The sinking of the Sphinx : the minesweeper Sphinx was one of two British warships lost off the Caithness coast during the Second World War. It brought the grim reality of naval warfare to Wick's very doorstep, as some of the sailors who perished were buried in the local cemetery. Noel Donaldson has been looking back at the second disaster to hit the royal burgh within a fortnight, 63 years ago this week.