Events

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.