Wondering why buoys got their names started an interest in finding out more about their history and that of our waters. Many only acquired their names in recent years, the change to the IALA system followed by the growth of Harwich Haven is responsible for some of them.
Few are more than a century or so old but some of the modern ones are named to commemorate history.
Tizard, writing in 1890, explains the need for marking our sea lanes:
As the shores of Essex and Kent are low, and have no natural features by which they may be distinguished at a distance, and as a great part of the estuary is out of sight of land, even in the clear weather so rare in this country, it is evident that artificial marks in considerable number are required to make navigation at all practicable between the banks.
Tizard, T. H. (Thomas Henry). The Thames Estuary. 18901Tizard, T. H. (Thomas Henry). The Thames Estuary. 1890
… now there are no less than 3 lighthouses, 11 light-vessels, 8 gas buoys, 10 beacons, and 117 ordinary buoys marking the channels at present in use; …
It would be interesting to compare his figures with today’s. Here are a few buoys that have a story or mark an area of interest.
*History of British Buoyage
The earliest aid to navigation must have been a withie planted in the mud but the buoy would have been ...
*Local Buoy History
These notes coves from the Blackwater northwards to the Ore. The 1790 Stanier Thames Estuary chart only shows buoys on ...
1885 Dickens Thames Dictionary
Charles Dickens featured the Thames in many of his works. As part of his research he described features along the ...
1890 Thames Estuary Survey extract Tizard
Chart from Tizard, T. H. (Thomas Henry). The Thames Estuary. 1890 ...
6:NW & SE Roughs Tower site and Rough Shoals
The current (2021) buoys in the area mark the Roughs Tower and not the shoal. 2021 Buoys and Tower The ...
Bloody Point at Shotley Spit
There is a 'Bloody Point' on the Orwell at Shotley. The Stour runs due west here and the Orwell northwest, ...
Bouy lighting – Nobel prize
Lighting is a vital area and providing fuel or power has been a difficult problem. The oil-based systems, often using ...
Captain John Washington
Boy to Man to Buoy Some know of Captain John Washington as an important figure in the history of the ...
Captain Peacock’s Refuge Buoy
No mention of these has been found on the East Coast but they are interesting. 2024 Spit Refuge PHM G.Thimblethorpe.jpg ...
Charles Baggage and Buoys
The mathematician, Charles Babbage, took note of the problems with shipping and produced 'Notes Respecting Lighthouses' in 1852. Charles Bagge ...
Cobbolds Point
Stone There is a bed of stone between the Deben and the Naze which, over the years, has been mined ...
Deane, Sir Anthony
Sir Anthony Deane led a long and interesting life so this article is quite long. In due course, it will ...
Deben Reaches and Marks
For sailors, much of the navigational interest of the Deben is getting in and out of Woodbridge Haven: there is, ...
Felixstowe Ledge
There is a bed of stone between the Deben and the Naze which has been mined as a building material ...
Felixstowe Waverider
The Waverider buoy, near Felixstowe Ledge buoy on the northern edge of the Deep Water Channel, measures wave conditions and ...
Galleons & Girling’s Hard
The Galleon's racing mark is most likely misnamed. The hard to the southeast was once known as Girling's Hard. There ...
Grog – Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon – Orwell Park
Edward Vernon served on Admiral Sir Cloudsesley Shovell's flagship at the capture of Gibraltar. He was later captain of the ...
Hams and Tips
This was an attempt by Robert Cobbold of Sutton to enclose 150 acres in the late nineteenth century. The 1845 ...
Medusa Buoy, HMS Medusa, Medusa Channel and Lord Nelson
The green starboard hand buoy, off Walton on the Naze in Essex, is named after HMS Medusa and is the ...
Oriana Wreck in the Wallet
The Oriana Buoy This Starboard Hand Mark with the legend 'Oriana' opposite Wallet No.4 should logically be Wallet No.1: oddly, ...
Pepys, Samuel
Pepys PHM in the Orwell 2021 - the water tower is actually one of the Martello Towers re-purpose Samuel Pepys, ...
Port and Starboard
Once we've realised that Port is on the left only when facing the pointy end (not Italians - see later) ...
Rolling Ground and Pitching Ground
Rolling and Pitching Grounds - 1852 Imray Chary by Washington Rolling Ground appears on the 1686 Greenvile Collins Chart although ...
Shoeburyness
There are references in early pilots and charts to Sobiri, Shoe Beacon, Shoe Hole and Shoe Horse. These can cause ...
SS Richard Montgomery
SS Richard Montgomery on youtube. Beware the shallow water to the east at LW. There is a plan to remove the ...
Stone Bank
Stone Bank first appears, as 'Stone Banck', on Greenvile Collins' 1686 chart of the local coast. The Stone Bank buoy ...
Submarine Sound Buoys
At the start of the twentieth century, the Submarine Signal Company of BostonSubmarine signals by Submarine Signal Company, Boston developed ...
Sunk Head Tower – what remains?
Commissioning 1942 H.M. Fort Sunk Head (U2) was the second Maunsell Navy Tower to be installed during World War Two ...
The Atomic Buoy
In the mid-twentieth century, there were many experiments to provide long-lasting sources of power for buoy lighting. Replacing batteries or ...
Wadgate Ledge and Wadgate Creek
Looking westwards towards Martello (Height of tide = 2.6m) Wadgate Ledge is a Pillar Starboard Hand Mark Just outside the ...
West Knolls
The buoys marking the Deben entrance change frequently in both position and name. West Knolls marks one of the moving ...
Woodbridge Haven
2010 Woodbridge Haven In Roman times the entrance, or Haven, was guarded by a Roman Fort which had collapsed into ...
World War Two Air Sea Rescue Buoys or Floats
Both Britain and Germany deployed Refuge Floats for airmen in the North Sea and Channel. How many lives were saved ...
Image Sources and Credits
Image Credits and Sources
- Felixstowe Waverider- Buoy 2021: Bob C
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Image Credits and Sources
- Felixstowe Waverider- Buoy 2021: Bob C