296 



GOOD-WILL 



GOODWIN SANDS 



In a strict view there is no such thing as a trans- 

 ferable good- will of so personal a business as a 

 medical, legal, or other professional practice. In 

 the sale of these there ought therefore always to 

 be a stipulation that the seller shall not compete 

 with the buyer by practising in the same locality, 

 or that he shall retire from practice ; and that the 

 seller shall introduce and recommend the buyer to his 

 connection as his qualified successor. At first such 

 a covenant was sought to be set aside as invalid, 

 on the ground that it tended to restrain the natural 

 liberty of trade ; but the courts have now firmly 

 established that, if a definite radius of moderate 

 length is fixed upon, it does not sensibly restrain 

 trade, inasmuch as the person covenanting can go 

 beyond those limits, and trade as much as he 

 pleases. If the party breaks his covenant he is 

 liable to an action for damages. See Charles E. 

 Allan, The Law relating to Good-ivill ( 1889). 



Goodwin Sands, famous sandbanks stretch- 

 ing about 10 miles in a NE. and SW. direction at 

 an average distance of 5J miles from the east coast 

 of Kent. Large level patches of sand are left dry 

 when the tide recedes, and afford a firm foothold, 

 so that cricket has often been played upon them. 

 When covered the sands are shifting, and may be 

 moved by the prevailing tide to such an extent as 

 to considerably change the form of the shoal. The 

 general outline, however, has been fairly constant, 

 although the survey of 1885 by Staff-commander 

 Tizard, R.N. , has demonstrated a tendency to more 

 important motion than usual, The shoal is divided 

 into two principal parts, called the North Goodwin 

 and the South Goodwin respectively, between 

 which is the deep inlet named Trinity Bay, where 

 three steamships have been peacefully anchored at 

 one time. In 1841 it was proposed by W. Bush, 

 C.E., and J. D. Paine, architect, to build a har- 

 bour of refuge on the Goodwin Sands by enclosing 

 Trinity Bay with a solid wall of masonry, having 

 a large iron lighthouse at the entrance. The 

 North Goodwin is of irregular semicircular shape, 

 with the curved boundary on its northern or outer 

 edge. The North Sand Head light-vessel is moored 

 a little to the eastward of its northern extreme, 

 exhibits a white flash light, and is about 7 miles 

 distant from Ramsgate. So far back as 1795 a 

 lightship, showing three lights, was moored to the 

 north-east of this shoal. The South Goodwin is in 

 shape somewhat like a crab's claw with its lower 

 part fully extended. The South Sand Head light- 

 ship lies off its south-western extremity, and 

 exhibits a double-flash white light. On the 

 western side rides the Gull Stream lightship, 

 displaying a white revolving light. A fourth light- 

 ship, known as the East Goodwin, lies 1^ mile 

 to the eastward of the sands, and exhibits a green 

 revolving light. Passing ships not infrequently 

 foul these lightships, notwithstanding the penalty 

 of 50 and expenses to which they become liable. 

 On 30th November 1878 no fewer than three un- 

 known ships in succession ran into the East Good- 

 win lightship. All four of the lights are visible 

 10 miles in clear weather. Each vessel is painted 

 red, has her name in bold letters on both sides, 

 and is otherwise distinguished by the disposition 

 of her mast or masts. In foggy weather a fog- 

 siren is sounded on the South Sand Head lightship, 

 and gongs are beaten on board the other three. 

 Should a ship be observed standing into danger, 

 warning guns are fired without delay. The Good- 

 win Sands are also marked by nine buoys moored 

 in well-defined positions around them, and distin- 

 guishable from one another by their various colours 

 and shapes. One, the north-east Goodwin buoy, 

 is a Courtenay's self-acting whistle buoy. This 

 admirable system of lightships arid buoys has 

 robbed the Goodwins of much of their danger. 



These sands have always been dangerous to 

 vessels passing through the Straits of Dover. On 

 the other hand, they serve as a breakwater to 

 form a secure anchorage in the Downs (q.v.) when 

 easterly or south-easterly winds are blowing. The 

 Downs, though safe under these circumstances, 

 become dangerous when the wind blows strongly 

 off-shore, at which time ships are apt to drag their 

 anchors, and to strand upon the perfidious Good- 

 wins. As a rule, wrecks are soon swallowed up 

 by the greedy sands. One ship, the Onle Castle, of 

 1000 tons burden, entirely disappeared in an hour. 

 In May 1841, however, the ship Ellison remained 

 ashore on the North Goodwin for nineteen con- 

 secutive tides, and was got off only slightly 

 damaged. The timbers of another wreck were 

 exposed to view at intervals for forty years. 

 Many celebrated wrecks have taken place here, 

 the most terrible having been the loss of an entire 

 fleet of thirteen men-of-war, during the ' great 

 storm ' on the night of the 26th of November 1703, 

 on the Sands and neighbouring shore. In two of 

 these, the Mary and the Restoration, every soul 

 perished. Admiral Beaumont with 1200 officers 

 and men were lost. Many poor wretches got on 

 to the Goodwins when the tide was out, and were 

 seen from the shore. Mr T. Powell, the then 

 mayor of Deal, seized the custom-house boats, and 

 paid five shillings for every man saved. Over 

 two hundred were rescued who would certainly 

 have been overwhelmed by the rising tide. In 

 December 1805 here foundered the Aurora, a 

 transport, when no fewer than three hundred 

 persons perished ; in December 1814 the British, 

 Queen, an Ostend packet, was lost with all hands ; 

 and in January 1857 the mail-steamer Violet was 

 destroyed. 



These dangerous sands are said to have once 

 been a low fertile island called Lomea (In/era 

 Insula of the Romans), belonging to Earl Godwin, 

 where he lived and kept his fleets ; but in 1014, 

 and again in 1099, it was overwhelmed by a sudden 

 inundation of the sea, which also did great damage 

 in other parts of Europe. The tale is that at the 

 period of the Conquest by William of Normandy 

 these estates were taken from Earl Godwin's son, 

 and bestowed upon the abbey of St Augustine at 

 Canterbury. The abbot, having diverted the fund& 

 with which it should have been maintained to the 

 building of Tenterden steeple, allowed the sea- 

 wall to fall into a dilapidated condition ; and so, 

 in the year 1099, the waves rushed in, and over- 

 whelmed the whole. Tenterden, it should be 

 noted, is an inland place near the south-west fron- 

 tier of Kent, 15 miles NNE. of Hastings. Thus 

 ' Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin 

 Sands ; ' so, at least, says one of the many legends 

 connected with these remarkable shoals. But 

 geology indicates a date long anterior to the 

 catastrophe of the legend. 



Difficulty is experienced in finding firm anchor- 

 age for the lightships ; and all efforts to estab- 

 lish a lighthouse have been hitherto unsuccessful. 

 In 1840 a beacon, having a refuge-gallery at its 

 summit capable of containing forty people, was 

 erected by Captain Bullock, R.N., which stood 

 for some years, and another in 1847 on piles of 

 iron screwed into the sand, on Dr Pott's method, 

 but this was washed away two months afterwards. 

 As soon as a vessel is known to have been driven 

 upon the sands, signal rockets are thrown up and 

 guns fired from the lightships, when one or more 

 of the four lifeboats from Ramsgate, Deal, Walmer, 

 or Kingsdown immediately launch to the rescue, 

 followed usually by ' hovellers' ' boats. These 

 'hovellers,' as the pilots and boatmen of the 

 Cinque Ports are called, show, in seasons of 

 tempest and danger, an intrepidity which is worthy 



