November 20th 1991 was a sad day for all free radio fans. It was, of course, the day, when the last vessel to operate offshore as Radio Caroline, the Ross Revenge, was towed into Dover Harbour after foundering on the Goodwin Sands. The station had been off the air for many months, and was manned only by a skeleton crew, including Steve Conway and Wendy Shephard, when storms caused the ship to lose her anchor and drift onto the sands. The crew, who thought that they had long been forgotten by the onshore 'bosses' of Caroline, were rescued by the Coastguard in what was described as a very tricky and dangerous operation. Click here to see how the news was first reported on the British media. At this stage, it was thought that the ship would end up like the Mi Amigo, when she sank in 1980. Fortunately, she was saved and towed to Dover where she remained for a while, and er.. ,well the rest, as they say is history. It is strongly rumoured that we are to see a new, offshore Radio Caroline shortly, but one thing is virtually certain, it will not be on the Ross Revenge. See below if you want to see some pictures of the Ross (inside and out) in Dover, taken during their RSL in April 1992.
If you want to read more about the last days of Caroline, and indeed about free radio in general, see the excellent 'Newstide' site, run by Steve Conway at http://www.newstide.com/
