Maunsell Sea Forts - Red Sands (2011)

[Foantje]

The Maunsell Sea Forts were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities. One became the Principality of Sealand; boats visit the remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium called Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Redsand.


Normally this was planned last year but when we were there the weather was too bad so or trip was canceled. Luckily we were this year again at the UK so we could give it another go. We told the boat owner we didn't want to do a touristic trip. We wanted to explore see new stuff ! After some calls and a few talks the owner of the boat was as curious as we so he accepted to do some pirating .

1 Beautiful weather but lots of wind !


2 As you can see the weather gets worser and worser. Getting on board will be quit hard!


3 The ladders are in very bad shape!


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5 Time for the real thing do to the storm we literally had to jump from the boat on this little platform and we didn't knew if it should hold us.




6 Going Up Bofors Gun Tower


7 Inside shots of the Bofors Gun Tower. This was really nice and in good condition. The owner of the boat and also project manager of the red sands project. Didn't even knew what was inside so he was very happy to see some inside shots. He said nobody's got in since 50 years or so.... The info I found was that the last person that was in was in 2003.


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For more pictures check my site : www.foantje.com

Explored with Defender

Special thanks to Mandy and Alan for the boat and taking the risks!