The fighting men who landed on D-Day needed to be fed so ten Landing Barge Kitchen (LBK) were built for the task. These were adapted from steel Thames Lighters by fitting two petrol engines and building the kitchen on the lighter. Crossing from Langstone Harbour to Sword Beach on D-Day, with the 35th LB Flotilla, …
There is a Ferro Concrete Petrol Barge (PCB), or Lighter, in the Harwich area. These were originally built for use on D-Day but were found to be unsuitable. More here. It is (85’x22′) and was in the cutting to the East of the Sailing Club serving as the clubhouse until replaced by LBK6. It was …
According to www.thecretefleet.com, there were two hundred and ninety-four open ferro-concrete barges (FCBs), and two hundred, closed, petrol barges (PCBs) built during World War Two. These were originally intended mainly for use in the invasion of France. It seems that none of the petrol barges were used for the Normandy landings as they did not …
Both Britain and Germany deployed Refuge Floats for airmen in the North Sea and Channel. How many lives were saved is unclear. Examples still exist – see the notes. RAF Rescue Float More information: RAF Boats 1918 – 1986 and a 3D view at Scottish Maritime Museum German Air Sea Rescue Buoy – Lobster Pot …
Anthony Deane, friend of Pepys, built ships at Harwich and help repel the Dutch. He wrote his Doctrine of Shipbuilding and was key to building the Royal Navy. He is commemorated only by the Red Buoy at Harwich.
On the modern (2015) charts the Sledway is the channel between Cutler Sand to the West and Bawdsey Bank to the East. However, historically, the Sledway is the navigable sea bounded by the Cutler, Bawdsey Bank, Shipwash, Threshold, Roughs, Ridge and Cork, which affords access to the Havens. A sense of this is given in …
Full size on file.
There is a bed of stone between the Deben and the Naze which has been mined as a building material. The northern part extends seawards from Cobbolds Point to Felixstowe Ledge. The point exists because the land north and south is softer and has eroded. The rock armour installed in the 2000s aims to preserve …
A great deal of local interest within this chart. Vintage Maps – excellent selection: (Grahame Spence Charts – If you like to download the image of this map with a resolution of 1200 pixels, please follow the link below. You can use this image for publication on your personal or commercial websites for free if you set …
Arethusa was a Royal Navy Light Cruiser stationed at Harwich under Admiral Tyrwhitt during the Great War. She served as his flagship at the Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914). On the 11th of February 1916, she struck a German mine: whilst being towed back to the port, she sank near the Cutler sandbank by the …
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, London was the largest city in the world and road transport was powered by horse: fifty-thousand horses were required just to keep Victorian London’s public transport running, another ten thousand horses for hansom cabs, and countless more to substitute for white vans made around 300,000 horses producing, say, …
See STU 067 – A wooden fish trap of Anglo-Saxon date, located to the west of Holbrook Creek in Holbrook Bay, Stutton – Suffolk Heritage Explorer
The cross-Channel steamer Prinses Juliana (1909) was wrecked off Felixstowe. On 1 February 1916, she struck a mine from UC-5 while on a voyage with passengers from Vlissingen (Flushing) to Tilbury and was grounded. Ultimately the ship became a total wreck. There is confusion in online sources between Juliana and …
Bob Roberts, in Coasting Bargemaster, tells a compelling tale of how his ship, the ‘boomie’ barge Martinet, was wrecked in World War Two. He wrote that the ship wanted to kill its crew, and he had been in trouble before, having …
These were originally in a ring bound set and are not much larger than A5 size. If there is one of the Deben it is elusive. These are from personal collection.
Available here.
Similar to, but later than, the Collins chart and sits nicely between it and Washington’s 1845 chart. See online for extracts. Shows the Brew House, Platters, Red Beard but not the Bawdsey beacon. Good marks.
Note the boom at Shotley and netting from the breakwater. Also, the bombing range is buoyed.
Thicknesse was quite a character, he was Governor of Landguard Fort and built a cottage at Cobbold’s Point. There are many interesting connections: shipwrecks, Lord Orwell/Vernon dispute, Dr Dodd, and many more. More to do on him! Philip Thicknesse, Landguard’s Loosest Cannon | English Heritage (english-heritage.org.uk) Philip Thicknesse – Wikipedia Volume 1 – Thicknesse, Philip. …
Read more “Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse: Late Lieutenant Governor of Land Guard Fort…”
A light ship to the north of Cork Ridge is marked on the 1852 Washington Chart and also appears on a 1903 Meesum Chart. It was replaced by a large buoy in the 1970s.
