I was walking across the yard of the Island Yacht Club some time last year when a hail arrested my steps towards the jetties and Whimbrel.
I toddled over and was met by a grinning chap who proceeded to furnish me with a flourish of praise and thanks.
What for you might ask. Well, he had just completed rereading all of my currently published books through again as a form of lockdown therapy…
The books…
‘When’s the next one coming,’ he added without a pause.
At the time I prevaricated and mentioned doing ‘some bits and pieces…’
Then, during the year I began to receive a string of emails…
One wrote: ‘I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed reading your sailing related books. They greatly helped me keep my spirits up during the long winter covid lockdown. (beginning of 21 to end of March 21).
Three read, two saved for winter…’
The chap went on to describe playing on an old barge near South Fambridge … apparently not much left of her. I went looking with my mate in tow on one of our weekly longer walks. Neither of us could spot any signs where SSBR Barge Compendium places the vessel’s remains (William & Arthur).
Looking up the River Crouch near where the William & Arthur’s remains supposedly rest – in an indent just beyond.
From The Netherlands I had a long email filling me in on activities achieved against Dutch covid requirements: like us they’ve had lockdowns and restrictions, if not more so.
I often sail alone and the evenings on board were a good opportunity to read your book Salt Martsh & Mud. It was a source of reading pleasure. The pleasant communication on board between you and Christobel, the nice adventures you have, the beautiful descriptions of the voyage, the attention for nature, the continuous presence of the rich maritime past of you and the sailing area and last but not least the beautiful, playful and richly varied use of words and language in which the stories are cast, made me again and again curious about the> next chapter and your new adventures.
In short, I really enjoyed it!
While reading, I kept google maps handy and it’s surprising how well your travels can be followed then. I imagine I’m getting to know the area the book is set in quite well.
Whimbrel sailing up Dartford Creek during last summer…
I also heard from another reader and wife, both keen sailors, with a River Deben moored boat. The email was a sweet ‘checking up’ on us with news. Within the words, the writer asked:
‘I also wondered whether you have any new publications due or which might be ‘on the stocks’ for the future? I’m currently re-reading Mudlarking having just finished Rochester to Richmond again…’
I can’t remember if I told them the truth…
Perhaps I should!
A view down Martlesham Creek whilst on a walk when in Tide Mill Marina, Woodbridge, during the summer.
There have been other communications and messages too, however it would be churlish to go on, so to all of you: it has given me huge pleasure too in reading your kind words. The mate was in tears with a couple of the messages she saw…
The covid lockdowns have not been easy for anyone. Escapism is a good medicine, as is/was walking, and last lockdown gave me the impetus to sit and write.
The book, when it comes out, will have been a product of the winter 2021 lockdown. By its end, the book was essentially completed and is now currently going through proofreading and editing…
It has been a bit of a month down on the Thames estuary with just a few available days fit for sailing when the tide was in. I grabbed two of those…
Waiting for the tide…
My eldest brother was over from Canada a little while back and he hit a period of excellent weather in the east, enjoying a three day sail and another out on the tide before hightailing back to Canada as Covid-19 variant Omicron began to hit.
Looking aloft…
Over a couple of days before Christmas I was able to get afloat for a couple of sails. It at least ‘showed’ the tree off to other folk afloat. Hauling a tree aloft is a rarity these days on ships and boats.
Looking aft as Whimbrel sails herself…
Christmas Day arrived to another bout of windy mizzly weather – no matter I have only sailed on Christmas day on very few occasions!
Boxing Day morning our phone rang early.
I looked across at the mate as she listened … it was my sister down in Devizes about to leave for our mother’s care home. She wasn’t good…
Advice was get going!
Sadly, my dear mama died a little after eight. She went peacefully, bless her, with my sister holding her hand.
My mother stitching sections of a new mainsail for the May Flower in 1960.
So, the the artistic sailing mum we all knew has passed on to pastures new… She has left us her memories.
I, for one, will always treasure the sketches she came up with to illustrate the first three books to follow ‘May Flower’. It was something she was superb at.
My mother enjoying a sail on Whimbrel…
So, although it is the festive season until twelfth night for many, it is for me and my siblings (and others) a sad time too.
Sail on mum, wander the eternal shorelines and the wooded glades. Sit, ponder and sketch, for ever.
God Bless…
To all, good sailing or whatever boating you participate in. Let us all hope for a better 2022 out on the water.
Whimbrel ‘managed’ 930 nautical miles for 2021, pretty good really, considering…
I first met Max when he pitched up at my yacht club to begin working on the regular Saturday routine. He had been at it a little while without my knowledge while I was away summer sailing aboard Whimbrel.
I immediately found Max to be one of those honest down to earth guys that often seem all too rare.
Max had appeared at the club with a robust little yacht called Kate which he had sailed across the Atlantic with a ‘duff’ engine. Within months he was negotiating a purchase deal for Wendy May, a deep keeled gaffer then owned by Dick Durham.
Due to family needs (aged parent) Max had to move. So, I felt sad when he slipped his mooring and sailed Wendy May off to a distant Welsh creek.
Christobel bought this book for me as a birthday present. It was read aboard Whimbrel during the recent glorious ‘gas-less’ summer generally when up mud creeks – far removed from the blue waters of the Caribbean where most of the story is told.
Front cover…
I remember this ship at Battlesbridge from many years ago. What it was doing there was alien to my thinking. And, as Max tells, he needed a very good spring tide to make the passage up to the top of the tidal River Crouch. Her name: Gloria.
Max delights in telling us about the trials and tribulations in getting his ship in order. His previous boat was a little yacht kept at the Thurrock Yacht Club.
Max made it to the Caribbean via the Iberian peninsular, Los Palmas and the Cape Verde Islands. There he worked to earn enough to make repairs and ‘live’ … Max then sailed the yacht back home, alone…
Then after stops to visit family ‘down west’ he made it back to Battlesbridge taking a crew aboard to help with this bit!
There are a scattering of black & white images and an end map with some details of the routes taken.
