In 1851 A Season at Harwich by W H Lindsey there is a good section on rowing out to Gunfleet Sands for a walk. – Lindsey, W. H. A Season at Harwich, with Excursions by Land and Water … London : Simpkin, Marshall, 1851. http://archive.org/details/seasonatharwichw00lind.
Sailing Tours: Part 1 – The Coasts of Essex and Suffolk by Frank Cowper of 1892. Lovely language and a very different era,
W.G.Arnott a Woodbridge Estate Agent (look for the Blue Plaque) who frequented Waldringfield in L’Atalanta. The three works to mention here are “Orwell Estuary”, “Deben Estuary” and “Alde Estuary”. You can still get them and they are well worth the money. Robert Simper is another local writer with too many works to list, all worth having. He was, at one time, the owner of Arnott’s L’Atalanta. Maritime Suffolk by the prolific Robert Malster is another good work, which is more about boats than the area. The East Anglian Shores by David Fairhall, is a sort of travel guide covering from the Thames to Wash. It is written from a sailor’s viewpoint, with lots of historical tidbits and is very readable. In a similar vein but a bit more arty with nice paintings is Curlew Coast by Judith Ellis. Related: Little Dick the smuggler and other East Anglian eccentrics by West, Harold Mills, 1912- An additional reading list is on the www.thamestuary.com site.