The Port of Dover is constantly in the news – its possible future as a privatised or community owned port, as well as ambitious expansion plans, are discussed in the local media on an almost daily basis. It is timely to take an historical look at the port, which remains vital to the East Kent, and national, economy.
Anthony Lane starts the story with the Bronze Age boat, now on view in the Dover Museum, and brings the story up to date with the Channel Tunnel and the brand-new giant ferries introduced in recent months by P&O.
Most of us will be familiar with the car ferries, some of us even remember the train ferries! However, this story takes in many other aspects of the port’s activities, including commercial trade, cruise liners, fishing, yachting and the lifeboats.
Anthony Lane has done a remarkable job in finding a huge number of black and white and colour illustrations (some of them his own photos) and the publishers have served him well by printing two to a page. It is hard to pick a favourite illustration, but one that I like is the extraordinary Bessemer ‘swinging’ saloon. This was a gimballed saloon designed to remain stable while the ship moved with the sea. Sadly, it was never tested and the saloon was soon removed to a large house in Hextable in Kent where it was used as a billiard room.
Another gripping chapter concerns wrecked and damaged ships, and there is a sequence of quite alarming photos showing what can happen to ships involved in collisions. The photo of the Texaco Caribbean lying on its side in the Straits of Dover is extraordinary.
Whether you are interested in the history of East Kent, or in maritime and transport history, this book is an essential purchase and the author is to be congratulated on a remarkable work of scholarship.
