Hello all I've been working with a couple of other fellows with a similar interest in Mulberry Harbours and Phoenix caissons. Our research has led to us finding what we think are some of the basins dug for fabrication due to the shortage of drydocks. The attached picture is of the pair of basins (in the bottom right) at Erith. The picture taken April 30, 1946 shows another square on the far left about midway, set back from the Thames Source of the original photo is raf_106g_uk_1447_rv_6115 - Aerial Photo | Historic England Anyone have any idea what this may be. War related or "nothing to see here" Spitfire of the Seas is busy with his book, and he's been of help in the past, so get gets a Mulligan on this one. Thanks all
For info Dangerous Places Erith as a whole 444 high explosive and 8,510 incendiary and 12 flying bombs were dropped during the Blitz, Normandy in June 1944 was supplied with petrol through PLUTO; the pipeline under the ocean. This avoided the necessity of capturing a major port through which fuel could be transported to the front. The pipeline itself was manufactured by Callender’s Cables at its factory in nearby Erith. Some of the mulberry harbours used in the D-day landings were also constructed locally by Muttall Brothers. https://m.facebook.com/BexleyArchives/ Local history research enquiries - Bexley Libraries
Except PLUTO played no part in the Normandy campaign. The first fuel didn’t flow until 22nd Sept 1944. See my post. Sledgehammer 1942
If anyone wants to get a feel for the remoteness of this area (although on the opposite side of the Thames) I would recommend doing Walk 24 of the London loop between Rainham and Purfleet. You will also pass some abandoned WW2 era concrete barges and at Purfleet, pass some of the buildings associated with the old ammunition depot. My father was stationed at Aveley and would have been ferrying ammunition from here to AA sites all across north London during the Blitz.
So I rotated the map ( a great addition) to align with the photo, even though both are 180 rotated, with south being north. One can see the map looks like the left basin profile in the pic, while the right one looks like some more of the shore between the basin has been reclaimed. Still not clear if I can positively identify the picture "square" in the map, but maybe not important. 'hutt' can you supply some source/date information on the map clipping. May help with searching for the other basins. Thanks
Hi The source was the National Library of Scotland - Side by Side web site. You can choose from a variety of mapping sources and a really good feature is the ability to have, say a map on the left screen and present day aerial photography on the right so that both can move in step. There is a good spread on maps of various revisions from over the years but being a Scottish site, not all scales and revisions are available for the whole of the UK. Unfortunately this very area is particularly patchy. However, it was quite easy to find on the assumption that it was likely to be the lower reaches of the Thames and the image may well have been inverted. Hope that helps in this case and for future reference. Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland
Thanks for the link. Gives me something to look through. Interesting site. As you pointed out, a bit patchy, but one never knows what a person may find in what's there. Cheers.
Idler. Your post, I think is to far east. I've reposted my overlay from above, but rotated 180 degrees to the proper North-South orientation. I think your picture is roughly between Crabtree Farm and Jenningtree Point. You can still see (what i think are) the basins in the upper left. So a bit further west.
Shows that a few were built in Erith www.thamestugs.co.uk THAMES BUILT PHOENIX UNITS TYPE NUMBER SITE BUILT BY A1 9 TILBURY GRAVING DOCK BALFOUR BEATTY A1 10 EAST INDIA DOCK McALPINE A1 4 ERITH BASIN NUTTALL A1 4 ERITH BASIN COSTAIN A1 4 PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY BASIN DEMOLITION AND CONSTRUCTION CO A2 4 BARKING CREEK BASIN COCHRANE A2 4 BARKING CREEK BASIN TAYLOR WOODROW B1 8 SURREY COMMERCIAL SOUTH DOCK MOWLEM B1 4 RUSSIA DOCK BASIN MOWLEM B1 6 RUSSIA DOCK BASIN MELVILLE DUNDAS AND WHITSON B1 4 GRAYS BASIN GEE WALKER AND SLATER B1 3 BARKING EAST BASIN A MONK AND COMPANY C1 9 TILBURY GRAVING DOCK HOLLAND HANNEN AND CUBITT C1 2 COLD HARBOUR POINT BASIN TRUSSED CONCRETE COMPANY
CL1 Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've been through the Thames tug site. Also pulled some info on the Whale tows from there. So far I think we have identified from the aerial photos the following basins. Barking East Basin, Barking Creek Basin, Cold Harbour Basin, Erith "Marshes" Basin, Grays Basin, and Bromborough Basin leaving only two unaccounted for, Port of London Authority Basin and Russia Dock Basin. The last one is a bit puzzling to me. Is the Russia Dock Basin a "new" basin dug in the vicinity or linked to the Russia Dock, or was it just the Russia Dock itself, fully drained, therefore becoming a basin? Similarily what and where is the Port of London Authority Basin. I've looked at various maps and pictures of the Thames, and have picked out the various docks that were used, but this basin eludes me. I should also mention these names were pulled from Guy Hartcups book. Cheers
CL1. I forgot to mention that your supplied list from Thamestugs is incomplete. The first build set was for 147 units, with many websites not mentioning the follow on builds. As an example there were also C1 units built in Goole. Another pet peeve of mine, along with the first 147 only being mentioned is where the follow on units are mentioned, a lot of sites mention 212. In fact 213 were built, BUT only 212 were launched. We think one at Stokes Bay got hung up on the launch, getting stuck. It killed and injured a number of workers. It may have been demolished while still on the blocks, hence the 212 often quoted.
it was a post to try to assist you i had or have no idea if it was incomplete. Good luck with your search.
Yes, it's annoying that they haven't got coverage of the basins, but I was referring to the square feature in the original post - it's not as apparent.
