The Mistley, Northey Island
The Mistley, number 91336 (64
tons) was built in Harwich by John & Herbert Cann in 1891 for
Samuel Horatio Horlock of Mistley. She was built to carry wheat
and would have carried about 135 tons.
She now lies on the foreshore at
Northey Island on the river Blackwater estuary just east of
Maldon. She has been 'adopted' by Janet and Robin Witheridge and
the London Maritime Archaeology Group (LoMAG).
In 1997 ten members of LoMAG
completed their NAS Part II Project on the Mistley and another
foreshore wreck nearby. Since then the site has been visited
regularly and four annual site reports have been produced.
This site and the work by LoMAG
therefore provides a unique opportunity to monitor site condition
over a significant period of time.
Fourth annual site report 2000
The winter storms continue to
cause damage to this hulked Thames Barge on Northey Island in
Essex.
In June 1997 the hulk was largely
intact but hogged with her bows split away from the stempost and
the port side of her stern broken up. The interior, flooded at
each tide, was filled with mud to a depth of about 400mm and the
walls and deck were starting to rot.
The first impressions in both
June 1998 and 1999 was that she had deteriorated dramatically.
The bows and the port side of the stern seemed more collapsed and
even greater care was needed to traverse the decks to the stern.
This impression was confirmed by both by photographs and
measurement.
In September 2000 changes were
again observable on arrival. The bows split away from the stem
post were now almost horizontal. The stern port quarter had
fallen completely away from the transom and the aft end of the
port quarter board now lies in the mud to the side of the
hulk.
The port side of the crew
quarters had collapsed and it is now possible to walk through
from the main hold into this area and out onto the mud behind: in
1998 it had been necessary to climb down from the deck to view
the stern. The deck had fallen away in many places and was
considered unsafe. Measurements were again taken to chart the
deterioration and the key changes are recorded in the table
below. Additional measurements were taken which had not been
taken previously to enable better recording of deterioration in
the years to come.
Assessment was not possible in
2001 but the 2002 survey will take place during the Northey
Island, National Trust, open day which takes place this year on
Sunday 1st September when the island can be accessed between
13:00 - 16:00. If you are interested to view the Mistley on this
day please contact Janet on jwitheridge@beerandpub.com.
Survey Measurements from 2000 for the Mistley are available in
pdf format (97 kB):
Survey
measurements
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