The creeks and waterfront under ice
Mersea’s creeks, beach and the shallower parts of the Blackwater froze during the severe winter of 1962–63. Photographs show ice around the Hard, the Nothe and waterfront boats. Some identify the oyster smacks PRISCILLA, IRIS and MAUD, giving the general weather story a precise local setting.
Photographs dated January and February 1963 also show ice piling along the West Mersea shore and across parts of the causeway.
The laid-up ships in the Blackwater
Several large merchant ships were laid up in the River Blackwater. They retained watchmen aboard, who normally received supplies by boat from Mersea. With the river icebound, those small supply boats could not reach them. The ships and their crews therefore became part of an unusual local rescue operation.
Supplies by helicopter
On 23 January 1963 an RAF rescue helicopter landed on the West Mersea school field during supply flights to the ships. Archive photographs identify the field and the date. A contemporary newspaper item also records local children watching the helicopter. Other photographs appeared in the Essex County Standard on 1 February, documenting the Blackwater under ice.
The helicopter trips solved a specific supply problem rather than representing a general evacuation of the island. The ship histories also record an incident in which the laid-up MICHALAKIS broke free and went ashore opposite the Esplanade, although that account does not give an exact date for the drift.
A winter recorded in photographs
The frozen harbour images provide unusually direct evidence of the effect on working boats, shipping and everyday movement along the waterfront. See the wider history of Mersea working boats for how the harbour operated in other seasons.
Photographs and shipping records
Weather album: helicopter on 23 January 1963 · Blackwater laid-up shipping history · Additional dated winter photographs.