Researching the River Thames: Environmental History Guide

Dr Vanessa Taylor and Prof. Sarah Palmer of the Greenwich Maritime Institute where recently part of the project ‘Running the River Thames: London, Stakeholders and the Environmental Governance of the River Thames, 1960-2010’ which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project ran from August 2011 to July 2013.

The objectives of the project were:

To trace changing forms of public participation and political legitimacy in the environmental governance of the River Thames since 1960
To assess the impacts of the shift to river-basin management on the political and economic dominance of London, on opportunities for participation along the river, and on the status of urban governance
To examine the political role of communities in the lower Thames region in the light of the concentration of the port downstream and rising environmental concerns up to 1992
To provide an historically informed assessment of the implications for environmental citizenship of the current emphasis on stakeholder consultation and of the rising importance of technical expertise as a basis for legitimacy
To clarify the changing governance structure of the river and indicate key archive resources for the river’s environment, governance bodies and interest groups since 1960

From the project, one of the outcomes of the Thames project was to provide a public resource for anyone interested in finding out more about the environment of the river and its history. Some sections of this website reflect the project’s focus on the past fifty years, but several sections also consider the period since the mid nineteenth century.

Features of the research guide

Timeline for the environmental governance of the River Thames since the 1850s
Maps (current and historical) for the River, River Basin and Port of London
Overview of River Functions
Who runs the Thames? Snapshots of Governance for 1960, 1965, 1974, 1990, 2013
Statutory organisations for the Thames river and Thames region
Voluntary and stakeholder organisations for the Thames river and Thames region
Historical Sources for the river, including a guide to archives in the Thames region
Bibliography (documents and academic sources for the Thames)
Thames on Film: links to films on the river, available online and in archives
Information on the Running the River Thames Project

View more information on Running the River Thames project.

Happy Fish Friday – for the Fisherman’s Mission

Join us now for Fish Friday 2014!

In partnership with Tesco Stores the Fisherman’s Mission are aiming to beat last year’s record of 400 fish and chip shops signing on. Join us and sign up to support Fish Friday now!

Fish Friday is the Fishermen’s Mission’s biggest national fundraising day. Fish and chip shops, fishmongers and groups across the country – they are asking you to show your appreciation for the nation’s unsung heroes, our fishermen and their families.

The Fishermen’s Mission is to help fight poverty and despair in our fishing communities by providing emergency and welfare support to fishermen and their families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Over 13,000 men and women work in the UK’s toughest and most dangerous peacetime occupation: deep sea fishing. At sea, they face death and injury on a daily basis.

On land, many face insecurity and debt. And life for the 50,000 retired fishermen and their dependants is no better, with debt, inadequate pensions and scant savings meaning no respite from hardship once the fishing’s over.

The Fishermen’s Mission invite you to have fun, raise some money and help us provide our fishermen with the emergency and welfare support they need.

Fish Friday 2013 was a huge success and raised more than £46,000. Now we need you to sign up and help in 2014.

So help to make this years even better for this worth cause, to donate click on the fish below

Psychic’ turtle predicts Mexico win over Brazil in World Cup

The football World Cup is now underway with many favorite teams crashing out of the tournament. So how do you find a way to predict winners….. easy you goto a Sea Turtle Brazil for help.

Cabeção the turtle worries locals in the Brazilian beach village of Praia do Forte after predicting a Mexican victory over Brazil on Tuesday. Cabeção, who predicted Brazil’s win over Serbia in their final friendly before the World Cup, and their victory over Croatia in the opening game, chooses a fish beneath the Mexican flag – rather than beneath the Brazilian flag or a ball that indicates a draw.

Cabeção is part of the Tamar project, which helps endangered sea turtles

Maritime student Robert Forrester writes A History of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and Royal Mail Lines, 1851-1965

Robert’s background

Robert Forrester spent twenty years at sea as a deck officer, the last ten of them with Royal Mail Line making frequent voyages to South America prior to leaving the sea in 1965.

The next twenty-odd years were spent involved with newspaper and magazine publishing, latterly as MD of the company producing magazines for British Airways, and others.

Following his retirement he studied for an MA (2001) in Maritime Studies at the Greenwich Maritime Institute followed by a PhD in 2006 and now he sees his book available to buy a many good book stores.

What the book is about

During the nineteenth century Britain’s maritime, commercial and colonial interests all depended upon a regular and reliable flow of information from around the globe. Whilst the telegraph increasingly came to dominate long-distance communication, postal services continued to play a vital role in this network of information exchange, particularly to the more distant locations. Consequently, much importance was placed upon international mail services by the British government and the Admiralty, who provided large subsidies to commercial companies to run these concerns.

Concentrating on the mail service between Britain and South America, this book explores the economic, maritime and political aspects of the Royal Mail Lines company, who held Admiralty and Post Office mail contracts between 1851 and 1965.As well as providing a business history of the Royal Mail Lines, the book reveals the many and varied consequences of maintaining a long-distance mail service.

