Deane, Sir Anthony
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.
Masons (Cement) Barges
Masons Cement Works at Waldringfield from 1860s to 1907. Some sailing barges belonged to the factory,others not. Mud dug at Hemley Point. Fates of the barges mostly known.
Deben Reaches and Marks
For sailors, much of the navigational interest of the Deben is getting in and out of Woodbridge Haven: there is, however, the more prosaic topic of how the way to Woodbridge has been marked over the years. This is a tour through the sources and changes. George Arnott says the first reference to beacons was …
D-Day Deception Fleet – Deben
Dummy Landing Craft were built at Waldringfield and moored on the Deben before D-Day to deceive the Nazis. These were probably the largest craft ever to be in the river.
HMS Blazer and Captain Owen Stanley
Surveyor – Explorer – Deben Survey – Franklin – Erebus & Terror – Australia – Rattlesnake and propellers.
Woodbridge Haven
The Deben or Woodbridge River was once guarded by a Roman Fort. The channel changes as do the methods of marking it…
Captain John Washington
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.
What’s the Point of a Compass?
The magnetic compass has developed, not as quickly as one might think, over the last seven or eight centuries. Mariners have been navigating the seas out of sight of land for much longer than this: directions had to be based on the bearings of the Sun and stars although local use could be made of …
Medusa Buoy, HMS Medusa, Medusa Channel and Lord Nelson
1801 Nelson in HMS Medusa with Capt. Gore is guided by Spence to scrape out to sea.
*History of British Buoyage
Navigation buoys have existed for centuries but, by the nineteenth century, differing systems caused confusion and prompted attempts to develop a common scheme. Growing trade, steamships, ship and buoy lighting technology increased the complexity of the problem which was not resolved, due to politics and war, until the late twentieth century.