WW2 SEA FORTS - a brief history
Research for my Sea Forts project
A BRIEF HISTORY
In Short the Sea Forts are British Marine Defences that a Civil Engineer named Guy Anson Maunsell (1884-1961) designed for the Admiralty during WW2.
Once upon a time
It was the year 1939 and the port of London was one, if not the busiest port in the world. Ships travelled along the river Thames with supplies for London. During the outbreak of World War 2 the Germans started to lay magnetic influence mines. Once a mine was successfully laid it would then be activated by ships passing above. Something had to be done to prevent the terrible amount of ships being lost on route to the capital. The port of London harbour master Commander Shankland was at his wits end. He asked the admiralty to help him before the Thames became a complete NO GO area! The Thames Estuary needed to be defended, and the admiralty needed to act fast.
Naval Forts
Maunsell submitted designs for a sea fort that would be used by the Navy. His previous designs for offshore defence had been considered a little eccentric, however the plans for his Naval Sea Forts where accepted and it was agreed that 5 towers would be built, this number later dropped to 4 towers.
The forts were built at Gravesend and then floated along the river by tugs and sunk into their resting position.
The forts were named:
Roughs Tower
Sunk Head Tower
Tongue Sands
Knock John
The design of the fort meant that it would be largely built from concrete with
2 x Bofors 40mm light anti-aircraft guns, 2 x 3.7" heavy anti-aircraft guns,
Galley, Officers Quarters, Admin Offices & Radar Equipment on the main deck which straddled two large hollow reinforced concrete legs the legs sat on a concrete pontoon base. The height of the legs (or towers as they are also referred too) was around 60 feet and each tower had seven levels containing the stores, generators & sleeping quarters. Each Naval Fort was fully equipped at the time of floating out & in the case of the first fort (Roughs Tower) it had all 120 naval personnel onboard at the time of sinking.
H.M Fort Roughs Tower code name Uncle One or U1 was towed along the river and sunk into position on 10th February 1942 (flooding the pontoon base took 15 minuets)
H. M Fort Sunk Head Tower (U2) was towed and sunk 1st June 1942
H. M Fort Tongue Sands (U3) was sunk late in the day on 27th June 1942 & finally
H. M Fort Knock John (U4) on the 1st August 1942.
The time period of duty for the men serving on the forts during WW2 was that of 6 weeks followed by 10 days leave and 4 days training onshore. Whilst stationed on the fort the men would sometimes spend anything up to 18 hours below sea level in their living quarters with only artificial light to see by. These cramped conditions could make life stressful for the men and even when the men where due to go on leave sometimes bad weather could cause them to become stranded on the fort and in one case recorded the men had to stay on the fort for a total of 8 weeks before a boat could arrive to relieve them. In their time the four naval sea forts shot down many Flying bombs, German aircraft and helped to sink a German E-Boat. Records state that H.M Fort Knock John saw action against enemy aircraft during March 7 April 1943 and February 1944 and although attacked by the enemy on a number of occasions no deaths occurred on any of the 4 naval forts as a result of this.
Army Forts
So After the success of the 4 Thames naval forts Maunsell was approached again by the admiralty requesting similar structures be built for the Mersey river. After taking samples of the seabed in the area proposed it was decided that the river bed was too soft too withstand the same design of Naval Fort used in the Thames.
Maunsell went back to the drawing board and thus the seven tower Army sea fort was designed. The base was different to the concrete lozenge shape pontoon used on the Naval sea forts and it was referred to as an "oxford picture frame design". Again using reinforced concrete for the base and the same for legs of which there were 4 to a tower and this time much slimmer. The only purpose of the legs was too support a steel house which comprised of two floors with guns or other equipment on the roof of each steel house. The 1st & 2nd levels contained the sleeping quarters, rest rooms, galley, control rooms etc. Each Army Fort was made up of the following :
4 x 3.7" Heavy anti-aircraft gun towers
2 x 40mm Bofors light anti-aircraft gun towers
1 x Searchlight tower
1 x Control tower
To me they look like the AT-ST or AT-AT walkers from Star Wars
or something from War of the Worlds.
Actually Red Sands was used to film an episode of Dr Who called "Fury from the Deep" in 1968
......