Improved ship design, the establishment of a network of coaling stations, the availability of inexpensive transatlantic passenger crossings for immigrants, increased cargo capacity allowing increased imports of coffee and frozen beef to Europe, the linking of South America to international markets and commercial opportunities, were just some of the spin-off benefits of Britain’s subsidised mail services.

The book also addresses the international competition faced by Royal Mail Lines, which reflected Britain’s diminishing dominance of global trade and shipping. In all this book has much to say that will interest not only business historians, but all those seeking a better understating of Britain’s maritime and economic history, and changing patterns of global information exchange.

For more information or to purchase a copy click here

New safety device tested which looks to help save lives in helicopter crashes at sea

In a recent report from the BBC’s Richard Westcott he was given the opportunity to try out a new safety device that could save lives in the future for those who have a helicopter crash at sea .

The new concept combines a life jacket with a very small aqualung – and the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates safety, is rolling them out 15 months early as one of a number of new rules.

Before Richard tried out the new jacket he got to try out the current one in comparison which involved being strapped into a pretend helicopter, upside down in a swimming pool, being battered with rain, waves, wind and fake lightening- all in the dark.

The current system is called a hybrid re-breather, which is a life jacket with a rubber bag full of air that you continually re-breathe through a tube. This gives you a few precious extra minutes if the helicopter sinks or flips over – that’s the worst bit, when the aircraft spins over so you’re upside down.

Here’s a terrifying fact, about 60% of helicopters invert or sink either straight away or after a short delay once they hit water.

Emergency drill

“Don’t try to get out straight away,” the instructor Kieran Morrison told Richard. “Once the water goes over your head, count to seven. And stay strapped in until the last minute.”

So in effect, you have to sit quietly, strapped in, and count, while gallons of water rush over you and you flip over. Talk about fight your instincts.

But as Kieran explained, if you unstrapped too soon you’d float to the top of the helicopter, which is what used to be the floor, and that makes it incredibly hard to pull yourself down to your escape hatch, the window.

The survival suit makes you float, which is a good thing unless you’re still inside the aircraft. You also have to put a nose clip on one-handed, which is incredibly fiddly. The other hand stays, at all times, on the window release lever. Richard had quite a few goes and found he could breathe OK with the re-breather, but it’s not clean air, it feels a little strained. And the rubber bag you’re filling is just that. Rubber. It can potentially wear, or leak.

There’s also a metal pin you have to remember to push in as soon as you reach the surface. Otherwise you might get a stomach full of sea water. Richard thought the whole thing felt fine to use, but those fiddly little things, the nose clip, the pin, well, would you really remember them if it was a real crash?

Long-term plan

By contrast, the new system is like a mini-version of scuba gear.

It’s heavier, because of the small cylinder of compressed air, but it’s also less bulky. The nose clip is attached to the mouth piece and is far easier to put on, especially one-handed. Richard believes, that this makes a big difference. And once he was under the water, it was far more comfortable to breathe.

The unions have also given it their seal of approval. “It should deliver greater confidence with the workforce,” says Jake Malloy from the RMT. “But the long-term plan must be to keep the aircraft in the air… safer, more reliable aircraft. Newer aircraft, bigger windows, more space.”

Hopefully with these new developments it can help increase survival rates as these transfers of oil and gas workers over the North Sea have had a poor safety records over the past few years

For the full story click here

Sea Life penguins predict World Cup results

As the World Cup is now underway we have been looking to see what links there might be to bring our subject matters together and stumbled upon the very heart warming story of penguins predicting the results of some of the games.

It seems Birmingham’s National Sea Life centre’s newest residents have been getting into the World Cup spirit by making their very own predictions.

The attraction’s Gentoo penguins have put their feathery necks on the line and predicted the results of the opening games.

They’ve been busy examining the country’s flags for each head-to-head game and choosing which they think represents the winning team by hopping onto the rock it is leant against. When they’re unable to choose an out and out winner, they’ve scrambled onto the middle ground of the ‘draw’ rock instead.

James Robson, curator at The National Sea Life Centre Birmingham, explains: “Our Gentoos are really enthusiastic and love playing new games so have quickly got into the spirit of choosing the winning flags.

“Alf, one of the oldest penguins and the self-appointed head of the colony, has been leading the predictions, with a little help from his long-term partner, Lolly, and his new girlfriend, Ginny. Surprisingly the two girls have agreed on the predictions when they’re rivals in everything else!”

The trio’s prediction for the first game of the competition, Brazil vs Croatia on June 12, is a win for the hosts, Brazil. In England’s first group game against Italy on June 14, in the extreme humidity of the Amazon rainforest in Manaus, Alf predicts a draw for the European head-to-head. But youngster Pablo, who has been challenging Alf for his leadership, isn’t sitting on the fence on this one. He’s confidently predicting a win for Italy!

Watch this space the penguins’ predictions are set to continue.

Click here for the full story

TourFish conference launch Linked In discussion group

How can agro-food, fisheries and tourism work together to deliver new opportunities for sustainable development along the coast and in our towns and countryside? Just one of the matters discussed on Linked In.

As the TourFish conference is fast approaching, today sees the launch of the TourFish discussion group on Linked In for preparation for the event on the 23rd – 24th June 2014.

