Captain Hugh Belasyse-Smith was a hovercraft pilot in the 1960s and 70s flying the Ramsgate to Calais route for what began as Hoverlloyd and eventually became Hoverspeed companies. He flew SR.N4 and SR.N6 hovercraft, the latter carrying 254 passengers and 30 cars and able to cross the English Channel in as little as 22 minutes under ideal conditions. Where conventional shipping would find the Goodwin Sands a dangerous hazard, the hovercraft route employed took advantage of the nature of the vehicle and was able to skate straight over the top of them with no fear of running aground.
Here the Captain discusses his route to joining the company, writing over 200 letters of application following his completion of commercial pilot training, the wildlife and shipwrecks he observed on the Sands, and the sensation of piloting a craft which was never travelling in the direction towards which he actually steered it.
This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology.
This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future.
Credits:
Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust.
Production, editing, sound design and music by Ben Horner.
For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