38 towers were to be built in the Mersey but by the time production began this number dropped to 21 towers. 49 towers were requested for the Thames but again the number was dropped to 21 towers. There had also been talk of 13 towers being built in the Humber Estuary but this was later dropped. The Nore Fort (U5) was put into position in the Thames between 20th May 4th July 1943. Red Sand Towers (U6) was placed between 23rd July-3rd September 1943 and Shivering Sand Towers (U7) between 18th September 13th December 1943.
The Mersey Army Sea Forts never had the need to engage against the German's but all seven of our Forts in the Thames did. Tongue sands attacked a German U-boat which was instrumental in the vessel being scuppered. Between all 7 forts they shot down 30 V3 Flying Bombs or Doodle Bugs as they are also known and 22 aircraft.
The war ended in 1945 and it was decided to put all seven of the Naval & Army forts on care and Maintenance. During the 1950's with the threat of the cold war a huge amount of money was spent on improving the forts radar systems and other equipment. Six years later and all of the Sea Forts were abandoned and equipment and guns were removed from most of the forts.
POST WAR
After the war the Mersey Forts were dismantled as they interfered with the shipping in that area.
Local people on occasion ventured out to the Thames estuary forts to satisfy their curiosity and to relieve the structures of their copper & brass fittings etc.
Tongue Sands was abandoned in December 1947 when during a serve gale parts of the fort fell into the sea & it promptly began to tilt 15 degrees. The fort stood empty until it collapsed into the sea during a fierce storm in 1996.
The Nore was completely removed after a Swedish ship the 'Baalbeck' ran into it on 1st March 1953 knocking down several of its towers & killing 4 civilian caretakers stationed on the fort at the time. It was also situated in the shipping lane & after a second ship the 'Mairoula M' ran into the fort causing little damage but large amount of concern it was decided to demolish the Fort. The Steel houses were dismantled and sold for scrap and the concrete legs blown off and the bases uplifted and towed to cliffe in Kent. In 1963 a ship called the Ribersborg run into Shivering Sands knocking down one of the towers leaving the searchlight tower completely cut off from the rest. During the mid 60's most of the forts were occupied by pirate radio stations. This leads me on to the second fascinating chapter of the Forts.
RADIO YEARS TO CURRENT DAY
Shivering Sands Radio Sutch/Radio City
Radio Sutch started as a publicity stunt by the artist Screaming Lord Sutch. The station started out on a fishing boat called the 'Cornucopia' until there was a problem with the boats insurance and Sutch and Co had to find an alternative. That alternative came in the shape of Shivering Sands with Sutch had spotted whilst broadcasting from 'Cornucopia'. After making enquires Sutch learned the fort was abandoned MOD property and seized the opportunity.
Radio Sutch ran from Shivering Sands from May 1964 September 1964 on 194 metres when it was purchased by David Sutch's manager Mr Reg Calvert for the sum of £5,000.00
Reg renamed the station Radio City and started broadcasting on 299. The station played pop music and was aimed at a hip young audience.
In September 1965 talks began to sell the station to Radio Caroline South who at the time looked to use the forts as a cheaper option to their current ship the Mi Amigo.
3 transmitter cabinets were delivered to the fort by Project Atlanta but one of the cabinets fell into the sea whilst trying to transfer it onboard. The deal fell through between Radio City & Radio Caroline after Caroline heard the government may start prosecuting stations broadcasting from the Thames Estuary forts. Nothing more was said about the transmitter until Reg entered into talks with Radio London with a view to setting up a station called United Kingdom Good Music. Upon hearing this news a Major Oliver Smedley of Project Atlanta decided that he wanted a slice of the action and proceeded to bring up the matter of the unpaid transmitter previously delivered to the station. Smedley led a boarding party out to the forts consisting of one woman who was an investor in Project Atlanta called Kitty Black and a group of hefty seamen who at the time were out of work due to a strike. They Boarded the fort at around 3am 20th June 1966 and locked the Radio City DJs out of their studio which was situated in a different tower to the one they slept in. They also removed the transmitter crystal to ensure that even if one of the DJs managed to get into the studio they certainly would not be able to broadcast. The seamen kept the Radio City staff in the accommodation tower and Major Smedley & Kitty Black left the fort to return to land where they sort out Mr Philip Birch of Radio London / the owner of the proposed United Kingdom Good Music.