I have sailed the high seas aboard ships, but other than a south coast passage have never gone deep sea aboard a ‘little ship’ so I found this story of great interest. It was compelling…
Max is passionate about his sailing and clearly knows his stuff.
I knew Dick in a childhood sort of way one does when the person appears in one’s life to crew (and work) aboard your Thames spritsail barge home.
Dick disappeared from my life and he next turned up as a ‘yotty’ working for Yachting Monthly. Dick later graduated to News Editor and had his own column, which he still has several years after his retirement.
Dick’s sweet gaff cutter Betty II is moored adjacent to Whimbrel at the same yacht club. We’ve ‘slaved’ together many hours on club work parties so I think I have got to know this author, sailor, raconteur and bloody good bloke fairly well…
I received a copy of Dick’s latest work, Turnip Road, for my birthday in June 2021. I read it during a long summer spent afloat on Whimbrel.
Front cover…
The book tells the tale of a young man who after working on the last working spritsail barge, the Cambria, had a wanderlust that needed to be satiated.
Dick travels across Europe, meeting people travelling in the same direction. He hitched, took buses and actually walked a little of it too…
Some of his fellow travellers became confederates in the same cause: friends on the trail, until one or the other peeled off in their own direction.
What was his direction. Well, along the ‘hippie trail’ in the main at first, but from there it wasn’t clear. He just kept on going.
The scents, smells and filth of the conditions found on the journey convey much colour. One wonders if many of the places have changed? Well, of course they will have, but what I mean is for the betterment of the people?
Dick finally made it to Sidney! The city isn’t one normally associated with such travelling but modern backpackers hike around Oz stopping at the countries cities. Dick had a sister living there, so why not…
I found the book enthralling. His power of description is something else and could possibly be termed ‘purple’ (a phrase chucked my way by someone who clearly hadn’t properly read one of my books!) but all of Dick’s books are so written.
It was a spanking good read.
Only one gripe: a few pictures would have been great and perhaps a route map…
Thank you Dick for filling in much in the way of gaps. I would like an ask! When are you going to progress that brilliant duo, Dippy and her DI?
Apparently, the reporting of near miss incidents has fallen by a staggering near 50% over the last few years. The Port of London Authority are clearly concerned for they know that safety has NOT improved to that extent.
It is the reporting that has dropped. The PLA want river users to be proactive in reporting incidents for ultimately damage, injury or loss of life can be minimised.
There was a notice earlier in the autumn which caught my attention, but the later one first, I think…
‘CHRISTMAS DRINK & DRUGS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN As we approach the Christmas Season, the Port of London Authority (PLA) and the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Policing Unit will once again be supporting the Metropolitan Police Service annual ‘Christmas Drink – Drive’ campaign. This high-profile campaign highlights the dangers of driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs – this message applies equally to the river as well as the roads, as the safety of vessels, passengers and crews is of paramount importance…’
The drive or emphasis seems to be on the ‘upper’ river sections but we all know that down in the estuary it is of paramount importance too!
I have a rule on Whimbrel, unwritten and unsaid, but alcohol is not served whilst underway. If a lunch stop is on the agenda, a pint is the maximum I will enjoy. My crews too.
A small snifter in a coffee on a cold day being the only deviation!
My mate preparing a hot drink on a winter sail…
The other notice that hit me between the eyes was something which I have had recourse to use. This is PLA Notice 17 of 2020 – Near Miss Reporting.
It was after being ‘bombed’ by a RIB. We were in the shallows outside Smallgains Creek. I was on the cabin top preparing to set the mainsail. Christobel was on the helm.
The boat went ‘ballistic’ … Christobel was thrown off the tiller and across the cockpit, jarring herself. The boat slewed dangerously.
How I didn’t go overboard, to this day I do not know. I wish I had in many respects: it would have got more done about it…
Sadly, I still have waking periods at night when it pops into my head…
I will say no more!
Crossing the Thames on the day we were bombed. We are approaching the deep water channel No.6(N) buoy – if shipping is such we either wait, sail off or put engine on to clear across in good time.
So, I had a good look at the link. There is an incident reporting form on the small craft ‘navigators club’ site on the PLA web site.
The section is called: Boating on the Thames and it covers all areas from the estuary up to the tidal limit at Teddington. Get yourself listed if a Thames sailor and enjoy!
I have cut a little section from the PLA document…
‘NAVIGATIONAL NEAR MISS & INCIDENTS NEW WAY OF REPORTING A new way of reporting Navigational Near Misses and Incidents has been developed and is now publicly available to all River Users through our website or the PLA Tidal Thames app on your smartphone. To report a Near Miss or Incident via our website, go to pla.co.uk and click on Near Miss & Incident Reporting on the home page.’
It goes on…
‘Therefore, if you are involved or are a witness to a near miss or incident, please report this as soon as possible by submitting a report via our website or the PLA Tidal Thames App which can be downloaded…’
We were sailing over to Queenborough that day – we made it – and enjoyed a great weekend at the Traditional Boat Festival (2019).
Sunset on eve of festival Saturday…
If afloat over the Festive period, get out there and enjoy yourself, but leave the imbibing to afterwards…
During the summer we sailed into West Mersea a few times. One was over a weekend when there was a bit of a fair taking place on the carpark in front of the West Mersea Yacht Club – regatta end day, I think.
Apart from Christobel asking how she could become a fairy … the stall that caught my eye was emblazoned with the ‘word’ ENORI’ and being inquisitive, I walked over.
‘How do I get to be a fairy…’ I thought I heard!
It turned out that the letters stand for, Essex Native Oyster Restoration Initiative. It is a collaboration between all stakeholders and others who are working towards the restoration of the traditional native oyster beds.
Part of ENORI pamphlet – with courtesy.
The native oyster does not thrive in the drying shallows but it lives in the shallower tidal waters fringing sand/mud banks and creeks.
The project has begun with a trial ‘patch’ of culch laid in part of a block which recently appeared in ‘our’ chart corrections. It is roughly in the pencilled area seen on the chart section above. It is surprisingly big, however, the section in use is relatively small as of August this year.
