THAMES ESTUARY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 219, 30 September 1940, Page 3

THAMES ESTUARY

A VITAL BOTTLENECK j The Thames Estuary, which has been attacked, in German air raids, is part of one of the most strategic communication lines of the British Isles, said the Christian Science Monitor recently. It is a vital bottleneck through ■which a vast stream of food and supplies flow to Great Britain. Through the broad funnel-shaped estuary at the mouth of the historic Thames, nearly 30,000 vessels move to and from London annually in normal times, according to the National Geographic Society. The importance of the estuary to the economic life of Britain is even more emphasised when it is remembered that London is the world's second largest port and that nearly 9,000,000 people inhabit the Greater London area. - The estuary is a triangular area fanning outward from the Nore lightship at the river's mouth. In shape, as in fact, it is a funnel for the foreign and coastwise shipping that travels upriver to the British capital. As many as 1000 boats a day,' including freighters, liners, yachts, barges, and other craft, pass Gravesend below London. Mud banks and shoals, many of them above water at low tide, make navigation difficult in the Thames Estuary. Skilled pilots are almost essential for guiding ships through the narrow channels between the shoals. Vigilance Needed. Tides and currents are constantly scouring the channel and banks, so that nevere-nding vigilance is necessary to insure that the shipping lanes remain open and at proper, depth. The Thames Estuary is considered to extend to Orfordness, north of Harwich, on tfie northern slide, and out to North Foreland on the south. Between these points and th-e Nore Lightship at the mouth of the Thames is a triangle approximately 600 square miles in area. The estuary proper however, is considered to be a smaller area directly off the mouth of the Thames. The Nore Lightship at 'the Thames mouth, at the inner point of the estuary, is 160 miles from' Rotterdam, 5)5 miles from Ostend, on the Belgian coast, and 60 miles from the French channel port of Calais. The Thames is about five and a half miles wide at its mouth, gradually narrowing upstream to the port of London. Over London's 1700 wharves are received and shipped, goods valued in normal times at £3,500,000,000 a year or more. London has 700 acres of enclosed quays. The docks extend 25 miles below the city. The centre of London is nearly 48 miles upstream from the mouth of the Thames*