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Kentish Knock

{{Short description|Sandbank in England}}

{{other uses}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

The Kentish Knock is a long shoal (bank, shallows) in the North Sea east of Essex, England. It is the most easterly of those of the Thames Estuary and its core, which is shallower than {{convert|18|ft}}, extends {{convert|6|mi}}. Thus it is a major hazard to deep-draught navigation. It is exactly {{convert|28|mi}} due east of Foulness Point, Essex and is centred about {{convert|15|mi}} NNE of North Foreland, Kent{{snd}}both are extreme points of those counties.

Shape

It is about equidistant between, on the one hand, the south-west North Sea tidal amphidromic point (place of negligible tides); and splayed on the other the narrowest point and endpoint of the English Channel (the Strait of Dover) (southeast) and heart of the Tideway (southwest) which have by contrast high tidal range. It is thus among a succession of banks which are aligned NNE to SSW but turn towards the estuary narrowing further west. In line with the erosion and deposition from each such regular tide, its north{{snd}}its steepest, narrowest part{{snd}} veers slightly more towards north-south alignment than its south.

Ecology

Made of sand and gravel, it hosts hermit crabs, sand goby, rays and catsharks. In rare species it has visiting red-throated divers. Channels are believed to have been caused by glacial floodwaters many millennia ago. Since 2012, The Wildlife Trusts have been campaigning for recognition of a 37 sq. mi. (96 km2) section of the Knock, known as Kentish Knock East, as a Marine Conservation Zone.[http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/MCZ/kentish-knock-east Kentish Knock East recommended Marine Conservation Zone], Wildlife Trusts, accessed 2014-04-19

Scope and soundings

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| image = Admiralty_Chart_No_1975_Kentish_Knock_and_the_Naze_to_The_Nore,_Published_1934.jpg

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| caption = Excerpt of a chart of 1934.Admiralty Chart "1975: Kentish Knock and the Naze to The Nore. Of 1934. Here the more shallow the darker shaded. Click for broader map and to enable varied magnification.

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To explain the numbers on the inset map a depth of 11 is a formula of six feet (i.e. one fathom) and 1 foot. It is {{frac|1|1|6}} fathoms. Some of Kentish Knock is, or was, at chart datum "01". At just one foot in depth it will have become exposed at the ebb phase of most extreme, spring tides.

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Maritime history

File:Wreck of the Deutschland.jpg

File:Kentish Knock Lightvessel 1886.jpg

File:Zeppelin L-15.jpg

class="wikitable sortable"
YearTypeDescription
1652BattleBattle of the Kentish Knock between Dutch Republic and Commonwealth of England
1820Navigation aidFirst reliable mapping of Kentish Knock by triangulation from Essex, by George ThomasRobinson, A H W, Marine cartography in Britain: a history of the sea chart to 1855, Leicester University Press, 1962, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qsKBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22kentish+knock%22 accessed on Google Books] 2014-04-20
1821Wreck by accidentBritish merchant ship, the East Indiaman {{shipJuliana|1793 ship|2}}Lloyd's List [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006574233?urlappend=%3Bseq=353 №5657.]
1824Navigation aidBuoy placed on the east side of the KnockPurdy, John, The Brasilian navigator; or, Sailing directory for all the coasts of Brasil, to accompany Laurie's new general chart, Volume 1, Oxford University, 1838, accessed on Google Books 2014-04-19
1836Wreck by accidentBritish ship the Nancy ran aground, broke up, and was washed up at Margate.The Christian's Penny Magazine No. 214, July 9, 1836, accessed on Google Books 2014-04-20
1840Navigation aidBuoy replaced by lightship LV Kentish Knock[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/19874/page/1655 "Notice to mariners: light at the Kentish Knock"], London Gazette, 14 July 1840, accessed 2014-04-19
1860Wreck by accidentDutch galliott HillechinaThe Shipwrecked Mariner, Vol. VII, 1860, pub. George Morrish, London, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SbEEAAAAQAAJ&q=%22kentish+knock%22 accessed on Google Books] 2014-04-20
1875Wreck by accidentGerman merchant ship the {{SS|Deutschland|1866|6}}[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/people-and-places/womens-history/maritime-women/wreck-deutschland/ The Wreck of the ‘Deutschland’, English Heritage, accessed 2014-04-19]
1885Wreck by accidentBritish Liverpool barque Canoese.{{cite news |title=Severe Gale |work=The Cornishman |issue=339 |date=15 January 1885 |page=5}}
1886Wreck by accidentLightvessel rammed by a barque PALADIN, almost cut in two and sank in three minutes. The crew were taken aboard the barque and put ashore.{{cite news |title=The Kentish Knock Lightship Sunk |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001697/18861204/026/0003 |access-date=9 June 2022 |work=Thanet Advertiser |issue=1388 |date=4 December 1886 |location=Ramsgate |page=3|via=British Newspaper Archive}}
1892Wreck by accidentBritish merchant ship, SS Dilsberg, of GlasgowEssex Review, Volumes 1-3, E. Durant and Company, 1892, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pEU5AQAAMAAJ&q=%22kentish+knock%22 accessed on Google Books] 2014-04-20
1894Navigation aidTelephone cable laid from mainland to the lightshipThe Electrical Review, Volume 41, pub. H. Alabaster, Gatehouse & Company, 1897, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mepQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22kentish+knock%22 accessed at Google Books] 2014-04-20"Telephonic Communication with Lightships", The Electrician, Volume 31, pub. James Gray, 4 August 1893, [accessed on Google Books] 2014-04-20
1916Wreck by enemy measureGerman Empire Zeppelin L15"The Dying Gasbag L15", The War Illustrated Deluxe, 1916, [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1916-WW1-Great-War-Zeppelin-L15-Crash-Thames-Estuary-by-Kentish-Knock-Margate-/130593945932?nma=true&si=U2QWqeInYMER%252BCPqW%252FzeeKwOTH8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 details seen on eBay] 2014-04-19[http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/document/8920 "Sir Charles Wakefield Medal - Zeppelin L15"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903100305/http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/document/8920 |date=3 September 2014 }}, The First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed 2014-04-19
1917Wreck by enemy measure suspectedGerman Empire U-boat {{SMS|UC-6|sub=y}}, likely by mine nets or by British seaplane 8676Dwight R. Messimer, Verschollen: World War I U-boat Losses, Naval

