Western Entrance Blockships

Ships in the Port of Dover

6th August 2009

During the First World War, two blockships were sunk at right angles to each side of the Western Entrance. They were the old cargoships Spanish Prince and Livonian which had been stripped of their superstructure and equipped with gantries from which anti-submarine and anti-torpedo nets were strung between them. The first photo shows Spanish Prince ready for sinking in March 1915. The second photo shows a ferry departing postwar with the gantries of the Livonian visible in the foreground and one from the Spanish Prince in the background. The third photo shows another ferry departing postwar with the gantries on the Spanish Prince visible. The sixth photo is an extraordinary multi-beam sonar survey of the Spanish Prince conducted recently. She was moved to her present position in the 1930's. The bow is close to the Southern Breakwater and the wreck buoy can be seen marking the stern. She was left in situ to lessen the effects of tidal flows within the harbour. To be removed when the second ferry terminal is constructed in the Western Docks. Livonian was removed between 1930 and 1933. The Canadian Pacific liner Montrose was originally intended for use as a blockship but broke free of her moorings and drifted out onto the Goodwin Sands and was lost. She was famous for sending the wireless message which resulted in the arrest of the notorious wife murderer Dr Crippen. In the Second World War, the fleet oiler War Sepoy had her back broken in a Stuka attack in 1940 and was subsequently dragged across the Western Entrance in three pieces. The trampship Minnie de Larrinaga was burnt out in an air raid on the London Docks and was used to finally seal the entrance. Both of these wrecks were removed in the sixties and the first ship to use the reopened Western Entrance was the Invicta on 26th April 1963. The photos of the matchbook holder illustrate one purchased in a charity shop in Dover recently, which is engraved with the legend "S.S. Montrose." To round off, there are modern day photos of the Western Entrance and the wreck buoy to illustrate the position of the Spanish Prince.

Full Size: all photos and charts can be viewed full size by clicking the "Full Size" box in the options beneath each opened photo and then left clicking within the photo.

Attributions: The multi-beam sonar survey was photographed on a display panel at a DHB exhibition of the plans for Terminal 2 in the Western Docks. The "Blockships in 1927" and "Blockships in WW2" charts are copied from the "Port of Dover Tidal Atlas," copyright DHB 1999, with permission.

Spanish Prince ready for sinking in March 1915	Postwar view showing blockship gantries	Postwar view showing gantries on Spanish Prince	Postwar aerial view showing blockship gantries
Postwar view of Western Docks showing blockship gantries	Multi-beam sonar survey of Spanish Prince	Canadian Pacific liner SS Montrose	Dr Crippen and Ethel le Neve onboard SS Montrose
The arrest of Dr Crippen and Ethel le Neve	German WW2 aerial reconnaissance photo. War Sepoy is labelled 1	War Sepoy	Shell exploding off the Prince of Wales pier. War Sepoy wreck centre left
Minnie de Larrinaga	Blockships in WW1	Blockships in WW1	Blockships in 1927
Blockships in WW2	Admiralty Chart 1944 with blockships and wrecks.	Matchbook holder from SS Montrose	Matchbook holder from SS Montrose
Typical matchbooks	Southern breakwater with wreck buoy	Southern breakwater showing gun emplacements	Spanish Prince lies between lighthouse and wreck buoy
Western Entrance with wreck buoy	Wreck buoy 26.10.2007	Wreck buoy 24.05.2007	Wreck buoy 24.05.2007
Searchlight positions on the Southern breakwater