Area which has been designated for the trials.One of the precautionary marker buoys…
The native oyster has been around a jolly long time and ‘all’ shell finds in Roman (greater consumers), centuries before and after up to the disasters of the last century are of this family.
The much more widely consumed oyster now is the ‘Pacific’ which was imported to restock after the devastations following big freezes – 1963 especially which proved pivotal.
Historical brief.
The first layings of culch – the fragmented oyster particles that the spat clings to – have been made. This bank will be fed spat and young oysters and farmed in the traditional manner.
Environmental considerations and benefits…
The chap I chatted to was not only very knowledgeable but was also extremely passionate with the project. It was a great chat.
So, if you haven’t picked up on your chart corrections and marked up the ‘oyster box’ then it might be wise to do so!
And, if a lover of oysters, perhaps in the years to come, the good old native will slip down with a pint or two…
The last packing shed on Packing Marsh Island…
The old packing shed lives on, on Packing Marsh Island, however, the island itself is in a precarious state. Its survival appears to be at the behest of ‘regular’ discharges of shingles on its shores. I could clearly see huge degradation from my previous visit to the area two seasons ago.
I feel the native oyster has a better chance of survival…
During August, we’d popped up into St Osyth for a night after booking a berth with the yard at the head of the creek – home port of the spritsail barge EDME. Upon leaving we had a night in Brightlingsea to use the shower facilities and get a ‘shed load’ of laundry done!
There are a couple of smacks up at St Osyth, but it was at Brightlingsea I am ‘sailing’ to… The mate stood by during the laundry exercise more than I did, happy with her book! I was ‘sent off’ to have a poke round the waterfront…
Brightlingsea Heritage Dock.
At the heritage dock I met a couple of chaps who were just about to leave the site after a spell aboard the 1885 built smack Victory. One of the chaps had purchased her, he said, grinning. She has a ‘Thames’ number, LO111, but was built by Howard of Maldon.
I was told that it was thought she was used as a trading vessel in earlier days working for a miller on the River Blackwater up at Maldon. I wondered if this was Greens?
The old thing had lain for years up at Wivenhoe in a mud hole along the front. I remember seeing her looking rather dilapidated. Her gear eventually ‘fell down’ due to a rotten mast.
The Victory – middle.
She was moved down to Brigtlingsea after being given to the smack society with the intention of making her available to a ‘fitted person’ who could undertake her rebuild. The new owner had had thoughts of motoring her round down the Swin, but the decision was made not to. Rather wise, I thought!
Her new owner said she was due to be lifted out and transported to a workshop in Erith – they being Erith YC members. The Victory is to be completely rebuilt under cover…
Couldn’t see the name of this old girl but she is very ‘ripe’…
Another vessel in a seriously bad way was still floating. Her hull looked ripe with rot and her decks certainly were. I didn’t find out her name.
Leaving the heritage dock, I briefly looked over to the spritsail barge Dawn which was under cover having deck maintenance – re-caulking – having chosen to continue her Covid-19 sojourn…
I wandered into Morgans Yard to look at vessels in the lay up area. A few old friends were found including the bare empty and rather forlorn hull of the Colchester smack Shamrock.
At the time I thought her days were numbered, however, the very next day he old thing was loaded onto a lorry and taken to the St Osyths boat Yard for a complete rebuild.
The Shamrock. She had sat in Morgan’s Yard for around a decade at least…Looking up at her raked transom.
The vessel was largely held together with strong webbing straps in an effort to maintain shape, and, I believe, just to hold her constituent parts together.
All in all, these are happy tales…
Another such tale has taken the Maldon bawley MN2, Dorana, to Eyemouth, Berwickshire, for a rebuild at a yard in the old fishing village in the Scottish Borders.
I am endeavouring to find out a little more, but no response from the local heritage centre has been forthcoming currently…
Dorana is 34′ and actually quite young: being constructed by Drake’s of Tollesbury in 1939. She has an upright transom, bawley-like, rather than the traditional highly raked Colchester type.
The Joseph T as seen in 2013. Reported broken up 2020.
The vessel is similar to the Joseph T, another Maldon vessel which lay ashore at Maylandsea for many years. She was broken up last year…
The Maria, CK21, and CK348, My Alice having some fun in the Colne.
Smacks and Bawley’s are always a delight to see, as are all traditional craft and owners should be applauded for their loving care and tenacity in keeping their little ships in such fine order.
Smacks are always a delight to see under sail – Maria CK21 running before the wind on the East Swale. Old timers of long ago would be amazed!
I’ll certainly be looking out for the Shamrock and the Victory over the next couple of seasons…
More on the Dorana: She is indeed in Eyemouth. I contacted the town’s museum who put me onto the local boat yard. I had a response from the Marine Manager of the yard, Graham Perrins.
Graham tells me that the smack was purchased by a ‘local business man and is working on the boat at his own leisure…’
New flowers in early January when we were deeply in the second full scale Covid-19 lockdown were apt for what I was getting up to when not walking and varnishing dinghy bits and other stuff…
Lenten roses in winter…
Current projects:
I do have more up my sleeve but when this will come to fruition, I cannot at the moment say.
I’ve been for some while working on a series of articles being published by Yachting Monthly Magazine and these can be found at intervals…
Update:
The articles mentioned have been trundling out. Currently one more is due to be published at some point in the magazine’s future programme.
I have also been involved with a series of short articles dealing with the ‘Ten best…’ places, anchorages, walks, city visits, etc…
On the ‘future book’ front, I spent the lockdown during the first three months of 2021 rewriting some work and putting into words a ‘breezy buzz’ that was travelling around my mind.
As the days progressed, between walking, the mate wielded her ‘red’ pen as she felt it should be, in the main it was often quite lightly. At times she dropped work back into my lap in tears…. Saying, ‘you made me cry…’
I am now in the process of finding a publisher!
The process is often long and drawn out. It is very much like when looking for a publisher for ‘May Flower’ for I am exploring new fields…
Autumn is properly with us now in my little corner of England and sailing out on a tide has resumed.
Brent taking off…
First the Brent arrived and then the terns disappeared. Flocks of overwintering waders have arrived too. The Brent geese were a little early, I thought, signalling perhaps harsher conditions on their home territory. Home: I use loosely for they spend more time in their overwintering grounds.
