Chris Webb

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 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.

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 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 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.