42-673: Cruiser is a passenger vessel owned by Jetstream Tours Ltd operating in the Thames Estuary including sailings from Southend Pier and various north Kent ports. She regularly sails to the Thames forts. Her former names are Southsea Queen , Hythe Hotspur and Poole Scene . Southsea Queen was built in 1974 by James & Stone of Brightlingsea for the Gosport Ferry Company for cruising and standby ferry duties. She
84-491: A joint venture party in the scheme. Under the agreement, Masdar purchased 40% of E.ON's half share of the scheme, giving Masdar a 20% stake in the project overall. The resultant ownership was 50% DONG Energy, 30% E.ON UK Renewables and 20% Masdar. In March 2009, the backers agreed on an initial investment of €2.2 billion. Financing of phase 1 was achieved through the European Investment Bank and
126-490: A monthly capacity factor of 78.9%. It produced 2.5 TWh in 2015. During two days of January 2016, production varied from 3 MW to 619 MW. Its levelised cost has been estimated at £140/MWh. A second phase was planned which would have seen a further 166 turbines installed to increase the capacity to 1000 MW. However, the second phase was scaled back and finally cancelled in February 2014 after concerns were raised by
168-404: A substitute vessel when MV Kenilworth was out of service. In 2007 Clyde Marine introduced Seabus on this route, but in 2012 SPT accepted the tender from Clydelink for the service. In 2023 Cruiser was sold to Jetstream Tours Ltd and relocated to the Thames and Medway. Cruiser was fitted with an additional deck aft of the bridge to facilitate loading and unloading at different stages of
210-611: A success and subsequently further buoys and beacons were lit by Trinity House using the same system, in the Estuary and beyond. Today the Port of London Authority's Thames Navigation Service (established in 1959) is responsible for buoyage, beaconage and bridge lights on the Tideway. Trinity House remains responsible for aids to navigation in the wider estuary (and beyond). Download coordinates as: This table shows, from west to east,
252-468: A twice-weekly visit by a boatman for cleaning and maintenance). Broadness was lit by Pintsch gas , and Stoneness by a Lindberg light (which burned petroleum naphtha ). At the same time Trinity House began experimenting with the application of lamps to buoys, using Pintsch's oil-gas system, beginning with three in the Thames Estuary (East Oaze, Ovens and Sheerness Middle); the experiment was deemed
294-634: Is a 175-turbine 630 MW Round 2 offshore wind farm located 20 kilometres (12 mi) off the Kent coast in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. It was the largest offshore wind farm in the world until Walney Extension reached full production in September 2018. Construction of phase 1 of the wind farm began in March 2011 and was completed by mid 2013, being formally inaugurated by
336-463: Is an archetypal, well-developed economy urban, upper river estuary with its sedimentary deposition restricted through manmade embankments and occasional dredging of parts. It is mainly a freshwater river about as far east as Battersea , insofar as the average salinity is very low and the fish fauna consists predominantly of freshwater species such as roach , dace , carp , perch , and pike . It becomes brackish between Battersea and Gravesend , and
378-687: Is mostly away from deep water shipping lanes. It is north of the shallow cross estuary channel, the Fisherman's Gat and astride of the Foulger's Gat . The first phase consisted of 175 Siemens Wind Power SWT-3.6 turbines and two offshore substations, giving a wind farm with a peak rated power of 630 MW. Each turbine and offshore substation is erected on a monopile foundation , and connected together by 210 km (130 mi) of 33 kV array cables. The two offshore substations are connected to an onshore substation at Cleve Hill (near Graveney ) on
420-605: The Maplin Sands (1841) and at Gunfleet (1856). Meanwhile, one of the outlying sandbanks of the Estuary was marked by a lightvessel at Kentish Knock (in 1840); and in due course the southern approach was marked by lightvessels at the Tongue (1847) and Girdler (1848) sands, with another being added (between these two) in the Princes Channel (1856). In 1851 two more screw-pile lighthouses were built further upriver, on
462-673: The Prime Minister , David Cameron on 4 July 2013. The second phase of the project was refused planning consent in 2014 due to concerns over the impact on sea birds. The wind farm site is more than 20 kilometres (12 mi) off the North Foreland on the Kent coast. It is in the area between Long Sand and Kentish Knock , between Margate in Kent and Clacton in Essex. The site has water depths of no more than 25 m and