The conference aims to bring together those in the Fishing, Food and Tourism industry to discuss how these industries can work together to deliver new opportunities for sustainable development along the coast and in towns and countryside of the 2 seas area.

TourFish are expecting representatives from France, Belgium and The Netherlands to join in Hastings for the interactive conference.

Please search Linked In for the TourFish Conference to be part of the group and see the discussions unfold

For more information on the event or to register for free please use the link below;

TourFish

Shocking report into the Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK

A six-month investigation has established that large numbers of men bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand are integral to the production of prawns (commonly called shrimp in the US) sold in leading supermarket around the world, including the top four global retailers: Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco.

The investigation found that the world’s largest prawn farmer, the Thailand-based Chareon Pokphand (CP) Foods, buys fishmeal, which it feeds to its farmed prawns, from some suppliers that own, operate or buy from fishing boats manned with slaves.

Men who have managed to escape from boats supplying CP Foods and other companies like it told the Guardian of horrific conditions, including 20-hour shifts, regular beatings, torture and execution-style killings. Some were at sea for years; some were regularly offered methamphetamines to keep them going. Some had seen fellow slaves murdered in front of them.

More details on this shocking report can be found on the Guardian’s website

The facts

Thailand produces roughly 4.2m tonnes of seafood every year, 90% of which is destined for export, official figures show. The US, UK and EU are prime buyers of this seafood – with Americans buying half of all Thailand’s seafood exports and the UK alone consuming nearly 7% of all Thailand’s prawn exports.

“The use of trafficked labour is systematic in the Thai fishing industry,” says Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, who describes a “predatory relationship” between these migrant workers and the captains who buy them.

“The industry would have a hard time operating in its current form without it.”

Below is the process which demonstrates how slaves are being used to produce prawns to your plate:

From this report it is clear to see how, as consumers, we need to be aware when buying prawns from the mentioned retailers, we should be more conscious on how this has arrived at this outlet and if indeed there are alternative outlets we can use to avoid using these poor slaves in the production.

6th June 1944 remembered by Dr Chris Ware

WARSPITE-D-DAY-FIRES

With all of the statistics quoted, 6^th June 1944 was a personal journey for each soldier, sailor and airman involved. The 50^th Division (Northumbrian) was tasked with assaulting Gold Beach. The center of the sector was named jig, itself split into two between jig Green and jig Red sectors.

At 07:26 as the tide was at the flood the first wave came ashore, with the infantry and Royal Marine Commandoes there were three Field Companies of Royal Engineers and amongst them a 21 old Sapper who had been called up in 1942, he had been stationed at Catterick and then Woodbridge. As his landing craft neared the shore he stepped off the ramp and disappeared into the swell up to his neck. Carrying his rifle above his head he waded ashore to be greeted by the German static defences. Once ashore he, and his comrades had to wait whilst Naval gunfire cleared the way, including part of Gold Beach HMS Warspite going into rapid fire with her 15 inch guns over open sights.

He would take part in assault on Caen and the Falaise gap, and be present at Nijmegen and the withdrawal from Arnhem. In all the years that I knew him my father spoke perhaps twice about these experiences, it was matter of fact; he got cold and wet, he never spoke of fear and of whether he might not have survived, death was only mentioned once, having witnessed the onslaught at Falaise, and this shortly before he died.

Having studied history for the last thirty some years as an historian I still find it hard to comprehend what he did and how over time he simply put it behind him, a distant memory, almost as if it were another person, of such is history made.

Hunt is on for mystery monster that ate 3m long great white shark whole

It’s easy to forget how little we know about Earth. The deep sea, for instance, remains mostly unexplored.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise when scary questions present themselves, like, “What could have possibly eaten a three meter great white shark?”

There are not many sea creatures that could hunt and devour a 3m (10ft) great white shark however after the discovery of a tracking tag washed up on a Western Australia beach with signs it had been bleached by stomach acid and its data showed rapid changes in depth, evidence of 1,900ft dive, and a rise in temperature reflecting the animal that ate it. Shark Alpha, as the beast was named, nearly reached 2000ft (609m) before her body temperature zoomed from just over 40 degrees to 78 degrees.

The shark had been part of a study in 2004 to track her movements.

Film maker Mr Dave Riggs has been investigating the discovery by speaking to whale hunters of Bremer Bay area to try to find out what sort of predator could have done this.

From a study of this data Mr Riggs was able to see that super predator has a stomach at least 1m (3ft 3in) wide. However, he discounts killer whales because the 26C (78.8F) recorded on the tag was far too low to be from inside one. Mr Riggs added “I am not suggesting a prehistoric beast is roaming out there. This is nature at work and we’re just trying to get the bottom of something that happened years ago. I don’t know if we will ever know what happened to that animal but if the reports are true from the whaler, we may get a glimpse of what they saw”

It has been the talk of the office here at the Greenwich Maritime Institute with our very own Chris Bellamy commenting that the create must be cold blooded…..

However the mystery continues and it goes to show that we don’t seem to know what everything that lives in our oceans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_QyGANCUJI