Trinity House erected the Naze Tower in 1720 as a sea mark for shipping: at 49m above Mean High Water Springs it is visible from well offshore. Washington’s 1852 Chart gives a transit of “Walton Hall north of the Tower” to clear Longsand Head (about 14NM out) and come through Goldmer’s Gat clearing the head …
The 1845 Deben Survey shows an oxbow bend with Troublesome Reach to the south and Kingston Reach to the west. ‘Troublesome’ relates to the difficulty experienced by sailing vessels in rounding the bend at Kingston (now Kyson Point) due to the prevailing southwesterly and erratic winds from Martlesham Creek. At the west end of Troublesome …
Read more “Loder’s Cut and John Loder, Troublesome Reach, Bloody Point and Kyson Point.”
Surveyor – Explorer – Deben Survey – Franklin – Erebus & Terror – Australia – Rattlesnake and propellers.
Rolling Ground appears on the 1686 Greenvile Collins Chart although Pitching Ground does not: possibly the area was sheltered by a sand bar at that time. The original location of the Rolling Ground was further west than today’s buoy and just south of the fort and so sufficiently sheltered and deep to ride at anchor. …
The Gullet Channel provides a North South route to Goldmer Gat which avoids the shoals near Harwich. It is shown on the 1804 Spence Chart.
Until 1934 a 50 foot high seamark on Bawdsey Cliff marked the Sledway.
Capsized on the sand near Cork Spit, this is on the south side of the channel opposite Wadgate Ledge. See RNLI report
Off Harwich is a starboard hand buoy named for Captain John Washington. Some sailors know that he was an important figure in the history of the Haven. Washington was a sailor, explorer, cartographer, hydrographer, linguist, humanitarian, scientist, spy and engineer. His work on the port was a tiny part of what he achieved.
Stone Banck is marked n 1686 Collins Chart and buoyed in 1821 probably for cement stone dredging. Part of the Medusa Channel.
See Graeme Spence
A Seasonal Buoy warning yachtsmen and destination for swimmers. Has been Felixstowe Pt., Home Pt. and Cottage Point..
This is positioned on the boundary of East Suffolk and Babergh local authorities. Not very imaginative.
Peter Bruff, aka the East Anglian Brunel, was the Civil Engineer who built the Breakwater at Landguard Point …
Pillar replaced buoy – Tide Gauge – Wadgate meaning – Settlement – Harbour
Between 1808 and 1812, twenty-nine Martello Towers were built along the coasts of Essex and Suffolk: eighteen still exist, with one over-built (R): eleven have been lost. The sources given below cover the history and current state of the Towers: the objective here is to show, on the overview map, the positions of current towers …
Samuel Pepys, known for Samuel Pepys Diary is covered fully elsewhere. Of local interest is that he was M.P. for Harwich and …
Bombers – Northfleet – Maunsell – Tilbury – Barrier – Storm – Late arrival
1801 Nelson in HMS Medusa with Capt. Gore is guided by Spence to scrape out to sea.
Deben and Orwell have Bloody Pint – King Alfred vs the Danes – Martellos – Stone Heaps
Edward Vernon served on Admiral Sir Cloudsesley Shovell’s flagship at the capture of Gibraltar. He was later captain of the ship that avoided disaster in the catastrophic loss of Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet on the Isles of Scilly in 1707. The Rum Ration He is known for his 1740 order that rum should be diluted with …
Broke Hall – Broke family – Sea Fencibles – HMS Shannon – USS Chesapeake – Wickham Mill – Carronade – Gunnery
From Channel Coastal Observatory graph showing temperature range by month for 2018-2020 data. Month Degrees C January 6.7 February 6.1 March 7.6 April 9.7 May 12.6 June 16.2 July 18.4 August 19.9 September 17.6 October 14.3 November 9.9 December 7.7 Some data here on temperature rise. There are better figures for Sizewell somewhere. About 0.75 …
TBA
Good section on Gunfleet Sands. A Season at Harwich by W H Lindsey Download from iArchive