Smedley stated that the Fort was now under his control and that the transmitter delivered during earlier months belonged to him. Mr Birch was unwilling to be pressured into doing any sort of deal with them and so the meeting ended. On learning his station had been taken off air and his staff held against their will Reg Calvert was obviously furious and made certain threats to Smedley that he would remove the boarding party by force if Smedley did not order them to leave. The police were contacted but refused to help saying that the fort was outside of their jurisdiction.
Later that evening Reg Calvert and a Mr Alan Arnold went to Smedley's home in Essex to persuade Smedley to remove the men from Radio City. When Reg tried to gain entry to Smedley's property a scuffle broke out between him and Smedley's housekeeper.
Smedley appeared armed with a shotgun he took aim and shot Reg Calvert dead. Smedley was arrested and charged with murder. He was held in custody for 27 days. The charge was later reduced from Murder to Manslaughter of which he was acquitted on the grounds of self defence.
A man lost his life, a women her husband and two young girls their farther after an altercation over ownership of a transmitter. This extremely tragic event helped the government speed up the offshore broadcasting act in 1967.
Reg's widow Dorothy Calvert continued to run the station until it was outlawed and closed on the 8th February 1967.
Post City
The isolated searchlight tower of Shivering Sands was used by the Port of London Authority to record wind & tide levels.
A young woman, her partner and their baby lived on the fort for a short time during 1969. In the early 1970's the admiralty pulled down all of the forts ladders and connecting walkways.
Stephen Turner
July-September 2005 the Artist Stephen Turner spent 6 weeks in one tower of the Shivering Sands complex. Stephens Isolation project generated a fair amount of press interest in the UK and many people followed his daily blog and webcam pictures with huge interest. www.seafort.org
Today the only interest in the fort is from visitors on boat trips during the spring & summer months and a handful of birds that have made a rather comfortable home there.
Radsands Radio Invicta/K.I.N.G Radio/Radio 390
Radio Invita was the first station to inhabit Redsands fort, broadcasts could be heard on 306 metres from June 1964. In December 1964 there was a terrible accident one evening when the owner Tom Pepper, DJ Simon Ashley and Engineer Martin Shaw were travelling from the fort back to land. The tender sunk and sadly Tom froze in the icy waters. Martin (18) & Simon (21) were tragically lost overboard and their bodies never found. It was rumoured that several months later an unidentifiable body along with a radio Invicta tape was found washed up on a Spanish beach.
Radio King started broadcasting on 236 metres from March 1965 and broadcast until September 1965. The station ran until 22nd September 1965. The following day the station reopened with a different format as Radio 390 broadcasting on 390 metres this time the station stayed on air until outlawed in July 1967. Radio 390 was aimed at the more mature listener and was probably the most successful of the 3.
Post 390
The fort was used to film an episode of Dr Who called "Fury from the Deep" in 1968.
Redsands Developments or The Sea Tribe Group used the fort for a short space of time until 1969 with a view to turning the complex into an offshore hotel. In the early 1970's the admiralty removed all the forts walkways & ladders making the towers no longer accessible. Most recent events have seen the birth of Project Redsands which has been established to secure the Redsand Towers. The duration of the restoration program will be determined by the availability of funding.
More information can be found by visiting Project redsands
Redsands is also visited by boat trips on RIB or Barge where the public can view the forts up close and have fantastic photographic opportunities.
Knock John Radio Essex
Reg Calvert was looking for a new base for a radio station during the time of negotiations to sell Radio City. He sent some of the Radio City staff over to the Naval Fort the Knock John with a small selection of equipment with a view to commence broadcasting from the fort.
Major Paddy Roy Bates had spotted Knock John during the summer of 1965 and had also decided that the fort would make a good base for a radio station. When Bates returned to the fort with equipment & staff to set up Radio Essex he found that Radio City staff had taken up residence on the fort. Eventually Bates persuaded the City boys to leave and began test transmissions during October 1965. One month later the station commenced broadcasting as Radio Essex on 222 meters playing music from across-the-board. The station changed its name to Britain's Better Music Station (or BBMS) on 6th October 1966. After court summons and lack of financial resources the station closed on Christmas Day 1966. Most of the equipment was taken to Roughs Tower which was considered to be in international waters unlike Knock John, Shivering sands, and Redsands which were all situated in inland waters.
Post BBMS
In 1992 the guns were removed by Chinook helicopter.
Although no maintenance has been carried out since the 1950's the knock is still in good condition but is no longer accessible since being sealed shut and having all it's ladders removed.
