The village of Sandgate was no stranger to the martial ethos; during the eighteenth century  England needed to maintain its naval supremacy during conflicts with France, Spain and Holland whilst, across the Atlantic, the colonists were struggling for independence from the mother country. Despite a population of just a few hundred Sandgate made a significant contribution to the fleet, no less than 10 warships were built and launched from its shingle beach during the 1780's. 

There were three separate shipbuilding concerns clustered around Sandgate Castle. One of these, Fabian Clayton Wilson, built cottages for his workers and a surviving pair of these weatherboard homes can still be seen at the foot of Sandgate Hill. 

Amongst the ships built were the Dido, the Hussar and the Circe, all 28-gun 6th Rates, launched in 1784 and weighing nearly 600 tonnes apiece. Other than shipbuilding, the local economy relied upon a brisk smuggling trade, as did much of the south coast. Shipbuilding came to an end with the outbreak of war with France, so the arrival of troops at Shorncliffe provided a welcome supplement to local trade. 

List of ships built and Commissioned at Sandgate

	Date	Name	Type/No of Guns	Tonnes
	1771	Serpant	Sloop / 14	314
	1782	Pluto	Sloop / 16	426
	1783	Rattler	Sloop	341
	1783	Kate	6th Rate / 28	594
	1784	Circe	6th Rate / 28	594
	1784	Hussar	6th Rate / 28	597
	1784	Dido	6th Rate / 28	595
	1784	Brisk	Sloop / 16	340
	1785	Rose	6th Rate / 28	596
	1787	Alligator	6th Rate / 28	599
	1788		Sheerness tender	148
	1810	Dwarf	Cutter / 10	203

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Taken from Coast of Conflict by Michael & Martin George