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Kentish Knock (England) facts for kids

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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 18 feet (5.5 m), extends 6 miles (9.7 km). Thus it is a major hazard to deep-draught navigation. It is exactly 28 miles (45 km) due east of Foulness Point, Essex and is centred about 15 miles (24 km) NNE of North Foreland, Kent – 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 – its steepest, narrowest part – 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 96 km2 section of the Knock, known as Kentish Knock East, as a Marine Conservation Zone.

Scope and soundings

Except of a chart of 1934. Here the more shallow the darker shaded. Click for broader map and to enable varied magnification.

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 1+16 fathoms. Some of Kentish Knock is, or was, at normal low tide "01". At just one foot in depth it will have become exposed at the ebb phase of most extreme, spring tides.

Maritime history

Wreck of the Deutschland
Wreck of SS Deutschland in 1875
Zeppelin L-15
Crash of airship L15 in 1916
Year Type Description
1652 Battle Battle of the Kentish Knock between Dutch Republic and Commonwealth of England
1820 Navigation aid First reliable mapping of Kentish Knock by triangulation from Essex, by Thomas
1821 Wreck by accident British merchant ship, the East Indiaman Juliana
1824 Navigation aid Buoy placed on the east side of the Knock
1836 Wreck by accident British ship the Nancy ran aground, broke up, and was washed up at Margate.
1840 Navigation aid Buoy replaced by lightship LV Kentish Knock
1860 Wreck by accident Dutch galliott Hillechina
1875 Wreck by accident German merchant ship the SS Deutschland
1885 Wreck by accident British Liverpool barque Canoese.
1892 Wreck by accident British merchant ship, SS Dilsberg, of Glasgow
1894 Navigation aid Telephone cable laid from mainland to the lightship
1916 Wreck by enemy measure German Empire Zeppelin L15
1917 Wreck by enemy measure suspected German Empire U-boat SM UC-6, likely by mine nets or by British seaplane 8676
1940 Wreck by enemy measure British G-class Destroyer HMS Grenville after triggering a mine.
1949 to 1953 Navigation aid Trinity House lightvessel №8 stationed here
1953 to 1955 Navigation aid Trinity House lightvessel №14 stationed here
1959 and 1963 Navigation aid A different lightvessel moored here
1963 to 1966 Navigation aid Trinity House lightvessel №20 moored here
1974 to 1975 Navigation aid Trinity House lightvessel №23 moored here
1984 to 1991 Navigation aid Trinity House lightvessel №3 moored here
2011 Navigation aid By this date a lighted buoy remained
2014 Navigation aid Phase 2 of the London Array wind farm cancelled to protect rare red-throated divers

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