Knock John like Shivering Sands and Redsands is visited by boat trips of interested parties during the summer.
Sunk Head Tower Radio/Tower TV
Faint test's were heard from the fort transmitted by a group calling themselves Tower Radio. These tests were heard on 236 mmw October 1965 May 1966.
Unfortunately for Tower Radio the station never really took off unlike Radio City, Radio 390 and Radio Essex. Due to lack of funds the occupants left Sunk Head during spring 1966. Also a plan to broadcast Television from the fort never came to fruition.
Post Tower
Sunk Head was demolished by the Royal Engineers August 1967 by using explosives to blow off the superstructure. Unfortunately 20 feet of each tower was left & a liquid gas carrier ran into them . The company then claimed for damages. Opps!
Roughs Tower Sealand
Radio Caroline staff boarded the fort during the summer of 1965 with a view to using the fort for a project which never came to fruition.
During December 1966 Major Bates and the Radio Essex group moved all their equipment from the Knock John onto Roughs and decided they would live on the fort and claimed squatters rights. Roy Bates and his wife Joan Bates named the fort the principality of sealand and with its own postage stamps and passports the fort is recognised by some as a small country.
No Radio stations are known to have broadcast from Roughs Tower and the Bates family are still in control of the fort today. Sadley a large fire tore through the deck and damaged the rooms in one of the towers during June 2006 with a security guard being air lifted to hospital. The fire was rumoured to have caused half a million pounds worth of damage, but Prince Michael (Roy's son) has since vowed to repair and rebuild Sealand.
MARTIN STEVENS
Martin Stevens was a keen photographer & a well know face at all the offshore pirate station's from 1964-1974. Martin decided to capture the unfolding events at the stations on film. Along with obtaining some amazing shots of the forts he has given us a glimpse of what life on an offshore station looked like. A small selection of Martins photographs can be viewed by visiting
www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/MartinsStevens_1/Martin_A.html
My immense thanks to the following (you are indeed the Font of knowledge)
Military Historian Frank R Turner
Bob Leroi www.bobleroi.co.uk
Barry Stewart www.undergroundkent.co.uk
All at www.project-redsands.com
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
freespace.virgin.net/line.design/forts/radioforts
In Short the Sea Forts are British Marine Defences that a Civil Engineer named Guy Anson Maunsell (1884-1961) designed for the Admiralty during WW2.
Once upon a time
It was the year 1939 and the port of London was one, if not the busiest port in the world. Ships travelled along the river Thames with supplies for London. During the outbreak of World War 2 the Germans started to lay magnetic influence mines. Once a mine was successfully laid it would then be activated by ships passing above. Something had to be done to prevent the terrible amount of ships being lost on route to the capital. The port of London harbour master Commander Shankland was at his wits end. He asked the admiralty to help him before the Thames became a complete NO GO area! The Thames Estuary needed to be defended, and the admiralty needed to act fast.
Naval Forts
Maunsell submitted designs for a sea fort that would be used by the Navy. His previous designs for offshore defence had been considered a little eccentric, however the plans for his Naval Sea Forts where accepted and it was agreed that 5 towers would be built, this number later dropped to 4 towers.
The forts were built at Gravesend and then floated along the river by tugs and sunk into their resting position.
The forts were named:
Roughs Tower
Sunk Head Tower
Tongue Sands
Knock John
The design of the fort meant that it would be largely built from concrete with
2 x Bofors 40mm light anti-aircraft guns, 2 x 3.7" heavy anti-aircraft guns,
Galley, Officers Quarters, Admin Offices & Radar Equipment on the main deck which straddled two large hollow reinforced concrete legs the legs sat on a concrete pontoon base. The height of the legs (or towers as they are also referred too) was around 60 feet and each tower had seven levels containing the stores, generators & sleeping quarters. Each Naval Fort was fully equipped at the time of floating out & in the case of the first fort (Roughs Tower) it had all 120 naval personnel onboard at the time of sinking.
