Another book I was fortunate to acquire, as well as the one which sparked-off this series of blogs and described in Humber Beacons 1939, has the overall title ‘The North Sea Pilot’, published in 1841. Its more descriptive title is ‘Sailing Directions for navigating the North Sea and its Bays and Harbours … the coasts […]

The plan for yesterday’s walk (s.p.b.) was to walk the section of north bank flood bank between Paull and Stone Creek, the first mile or so being along the relatively new clay bank around the area of ‘managed retreat’ at Thorngumbald Marsh east of Paull Fort. I had not walked this section of bank before

Today’s photo is literally that, taken today while walking another section of the Humber bank, after far too long a delay in this project. More on this walk next time.Back in 1939 the Humber Conservancy Board had at least four small ships/boats, two of which were still steam powered. The buoy ‘yacht’ was the largest

Page 26 of the book (s.p.b.s) gives a detailed cut-away section of a Humber lightship of the day. Presumably the Spurn lightship built in 1927 in Goole (s.p.b.) has the same design features. It is this Lightship (now, seemingly, called Hull Lightship) which was moored at the north-east corner of Hull Marina, and which is

The book, published in 1939 by the Humber Conservancy Board (s.p.b.s), highlights the Spurn Lightship as ‘the most modern lightship owned by the Board’ as it had been built in 1927. Today it survives and is moored in Hull Marina (see above!) and is soon to be a key element in Hull’s Maritime open-air museum.Light

Today’s photo was taken at Faxfleet looking south. In the middle distance it shows Blacktoft Sand, an island in the upper Humber that has survived for a couple of centuries, and which is now designated a nature reserve, and is almost entirely covered by reed-beds, this binding the topsoil enabling the island to resist marine