Institute Press, 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fRy5aAzkFc8C&q=Kentish+Knock accessed on Google Books] 2014-04-19

1940Wreck by enemy measureBritish G-class Destroyer HMS Grenville after triggering a mine.
1949 to 1953Navigation aidTrinity House lightvessel №8 stationed here[http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV08/lv08gb.htm "Trinity House lightvessel no. 8"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101022823/http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV08/lv08gb.htm |date=2014-01-01 }}, World Lightships, accessed 2014-04-19
1953 to 1955Navigation aidTrinity House lightvessel №14 stationed here[http://www.lightship2000.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=2 Goleulong 2000 Lightship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420011045/http://www.lightship2000.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=2 |date=2014-04-20 }}, accessed 2014-04-19[http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV14TH/lv14thgb.htm "Trinity House Lightvessel No. 14"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012038/http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV14TH/lv14thgb.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}, World Lightships, accessed 2014-04-19
1959 and 1963Navigation aidA different lightvessel moored here{{cite web|url= http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/212259|title= Christmas For the Men of the Kentish Knock and Sunk Lightships|year= 1959|publisher= East Anglian Film Archive|access-date= 2014-04-19|archive-date= 27 October 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141027111724/http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/212259|url-status= dead}}[http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/67678.html Kentish Knock (1963); Service vessel; Light vessel], Royal Museums Greenwich, accessed 2014-04-19
1963 to 1966Navigation aidTrinity House lightvessel №20 moored here[http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/lv20/lv20gb.htm "Trinity House Lightvessel No. 20"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012057/http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/lv20/lv20gb.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}, World Lightships, accessed 2014-04-19
1974 to 1975Navigation aidTrinity House lightvessel №23 moored here[http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV23/lv23gb.htm "Trinity House Lightvessel No. 23"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012044/http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV23/lv23gb.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}, World Lightships, accessed 2014-04-19
1984 to 1991Navigation aidTrinity House lightvessel №3 moored here[http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV03/LV03.HTM "Trinity House Lightvessel No. 3"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012036/http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV03/LV03.HTM |date=24 September 2015 }}, World Lightships, accessed 2014-04-19
2011Navigation aidBy this date a lighted buoy remained[http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/mariner_info/notice_to_mariners/c/14022011.html 13/2011 C4 Kentish Knock Lighted Buoy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420005114/http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/mariner_info/notice_to_mariners/c/14022011.html |date=2014-04-20 }}, Trinity House, accessed 2014-04-19
2014Navigation aidPhase 2 of the London Array wind farm cancelled to protect rare red-throated divers[http://www.itv.com/news/london/2014-02-19/1bn-windfarm-scrapped-because-of-red-throated-divers/ "£1bn windfarm scrapped because of red-throated divers"], ITV, accessed 2014-04-19

See also

  • Carnarvon Basin, Australia, where Kentish Knock South-1 is an exploratory oil well in the Mungaroo Sands.[http://www.offshore-technology.com/news/newschevron-gas-kentish-knock-south-1-well-australia Chevron finds gas at Kentish Knock South-1 well], offshoretechnology.com, accessed 2014-04-19
  • Dogger Bank, a many-times bigger bank that extends further east, about 150 miles north

References

{{Reflist}}

{{coord|51|40|N|01|37|E|type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}}

Category:Landforms of England

Category:Sandbanks of the North Sea

Category:Shoals of the United Kingdom

Category:Thames Estuary

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England

Category:Navigational hazards