H.M Fort Roughs Tower code name Uncle One or U1 was towed along the river and sunk into position on 10th February 1942 (flooding the pontoon base took 15 minuets)
H. M Fort Sunk Head Tower (U2) was towed and sunk 1st June 1942
H. M Fort Tongue Sands (U3) was sunk late in the day on 27th June 1942 & finally
H. M Fort Knock John (U4) on the 1st August 1942.
The time period of duty for the men serving on the forts during WW2 was that of 6 weeks followed by 10 days leave and 4 days training onshore. Whilst stationed on the fort the men would sometimes spend anything up to 18 hours below sea level in their living quarters with only artificial light to see by. These cramped conditions could make life stressful for the men and even when the men where due to go on leave sometimes bad weather could cause them to become stranded on the fort and in one case recorded the men had to stay on the fort for a total of 8 weeks before a boat could arrive to relieve them. In their time the four naval sea forts shot down many Flying bombs, German aircraft and helped to sink a German E-Boat. Records state that H.M Fort Knock John saw action against enemy aircraft during March 7 April 1943 and February 1944 and although attacked by the enemy on a number of occasions no deaths occurred on any of the 4 naval forts as a result of this.
Army Forts
So After the success of the 4 Thames naval forts Maunsell was approached again by the admiralty requesting similar structures be built for the Mersey river. After taking samples of the seabed in the area proposed it was decided that the river bed was too soft too withstand the same design of Naval Fort used in the Thames.
Maunsell went back to the drawing board and thus the seven tower Army sea fort was designed. The base was different to the concrete lozenge shape pontoon used on the Naval sea forts and it was referred to as an "oxford picture frame design". Again using reinforced concrete for the base and the same for legs of which there were 4 to a tower and this time much slimmer. The only purpose of the legs was too support a steel house which comprised of two floors with guns or other equipment on the roof of each steel house. The 1st & 2nd levels contained the sleeping quarters, rest rooms, galley, control rooms etc. Each Army Fort was made up of the following :
4 x 3.7" Heavy anti-aircraft gun towers
2 x 40mm Bofors light anti-aircraft gun towers
1 x Searchlight tower
1 x Control tower
To me they look like the AT-ST or AT-AT walkers from Star Wars
or something from War of the Worlds.
Actually Red Sands was used to film an episode of Dr Who called "Fury from the Deep" in 1968
......
38 towers were to be built in the Mersey but by the time production began this number dropped to 21 towers. 49 towers were requested for the Thames but again the number was dropped to 21 towers. There had also been talk of 13 towers being built in the Humber Estuary but this was later dropped. The Nore Fort (U5) was put into position in the Thames between 20th May 4th July 1943. Red Sand Towers (U6) was placed between 23rd July-3rd September 1943 and Shivering Sand Towers (U7) between 18th September 13th December 1943.
The Mersey Army Sea Forts never had the need to engage against the German's but all seven of our Forts in the Thames did. Tongue sands attacked a German U-boat which was instrumental in the vessel being scuppered. Between all 7 forts they shot down 30 V3 Flying Bombs or Doodle Bugs as they are also known and 22 aircraft.
The war ended in 1945 and it was decided to put all seven of the Naval & Army forts on care and Maintenance. During the 1950's with the threat of the cold war a huge amount of money was spent on improving the forts radar systems and other equipment. Six years later and all of the Sea Forts were abandoned and equipment and guns were removed from most of the forts.
POST WAR
After the war the Mersey Forts were dismantled as they interfered with the shipping in that area.
Local people on occasion ventured out to the Thames estuary forts to satisfy their curiosity and to relieve the structures of their copper & brass fittings etc.
Tongue Sands was abandoned in December 1947 when during a serve gale parts of the fort fell into the sea & it promptly began to tilt 15 degrees. The fort stood empty until it collapsed into the sea during a fierce storm in 1996.
The Nore was completely removed after a Swedish ship the 'Baalbeck' ran into it on 1st March 1953 knocking down several of its towers & killing 4 civilian caretakers stationed on the fort at the time. It was also situated in the shipping lane & after a second ship the 'Mairoula M' ran into the fort causing little damage but large amount of concern it was decided to demolish the Fort. The Steel houses were dismantled and sold for scrap and the concrete legs blown off and the bases uplifted and towed to cliffe in Kent. In 1963 a ship called the Ribersborg run into Shivering Sands knocking down one of the towers leaving the searchlight tower completely cut off from the rest. During the mid 60's most of the forts were occupied by pirate radio stations. This leads me on to the second fascinating chapter of the Forts.
