives lost, while the Wrecksite summary confirms the collision and sinking but truncates the casualty detail. For divers, this is a different kind of Channel wreck: not a merchantman with a cargo hold full of curiosities, but a hard-used wartime tug with Normandy service behind her, lost in the final months of the war on the busy Dover approaches. Small ship. Big story. |
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1 event,Spring Tide marker for general dive planning around Dover. Use as guidance only. Final dive timings depend on skipper judgement, weather, sea state, tidal data and site conditions. |
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For divers, Loanda is one of those wrecks that rewards curiosity as much as good buoyancy. She lies upright in roughly 17 to 23 metres, standing several metres proud, with exposed engine remains, an intact propeller, and a cargo story worthy of a Victorian dockside whisper. Reports mention gin and champagne bottles, clay pipes, perfume bottles, trading beads, and the persistent tale of newly minted shillings, although the shilling story is not supported by the manifest. It’s shallow, atmospheric, artifact-rich and very much a slack-water dive, the kind of Dover wreck where every broken bottle and clay pipe feels like it has been waiting 116 years to be noticed.
On 8 September 1915, Monarch was on passage from Santander to Newport with iron ore when she struck a mine laid by the German submarine UC-5, about 2.5 miles south of Folkestone, near the defence boom gate. She sank with frightening speed, reportedly in around three minutes, with three lives lost. The wreck lies upright but dispersed in roughly 21 to 28 metres, with boilers, triple-expansion engine remains, cable gear, pulley wheels, GPO-marked finds and cable-related fittings still giving the site its unmistakable character. For divers, Monarch is a cracking First World War Channel wreck: part industrial archaeology, part wartime casualty, and part underwater museum of the age when Britain’s messages travelled through copper, gutta-percha and optimism. |
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On 31 October 1915, Toward struck a mine laid by the German minelaying submarine UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow, near the South Foreland / Dover area. The explosion tore into her beneath No. 2 hold, just forward of the bridge. She caught fire, settled quickly, and was abandoned. Remarkably, all the crew were rescued, including men who had jumped into the sea. For divers, Toward is a proper First World War Channel wreck: mine warfare, wartime cargo, a dramatic sinking, and a site still rich with clues from a ship that went down in one of the Dover Patrol’s most dangerous corridors.
Her loss came on 24 July 1894, while travelling from Rotterdam to Bilbao in ballast. Lloyd’s casualty returns list her as lost after a collision, about 4 miles south-south-east of Folkestone. Tees Built Ships adds that the other vessel was the SS Trinidad, although another local wreck list appears to name Setubal, so I’d treat the identity of the colliding ship with caution unless you want that rabbit hole on the event page. For divers, this is a compact Victorian steamer wreck in classic Channel territory: no romantic cargo, no glittering treasure chest, but plenty of iron, impact, tide, traffic and story. The sea kept the interesting bit, obviously. |
3 events,Neap Tide marker for general dive planning around Dover. Use as guidance only. Final dive timings depend on skipper judgement, weather, sea state, tidal data and site conditions. 
On 28 March 1916, Saxon Prince disappeared off Dover / Kingsdown in a violent south-westerly Force 12 storm, while serving on Admiralty patrol work. Some records mention possible mining, but the strongest contemporary explanation is foundering in the furious gale. The Maritime Archaeology Trust records that all 12 men aboard were lost, and likely remains now lie in about 22 metres of water, roughly off the cliffs between St Margaret’s Bay and Kingsdown. For divers, this is a small wreck with a hard human story: a former fishing trawler turned wartime minesweeper, lost not to gunfire or torpedo, but to the Channel itself at its most brutal.
On 25 July 1940, during the Battle of Britain period, Leo was part of Convoy CW8, known as "Peewit", when German Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers attacked the convoy off Dover. The raid became known as Black Thursday, with several ships sunk, including Leo, Corhaven, Henry Moon, Polgrange, Portslade and Summity. Leo was bombed and machine-gunned from the starboard quarter and sank close to Dover. Sources differ on casualties, with one dive account giving six lost from 27 crew, while a memorial source records 10 crew lost, so I’d avoid a precise number on the event page unless you want to add a footnote and ruin everyone’s cheerful booking mood. For divers, this is a compact wartime collier with real atmosphere: coal cargo, Battle of Britain skies, Stuka attack, and a wreck lying in about 32 metres, only a short run from Dover. |
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On 23 March 1916, Corona struck a mine off Ramsgate / in The Downs, believed to have been laid by the German minelaying submarine UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow. Wrecksite and naval loss summaries record 13 lives lost, with the position often given around 51°08'50"N, 1°25'00"E. For divers, this is a compact but atmospheric Dover Strait war wreck: a requisitioned trawler, a UC-boat minefield, and a loss tied to the same deadly Channel campaign that claimed several merchantmen and patrol vessels in 1916. Small wreck. Heavy story.
