Tanker In The Mud

A Memory of Jaywick.

Around that time we had 3 or 4 holidays at Jaywick Sands and St.Osyth's. Although I think we nearly didn't go back after this adventure! 'The Sands' at Jaywick opened at low tide to miles of shifting mud! Well very waterlogged sandy silt. One year a huge tanker was caught on the bar around 2-3miles out. Waiting for high tide.

My cousin, 12yrs, and not nearly as good a swimmer as me at 10yrs of age, was persuaded that we could make it out to the tanker. We almost did. The sailors were close enough to make out clearly and wave. However, their waving had more to do with the fast rising channel, behind us. Once near enough to the tanker we saw how vast it was and how small were we.

We bogged and ploughed our way back, the water was a fast rising, rippling current of warm water. Very pleasant to feel but very scary to sense how fast it was rising.

We could see people on the beach waving and running up and down.
I had to pull and coax the cousin to keep going. He was rather plump and frightened. I realised years later he was a diabetic!!!

By the time we were over half way through the channel we were really having to swim and we saw a group had gone along the beach to where we would probably make 'landfall'

To a mighty telling off, I might say. After all that drama, the tanker made the local paper but I'm not certain we did.

Funny that..I can't recall where we stayed that year. One time a bungalow definitely, another time a bleak sort of campsite.But that time..I just can't remember. Perhaps it was all too exciting a holiday for small details like that.