This article covers the loss and events associated with the freighter SS Yousuf Baksh off the Kent coast in May 1965.
May 8, 1965 saw the demise of the SS Yousuf Baksh.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Walmer Lifeboat Station attended the 5,975 ton Pakistan registered freighter, its cargo of jute being ablaze. The ship had become unsteerable and was drifting helplessly in The Downs - the stretch of water off the Kent coast between the Goodwin Sands and the Cinque Port town of Deal. The Walmer Lifeboat spent over 50 hours afloat, giving assistance and saving lives. Forty-eight survivors were brought ashore in the first hours of the emergency after which the ship’s officers, the skipper’s wife and two children were also returned safely to Walmer Lifeboat Station. During this time the Yousuf Baksh's captain remained aboard his vessel, relinquishing his bridge only after the Walmer Lifeboat returned with a doctor on board to treat a badly injured officer who later died – the only fatality. During the evening the ship ran aground at Sandwich Bay where the fires burnt out. The Yousuf Bakhsh and its cargo were a total loss.