On 21 February 1916, Carlton was mined off Folkestone and lost in the Dover Strait. The available naval loss records give the cause as a mine from an unknown source, so I’d avoid confidently naming the U-boat unless you’ve got a local source tying it down. For divers, Carlton is a compact but evocative First World War wreck: a Grimsby fishing trawler turned minesweeper, lost after only a short spell in naval service, in the same brutal Channel waters where small patrol craft worked daily against mines, weather and traffic. Small wreck, hard life, proper Dover Patrol story. |
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On 9 March 1900, Cuvier was struck on the starboard side in the Dover Strait by the Norwegian steamer Dovre, which was bound from Burntisland to Dieppe with coal. The collision tore open her side, flooded the engine room, and she sank in minutes, around 6 miles east of the East Goodwin Lightvessel. Historic England records heavy loss of life, with sources giving 26 to 28 crew lost and only a handful of survivors picked up by the steamer Windsor. For divers, Cuvier is a classic Goodwins-area wreck: a Victorian cargo steamer, a sudden night collision, a grim human story, and a site known for recovered Maastricht-marked bowls, mugs, chamber pots, portholes and crockery. It’s the kind of wreck where the artefacts make the story feel oddly domestic, which somehow makes the tragedy hit harder. |
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By 1945 she was serving as an anti-submarine trawler under Skipper Lieutenant Sidney John Cory, DSC, RNR. On 8 July 1945, two months after VE Day, La Nantaise sank in The Downs, near the Goodwin Sands Lightship, after a collision with the SS Helen Crest. Records list 11 lost from a crew of 25, with survivors rescued by the tug Empire Henchman. For divers, this is a compact but poignant Channel wreck: a fishing trawler turned patrol vessel, French in name, British in service, lost after the war in Europe had supposedly finished. The sea, naturally, did not read the memo. |
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On 22 April 1886, Valuta was caught in heavy fog and collided with the Hamburg steamer Petropolis in the English Channel, about 15 nautical miles north-east of the Goodwin Sands. She sank roughly an hour later, but all 22 people aboard were rescued by Petropolis, a rare happy ending in the wreck business and therefore almost suspicious. For divers, Valuta offers a neat late-Victorian collision wreck: German iron, Channel fog, Goodwin Sands danger, and a compact site with enough period character to make it far more appealing than its modest tonnage suggests. |
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On 31 October 1915, Othello II was sent to patrol "Section Two", between the Goodwin Gate and the Gull Lightship, after UC-6 had laid mines there the previous day. In a strong south-south-easterly gale, she struck one of those mines at about 11:55am and sank rapidly. The mine was laid by SM UC-6, commanded by Matthias Graf von Schmettow, the same field that also claimed SS Eidsiva, SS Toward and HMY Aries. Nine men were lost, with a single deck-boy survivor reportedly squeezed out through the wheelhouse window before the vessel went down. For divers, this is a small but deeply powerful Dover Patrol wreck: a fishing trawler turned minesweeper, lost in the same deadly wartime trap as several larger ships, and carrying a human story far bigger than her size suggests.
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On 28 March 1916, Saxon Prince disappeared off Dover / Kingsdown in a violent south-westerly Force 12 storm, while serving on Admiralty patrol work. Some records mention possible mining, but the strongest contemporary explanation is foundering in the furious gale. The Maritime Archaeology Trust records that all 12 men aboard were lost, and likely remains now lie in about 22 metres of water, roughly off the cliffs between St Margaret’s Bay and Kingsdown. For divers, this is a small wreck with a hard human story: a former fishing trawler turned wartime minesweeper, lost not to gunfire or torpedo, but to the Channel itself at its most brutal.
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£70.00
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On 2 May 1918, Unity was sailing from Newhaven to Calais with a cargo of ordnance when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-57, commanded by Johannes Lohs, around 9 nautical miles south-east of Folkestone. Twelve crewmen were lost, although her captain survived. For divers, Unity has all the ingredients of a proper Dover Strait war wreck: a working railway steamer, a dangerous military cargo, a U-boat attack in the final months of the First World War, and a wreck lying in the Channel where trade, war and tide all met in the usual civilised manner, by breaking steel.
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On 8 July 1940, Cayton Wyke was sunk off Dover, close to the South Goodwin Lightship, after being hit by a torpedo from a German E-boat, commonly identified as S-36. Naval-History records her as lost by surface-craft torpedo, while shipwreck lists state that all 18 crew were lost. She also has a notable earlier wartime footnote: in October 1939, she helped HMS Puffin sink the German submarine U-16 near Dover. For divers, Cayton Wyke is a compact but powerful Channel war wreck: a former fishing trawler turned hunter, lost in the knife-edge summer of 1940, when the Dover Strait was less a sea lane and more a firing range with tides
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Requisitioned again on 28 April 1940, Tranquil became Royal Navy minesweeper FY 920. After repairs at Tilbury, she left dock on 14 June 1942, but two days later, on 16 June 1942, she sank following a collision off Deal, Kent. At least one crewman is specifically recorded as lost: Seaman Kenneth James Pentreath, Royal Naval Patrol Service, aged 21, who drowned on active service. For divers, Tranquil is one of those quietly powerful Channel wrecks: a fishing boat turned wartime minesweeper, twice taken into naval service, lost close to the Dover approaches in the middle of Britain’s coastal war. Small ship, hard life, proper story.
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