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#1732802593859504-576: The Thames Estuary Growth Board was appointed, led by government-appointed Envoy Kate Willard OBE, to unlock the potential of the UK's number one green growth opportunity. Entrepreneurs and investors have looked at the greater estuary as a possible place for a new airport , and have expanded Southend Airport in the 2010s, which has a rail link to Liverpool Street station , London among others. The Thames flowing through London
546-512: The estuary has been defined in two main ways: The transition between the Thames Estuary and the North Sea has been located at various notional boundaries, including: The estuary just east of the Tideway has a tidal range of 4 metres. Winds excluded, it moves at 2.6 knots (4.8 km/h; 3.0 mph) in bi-monthly spring tides. The estuary is one of the largest of 170 such inlets on
588-509: The rivers Colne , Blackwater and Crouch . Small coastal villages depend on an economy of fishing, boat-building, and yachting. The Isle of Sheppey , the Isle of Grain , Canvey Island , Two Tree Island , Havengore Island , New England Island , Rushley Island , Potton Island , Foulness Island and Mersea Island are part of the coastline. Where higher land reaches the coast, there are some larger settlements, such as Clacton-on-Sea to
630-414: The 30% stake previously belonging to E.ON. At the time of its construction, it was the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Offshore work began in March 2011 with construction of the first foundation. Turbines were supplied by Siemens Wind Power . Their foundations were built by a joint-venture between Per Aarsleff and Bilfinger Berger Ingenieurbau GmbH . The same company supplied and installed
672-859: The Danish Export Credit Fund with £250 million. In 2013, in response to Ofgem "Offshore Transmission Owner" regulations, the consortium divested the electrical transmission assets of the wind farm (valued at £459 million) to Blue Transmission London Array Limited – an entity incorporated by Barclays Infrastructure Funds Management Limited ( Barclays ) and Diamond UK Transmission Corporation (a Mitsubishi Corporation subsidiary). In January 2014, DONG sold half its stake to Quebec public pension plan manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (" La Caisse "), and in 2023 sold its remaining 25% share to Schroders Greencoat for £717 million (£4.56 m/MW). Following RWE's takeover of E.ON's power generation in an asset swap in 2019, RWE now owns
714-787: The East and West Barrows, the Nob, the Knock, Kentish Knock , the John, the Sunk, the Girdler, and Long Sand/the Long Sands. Shallow-bottomed barges and coasters would navigate the swatchways at flood tide, and would cross the sand banks at spitways, points where the water was least shallow, and just deep enough at that point of the tide. If they missed the moment they would heave to (lay anchor) and wait for
756-597: The Essex marshes. His The Mirror of the Sea (1906) contains a memorable description of the area as seen from the Thames. He refers to this area in the first pages of his novel Heart of Darkness , describing it as both the launching place of England's great ships of exploration and colonization and, in ancient times, the site of colonization of the British Isles by the Roman Empire. The form of speech of many of
798-512: The Netherlands, for example). Instead, coastal navigators and pilots relied on the use of transits (the alignment of prominent structures or natural features on land) for guidance. In 1566 Trinity House of Deptford (which oversaw pilotage on the Thames) was empowered to 'make, erect and set up [...] beacons, marks and signs for the sea' (albeit at its own expense). Not long afterwards,
840-730: The Princes-Queens Channel and the South Channel to the south, to a lesser extent the Kings Channel and the Swin to the north. The Swin was used by barges and leisure craft from the Essex rivers, and coasters and colliers from the north east. These channels were made up of natural troughs; Yantlet Channel (Sea Reach), Oaze Deep, Knock John Channel, Black Deep/ Black Deep Channel which have been much-marked. These are separated by slow-moving sandbanks with names such as
882-552: The Thames tides. Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea , in the south-east of Great Britain . An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinity). For this reason the limits of the Thames Estuary have been defined differently at different times and for different purposes. This limit of