Waders along the Canvey Island marsh edges.
September was a fine month for us and most of October, although a little windy for parts of last two weeks – gaps allowed time afloat, so I’ve no real complaints!
Out on a cloudy day.
A gentle potter up along the Leigh-on-Sea shore and into Leigh Creek looking at the range of traditional craft ‘hiding’ away was enjoyed.
Looking back at traditional craft off the cockle sheds through the sail slot.
On one of the sails I passed two friends – both Finesse owners. One has a Seaking too. The chap’s Finesse is a ’21’ which he has put a new cabin on and renewed the decks.
Meeting two friends.
One of the joys of autumn is the quiet upon the water and sight of the wintering bird life. I love too the colour changes taking place within the saltings as the last of the summer green fades. Along the Hadleigh downs, the autumn shades can often be slow to show, then, on a sail the hillside glows as a late afternoon sun bathes the panorama.
Reaching down the Benfleet Creek channel in glorious late October weather.
Sailing up past Bird Island for the first time since the spring I spotted a huge clump of cord grass growing. The island just covers at 5.0 metres (Southend). I wrote to the Port of London Authority in the spring of 2014 and drew their attention to this growing island. A tide gauge reading from VTS as I sailed by showed that the island just covered at 4.7 metres then.
Bird Island in Hadleigh Ray north of Marks Marsh Island and south of the Two Tree Island hides.
I was told it didn’t exist!
Well, plenty of boats run into it!
Looks like an island of mud to me. Next year the saltings growth will increase, that’s for sure.
A survey report of 2001 showed the height in this area to be 4.5 metres above chart datum…
The silting progression is stark.
Creeping homeward as the breeze falls…The tide is falling, the boat is quietly at rest and the breeze has died. All is still…
We had planned a two day heist across to the Medway together. The weather though looked a bit threatening for two nights but one was looking good. In the event the mate chose to let me go alone…
For a change, I enjoyed a glorious sail over the Thames, crossing the tide, and made it into the entrance of the Medway without recourse to the engine. I fetched across the harbour in a series of tacks before laying along the south side of Saltpan on a close reach. Marvellous!
In Saltpan Reach, River Medway.
After pottering upriver to Stangate Spit, I sailed back and made my entry into the West Swale, favouring Queenborough for my overnight stop. The Admiral’s Arm always provides a nice pint too…
Before going ashore I cooked off my supper – a Bolognese sauce – ready to reheat later.
The sunset was sublime. Queenborough – well the Medway basin as well – is a grand place to capture the sight.
Whimbrel from the dinghy as I rowed back from the pub!
After my scrummy supper and a call back to base, I sat watching a couple of hot air balloons crossing the early night sky. The moon was in full bloom, a silvery-yellow and through binoculars the surface craters were clearly visible.
The silvery moon…
With an early start in the morning a little before sunrise, I did not hang about and was soon wrapped up in my bunk, toasty, missing the mate…
The alarm shook me rigid as it warbled out of reach. Swinging my legs out, it was silenced. Pulling some clothes on I looked outside – barely a breath!
As soon as the kettle sang, first water in my tea mug then a porridge pot. These are quite good for early starts and the mate has made sure a few have been stowed aboard this last season.
The tide had been making around an hour and a half by the time I dropped off the mooring. With the genoa the boat fetched across the tide towards the Queenborough Harbour Trust’s pontoon while I hoisted the main.
Dawn approaching … as seen after hoisting sail.
The sky soon turned a salmon pink as the minutes ticked by. The wind built a little and I moved from a knot to a couple.
A glorious salmon sky, tinged purple…
For a while I had the genoa poled out, but by mid Sheerness Harbour the wind became more south-easterly and I dispensed with the contraption. By then the boat was rustling along over the flood.
Running out of the West Swale…Garrison Point and Medway VTS in silhouette.
It was an easy sail across with the wind on the starboard quarter. A gybe near Southend Pier put Whimbrel on a run into the Ray. (Later, The City of, in honour of the murdered Southend West MP Sir David Amess who was tragically killed that lunch time. His constituency lay under the boom, across the water…)
The Leigh (Ray) Buoy.
Sailing up the Ray I did not spot any terns. I had the previous week. All gone. Autumn as far as I was concerned was bedded in.
The sands were covered as I sailed up the stretch abreast of Chalkwell Beach but a few seals were spotted in the shallows chasing fish as they were ‘swept’ over the top by the flooding tide. People that don’t know are aghast when told about the numbers that bask. The mate sometimes sends pictures to her coffee friends!
A turn captured in flight after a brief landing on a buoy in the Ray Channel.
Yes, it has been a lovely autumn so far and in this little corner of the Thames estuary that I call ‘home’, I feel incredibly thankful for the bountiful beauty that those out on the water are able to witness. It is awesome in so many respects.
Off Canvey Island’s eastern marsh point on a glorious afternoon just the other day…
And too, I am lucky to have such an understanding mate. One who isn’t unhappy at being left alone on the odd occasion…
Abandoned vessels have almost become the norm around the Thames estuary shores. A news item recently in the maritime press – Leisure Marine – has highlighted the problem of the end of life for boats.
Some interesting ‘stuff’ is discussed in this industry media outlet…
It used to be common for old wooden boats to be hulked in a rill, creek or lonely piece of salting to gently rot away. The hull as it died often became the home for numerous creatures as well as a convenient perch for bird life.
I wrote an article about this in a magazine now long out of print back in 2010. It was published in Anglia Afloat in May/June 2011 issue.
Three views ‘into’ the magazine – copyright: Anglia Afloat & Nick Ardley.
I have for decades followed the fate of vessels during their end of life years. A spritsail barge hulked nigh on thirty years ago has progressed from a fire damaged hull to a broken and time ravaged ruin.
The spritsail barge Memory as she was in the summer of 2010.
A Maldon oyster smack the Joseph T which was taken ashore at Maylandsea where a full restoration was begun, oh, some twenty years ago, possibly longer, has in the last year after many years of stagnation and abandonment, been sawn up for firewood.
