The Sun.
London, England, 1802-01-08 00:00:00

THE GODWIN SANDS.

Trip, folloWing accr2tint of the Godwin Sands,
Oftit which Sailors are well acquaintedoind of which
every Inhabitant of this. Country..has- heard;
,/iven- in Pennant's
..7.-cp-nej• to the 111eqf 1L ht, and
is both entertaining and instruciive. In treating of
the formation of, theme' Sands,
.he adverts to the
theories upon this subje& ; " but," says he, " per_
—hapsa natural solution may be as credible; we may
:ascribe it_ to the vast inundation which A. D. t rOO
overfl.)wed part of Holland, so that the water being
carried from this,p-ao• of the sea rendered it 'so
shallow, that places which might have been safely
passed over before, now becaine_ full of dangerous
shoals. Such was the case here : the Godwin.
F-Rr(y• were two sub-marine hills, in antient times
unnoticed );.y rea§on of thexlepth. After.ilth drab 7
age their heads at the ebb tides appeared above wa,
ter, and became most dangerous to mariners :—vet
they have their utility—ships anchor or moor be....
nea-th their,shelter, and the little they receive from
the North and South' Forelands, and find .protes.'.l.loll
from. the winds, unless in very extraordinary tem-
. pests; such was the fatal one of November, 1703,
It began fi.ve hundred leaves from the English
Coast, and • hurried the homeward-bound ships,
which:happened to be in the Atlantic, with arnaz„
ing impetuosity up the Channel, and as it were
swept" the ocean, and filled every Port : no ship
that did not go dire& before the wind could live.
It pissed over England, trance; GeimanY, Sweden,
Finland, Russia, and part of Tartary, and spent it-
self amidst the islands of ice ip the Frozen Sea. I
refer to a most ample relation of itsdireeffeds by
sea and land, given in the City Remembrancer,
vol. ii. from page. 43. to iB7 : its height was in
the night of November the 26th,, but it lasted with
incredible-fury. fourteen days.' That dreadfulnight
was uncoMmonly dark, and made more hideous in
many places by the 'quick coruscations of lightning
and -the singular glare of meteors and imaginary
syrnproins.of earthquakes, while•the rowling of the
thunder and the howling a the winds, formed the
terrific diapason. •
" It is said that in varfous- parts not fewer than
!tight thousand
.persons perished. Rear-Admiral
tkeatimont, in• the Mary, a fourth rate, together
!with the Northumberland, Stirling-Castle, and Re-.
ttoration; . three third rates, and "one fifth, were
beaten-to pieces against the Sands,•an'd near twelve
hundred gallatit Sailors lost to' their country in the
midst of a•niost important war. •

" The Godwin Sandi.consist of two parts, di..
Tided in thelniddle by four narrow channels, about
two fathoms' deep;' the Middle, called the Swath,
isavigable by boats, and that only in fine- weather.
The Sands extend ten miles along the- coast North
and South, verging. towards the East, and from
three and a half to six miles distant from the main,
land. They have over them at -all times so little
water as not to be any were passable, unless by
very, small vessels ; but the ebb., are in.' many
parts dry. This frequently occasions a lingering
death to.the unhappy people who are wrecked on
them
.at low water they often pass with horrible
prospeft the intermediate space •between their .get-
tag-on-the Sands and the return of the. tide. It
sometimes happens, that in case they are seen
from land they are selieved, if
.there is a-possii
bility for a boat.to be put off ; for, to, do -justice
to the people of Deal, they are always ready to ha-
zard their own lives to save those of: their fellow..
creatures : as to the effeds scattered on the Sand,
they have at all times been deemed fair yrizes."