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#1732802593859924-618: The coast of Great Britain . It constitutes a major shipping route , with thousands of movements each year, including: large oil tankers , container ships , bulk carriers (of loose materials/liquids), and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. It is the accessway for the Port of London (including London Gateway, associated Tilbury and Purfleet) and the Medway Ports of Sheerness , Chatham and Thamesport . The traditional Thames sailing barge worked in this area, designed to be suitable for
966-518: The decay of the steeple of Margate Church (an important landmark for negotiating 'the Narrows', a complex route between sandbanks used by vessels sailing to or from London along the North Kent coast) led to Trinity House marking the Narrows with buoys in the late 16th century. In his coastal survey of 1682-93, Greenvile Collins records five buoys around the Narrows, just north of Reculver , on
1008-546: The diversity of freshwater fish is smaller, primarily roach and dace. Euryhaline species then dominate, such as flounder , European seabass , mullet , and smelt . Further east salinity increases and conditions become fully marine and the fish fauna resemble that of the adjacent North Sea , a spectrum of euryhaline and stenohaline types. An alike pattern of zones applies to the aquatic plants and invertebrates. Joseph Conrad lived in Stanford-le-Hope close to
1050-560: The established local accents. The term London Accent is generally avoided, as it can have many meanings. Forms of "Estuary English", as a hybrid between Received pronunciation and various London accents, can be heard in all of the New Towns, all of the coastal resorts, and in the larger cities and towns along the Thames Estuary. For commercial shipping rounding the Nore sandbank and thus accessing Greater London, main deep-water routes were
1092-427: The monopiles. Generators were installed by MPI and A2SEA , using an installation vessel TIV MPI Adventure and a jack-up barge Sea Worker . Two offshore substations were designed, fabricated and installed by Future Energy, a joint venture between Fabricom, Iemants and Geosea, while electrical systems and onshore substation work was undertaken by Siemens Transmission & Distribution. The subsea export cable
1134-521: The name Hythe Hotspur but was later sold to Blue Funnel Cruises in 1997 and renamed Poole Scene . She sailed from Poole Quay until early 1998, when she returned to Southampton . In 1999, she was sold to Clyde Marine Services and renamed Cruiser . As such, she operated as a charter cruise vessel out of Greenock , cruising the River and Firth of Clyde . This included the weekday Rosneath ferry service from Gourock to Kilcreggan on behalf of SPT , as
1176-626: The navigation lights of the River Thames between London Bridge and Yantlet was transferred by Act of Parliament from the Thames Conservancy to the Corporation of Trinity House ; responsibility for buoyage was transferred likewise in 1878. In 1885 the beacons at Broadness and Stoneness were replaced with iron-frame experimental lighthouses, each lit by a novel system which would allow the light to function unattended (except for
1218-417: The next tide. Recreational craft are expected use channels most suited to the size of their vessel. Their main guide says to use when navigating to or from: To cross the south-east quarter of the estuary large vessels use Fisherman's Gat , and small vessels to were expected to use Foulger's Gat . Provision of buoys and beacons for the purpose of navigation came relatively late to England (compared to
1260-459: The north Kent coast, by four 150 kV subsea export cables, in total 220 km (140 mi). It is named after London because the power goes to the London grid. The smaller Thanet Wind Farm is to the south. The array is intended to reduce annual CO 2 emissions by about 900,000 tons, equal to the emissions of 300,000 passenger cars. In 2001 environmental studies identified areas of
1302-591: The north in Essex, Herne Bay, Kent , and the Southend-on-Sea area within the narrower part of the estuary. The Thames Estuary is the focal part of the 21st-century toponym, the " Thames Gateway ", designated as one of the principal development areas in Southern England. The Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission report published in June 2018 identified the economic potential of the region. In 2020
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1344-816: The northern foreshore of Sea Reach: at Mucking and on the Chapman sands (just off Canvey Island ). Prior to 1684 beacons were set up on the mudflats north of the Swin channel, to help vessels approaching the Thames from the north to navigate the sands. Pan-sand Beacon was set up by Trinity House in 1774 to mark a dangerous sandbank on the southern approach. Similar daymarks were set up on other nearby sandbanks in later years, including on Margate Hook (1843), Middle Ground (1844) and Shingles (1846). Trinity House also maintained beacons further upriver, including at Broadness (established in 1821), Stoneness (1839), Erith (1830) and Tripcock (1832). In 1864 responsibility for maintaining
