Besides having a fascinating geology, the North Kent Coast bears the marks of most periods of our history. The Romans built their fort at Reculver, and the abbey that later occupied that site had direct links with Canterbury Cathedral. The Dutch raided Queenborough and Sheerness in 1667; there was the famous Mutiny at the Nore in 1797; and prisoners were kept in wooden hulks at Sheerness from various other conflicts after that. The offshore waters were known to almost every sailor in the maritime hall of fame.

Sir Francis Drake, Sebastian Cabot, Lord Nelson, Sir John Franklin and others all sailed from London or Chatham. Commencing at Gravesend, this book makes a journey, sometimes over water, but also across the marshes and through the harbours, villages and industrial estates that constitute maritime Kent, to eventually arrive at Margate, reflecting on the many changes that have occurred over the last hundred years.