The Swin is a passage in the

Thames estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

between

Maplin Sands The Maplin Sands are mudflats on the northern bank of the Thames estuary, off Foulness Island, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, though they actually lie within the neighbouring borough of Rochford. They form a part of the Essex Estuaries S ...

Foulness Foulness Island () is a closed island on the east coast of Essex in England, which is separated from the mainland by narrow creeks. In the 2001 census, the usually resident population of the civil parish was 212, living in the settlements of ...

Sand and Gunfleet Sand northwest and the Barrow and Sunk sand ridges (shoals), southeast. The Swin was used by barges and leisure craft from the Essex rivers, and coasters and colliers from

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

Great Grimsby Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and other similar sets of trading ports. In 1874 R.M. Ballantyne wrote: The channel is formed of a series of deep water passages through sandbanks. Approaching from the northeast craft enter the East Swin between NE Gunfleet and Sunk Head Tower buoys. This part is also known as the King's Channel centred on . From here is a choice of the Middle Deep or continuing with the East Swin centred on . Craft may also pass down the parallel Wallet channel and cross into the East Swin at the Spitway. Halfway along this part, at the Maplin Approach buoy, deeper draught vessels need to pass through to the Middle Deep centred on . Shallower draught craft, such as the traditional Thames sailing barges, may continue on down the East Swin and cross the Middle Sands directly into the West Swin at Maplin Edge. Both other Swins lead to the West Swin centred on . The southeastern end of the West Swin joins the main Thames channels.

Etymology, pronunciation and orthography

It is an Old English word ''swin'': a creek a channel. It was recorded in contemporary orthography of local writers as ''Swyn'' in 1365; a related

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

Zwin The Zwin is a nature reserve at the North Sea coast, on the Belgian– Dutch border. It consists of the entrance area of a former tidal inlet which during the Middle Ages connected the North Sea with the ports of Sluis and Bruges inland. The ...

' occurs in Dutch. It was thus not a sound liable to the

Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of English phonology, pronunciation changes in the vowels of the English language that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s (the transition period from Middle English to Early Modern English), begi ...

Scope and soundings

To explain the numbers on the inset map a depth of 1₁ is a formula of six feet (i.e. one

fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. H ...

) and 1 foot. It is fathoms. This excerpt shows clearly the detailed shallows which affect vessels of greater draught such as ships most severely.

Citations

References

* * * * * * * {{Citation , last = Trippitt , first = Mike , title = Thames path , url = http://www.sailingtoday.co.uk/cruising/thames/ , website = sailingtoday.co.uk , accessdate = 28 June 2018 Thames Estuary Coastal environment of Essex Landforms of Essex