Lowesoft, Great Yarmouth & Sea Palling
September 17, 2021
HM 157. Lowestoft... caught in a time warp.
Not many people explore this part of the UK coastline, or need to find an overnight anchorage off Sea Palling in Norfolk (photo 3). It was probably our most uncomfortable night at anchor so far!
The next day we skirted past the shallow and choppy entrance to Gt Yarmouth (photo 4) whose Harbour Master is based in Liverpool, and whom I met in 2019!
A friendly welcome was to be found at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club (photo 5) and it was near here that I met the wonderfully named Harbour Master of Lowestoft, Anthony Van Damme.
Anthony was a seasoned deck officer with Maersk (the largest shipping operator in the world) before becoming HM, so he is fairly cool about dealing with marine incidents. Recently a ship in his harbour had forgotten to close a seacock and ended up with 80 tonnes of salt water in the engine room. Interestingly, he was much more concerned with any oil pollution in his harbour, rather than the sinking vessel....which thankfully was saved in time by some brave divers.
He explained to me how a massive £25M project is now underway in Lowestoft's outer harbour to create a future base to service far-offshore wind farms that need much larger vessels in support. Photo 7 shows an artist's impression.
Lowestoft is built on a cliff and sits above the shoreline known as the Denes village. It was here that the herring girls would salt and pack fish into barrels during the herring boom. There is also a long history of violent North Sea storms and in 1953 the whole of the village on this shoreline was washed away, but the numerous narrow "Score" streets still lead down from the town. Underlying the historical importance of the port, it was Samuel Pepys himself, when Master of Trinity House, who instructed the first lighthouse to be built in 1676, to aid the huge trade routes to the low countries. The replacement lighthouse is still very prominent.
Lowestoft might be caught in a time warp - the station still proudly states "British Railwaysl" but it seems a town happy in its own skin.
Not many people explore this part of the UK coastline, or need to find an overnight anchorage off Sea Palling in Norfolk (photo 3). It was probably our most uncomfortable night at anchor so far!
The next day we skirted past the shallow and choppy entrance to Gt Yarmouth (photo 4) whose Harbour Master is based in Liverpool, and whom I met in 2019!
A friendly welcome was to be found at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club (photo 5) and it was near here that I met the wonderfully named Harbour Master of Lowestoft, Anthony Van Damme.
Anthony was a seasoned deck officer with Maersk (the largest shipping operator in the world) before becoming HM, so he is fairly cool about dealing with marine incidents. Recently a ship in his harbour had forgotten to close a seacock and ended up with 80 tonnes of salt water in the engine room. Interestingly, he was much more concerned with any oil pollution in his harbour, rather than the sinking vessel....which thankfully was saved in time by some brave divers.
He explained to me how a massive £25M project is now underway in Lowestoft's outer harbour to create a future base to service far-offshore wind farms that need much larger vessels in support. Photo 7 shows an artist's impression.
Lowestoft is built on a cliff and sits above the shoreline known as the Denes village. It was here that the herring girls would salt and pack fish into barrels during the herring boom. There is also a long history of violent North Sea storms and in 1953 the whole of the village on this shoreline was washed away, but the numerous narrow "Score" streets still lead down from the town. Underlying the historical importance of the port, it was Samuel Pepys himself, when Master of Trinity House, who instructed the first lighthouse to be built in 1676, to aid the huge trade routes to the low countries. The replacement lighthouse is still very prominent.
Lowestoft might be caught in a time warp - the station still proudly states "British Railwaysl" but it seems a town happy in its own skin.