Swinging The Lamp

Thames Estuary Tidal Tales

by Nick Ardley

The author was brought up on a Thames spritsail barge and sailed the high seas on ocean-going ships. With his mate beside him, he’s weaved his way through the Thames Estuary’s tidal creeks and rivers for many years, mostly aboard his clinker sloop, exploring, noting, and investigating. The estuary is a world of constant flux. It is an artery of modern commerce, but the remaining vestiges of past industry pepper its rivers and creeks.

Flooded islands have become the domain of myriad birds, nesting on hummocks of saltings and feeding on mudflats. There are rotting wharves festooned with bladderwrack alive with life, the time-worn ribs of barges the perch for cormorants. Around all of that, man has created new uses for disused lime, cement, and brick docks. Boatyards, marinas, and waterside housing have emerged like a water-borne phoenix from the industrial ashes.

Beneath his boat’s swinging lamp, NickArdley muses about old souls, the relationship of humble spritsail barge and shoal draft yachts. This is a great read and I would very highly recommend it.