Chatham & The Medway
April 21, 2022
21 April - HM 178. Chatham
The wide Medway estuary leads you to Gillingham, Rochester and Chatham. Today, modern commercial ships busy its entrance, but it is the Royal Navy who left their mark here building 500 ships over 400 years.
Branching off the Thames, all vessels are obliged to re-tune their VHF radio to be under "Peel Ports" authority. From their CCTV base in Liverpool, they control the water here, ensuring that vessels (like mine!) do not get too close to a vast Liquid Natural Gas vessels and other ships unloading on the featureless and eerie Isle of Grain.
Relics abound from several centuries:
~ Upnor Castle - a 1559 Elizabethan "Artillery" fort which failed to stop the Dutch Navy capturing the British Navy in 1667.
~ The Royal Navy Chatham Dockyards - first established in 1570 and still building RN Submarines nearly 400 years later.
~ The Royal Dockyard at Sheerness - established by Samuel Pepys at the mouth of the Medway in 1665.
~ The late 19C Forts of "Hoo" and "Darnet" built to defend a French attack that never came.
In central Chatham, Bob Read (photo 6), is HM on the ground in the near deserted Victorian dockyard. His port is slowly being developed into marinas and waterside flats, he is set to be one of the last mariners to work in Chatham.
What is thriving however is the Historic Dockyard museum. Full of well maintained ships from all eras, it includes the famous "Ropery" where traditional ropes are still made in Europe's longest brick building - stretching nearly 1/4 mile.
For centuries, the RN's wooden ships suffered from a marine boring mollusc "Teredo Navalis". They discovered that by bringing the fleet from salty Portsmouth into the fresh water of the Medway, this pest was killed off. The same with a modern boat. To keep your boat's hull clear of growth (Photo 10), you simply alternate between salt and fresh water.
Photo 1 is the "Harbour Master's House" in the Dockyards - for many centuries it looked out over the world's finest navy. I do recommend a visit.
The wide Medway estuary leads you to Gillingham, Rochester and Chatham. Today, modern commercial ships busy its entrance, but it is the Royal Navy who left their mark here building 500 ships over 400 years.
Branching off the Thames, all vessels are obliged to re-tune their VHF radio to be under "Peel Ports" authority. From their CCTV base in Liverpool, they control the water here, ensuring that vessels (like mine!) do not get too close to a vast Liquid Natural Gas vessels and other ships unloading on the featureless and eerie Isle of Grain.
Relics abound from several centuries:
~ Upnor Castle - a 1559 Elizabethan "Artillery" fort which failed to stop the Dutch Navy capturing the British Navy in 1667.
~ The Royal Navy Chatham Dockyards - first established in 1570 and still building RN Submarines nearly 400 years later.
~ The Royal Dockyard at Sheerness - established by Samuel Pepys at the mouth of the Medway in 1665.
~ The late 19C Forts of "Hoo" and "Darnet" built to defend a French attack that never came.
In central Chatham, Bob Read (photo 6), is HM on the ground in the near deserted Victorian dockyard. His port is slowly being developed into marinas and waterside flats, he is set to be one of the last mariners to work in Chatham.
What is thriving however is the Historic Dockyard museum. Full of well maintained ships from all eras, it includes the famous "Ropery" where traditional ropes are still made in Europe's longest brick building - stretching nearly 1/4 mile.
For centuries, the RN's wooden ships suffered from a marine boring mollusc "Teredo Navalis". They discovered that by bringing the fleet from salty Portsmouth into the fresh water of the Medway, this pest was killed off. The same with a modern boat. To keep your boat's hull clear of growth (Photo 10), you simply alternate between salt and fresh water.
Photo 1 is the "Harbour Master's House" in the Dockyards - for many centuries it looked out over the world's finest navy. I do recommend a visit.