Ipswich & River Orwell
September 29, 2021
HM 165. Ipswich... should be more famous than it is.
This medieval harbour has been trading continuously since the 8th Century, however in WW2 the docks were completely flattened by the Luftwaffe from which it has struggled to recover. The UK's largest grain exporter and large importer of fertiliser and rice, like so many ports, a lot of what happens behind the wire is never thought about by the public, including where containers full of hospital PPE needs to be stored...
Ipswich's Deputy Harbour, Evelyn Voaden was able to bring Ipswich Harbour alive for me. An ex Merchant Navy skipper, she started her career in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and ended up as a Captain of the Royal Research Ship - Discovery (photo 5). You will all have heard of the Sir David Attenborough - the red hulled RSS supporting the British Antarctic Survey, but not many people know there are blue hulled RSSs operated by the Merchant Navy and funded by the government for scientific research. Scott and Shackleton's first voyage was on an earlier RSS Discovery. The latter's more infamous voyage was on Endurance which was a privately owned ship.
Back to Ipswich, the home of famous yacht makers Spirit Yachts - photo 4. Not only do they make boats for James Bond (watch "No Time to Die") but recently one of their superyachts had a mast so tall (42M) that in order to sail under the Orwell Bridge (photo 5 - only 43M above the water) they had to winch a man to the top of the mast as they sailed under, just to check it would fit.
A huge sailing area, there are 10 yacht marinas on the River Orwell leading up to Ipswich. Unlike many Harbour Masters of commercial ports, the team in Ipswich has to be very yacht friendly, which they are!
Ipswich inner harbour is reached through giant lock gates which contain 1 million litres of water and each time they open, the water level inside lowers by 3cm. As you can see from photo 8, the centre is a delight and I highly recommend a visit.
This medieval harbour has been trading continuously since the 8th Century, however in WW2 the docks were completely flattened by the Luftwaffe from which it has struggled to recover. The UK's largest grain exporter and large importer of fertiliser and rice, like so many ports, a lot of what happens behind the wire is never thought about by the public, including where containers full of hospital PPE needs to be stored...
Ipswich's Deputy Harbour, Evelyn Voaden was able to bring Ipswich Harbour alive for me. An ex Merchant Navy skipper, she started her career in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and ended up as a Captain of the Royal Research Ship - Discovery (photo 5). You will all have heard of the Sir David Attenborough - the red hulled RSS supporting the British Antarctic Survey, but not many people know there are blue hulled RSSs operated by the Merchant Navy and funded by the government for scientific research. Scott and Shackleton's first voyage was on an earlier RSS Discovery. The latter's more infamous voyage was on Endurance which was a privately owned ship.
Back to Ipswich, the home of famous yacht makers Spirit Yachts - photo 4. Not only do they make boats for James Bond (watch "No Time to Die") but recently one of their superyachts had a mast so tall (42M) that in order to sail under the Orwell Bridge (photo 5 - only 43M above the water) they had to winch a man to the top of the mast as they sailed under, just to check it would fit.
A huge sailing area, there are 10 yacht marinas on the River Orwell leading up to Ipswich. Unlike many Harbour Masters of commercial ports, the team in Ipswich has to be very yacht friendly, which they are!
Ipswich inner harbour is reached through giant lock gates which contain 1 million litres of water and each time they open, the water level inside lowers by 3cm. As you can see from photo 8, the centre is a delight and I highly recommend a visit.