356 THE GREAT TIDE OF NOVEMBER, 1897.
account, and not knowing then the full amount of damage done,
I wrote as follows :—
"Twelve miles south of Aldeburgh, at the mouth of the river Alde,
a slight sea-wall of mud and wooden 'shies' alone prevents the heavy
seas experienced there from overflowing an immense tract of land, by
Hollesley. Whether the landlords who own these marshes are prepared
to spend a fortune in substantial stone dykes remains to be seen; a few
more years and they will be too late."
What I anticipated then has actually occurred, only rather
sooner than I had expected. The sea-wall below Shingle-street
has vanished, and the marshes which lie (like the greater part of
the adjacent Essex coast) many feet below sea level are now
inundated at every high tide.
At such a time an extraordinary sight is obtained from some,
point of vantage near. For that which last year was a tract of
richest pasture land now forms a part of a great inland lake, and,
when the tide recedes, discloses a vast brown dead waste of
rotting weeds and foul mud. This inundation extends for con-
siderably over a square mile to the foot of the villages of Bawdsey,
Alderton, and Hollesley. Nothing so far has been done to remedy
this sad state of things; indeed, the inhabitants declare nothing is
possible.
But there was a rumour when I left Aldeburgh in the second
week of September, 1898, that a local magnate had hit on a plan,
which may turn out to be an effective line of action. It is too late
now to think of re-building the sea-walls, but the idea is to sink
several large hulks filled with cement and pebbles at the entrance
to the breach, and to let the action of the waves, by heaping up
more shingle and debris, do the rest of the work and help to form
a natural bank and breakwater. At all events, the experiment
seems well worth trying, and we hope the attempt will shortly be
made and that it will prove effectual.1
Passing on down the coast and taking note only of those
encroachments which have proved permanent, we come to a halt
in Hamford Waters.
In the summer of 1895 I landed on Pewit Island, and though
I found the farmhouse deserted, the island was still used as
pasturage for cattle and sheep. This year it is absolutely derelict.
The island may be said practically to have disappeared, and the
walls in many places are level with the saltings; great pools of
water and tall rushes occupy a large part of the surface, and the
1 Up to the present date, Dec. 3rd. l898, nothing has yet been done.