RADIO YEARS TO CURRENT DAY
Shivering Sands Radio Sutch/Radio City
Radio Sutch started as a publicity stunt by the artist Screaming Lord Sutch. The station started out on a fishing boat called the 'Cornucopia' until there was a problem with the boats insurance and Sutch and Co had to find an alternative. That alternative came in the shape of Shivering Sands with Sutch had spotted whilst broadcasting from 'Cornucopia'. After making enquires Sutch learned the fort was abandoned MOD property and seized the opportunity.
Radio Sutch ran from Shivering Sands from May 1964 September 1964 on 194 metres when it was purchased by David Sutch's manager Mr Reg Calvert for the sum of £5,000.00
Reg renamed the station Radio City and started broadcasting on 299. The station played pop music and was aimed at a hip young audience.
In September 1965 talks began to sell the station to Radio Caroline South who at the time looked to use the forts as a cheaper option to their current ship the Mi Amigo.
3 transmitter cabinets were delivered to the fort by Project Atlanta but one of the cabinets fell into the sea whilst trying to transfer it onboard. The deal fell through between Radio City & Radio Caroline after Caroline heard the government may start prosecuting stations broadcasting from the Thames Estuary forts. Nothing more was said about the transmitter until Reg entered into talks with Radio London with a view to setting up a station called United Kingdom Good Music. Upon hearing this news a Major Oliver Smedley of Project Atlanta decided that he wanted a slice of the action and proceeded to bring up the matter of the unpaid transmitter previously delivered to the station. Smedley led a boarding party out to the forts consisting of one woman who was an investor in Project Atlanta called Kitty Black and a group of hefty seamen who at the time were out of work due to a strike. They Boarded the fort at around 3am 20th June 1966 and locked the Radio City DJs out of their studio which was situated in a different tower to the one they slept in. They also removed the transmitter crystal to ensure that even if one of the DJs managed to get into the studio they certainly would not be able to broadcast. The seamen kept the Radio City staff in the accommodation tower and Major Smedley & Kitty Black left the fort to return to land where they sort out Mr Philip Birch of Radio London / the owner of the proposed United Kingdom Good Music.
Smedley stated that the Fort was now under his control and that the transmitter delivered during earlier months belonged to him. Mr Birch was unwilling to be pressured into doing any sort of deal with them and so the meeting ended. On learning his station had been taken off air and his staff held against their will Reg Calvert was obviously furious and made certain threats to Smedley that he would remove the boarding party by force if Smedley did not order them to leave. The police were contacted but refused to help saying that the fort was outside of their jurisdiction.
Later that evening Reg Calvert and a Mr Alan Arnold went to Smedley's home in Essex to persuade Smedley to remove the men from Radio City. When Reg tried to gain entry to Smedley's property a scuffle broke out between him and Smedley's housekeeper.
Smedley appeared armed with a shotgun he took aim and shot Reg Calvert dead. Smedley was arrested and charged with murder. He was held in custody for 27 days. The charge was later reduced from Murder to Manslaughter of which he was acquitted on the grounds of self defence.
A man lost his life, a women her husband and two young girls their farther after an altercation over ownership of a transmitter. This extremely tragic event helped the government speed up the offshore broadcasting act in 1967.
Reg's widow Dorothy Calvert continued to run the station until it was outlawed and closed on the 8th February 1967.
Post City
The isolated searchlight tower of Shivering Sands was used by the Port of London Authority to record wind & tide levels.
A young woman, her partner and their baby lived on the fort for a short time during 1969. In the early 1970's the admiralty pulled down all of the forts ladders and connecting walkways.
Stephen Turner
July-September 2005 the Artist Stephen Turner spent 6 weeks in one tower of the Shivering Sands complex. Stephens Isolation project generated a fair amount of press interest in the UK and many people followed his daily blog and webcam pictures with huge interest. www.seafort.org
Today the only interest in the fort is from visitors on boat trips during the spring & summer months and a handful of birds that have made a rather comfortable home there.
Radsands Radio Invicta/K.I.N.G Radio/Radio 390
Radio Invita was the first station to inhabit Redsands fort, broadcasts could be heard on 306 metres from June 1964. In December 1964 there was a terrible accident one evening when the owner Tom Pepper, DJ Simon Ashley and Engineer Martin Shaw were travelling from the fort back to land. The tender sunk and sadly Tom froze in the icy waters. Martin (18) & Simon (21) were tragically lost overboard and their bodies never found. It was rumoured that several months later an unidentifiable body along with a radio Invicta tape was found washed up on a Spanish beach.
