Maplin Sands

The Maplin Sands are mudflats on the northern bank of the Thames estuary, off Foulness Island, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, though they actually lie within the neighbouring borough of Rochford. They are valuable as a wildlife reserve, with a large colony of dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltei) and associated animal communities.

A screw-pile lighthouse was built on the sands in 1838, which was possibly the world's first.

In the later part of the 19th century John I. Thornycroft & Company and Yarrow Shipbuilders used the sands for their Destroyers measured mile speed trials.^[1] The shallow waters resulted in a flow of water that could add up to a knot to the ship's speed.^[1] When the Admiralty found out they required that all future trials be carried out in deep water.^[1]

A plan to build a third airport for London on the sands was approved in 1973, but abandoned in 1974 in the wake of the 1973/74 oil crisis. The project would have included not just a major airport, but a deep-water harbour suitable for the container ships then coming into use, a high-speed rail link to London, and a new town for the accommodation of the thousands of workers who would be required. (See main article on Thames Estuary Airport.)

The Maplin Sands were at that time, and remain, a military testing ground belonging to the Ministry of Defence - see Pig's Bay.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Preston, Antony. The World's Worst Warships. Conway Maritime Press. pp. 14. ISBN 0-85177-754-6. 

External links

• Joint Nature Conservation Committee, report on Essex Estuaries
• Map sources for Maplin Sands

Coordinates: 51°33′44″N 0°53′49″E / 51.56228°N 0.89703°E / 51.56228; 0.89703