Osea Island

The various kinds of net fishing are too numerous to mention, but there are several of the Maldon fishermen who can be prevailed upon for a consideration to take a passenger or two for a day’s trawling, if he be not too particular as to the luxury of his accommodation. The known fish fauna of the Blackwater is a rich one, and the occurrence of almost any British species in this fine estuary is possible. Salmon and Salmon Trout are frequently taken. Mr. R. H. Eve has Speckled Trout that weighed 7lbs., which was caught near Beeleigh Mill, and smaller ones have been taken on several occasions; large Skates and Rays frequently occur, and a Sturgeon, varying greatly in size, is taken almost every year. Coming to this “royal fish” reminds us to mention the whales, dolphins, porpoises, and other mammals that are recorded from this river, and of late years it has almost continuously been inhabited by one or more seals, that are frequently seen but fortunately not destroyed, although I cannot say this has not been attempted.

Phocoena Phocoena

Pliny, The Elder

We must not say more about the fishing, further than to remind our readers of how famous are the Essex rivers for their highly-prized, and now high-priced, native oysters. The Blackwater and Colne are noted breeding grounds, but their product is mostly in private hands until we get below Mersea, and the visitor is likely to have little further to do with them than to see the large fleet of Tollesbury, Mersea, and Brightlingsea boats at work on the Common ground, or sailing hither or thither at tide times. Oyster culture is an old and still famous industry. The elder Pliny tells us that it was Sergius Orata who “first conceived the idea of planting oysters in beds” on the Lucrine Lake, on the shore of which he built a palace, so as to be able to consume his favourite bivalves with convivial friends at all times and seasons, Some of these oysters, we are not told how, were brought from England’s shores. It was Sir Aston Cockayne who wrote (1669):

The old luxurious Romans vaunts did make
Of gustful oysters took in Lucrine Lake,
Your Essex better hath, and such perchance
As tempted Caesar first, to pass from France.

Large beds of oyster shells are invariably found with Roman remains in East-Essex. These shells, which the Roman gourmands have bequeathed to posterity, are mostly now at a depth of from four to six feet, showing such to have been the accretion of soil from the first centuries A.D. Another shell-fish which is particularly abundant and of fine quality along the foreshores of our river is the common periwinkle; it is picked off the mud by boys, and occasionally dredged. It is exported from Maldon to the value of many hundreds of pounds annually. Should the visitor be tempted to spend a day or two on a smack, either trawling or dredging, a most instructive and enjoyable occupation, he will probably be led to taste and like the flavour of the Blackwater whelk.

Osea Island: The Farm House. Looking North