24 C O N T E X T 1 3 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 The quantities of losses on the east coast are not perhaps as great as those in the Atlantic or western approaches but they are certainly comparable, especially given the relatively concentrated area in which they occurred. The war channels – and most losses – lay within a few miles of the shore, a landscape that was visible from the coast then and still today. Hallam1 gives a vivid sense of the war channels from a flying boat on an anti-submarine patrol.‘After passing over the well-known buoys at the approaches to the harbour,’ Hallam writes, ‘we crossed a fleet of trawlers in the emergency war channel busily engaged in the pleasing task of sweeping up enemy mines laid the evening before… Fifteen minutes later we had the Shipwash four miles on our port beam, and were over the shipping channel which ran parallel with the coast. Here, as far as the eye could see in either direction, was a thick stream of cargo boats, of all shapes and sizes, ploughing along on their various occasions, a striking example of the might of the British Mercantile Marine.’ Hallamwas patrolling from the Royal Navy Air Station at Felixstowe, trying to intercept U-boats not in the war channels but en route to and from Zeebrugge, Ostend and Bruges.The battle over the East CoastWar Channels was not fought only at sea, but in the air, on land and over the airwaves. A very substantial infrastructure of naval bases, air stations and wireless stations was established up and down the east coast in the first world war, including other structures such as port war signal stations, anti-submarine booms, and the sea forts at Haile and Bull Sand in the Humber. Like the wrecks, many of these have surviving remains also, but they have not received the same attention as second world war defences, and they seem isolated and divorced from the context of the war channel that they served. Huge effort went into patrolling and convoy escort from the air using land-based aircraft, seaplanes, balloons and airships which, because of their relatively limited endurance, needed a string of bases all along the east coast.Wireless stations were used to intercept messages and to fix the position of transmitting U-boats, and this information was collated with other sources of intelligence that could inform counter-attacks.An air war against submarines and the vital role of intelligence are things normally associated in the public mind with the second world war not the first, underlining again just how much we have failed to remember. A recent study for English Heritage (downloadable from www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/eastcoast-war-channels-first-and-second-world-wars/) has outlined the history of the war channels, the heritage assets that are associated with them and the sources of available data that could be mobilised in their investigation. Over the next two years, further work will seek to raise awareness of the war channels,working with existing initiatives associated with the first world war centenary to draw attention to the maritime dimension of the conflict. There are few examples of the vessels that typified the war on the east coast in preservation, nor does the war at sea lend itself to re-enactment and living history. New ways are needed to overcome the superficial invisibility of the war channels. Exercising peoples’ imaginations to encompass the physical remains of the conflict so close to the coast is an important objective, as is providing context for sites andmemorials relating to the war channels but situated on land.An enormous amount of data about the East Coast War Channels is available once you look, so it is important to enable people to reconnect disparate sources as they weave together stories of places, communities, families and events. Hundreds of ships still lie where they were attacked off the east coast of England. They represent a huge effort organisationally, industrially and technologically to maintain trade along an essential seaway. Each wreck has an individual tale to tell of its construction, use and loss. As a whole the assemblage reveals all sorts of chronological, spatial and thematic patterns.The tragic losses present time-slices not only about the conduct of the war but also of the commerce, fishing and seafaring that pre-dated those first mines in 1914. The shipwrecks of the East CoastWar Channels – like their associated sites on land – are the standing remains of a critical battle. They are monuments to east coast seafarers from all over the world who have no other grave. Had they been bombsites on land, perhaps they would have been entirely erased within a decade or so. We should have the sense to recognise what we have inherited. After a hundred years, isn’t it about time we remembered them? The East CoastWar Channel off NorthYorkshire, December 1917 (S.058) from material held at UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk) Filey Brigg and Flamborough seen from Scarborough Castle. The front line was on England’s doorstep. (Photo: Antony Firth) Antony Firth is the director of Fjordr. Reference 1 Hallam,Theodore Douglas (P.I.X.) (2009) SpiderWeb: Royal Navy Air Service Flying Boat Operations during the first world war by a flight commander, Leonaur. Originally published as P.I.X. (1919)The Spider Web:The romance of a flying-boat war flight, Blackwood, Edinburgh.
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