Perhaps she would have better served the environment by acting as a wave break against a marsh edge to allow silts to build up, as was often the way…
A long ‘laid up’ smack in Tollesbury Fleet still provides a home for seaweeds and a perch for birds.
Wherever one walks the banks of creeks, vessels which were once someone’s pride and joy sit neglected until taken ashore or they sink, creating a headache for other mooring holders.
Abandoned on a good mooring … clearly she has sunk. Oare Creek moorings, Faversham, Kent.
Some while ago, during the first lockdown periods of 2020 there was an article in the media about a vessel that had sunk on moorings in Brixham Harbour. She became the responsibility of the harbour authority to remove. This apparently is the case and clearly the fact is known by unscrupulous owners seeking to abandon a vessel.
The means employed is often to sell a boat worthy of restoration. That owner disappears leaving the new starry eyed owner very quickly scratching ‘his’ head wondering what to do. A headache with too many jobs to make her seaworthy to move…
She sits abandoned until eventually she sinks. The harbour authority cannot trace the new owner…
It is happening – as seen on the River Medway recently where a large motor vessel clearly used as a floating caravan sank alongside Rochester Pier. Peel Ports had to have her removed.
Marinas hold a fair number of craft that when looked at closely are in the throes of abandonment. If the bills are being paid, the marina won’t do anything unless the boat sinks or becomes a hazard.
‘Abandoned’ in an Essex marina.
The biggest problem is with GRP: steel can be cut up and recycled. Wood can be sawn up and taken to landfill or burnt once noxious parts are removed.
The humble little GRP dinghy can be found sunk, half filled with mud and with saltings happily growing within anywhere you look. What do you do with them?
Abandoned GRP small craft in Maldon. This was in 2010. Most are still in residence!
Apparently the EU Commission is looking at this problem. I bet too it was a British initiative from before our divorce. The directive is to come up with an industry solution by the end of 2022. Britain, will, I’m sure follow the industry guidance that falls out.
Where this vessel sits moored after a fire, the land is now dry standing on an extension of the whafage in a Maldon Yard.
A database of ownership of privately owned vessels is being separately proposed by British Marine. Ross Wombwell, BM’s head of technical services wrote in Leisure marine News, 16 September 2021: the challenges are ‘to manage a long-term strategy to stop vessel abandonment…’ It is planned that this will go a long way (as for cars) to provide a ‘financially viable and environmentally friendly end of life disassembly and disposal.’
Food for thought for we will all, whatever type of boat we own, have to become registered owners. How this would work and how would vessels be marked are ponderable…
So, in the future, boats littering our waterfronts and abandoned in boatyards will be a thing of the past.
Sailing towards Harty ferry during the first week of September we passed by the disused Turkey Cement Works Dock on Elmley Island between Ridham Dock and Grovehurst Jetty on the ‘north/south’ section of the West Swale.
Earlier this year I had spotted a trailer-able yacht of around 26 to 28 ft out of the water at the top of an old hard once used by a short-stay yacht club. The boat, it turned out, belonged to a member of the community on Elmley island.
Mud and debris atop the old wharf on both sides of dock.A clearer view of the north side.
I spoke to the Manager of the Iron Wharf, but no light on what was going on was known.
Then I remembered, I’d had communication with the owner of the yacht, Gareth Fulton. The chap works for the nature reserve. I sent off an email…
Picture came out dark on an overcast day with light to the northeast… However, it picked out digging along the dock sides.
A few days later news came that there had been a long reach excavator in use on the site and with a free day it was put to use in clearing mud and debris from the old dock bottom.
They have plans for the dock and Gareth has ‘invited’ us in on Whimbrel. It won’t be this season, but next year, a high probability.
Having been part of a family (See: The May Flower A Barging Childhood) which helped to reinstate the use of Twinney Dock in Upchurch, then two years later Callows Wharf, Upchurch, up at the head of Milfordhope Creek. I just love it when any disused facility finds a modern use.
The Turkey Cement Works have been written about in ‘The Jottings of a Thames Estuary Ditch-crawler‘ and mentioned elsewhere. The cement works on the island lasted for no more than seventy years. It supported a population of around 250 people. There was a school and church. Parts of the school can be seen in a cluster of tress towards the farm house.
Looking down the dock to the entrance in 2012.
I visited the dock some years ago and took a raft of photographs – thought then as others had in earlier times when a club used a slipway beside the decayed jetty, that the dock could still be useful.
Gareth promised more info, I must work on that and winkle out a little more…
Have a staycation, the Government, media and travel industry said. great, we always have a staycation in the summer…
It was all a very good idea for the many people who normally chuck bucket loads of money into a foreign holiday. That money has been fuelling a boom in house renovations, camping, caravanning and boating in all its forms.
Apparently, tent sellers virtually ran out of gear by August. Caravans and motor homes were greatly sought after and the boat market has been, quote, ‘extremely buoyant…’
All of the above led to a greater demand for bottled gas – even for home BBQ’s. The result was almost catastrophic for an industry long set in its ‘sedentary’ ways with a relatively well known summer need.
One of my crew, Steve, in more casual times, slow cooking a bolognese sauce…
The Covid-19 pandemic stuck a spanner in those works though: the use of BBQs went up, increasing the demand for bottled gas. Companies like Calor apparently laid off staff or furloughed them. Then as the country opened up they couldn’t keep up with demand. They didn’t have enough fillers in their depots or drivers to collect bottles.
The greatest shortage seemed to be with the 4.5 kg butane bottles and the 3.9 kg propane bottles. For us, at one point, it was dire.
We began to obtain stores for cold meals…
We had already been eating ashore far more than we ever had before. It is relatively expensive and more often than not, the quality is decidedly under par. Whimbrel’s evening food is renowned!
When we felt comfortable with our supply, I cooked marinated a pair of Barnsley chops…
Moored off Methersgate Quay, I was phoning stockists with telephone numbers fed from Christobel at our laptop. That was in the first days of August, having just changed to our spare bottle.
The Woodbridge Tidemill Marina had none. In fact they hadn’t at the time had a delivery since September 2020!
