1875 The sailor’s Pocket Book – Bedford

All sorts of information: buoyage systems, lights, etc. The sailor’s pocket book By sir Frederick George D. Bedford · 1875 Also see the 1890 version: The Sailor’s Ready-reference Book: For the Use of the Royal Navy, the Mercantile Marine and Yacht Squadrons, Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford, Jan 1890 · Griffin & Company

About

The header image ‘Two Buoys’ by Brian Perry shows the buoys Weir and Oxley enjoying their Winter break away from Orford Haven at Felixstowe Ferry. This began as a personal collection of material for an historical write-up of local buoys. It got out of hand: it is now about anything found interesting whilst sailing etc. …

Yachting Monthly & Hunt’s Yachting

An incomplete selection of issues from 1933 to 1953 is available here. Lovely to read. 1852 Hunt’s Yachting Magazine – Google Play Books – mainly club-oriented. Others are available until 1867. Yachting Magazine – available on CD

River Deben Association Archive

This archive of earlier copies of the ‘Deben’ magazine is a trove of hidden treasures and readers will find their time in reviewing it rewarded. To read. Tribes of the Deben Anglo Saxons. Gosnold Autumn 2000, also various other history pieces. Wrecks on the Deben – Spring 2000

1844 Coasters Guide

1844 Coasters Guide (google books) The improved coaster’s guide, and Marine board examination, for the east coast of England and Scotland, and the English channell. By Alexander Baharie · 1844

+Sources for Charts, Maps and Images

Ordnance Survey Maps – National Library of Scotland Good source of historical OS and other maps at Vision of Britain British Library  Maps and charts (rmg.co.uk) Foxearth Local History – local maps L Brown Collection – no re-use. David Rumsey Collection – excellent. Royal Collection Rijks Museum National Library of Spain OMNIA – Europe’s Culture …

Nearing the Nore by H.Alker Tripp from Shoalwater and Fairway by H. Alker Tripp

Hugh Alker Tripp

Two excellent books for the East Coast are Suffolk Sea Borders and Shoalwater and Fairway by H. Alker Trip who was based at Maldon in the years between the Wars. Some historical tidbits and challenging sailing, often at night, with no engine. He wrote a couple of others. Some of these have been reprinted but …

Suffolk Geology

Useful background for Cement Stone and coastal change. See The key to Suffolk Geology See Cement Stone at Nacton and Septaria Generally See Notes on Some Suffolk Crag Localities See THE SUFFOLK GEOCOAST DUNWICH: SUFFOLK’S LOST CITY – A GEO-TOUR

Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse: Late Lieutenant Governor of Land Guard Fort…

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. …

1948 Thames Wharfage Chart No. 2 from personal collection showing Barge Wharves along the London River from Beckton to Vauxhall Bridge

Thames River

These items are for the London River rather than the Estuary. 1790 Bowles’s new map of the River Thames, from it’s spring in Gloucester-shire, to it’s influx into the sea : with a table of all the locks, wears, and bridges thereupon ; shewing the tolls payable at each and their distance by water from …

Books Sailing Barges

Here are some good poetic extracts: The Singing Swan by Sir A.P. Herbert extracts APCM Handbook for Bargemen and Lightermen by Charles T. Perfect extracts Books on Sailing Barges Carr, Frank G G. Sailing Barges. Dalton, 1989. ‘The Thames Sailing Barge Compendium’. Hervey Benham, Roger Finch, and Philip Kershaw. Down Tops’l. The Story of the …

*Historical Thames Estuary, Essex, Suffolk

Here is a selection of reference sources. Needs to be sub-divided. General The Anglo Saxon Chronicle text. There are other sources for different versions. Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography, published by the Royal Historical Society in 1968. Online Domesday Book The Holinshed Project – a sixteenth century tour of Britain, good on description …

Books Kayaking

(Barrister-at-Law.), John MACGREGOR (M A. A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe … Fifth Edition. Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1867. Macgregor, John. The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Nile, Red Sea, and Gennesareth, Etc: A Canoe Cruise in Palestine and Egypt and the Waters of Damascus. Maps and Illustrations. John Murray, 1870. MacGregor, …

Books Sailing Local

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 …

Books Sailing General

Kemp, Dixon. A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing. H. Cox, 1884. Biddle, Tyrrel E. The Corinthian Yachtsman, or Hints on Yachting. C. Wilson, Late Norie and Wilson, 1881. Frank Cowper. Jack-All-Alone, His Cruises. L. Upcott Gill, 1897. The history of yachting, 1600-1815 by Clark, Arthur Hamilton ‘Down Channel in the “Vivette”. – Edward Keble Chatterton …

