In last week's ABC Wednesday I showed a pool on the Cumbrian coast teeming with tadpole life so this week I would like to take you from that pool at Haverigg out on to the sands and the flotsam and jetsam that finds itself there. This is the Duddon Estuary which opens out into the Irish Sea.
There is a great tidal range and the tide can go out up to two miles uncovering a vast stretch of sand. In 2011 one of the channels moved and uncovered a wreck that had been there for over a hundred years and now can be seen at very low tide. I'd just walked out, curious to see what the solid block on the horizon was, but as it was not an extremely low tide so this is as far as I could get. Lets zoom in
This was the 'Ariel' built in 1887 which sprang a leak and foundered here in 1904 on Duddon Bar, drifted and eventually settled on this spot half a mile away and is now unseaworthy but still hangs on to its ship shape, despite being covered by sea life over that century underwater . Known locally as McNally's Wreck it shows how oral history can capture the essence but not always the truth as the captain at the time of its sinking was called McNish. Steve of the Cumbrian Sea Sports Association has a fascination with the wreck and has pictures at a very low tide which shows more of the 'Ariel' and more history he has uncovered
here
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| Duddon Estuary and Black Combe |
Well time to turn back and head towards land before the tide comes in.
Passing by this lone jellyfish left behind from the last tide whose gelatinous form is 98% water and of course famously the painful sting of jellyfish can be treated by urine, I think on balance I might prefer the other alternative of vinegar.
