Ships passing Canvey Island

Past and present

By Ian Hawks

Prior to working on Canvey Island for over thirty years, at Prout's and Halcon I was in the Merchant Navy serving my four years apprenticeship for deck officer on the SS Kingsbury, the ships home port was London, so passed Canvey many times on the way up to Victoria Dock, now the site of Excell. On my way up the Thames after my first voyage of three months to South America, January 1939 my parents went over to the Lobster Smack from Hadleigh to see the Kingsbury sail past. This is the best advantage area on Canvey to see shipping as the deep channel comes in fairly close. The attached photos are of ships passing the CANVEY area, which I have taken over the years. Click on photos for details.