One marina told Christobel that they offered to take their empties to Calor. Calor so no: it’s illegal!
I found three 4.5 kg butanes available from Calor … in Orsett. The lady on phone didn’t know where Woodbridge was and just about knew Suffolk! They weren’t going to deliver…
We had the promise of a bottle from a gardening centre on the outskirts of Ipswich … a later call said they had three bottles delivered from a large order, but no 4.5s… They even offered to let me exchange an empty with one of theirs that I was told felt ‘half full’… Kind of them!
Leaving the Deben we stopped at Harwich before going to Pin Mill and onward to Fox’s Marina in Ostrich Creek. We like it there.
The big Morrison Store in Harwich had none, so, I called Fox’s Chandlery. Yes, they had some propane. Yes they would under the circumstances exchange a butane for a propane. Thank you…
We ‘captured’ a ‘red’ bottle… Note regulator to fit when needed!
The cooker we fitted to Whimbrel a few years ago could run on either gas without nozzle changes. A correct regulator was obviously needed! We decided to make the change complete for we both had memories of a winter sail when it was too cold for our butane bottle to feed the cooker – no hot drink!
As we neared the end of August, we popped into Tollesbury Marina. Bingo. They’d had a delivery of gas the previous day and had butane and propane in the smaller sizes. They too exchanged a butane for a propane…
Look, we have two propane bottles now…
The rest is now history.
We arrived home at the end of September’s second week with our first propane 3.9 kg bottle in use and a spare comfortably snuggled close to it…
Enjoying our first grilled bacon breakfast for some three weeks while afloat in August…
The Royal Yachting Association did not mention any gas shortage during the summer at all: there were no news updates down the ‘wires’…
All they seem to have been interested in was the Olympic jamborees out in Japan. As laudable it was to celebrate Team GB & NI success, the ‘common’ sailor either day-sailed between food stops or didn’t go sailing: the waters were exceedingly quiet.
We met countless boat owners in search of gas. One friend didn’t have this problem – the boat is fitted with a modern diesel cooker.
I would have thought the RYA were just the organisation who should have been making remonstrations to the gas industry on our collect behalf. I
Some while ago I wrote about a few of the barge-yachts I knew about and of the lovely Tiny Mite which I’d learnt had then come onto the market.
The little ship has been extensively rebuilt, sadly, however, the owner no longer has the health to enjoy his years of work.
Walking past the Leigh-on-Sea Motor Boat Club, I saw that their gate was open and several ‘old boys’ were having tea just inside the gate. I amble in for a chat, as one does…
The Tiny Mite has now sat out of the water for nearly a year, which is far too long. Talking to the members of the club I heard that several people had been to look at the little ship recently, but that no offers had been made. So, she has not yet found a new owner…
Tiny Mite chocked up and ready for a coat of antifouling…Transom and port quarter view…Transom and starboard side view.
I had a walk round the outside of the hull. Cosmetic work obviously needs to be carried out. The hull looks to be sound – although there has been an opening up of some seams. She needs to be afloat!
A ‘stand-back’ view…
Sadly, if a new owner does not materialise then a degradation of current condition will surely take place.
Currently, she must be a good proposition for an owner with some carpentry skills and the time to bring her back to cosmetic brilliance. As far as I know the little ship is sound and not in need of difficult work: it having largely been completed by the current owner…
There must be someone who would love to potter the estuary in her…
Tiny Mite soon after her relaunch in 2016.
Since writing this the other day, Fred Cozens, the owner, has contacted for a chat. He is okay, but has a health problem which disallows strenuous activities and is the reason for selling.
Fred says that he is looking for sensible offers. He has a wealth of knowledge of the little ship and will appraise a new owner of known works that he himself would have done.
Unfortunately, the barge lost its mainsail in a blow. There isn’t a spare, but the other sails are with the barge-yacht.
The little ship has been in Fred’s care for forty years now and would suit a like-minded soul both young enough to do what’s necessary and old enough to understand. She isn’t for any starry eyed sailor…
Price: Sensible offers only! Work requirements can be priced in to an extent.
Contacts: Fred’s cousin – Steve Shelders, telephone – 01702 558976
Wow, what a success this year’s Queenborough’s Traditional Festival was.
The weather was kind and puff-ball clouds slowly crossed sunny blue skies after early morning high grey cloud cleared away. A late summer carnival atmosphere soon enveloped us all, with people wanting to visit the assembled fleet…
I’m told that nearly 2000 people visited the vessels on the pontoons. It was a great pity more owners didn’t sign up to bring their traditional boats, it was generally said… More on this later!
Whimbrel arrived before noon on the Friday. We had spent the previous night in the quiet of The Lillies under Elmley Island.
We had sailed there from Faversham, as too had the steam tug Barking which passed us some while after we were anchored up had also steamed down Faversham Creek: we had seen her up at the Town Quay.
Harbour steam tug Barking en route…
We awoke promptly on the Friday and the mate busied herself with our tea and coffee while I ran the riding light down and shortened the anchor cable.
After a ‘scratch’ breakfast, we were away, sailing off our anchor, bound first for the bridge (to disrupt rush hour local traffic) and then to one of our favourite harbours…
Whimbrel en route too…
In the harbour, we swung to a buoy until called alongside in time for a trundle ashore for a beer (or two) at the Admiral’s Arm.
During the afternoon, various vessels began to arrive. I knew from the mooring plan that there were not going to be huge numbers of us, however, quality was in attendance…
The Nancy Grey arrives.The Edith May too!Doris with the little Hjordis amongst the bunting…
A couple of craft failed to pitch up…
Saturday dawned a little overcast with a high greyness through which, though, the sun could be felt. Boats not already flying bunting soon had it run up.
Sum total of the pleasure yachts on Saturday morning…
Before the gates were opened, we pottered ashore for a newspaper and visited the harbour market, which, for the weekend was going to be open on both days.
The market is arranged along the quay bordering the creek and was started earlier this year as Covid-19 restrictions allowed. On the way we bumped into the owners of the Edith May.
