A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel Volume One: The English Coast. This item is unavailable.A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel Volume One: The English Coast

This is the first half of a detailed history of sand dredging in the Bristol Channel - the result of over thirty years' research. Concentrating on the English coast, A Century of Sand Dredging: Volume One documents the sand trade from its inception in 1912 to the present day, and examines the sand dredgers employed through the years, and the English companies engaged in the trade. Information has been drawn from a wide range of sources, including the author's own experiences of the trade and its ships - his own father was a master of Bristol sand dredgers for over twenty-five years. Further information from interviews with crew members, company records, shipping records and photographic records, especially the Cedric Catt collection, has been collated and presented, with a vast number of illustrations, to form a book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in maritime trade and the history of the Bristol Channel.

Peter Gosson is a well-respected maritime historian who specialises in the coastal trade and its ships in the Bristol Channel. As a member of local shipping societies he has given talks on maritime subjects throughout the South West and South Wales. He is the author of many maritime articles in both local and national magazines and has previously written on the history of local shipping companies, and the Bristol sand trade. An engineer by trade, his duties at Avonmouth gave him close links with the sea and ships. He lives in Clevedon.