1915 USNO England East Coast Pilot Harwich extract

Google Books Has a good description of shoals. Shows SHMs such as Cutler being Red Cones. Some good Middle Ground Buoys at Gabbard. 19 feet into Harwich. Submarine Bells Description of Deben. The coast . The coast from Orfordness trends southwestward for 3 miles and is a low shingle beach , from thence it curves to the southward for 2 miles to Orford Haven ; this forms Hollesley Bay . From the entrance to Orford Haven is a beach running 2 miles in a southerly direction to Boathouse Point , and from this point it runs southwestward for 2 miles to Bawdsey Cliffs . Orfordness and the coast for some distance to the westward is steep – to , but in Hollesley Bay and off Bawdsey Cliffs the 3 – fathom contour extends 0.6 mile seaward .The objects upon this coast which will be recognized are Crouch lifeboat houses , a small cluster of huts painted black and used only for fishing boats . Shingle Street , a cluster of cottages at the entrance to Orford Haven , and five martello towers between the haven and Bawdsey Cliff . The Colonial College , a large brick building with turrets and a flagstaff , close northeast of Hollesley , and just south westward of it is a large bare field that from a distance somewhat resembles Bawdsey Cliff , and Hollesley Church are prominent objects in the well – wooded background . A large white house among wood inland and to the northward of Bawdsey Cliff , a windmill at Alderton , and Bawdsey Church , with its broad stunted tower , are all plain objects .  Coast guard.On the outer beach at 1.2 miles northeastward of Shingle Street is a small balck hut , with a flagstaff near it , the watch house of the coast guard , and at northeast extreme of Shingle Street is a large gray two – storied coast – guard house , with a flagstaff near it . Next to this house , there is a long , low , red building with a lookout turret in the middle .  Martello Tower ( W. ) on Boathouse Point is East Lane coast – guard station , surmounted by a flagstaff , and the chimneys are whitewashed .  Rocket stations . There are life – saving rockets at each of the above coast – guard stations .  Bawdsey Cliff is of a reddish color and bears upon its face numerous marks of land slips .  Bawdsey Manor , a conspicuous brick house , stands at the south west extreme of Bawdsey Cliff , and close eastward of it is a flagstaff . A glass house stands a short distance northeastward of the manor and is conspicuous in the sunlight .  Bawdsey Sea Mark , an obelisk painted red and white in horizontal bands , stands near the northeast end of the cliff .  Woodbridge Haven , or the entrance to the River Deben , is immediately westward of Bawdsey Cliff .  The coast from the entrance trends southward for 4 mile to Tower T Point , from thence it assumes a south – southwesterly direction , and consists of cliff , alternating with grassy bank , for a distance of 1.2 miles to Felixstowe Point , when the high ground trends more westerly .  From Felixstowe Point a low shingle beach extends 2.5 miles to the southwestward to Landguard Point , where it forms the eastern side of the entrance to Harwich Harbor .  The golf pavilion , a white house , 600 yards southward of Tower T , and Felixstowe Hotel , surmounted by a clock tower , and standing on the cliff at Felixstowe , are conspicuous from seaward .

1817 Norie Sailing Directions Nore to Orfordness

Sailing directions for the river Thames, from London, to the Nore and Sheer… – Google Books Extract THE SWIN AND KING’S CHANNEL Buoy on the Middle, No 3, black3 fathoms starboard. Whitaker Spit buoy, red, with staff and triangular vane3 fathoms larboard. South buoy of the Swin Spitway, blacklarboard. Gunfleet beaconlarboard. Gunfleet buoy, No. 9, …

1892 – The Coasts of Essex and Suffolk by Frank Cowper – Extract Harwich area

Page 96 FROM THE COLNE TO HARWICH. …Trinity House. This serves as a land-mark, but will not be of any use to us, as its only advantage, beyond being a mark to tell ships out at sea what point of land they are off, is to clear the Longsand Head fifteen miles away out at …

APCM Handbook for Bargemen and Lightermen by Charles T. Perfect (extracts)

 Whole book available on FB and here. Neither scan is good. A real copy would be very nice to have. Lights Ahead Meeting steamers do not dreadWhen you see three lights ahead :Port your helm and show your redGreen to green, or red to red.Perfect safety, go ahead.    If to starboard red appear’Tis your duty to …