The lightship Sandettié was a stationary lightship. Thanks to its powerful laight and its fog horn, it indicated to other ships the presence of the dangerous sandbanks located off the port of Dunkirk.
Put in place in 1949, the BF 6 (light boat 6) was successively called Dyck and Sandettié, after the names of the sandbanks that it was responsible for signaling. At each change of assignment, the name painted in large white letters on the hull was changed.
The crew of this ship without a destination was made up of 8 men responsible for keeping the ship and its lighting system in good working order, for carrying out and transmitting meteorological readings and for monitoring passing ships. near.
A page in Dunkirk's maritime history was turned when, greeted by a chorus of sirens, the lightship Sandettié returned to port for the last time on June 3, 1989.
Owned by the Urban Community of Dunkirk since 1997, it was restored and then opened to the public in 2006. Special visits are regularly organised, accompanied by Bernard Quilliot, its former chief mechanic.
