HMHS Anglia Wreck 'To Be Protected At Last'

Men in their beds, many of them amputees, were helpless as water swept through the desks and dragged the ship to the bottom of the sea.

160 people, including heroic medical staff who tried to save the wounded men, were killed. Historian Dr Peter Marsden has said:

"It must have been a terrible death."

The death toll on hospital ship HMHS Anglia was high precisely because so many of the men were casualties of war.

A good number had been injured at the Battle of Loos, which had ended on October 13, 1915.

Just over a month later Albion hit a German mine off the coast of Kent while bringing injured soldiers home from France.

Now, a long campaign to conserve the ship and honour the memory of the dead, by getting the wreckage protected, has finally borne fruit, according to the BBC.

But Dr Marsden says it should not have taken as long as it has to get the government to agree to protect the ship.

The MoD, for its part, has stated:

"The Ministry of Defence ensures that all wrecks, including HMHS Anglia, are protected under the (Protection of Military Remains) Act if they meet the correct criteria."

The criteria, or rather, criterion, is that the location of the wreck must have been pinpointed, which it was, by English Heritage, in October 2014. The MoD added:

"[Albion] will now be given... protective status in March, which is the next available opportunity. Wrecks are designated as protected places or controlled sites under the UK's Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, which provides added protection against disturbance and desecration."

Official protection means that while divers may visit the wreck, they are not allowed to disturb or remove anything from the site.

The dead and their ship may now finally rest in peace.