The Sinking of MV Mi Amigo – 19800320

… on 20 March 1980 the crew ceased broadcasting and abandoned the Mi Amigo to its fate.
A few minutes later the ship sank leaving only its mast visible above the waves.

1. Last minutes Radio Caroline on air 19 March1980 with
with DJ ‘s Steve Gordon and Tom Anderson:
19800319 Closedown Radio Caroline (01.07)

2. This is a collection of clips relating to the sinking of Radio Caroline’s
ship the MV Mi Amigo in March 1980.
It begin’s with an edit of the evenings transmissions leading
up to the final moment’s heard on air.
Next Radio 1’s Newsbeat reporting on the loss and finally
audio taken from the “Queen of the Pirates” documentary regarding
the sinking and interviews with the DJ’s that were on board that night,
Stevie Gordon and Tom Anderson.
Also included is Audio of the conversations between
the RNLI Sheerness lifeboat and the Mi Amigo crew regarding coming off the ship.

19800319-20 The sinking of the Mi Amigo (Radio Caroline)(26.43)

3. Radio Luxembourg News  20 March 1980 with DJ Rob Jones :
19800320 RTL-208 news (00.28)

4. DJ Bob Stewart on RTE2 about Radio Caroline – 24 March 1980 :
19800324 Bob Stewart about Caroline (on RTE2) (14.27)

Audio chapter 1. 3. – thanks to Peter Vrakking .
Audio chapter 2 – thanks to Stuart Bubsy.

Short story :
At noon on Easter Sunday, 29 March 1964, a new radio station started broadcasting from an old Danish ferry (renamed the MV Caroline) anchored in international waters three miles from the Suffolk coast.

Several months later the station merged with its rival, Radio Atlanta, which broadcast from the MV Mi Amigo. In order for its broadcasts to reach the greatest number of listeners, the Caroline, broadcasting as Radio Caroline North, sailed to an anchorage close to the Isle of Man, while the Mi Amigo remained off the coast of Essex and broadcast as Radio Caroline South.

Other offshore radio stations started to transmit over the next couple of years but, with the passing of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, these ‘pirate’ radio stations were outlawed on 14 August 1967. Radio Caroline continued to broadcast in defiance of the Act but its revenues were reduced. In March 1968 the two ships were seized by creditors.

In 1972 the Mi Amigo was sold at auction for £2,400. By 1974 Radio Caroline was broadcasting full-time again, although its playlist had changed from pop singles to album tracks reflecting the higher sales figures of LPs.

But the Mi Amigo was an old ship and its seaworthiness was deteriorating rapidly. Several times during its broadcasting history the ship had broken anchor and run aground during storms. It had been described as a “death trap” by the crew of one lifeboat.

During another storm on 19 March 1980 the Mi Amigo broke anchor again and drifted into shallow water. For eight hours the crew pumped water from the leaking vessel but to no avail. Meanwhile, the station’s DJs were still broadcasting.

Just after midnight on 20 March 1980 the crew ceased broadcasting and abandoned the Mi Amigo to its fate. A few minutes later the ship sank leaving only its mast visible above the waves.

Radio Caroline resumed broadcasting from a new ship, the MV Ross Revenge, from 1983, and continued until this ship also ran aground in 1991. A new era in the station’s history commenced in the late 1990s, using satellite and internet technology, and, at the time of writing, Radio Caroline continues to broadcast.