Shipwrecks in Seaford Bay

The Nympha Americana was wrecked at Crowlink in 1747, much to the benefit of the local population. The history of wrecks seems to attract less attention than smuggling, but this event is recorded in a new pamphlet about wrecks available from Seaford Museum. And there are some 200 known wrecks in Seaford Bay. In the 1970s weekend sub-aqua enthusiasts often brought up cannon and anchors which came to the Museum’s former home in Pelham Road for cleaning and temporary storage. In the last 50 years there have been three ‘groundings’ in the Bay, and all were refloated successfully, with no loss of life. The first was Walter Richter in February 1972. When it came ashore on Tidemills late at night, the Newhaven lifeboat Kathleen Mary made valiant attempts in the storm to launch lines to the ship but they went into the sea. Coastguards ashore, despite their floodlighting failing, got a breeches buoy line aboard, and the sixstrong crew were brought ashore. As volunteers on the rope, a friend and I got pulled into the surf each time a crew member came ashore!

Walter Richter, although much smaller than the celebrated Athena B which sat on Brighton Beach for a month in 1980, attracted a lot of sightseers for the month it was ashore. Two Dover-based German ocean-going tugs, Danzig and Hermes, failed to haul it off. Newhaven firm Metrec, having dug a channel through the shingle, and using a winch and their tiny tug Mallard, turned the stricken vessel and towed it afloat. It was largely unscathed. In December 1988 the Belgian trawler White Horse came ashore opposite the Buckle

Inn. It also attracted the crowds but was not there for long before being refloated.

Ten years later, a Dutch sail-training vessel Eendracht suffered engine failure after leaving Newhaven and was washed broadside onto Tidemills Beach. The helicopter bringing the mainly-young crew of 51 ashore was filmed by local TV. Eendracht was quickly refloated. Mercifully no fatalities occurred, but these events remind us of the power of the sea, and other losses which have been more tragic. It is worth remembering that Newhaven Lifeboat, despite the loss of 12 months of fundraising events, is still there to respond to emergencies, and that it’s only a 999 call for the Coastguard to mobilise the rescue services. Peter White Photos by Peter White, from top: The White Horse; The Eendracht; The Nympha Americana; The Walter Richte.

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