The harbour market – credit: Queenborough Harbour Trust.
There was an eclectic array of stalls selling home baked cakes and savouries, arty stuff and other celebratory paraphernalia.
Two little starlets were given the full tour below by Whimbrel’s mate and ended up having a peak into the ship’s store locker. Wide eyes spotted goodies galore!
The Mate shows a young lass and dad where the hardtack is stored!
The two young ladies took the helm whilst daddy photographed them. I think the older one really wanted to stay…
Whimbrel is taken over!
At some point a lady from the Queenborough Yacht Club came aboard with her sister. Both were amazed at the space below and the vastness of her storage capacity.
‘I’ve always wanted to come aboard…’ said one!
An ‘old stager’ dating back to the end of barging, mostly on motorised craft popped over for a chat. We’d passed him with a QYC group while on our way up to Pin Mill in early August.
Nice chap and was the ‘Old man in a boat’ we followed around the edges of Stangate Creek which featured in one of my yarns – A Mystery – in Salt, Marsh & Mud.
An ‘old sea dog’ comes for a visit…
Both of us made time to escape independently from time to time, sometimes not getting far: punters would ask questions ad want to visit.
Over on Doris, the venerable old Leigh Bawley, The owner’s partner and sister were essentially holding the fort for her owner was on duty for the day – being a harbour operative. Bless!
Sister of Doris’s owner holds fort…
I just had to climb aboard the Edith May and have a chat to her owners – trouble was I ended up bringing people back to Whimbrel – old Upchurchonians!
The Edith May shows off historic Barge Match pennants. The Faversham smack, Thistle was alongside the barge.
I even managed to get out for a sail in the tender…
Author captured enjoying a sail in Twitch – credit: Denis Johnson.Some of the craft from little Twitch… Note the Faversham smack Thistle.Close up of Whimbrel…
Early in the afternoon of Sunday, Tiny Mite needed to break way to enable her to return to Faversham. We moved off and back in onto the pontoon.
The crowds thinned, the sun waned and as I hauled our flags down, I felt a certain level of sadness for it was all over. It was a sadness tinged with the elation of a job well one. It was a success…
Early on Monday morning we set the Genoa, slipped our moorings and crept away, hoisting main when clear.
Time to say goodbye…
We crept out of the West Swale, past the Queenborough Spit buoy, homebound. It was around forty-six days since I sailed in with a cousin and a brother for a trip up to Pin Mill. It was the weekend of the Swale Smack & Barge Match and the weather deteriorated on Friday blowing almost a gale, but we had a cracking double reefed main sail round to Harty and to Pin Mill on the Saturday…
It all seemed a long time ago!
We sailed off and then away back to Essex…
On the way out, Christobel grilled bacon and we had a tasty breakfast…
It was a fast passage and we went the ‘long’ way via the Nore, West Shoebury and then to the Pier, before stemming the last of the ebb into the Ray Channel.
Nearly home…
Yes, I had a dip, much to the horror of my good mate. The boat’s bottom hadn’t had time to get dirty after our scrubbing on Mundon Point and Osea Is. beach some two weeks previously.
We were nearly home…
I tickled Whimbrel’s bottom and scrubbed the weedy Twitch – interestingly, no barnacles!
So, what else did we see and what were my thoughts: there were several old work boats (excluding the barge and bawley). The tugs, Barking and Kent looked resplendent and the workaday X-Pilot, a busy little ship normally.
What was apparent, from the berthing list, and the cancelation of a couple of little ships, was the dearth of traditional yachts. The harbour authority have expended a good deal of effort and the community, businesses and they themselves seem to have created a ‘highball’ cocktail that works.
More is needed closer to the water venue, to lead people on. I mentioned this…
Whimbrel has never experienced so many keen, starry eyed visitors, that is for sure. But, without more craft, or to the point, more owners coming forward and supporting the event it cannot move on.
Talking to the river’s heritage ‘king pin’ he too agreed, but was delighted with the progress made ashore especially.
Work in progress, must be the footnote.
So, please, traditional craft owners, try and make a date in your calendars for next year and show eager members of the public the love, enthusiasm and pleasure you have for your mistresses…
While visiting Brightlngsea I had a walk around the hard standing within Morgan’s boat yard.
Over the years I have followed with my camera the progress, or not, of long term projects. It has been at least three years since my last walk around and changes have happened.
The yard has undergone a few changes. Many of the old house boat type ‘wrecks’ along the shore have been removed. The hard stand has bee improved. There is a planning application for an extension out over the mud flats and increased marina space into the river – I will comment in this in a separate post…
A Griffiths barge-yacht of carvel planked construction.
The barge-yacht is not unique but she is unusual in having a carvel planked construction. The little ship has been in the yard for a number of years and if my memory serves, not a lot has changed since last here in the summer of 2019.
Although she looks essentially sound from the outside, sadly, the ship may have sailed her last passage.
I don’t remember this one…
The Colchester smack Shamrock looks as if it is about ready for the bonfire. Fear not… The day after we sailed away from St Osyth, the Shamrock was lifted onto a lorry and taken up to the St Osyth Boatyard where she is to be reconstructed…
Good news indeed!
The Colchester smack Shamrock.Looking up at Shamrock’s transom…
The Hillyard I came across is also destined for St Osyth. I was talking to a chap up that way who has a large yacht alongside the quay – he acquired the vessel with a view for local cruising.
Another good news story in the making.
A Hillyard solidly built cruiser that has been in the yard for some seasons – apparently, soon on the move…
Time has moved on and we have passed through Maylandsea where at the Blackwater Marina there has for years been a number of projects. One was the Maldon smack Joseph T, sadly, the yard manager told me that last year she was chopped up and taken away.
The Joseph T was almost unique for there are not many of the Maldon oyster dredgers left. I am not an aficionado, so am treading on quicksand her!
At the back of the Blackwater Marina yard is a large group of vessels, perhaps once a family’s pride and joy, moldering away.
At Burnham Marina I learnt that the second hand boat market has continued to be buoyant, however, the good ship has to be in a fit state to attract a buyer…
While enjoying a couple of days tied up in Fox’s Marina at Bourne Bridge just below Ipswich, I spotted an ‘old America’s Cup yacht parked up among some other craft being worked on by their owners.
