Plymouth Sound
Plymouth Sound: UK’s First National Marine Park
Plymouth sound (or as local Plymothians call it 'The Sound') is a deep inlet of water just off Plymouth, surrounded on three sides by the city of Plymouth, Mount Edgecombe, Kingsand and Rame in Cornwall and Mount Batten, Bovisand and Heybrook Bay in South Devon, making it about 6km x 6km in size.
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To the south lies the English Channel, with the River Plym entering it from the NE and the River Tamar from the NW. The harbour and ships of Plymouth are protected by the Plymouth Breakwater, which the Royal Navy urgently requested back in the late 18C as they feared the French would soon invade and they needed they ships protected, supplied and ready to set sail at a moments notice. Work started out in the main channel in 1812 by engineers John Rennie and Joseph Whidbey, when the first 7 tons were dropped onto the site.
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Limestone from local quarries at Oreston and granite from Dartmoor was used, and 50 specially built sail ships were used to transport it out to the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound. The crew working on the breakwater were rowed out every day on gig rowing boats, which was hazardous during storms and there were some fatalities. French prisoners of war were forced to work in the quarries and on the Breakwater itself. This kept costs down, but the Breakwater's final bill was over £1.5 million pounds (It would cost £1 Billion to build it today).
The Plymouth Sound was surrounded and protected by a ring of forts both on the coast and inland. Fortified locations include Stamford Fort, Breakwater Fort, Drake's Island, Cawsand Fort, Staddon Fort and Bovisand Fort. Napoleon himself, whilst en route to his exile on St Helena, commented on and praised the incredible construction of the Breakwater.
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The Plymouth Sound remains an important location for the Royal Navy as their Devonport base still remains on the Tamar river, and naval ships can be seen entering and exiting the Sound most days. Located just off Devils Point in Plymouth, Drake's Island is situated in Plymouth Sound. Extensively fortified to protect the deep river channel down to the Royal Navy base that's known as Drakes Channel. The shallower channel between the island and Cornwall is only 1m deep at low water, but can rise to 5m during high tide. This section was equipped with 'sharks teeth' to stop submarines and small boats attacking the Naval base during WW1 and WW2.
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As well as Naval ships, the Plymouth Sound is also used by Plymouth's fishing fleet to access the channel and beyond, the Brittany ferries taking passengers and vehicles from Plymouth to Roscoff, France and Santander, Spain, and thousands of pleasure craft from jet skis to Trans-Atlantic yachts. The most famous ship of all, the Titanic docked here once and had a painting of Plymouth on board. Francis Chichester set sail from Plymouth Sound in 1966 and returned in 1967 to become the first person to sail around the world single-handed. The Plymouth Sound is currently applying to become the first first National Marine Park in the UK.
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