the wooden brakes and the wheel caused the wood to overheat and catch fire. He thought that the destruction of the sovereign fleet was a punishment for their poor performance against the Catholic armies of France and Spain during the first year of the War of the Spanish Succession. Naval losses In the English Channel, fierce winds and high seas swamped some vessels outright and drove others onto the Goodwin Sands, an extensive sand bank off the southeast coast of England and the traditional anchorage for ships waiting either for passage up the Thames Estuary to London or for favourable winds to take them out into the Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. The Royal Navy was badly affected, losing thirteen ships including the entire Channel Squadron, and upwards of 1,500 seamen drowned. The third-rate was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands; of the ship's company of 387 not one was saved. The third-rate was lost on the Goodwin Sands; all 220 men, including 24 marines were killed. The third-rate (battleship) was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. Seventy men, including four marine officers, were saved, but 206 men were drowned. The fourth-rate was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. The captain and the purser were ashore, but Rear Admiral Beaumont and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, Thomas Atkins, was saved. His escape was remarkable – having first seen the rear admiral get onto a piece of her quarter-deck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the Stirling Castle, which sank soon after. From the Stirling Castle he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued. The fifth-rate Mortar-bomb was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands and her entire company of 65 lost. The sixth-rate advice boat Eagle was lost on the coast of Sussex, but her ship's company of 45 were all saved. The third-rate was lost at Pevensey on the coast of Sussex; all her ship's company of 221 were saved. The fifth-rate Litchfield Prize was wrecked on the coast of Sussex; all 108 on board were saved. The fourth-rate was lost at Spithead. The carpenter and 39 men were saved, and the other 193 were drowned. The fifth-rate fire-ship Vesuvius was lost at Spithead; all 48 of her ship's company were saved. The fourth-rate Reserve was lost by foundering off Yarmouth. The captain, the