Unknown America’s Cup yacht.She has a ‘torpedo’ keel arrangement.
As I wandered the extensive down river end of Fox’s lay-up facilities, I came across two further America’s Cup yachts – a veritable fleet, I thought, jesting with myself. The other vessels were seemingly of a later design and both had wing type keels.
Another ‘later’ design?Wings on her keel…
This last yacht I had spotted as we entered the marina earlier in the day: she is currently parked in the upriver outer corner overlooking the creek – Ostrich Creek, the place where Maurice Griffiths moored his first yacht, jointly owned with a couple of chums.
It struck me that the designs of these keels had filtered down into the less rarefied world of the boats built for the ‘common’ sailor…
An America’s Cup yacht – her undersides as smooth and clean as a baby’s bottom! She seemed ready to go and only needed her sails and a crew…A wing keel but with a bit of a torpedo as in the first seen. An engine has been fitted too.
One thing I spotted that all vessels shared was a section of trailing edge to the keel ‘stubs’ in way of the rudder. The area seemed to be composed of a ‘loose’ flap which seemed to act as a stream lining where the rudder exited the boat’s hull. It clearly was designed to ‘fail’ and be repaired for the next sail… This is just a guess!
What the names of the boats are or anything of their history I do not know, but I found them fascinating..
As I walked back to Whimbrel, I mused about an America’s Cup Match between proper yachts rather than the high tech super fast whiz bang wallop of those ‘yachts’ seen in the recent America’s Cup races in New Zealand.
Outside the harbour, what a spectacle, I thought, chuckling mischievously!
It is always sad to see craft laid up ashore awaiting the return of an owner to carry on.
It is clear that very often these little ships are doomed. Ragged covers flutter around against hulls with peeling paint and open seams. Sometimes the covers no longer exist.
A once pretty yacht sits out her last days.
The collection shown are all up the River Deben at the Tide Mill marina. During my rambles with Christobel we saw many more at other yards – GRP vessels too.
Peeling paint and open seams…She has sweet lines and was clearly a fine sailing yacht.
I came across this Gull II class, I believe, designed by Maurice Griffiths. She has rot in her upper planking around the rigging plates. The cover is in tatters too…
A ‘Gull’ Class MG yacht.Rot is rampant…
In another part of the yard I came across this deep keeled – South Coast design?? – which was undergoing a refit. The cabin sides have been sanded back to bare … some years ago by the look of things. Plastic window covers have rotted and flutter in tatters where curtains should be.
Bared cabin sides, sanded back and never sealed…
Near to where Whimbrel was berthed I chatted to an owner of a large deep keeled wooden vessel. He was painting the hull in readiness for the water.
The chap has owned the little ship for about the length of the Covid-19 pandemic and is relishing getting her afloat and sailing. A number of repairs caused by the ingress of fresh water at the deck edges had been completed and the renewal of an area of side deck.
He chatted about the mast: the foot had been removed and was in process of being rebuilt. A repair at the hounds was underway too.
A fine looking yacht…
The yacht has an interesting past. The hull was built in Arcra, Ghana, in the mid 1960’s to Lloyds rules. A Scottish business group were the brokers and this particular vessel was initially shipped to (West) Germany and fitted out to owner’s specifications.
I walked away smiling…
The mast…
Another smile swept my face when I came across a Yachting World Peoples Boat – a deep keeled version of the centre board model which was our first boat.
A deep keeled Peoples Boat.
The boat was well covered and was essentially ready for the water.
Personally, I did not take to the method of keel construction with outer straps with a heavy chunk of ballast hanging on very long bolts.
While on a happy note, I remembered some pictures I took of a fine motor yacht ready for the water at my own club.
The boat arrived nearly three years ago and is now afloat. The owner has the cabin sides to deal with, but is progressing this on his mooring…
Pretty…
A fine little ship!
A deep estuary hull.
Her name – Swn y Mor.
Love to know more!
Well, within almost hours of posting, a sailor up the east coast based at Titchmarsh Marina came up with the goods!
The boat is remembered from a youth spent boating up the Thames beyond where most sailors go. I am told this boat is an ‘old friend’ and s highly likely to be an H. Gibbs built launch built in 1958. She had a dark blue hull, which the Island YC boat had upon arrival…
Old Lloyds yacht records give her length as 35′. She is on the historic ships register too.
On Thursday 15th July I sailed into Conyer with my sister and two friends as none of them had been up the creek before.
We had food aboard and one of the crew got a bolognese sauce on the go on the way round the Swale. Visiting the Ship Inn, for a pre-dinner beer or two, we were asked if we were eating. My eyes lit up!
On a previous visit the mate and I had been told that the galley was being revamped and that they were finding it difficult to obtain the services of a chef, so I was surprised. We declined…
I was told that full table service and menu was now available. With this news I booked a table for six – crews of a Finesse group from my club planning a visit the following weekend.
A warning about an afternoon catered party which might still be going on was given, but would not affect the evening catering.
You can imagine the horror I felt and my fellow crews too when upon arrival and being shown to a table that the menu did not ‘exist’ for it was a scratch lunch snacks (Cheesy chips etc) and what were clearly bought in frozen pizzas.
No apology was given other than that a party had been taking place. I remonstrated and repeated the assurance I was given…
We contacted the Conyer Cruising Club, found the galley open and promptly left.
The next day, I fired off an email asking for an explanation…
It received NIL RESPONSE…
After the passage of nearly two weeks, I fired off a repeat. This also has NOT been responded to.
I think it needs to change hands again and let’s hope a new management has the decency to respond to customers.
The mate and I are rather saddened for we have been extolling the virtues of visiting Conyer and the Ship Inn for many years.
My advice, currently, is don’t use it.
We shall not be rushing back to use the Inn. There is a prfectly well stocked Co-op in Teynham up on the old A2 – it is a pleasant walk along the old brick works tramline and up through the modern spill down to the station, which has been well walked by Whimbrel’s usual crew for some decades…
