Mystery of tragic shipwreck off Kent coast solved after 46 years

A shipwreck off the Kent coast long considered unidentified has been identified after nearly 46 years. Researchers confirmed the trawler at the bottom of the Strait of Dover as the Belgian fishing vessel Hosanna, which disappeared with its crew in 1980. An Anglo-European effort used two dives at the site: Mutiny Diving first examined the wreck in August, with identity confirmed during a second examination last month. Hosanna was a 25-metre steel vessel built in Zeebrugge in 1965 and sold to Minerva Fisheries Ltd shortly before it vanished. It left Plymouth on Feb. 14, 1980, for the Netherlands; no mayday was reported and no survivors were found. A liferaft was found Feb. 16 near the Goodwin Sands, but the ship remained untraced. The crew included skipper Germain Ackx, his son Piet Ackx, and others, including Piet’s 14-year-old nephew, Pieter Albertus Guijt. Renewed investigation in the Netherlands, led by Cees Meeldijk and Stichting Onderzoek Maritieme Vermisten (SOMV), compared 1980 routing and buoy references, including CS2, with modern geography before focusing on the Dover-area wreck.