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 salini ...

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 Estuarie ...

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 Ch ...

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,

Great Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linc ...

, North East England,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

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

Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...

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) 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