1386-707: The outer Thames Estuary as potential sites for offshore wind farms; the Department of Trade and Industry published the paper Future Offshore — A Strategic Framework for the Offshore Wind Industry , which identified the outer Thames Estuary as one of three potential areas for future wind farm development ( Round 2 wind farms ). The Crown Estate awarded a 50-year lease to London Array Ltd (a consortium of E.ON UK Renewables, Shell WindEnergy, and CORE Limited ) in December 2003. A planning application
1428-434: The people of the area, principally the accents of those from Kent and Essex, is often known as Estuary English . The term is a term for a milder variety of the "London Accent". The spread of Estuary English extends many hundreds of miles outside London, and all of the neighbouring home counties around London have residents who moved from London and brought their version of London accents with them, leading to interference with
1470-541: The presence of mudflats, low-lying open beaches, and salt marshes , namely the North Kent Marshes and the Essex Marshes. Human-made embankments are backed by reclaimed wetland grazing areas, but rising sea levels may make it necessary briefly to flood some of that land at spring tides , to take the pressure off the defences and main watercourses. There are many smaller estuaries in Essex, including
1512-586: The principal navigation lights, buoys and other marks to the north (port) and south (starboard) of the main deep-water channels of the River Thames from Gallions Reach to the Sunk Light Float. The Thames is in IALA region A so port buoys are red and starboard buoys are green. Racon T Racon T Notes wiki 51°30′N 0°35′E / 51.500°N 0.583°E / 51.500; 0.583 London Array The London Array
1554-424: The shallow waters in the smaller ports. A 2000s-decade-built wind farm is 8.5 km north of Herne Bay, Kent , on a shoal south-west of Kentish Knock . It is 30 wind turbines generating typically 82.4MW of electricity. The much larger 630 MW London Array was inaugurated in 2013. The term Greater Thames Estuary applies to the coast and the low-lying lands bordering the estuary. These are characterised by
1596-585: The southern approach to the Thames. The Swin (the northern approach) was marked with buoys at the easternmost points of the Gunfleet, Middle and Buxey sands, and by beacons on the Whitaker, Shoe and Blacktail spits. A buoy marked the easternmost point of the Nore sandbank at this time, and three more buoys marked sandbanks in the middle part of the estuary (Spaniard, Red Sand and the Oaze). The Nore Lightship ,
1638-618: The world's first lightvessel , was established in the Estuary as a private venture in 1732 to mark the 'best position for entering the Thames and Medway, and to clear the Nore Sand'. The coastwise approach from the north was aided by the establishment of the Sunk lightvessel in 1802 'to mark the north-east entrance to East Swin, and to guide vessels round Long Sand'. Later, the Swin channel was further marked by lightvessels at Swin Middle (1837) and Mouse (1838), and by screw-pile lighthouses on
1680-611: Was similar to Solent Enterprise , from the same shipyard but with a flared pointed bow. However, at 119 GRT she proved too small for her job and just four years later was sold to White Horse Ferries for use on its Hythe Ferry service. She was renamed Hythe Hotspur and repainted from her green with red band livery to a red and white livery. She was withdrawn from this service in 1995 and chartered to Brownsea Island Ferries Ltd for service in Poole Harbour . She initially kept
1722-581: Was submitted in 2005, which was approved in December 2006. Planning permission for the onshore electricity substation was granted in November 2007. In May 2008, Shell announced that it was pulling out of the project. It was announced in July 2008 that E.ON UK and DONG Energy would buy Shell's stake. Subsequently, on 16 October 2008, London Array announced the Abu Dhabi based Masdar would join E.ON as
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1764-469: Was supplied by Nexans and array cables by JDR Cable Systems. The array cables and the export cables were installed by VSMC. The wind farm started producing electricity at the end of October 2012. All 175 turbines of phase 1 were confirmed fully operational on 8 April 2013, and the wind farm was formally inaugurated by the Prime minister David Cameron on 4 July 2013. In December 2015 it produced 369 GWh,
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