51°14′00″N1°57′00″E / 51.23333°N 1.95000°E /51.23333; 1.95000
TheSandettie Bank (French: Banc de Sandettié) is an elongatedsandbank in the southernNorth Sea, more specifically about in the middle of the northeastern entrance to theStrait of Dover. North-west of it are the hazardousGoodwin Sands, south of it the sandbank Ruytingen.
Theshoal represents a significant threat to the majorshipping lanes in the Strait of Dover. From 1902 to 1989 it was marked by a succession of Frenchlightships, all bearing the nameSandettié while deployed there. The last such crewed lightship is now a museum ship at the Port Museum ofDunkirk at anchor.[1]
Today the British authorityTrinity House maintains an uncrewed lightship there, theSandettie Light Vessel Automatic which also has an automaticweather station.[2]
Tertiary strata form the basement in the Sandettie Bank. In the northwest part of the areaerosion cut a basin in the Tertiary strata. This basin is filled with a sequence of latePleistocene sands overlain byHolocene sands which form the major topographic features of the Sandettie. The surface of the banks are moulded into transverse ridges up to 10m inamplitude and 200m inwavelength. There are three types of ridges present:
The area around the Sandettie Bank is the most importantspawning ground of the Downs herring, a major subset of theAtlantic herring in the North Sea. During the twentieth century overfishing had threatened the fish population, and in 1958 fishing restrictions were imposed in the area.[4][5][6]
Observations and Weather