I have written about these magnificent structures before albeit many years ago. This is the second time that I have painted the towers, this time a different angle from the first. I think I prefer this one. It has more atmosphere. Certainly a very still and eerie place

It is now more years than I can remember that we took ship and sailed out to look at these forts. We were on an old paddle steamer called The Waverley which is a well-known vessel, and in those days, this boat would steam round the British Isles putting in at various ports, and running trips from there. This trip started in the Pool of London, which meant that the Tower Bridge had to raise its drawbridge to let us through, which was an experience in itself. The return journey took all day, calling in at Southend Pier to pick up more passengers, past car ferries mothballed which had been used to take cars from the Ford Motor Plant at Dagenham, and then out into the North Sea until we could see the sea forts

Designed by Guy Maunsell, the forts bear his name. Built in Gravesend they were towed to site on the sandbanks in 1942. There they protected the mouth of the Thames and prevented enemy aircraft using the river as a guide into central London. Decommissioned in 1950, they were later used as pirate radio stations until deemed unsafe. They stand as a nostalgic memorial