The Sinking of a Pirate

40 years ago today (20^th March 1980), the Mi Amigo, the ship used by the British pirate radio station Radio Caroline, sank whilst still broadcasting, in a force 10 storm on the North Sea.

On Easter Sunday 1964, Pirate station Radio Caroline started broadcasting to the UK from an old ferry based 3 miles of the Suffolk coast. A few months later, after they merged with rival station Radio Atlanta, they moved home to Atlanta’s Mi Amigo vessel just off the Essex coast.

After the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act outlawed all Pirate Station broadcasts (August 1967), Caroline continued to broadcast in defiance of the act, but with reduced revenue coming in, the ship was seized by creditors in March 1968.

By 1974 the station was back on air again, but because of its age the Mi Amigo’s seaworthiness was deteriorating. More than once it had broken anchor in a storm and had run aground, being described by rescue crews as a “death trap.”

On that fateful night, during a particularly severe storm, the Mi Amigo again broke anchor and drifted. The crew attempted for hours to pump out water from the stricken vessel, but to no avail. Meanwhile all through the rescue attempts, the station remained on air.

A few minutes after midnight the Mi Amigo finally sank, leaving only the mast visible above the waves.

Please follow this link to hear the last minutes on air