Radio King started broadcasting on 236 metres from March 1965 and broadcast until September 1965. The station ran until 22nd September 1965. The following day the station reopened with a different format as Radio 390 broadcasting on 390 metres this time the station stayed on air until outlawed in July 1967. Radio 390 was aimed at the more mature listener and was probably the most successful of the 3.
Post 390
The fort was used to film an episode of Dr Who called "Fury from the Deep" in 1968.
Redsands Developments or The Sea Tribe Group used the fort for a short space of time until 1969 with a view to turning the complex into an offshore hotel. In the early 1970's the admiralty removed all the forts walkways & ladders making the towers no longer accessible. Most recent events have seen the birth of Project Redsands which has been established to secure the Redsand Towers. The duration of the restoration program will be determined by the availability of funding.
More information can be found by visiting Project redsands
Redsands is also visited by boat trips on RIB or Barge where the public can view the forts up close and have fantastic photographic opportunities.
Knock John Radio Essex
Reg Calvert was looking for a new base for a radio station during the time of negotiations to sell Radio City. He sent some of the Radio City staff over to the Naval Fort the Knock John with a small selection of equipment with a view to commence broadcasting from the fort.
Major Paddy Roy Bates had spotted Knock John during the summer of 1965 and had also decided that the fort would make a good base for a radio station. When Bates returned to the fort with equipment & staff to set up Radio Essex he found that Radio City staff had taken up residence on the fort. Eventually Bates persuaded the City boys to leave and began test transmissions during October 1965. One month later the station commenced broadcasting as Radio Essex on 222 meters playing music from across-the-board. The station changed its name to Britain's Better Music Station (or BBMS) on 6th October 1966. After court summons and lack of financial resources the station closed on Christmas Day 1966. Most of the equipment was taken to Roughs Tower which was considered to be in international waters unlike Knock John, Shivering sands, and Redsands which were all situated in inland waters.
Post BBMS
In 1992 the guns were removed by Chinook helicopter.
Although no maintenance has been carried out since the 1950's the knock is still in good condition but is no longer accessible since being sealed shut and having all it's ladders removed.
Knock John like Shivering Sands and Redsands is visited by boat trips of interested parties during the summer.
Sunk Head Tower Radio/Tower TV
Faint test's were heard from the fort transmitted by a group calling themselves Tower Radio. These tests were heard on 236 mmw October 1965 May 1966.
Unfortunately for Tower Radio the station never really took off unlike Radio City, Radio 390 and Radio Essex. Due to lack of funds the occupants left Sunk Head during spring 1966. Also a plan to broadcast Television from the fort never came to fruition.
Post Tower
Sunk Head was demolished by the Royal Engineers August 1967 by using explosives to blow off the superstructure. Unfortunately 20 feet of each tower was left & a liquid gas carrier ran into them . The company then claimed for damages. Opps!
Roughs Tower Sealand
Radio Caroline staff boarded the fort during the summer of 1965 with a view to using the fort for a project which never came to fruition.
During December 1966 Major Bates and the Radio Essex group moved all their equipment from the Knock John onto Roughs and decided they would live on the fort and claimed squatters rights. Roy Bates and his wife Joan Bates named the fort the principality of sealand and with its own postage stamps and passports the fort is recognised by some as a small country.
No Radio stations are known to have broadcast from Roughs Tower and the Bates family are still in control of the fort today. Sadley a large fire tore through the deck and damaged the rooms in one of the towers during June 2006 with a security guard being air lifted to hospital. The fire was rumoured to have caused half a million pounds worth of damage, but Prince Michael (Roy's son) has since vowed to repair and rebuild Sealand.
MARTIN STEVENS
Martin Stevens was a keen photographer & a well know face at all the offshore pirate station's from 1964-1974. Martin decided to capture the unfolding events at the stations on film. Along with obtaining some amazing shots of the forts he has given us a glimpse of what life on an offshore station looked like. A small selection of Martins photographs can be viewed by visiting
www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/MartinsStevens_1/Martin_A.html
My immense thanks to the following (you are indeed the Font of knowledge)
Military Historian Frank R Turner
Bob Leroi www.bobleroi.co.uk
Barry Stewart www.undergroundkent.co.uk
All at www.project-redsands.com
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
freespace.virgin.net/line.design/forts/radioforts