SCRAPING THE BOTTOM
photo - National Maritime Museum
As part of the research for my new book, working title, BLOOD ON THE STRAND, I've been looking at dredgers. If you've read my first book, BLOOD ON THE TIDE, you will be familiar with the hamlet of Compass Point. At lot of the action takes place around this little quayside village, loosely based on Rye Harbour.
Captain Salt, who owns the land around the quay is keen on promoting the area and encouraging Yachties, newly emerging after WW2, to moor their boats there. Although the tide flows quite fast, silt and mud build up along the river bank and he decides to employ a dredger to clear the channel.
There are various types of dredgers but, as part of the plot, I need one that would bring up some hidden objects, which were not mud or silt - you'll have to wait for the book to find out what they are - and a small bucket dredger fitted the bill. The diagrams explain how they work better than I can.
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