Hidden Britain AtlasOpen the map
All places › Shipwrecks
Shipwreck

HMS Formidable and the Real Lassie

Lyme Bay, off Dorset

A torpedoed battleship, and a dog who brought a sailor back to life.

In the early hours of New Year's Day 1915, the battleship HMS Formidable was torpedoed in Lyme Bay, and around 550 men died. One of the boats reached Lyme Regis, and the bodies were laid out in the Pilot Boat Inn.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

Open HMS Formidable and the Real Lassie on the mapReport a sighting here
When
1 January 1915
Where
50.4500, -2.9800
Group
Shipwrecks

Visiting

The Pilot Boat in Lyme Regis remembers the story. A memorial stands in the town.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

Buy on AmazonAll books by Cale Mills

Nearby mysteries