Nowadays we are familiar with Cutler Sand as a 2m shoal about one and a half miles off Bawdsey Cliff, but few have heard of Redbeard. There was a Cutler or Curtiller ship-owning family in the Bawdsey area from the twelfth century, so this is probably the origin of the name of the Cutler Sand. …
Foulger’s Gat, pronounced ‘Fullgers’ is a swatchway across the Long Sand connecting the Black Deep to the Knock Deep. It has a least depth of around 3m and is now surrounded by the London Array windfarm, although still usable by yachts.
The first vessels of this type investigated turned out to be metal lighters: I’d been passing them for years assuming them to be concrete. It was through contacting Richard Lewis, who writes on the subject and has www.thecretefleet.com website, that the subject became clearer. Working from Northern Ireland he has identified perhaps all of the …
Both Bawdsey and Alderton church towers were once used for navigation. Alderton’s spire collapsed in 1821, killing a cow! So, because the diminished church became unsatisfactory for navigation, the sea-mark was rebuilt in 1831 and again in 1837. Next, in 1841, boys set fire to the thatched nave of Bawdsey Church with Guy Fawkes night …
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, …
Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) was from a wealthy family and a gentleman of leisure. Known primarily for his translation of a Persian poem he was of a bohemian disposition and lived an unconventional life. He was one of the ‘Woodbridge Wits’, a group of poets and artists, which included Thomas Churchyard, George Crabbe and Bernard Barton. …
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.
Cuttings in saltmarsh – none similar – purpose not known.
1801 Nelson in HMS Medusa with Capt. Gore is guided by Spence to scrape out to sea.