Eels.

I took the historic photograph above of the River Thames at Erith back in August 2014. In the foreground you can see a small motor day boat which was used by the last commercial eel fisherman on this stretch of the river. More on this later. Until relatively recently, the river front at Erith was the home to a number of eel fisherman. Eels had been fished on the River Thames for hundreds of years and eel was regarded as a staple and very cheap food for many in both London and Kent. As many readers will no doubt be aware, jellied eels were regarded as a staple of the East end and were served alongside pie and mash. In those days the eels were an affordable form of protein, whereas the beef in the pies was expensive and relatively scarce. Nowadays, the fishing of eels in the River Thames as a commercial enterprise has stopped, and to my knowledge the last of the professional eel fisherman has now retired. I wrote an article and got a submission from one of the very last commercial eel fisherman some years ago, but since then everything has gone quiet. This week I have discovered that whilst the consumption of eels in the UK has dropped to almost zero. In the far East, especially China and Japan, the consumption of eels has increased massively. In fact, some species of eels in both Europe and the UK are now threatened with extinction because poachers are illegally fishing for not just fully grown eels but also baby eels that have not had a chance to reproduce and are smuggling them to food outlets in those countries. Endangering the species. It seems that as eels become more rare, their resale value on the black market has gone up hugely, to the point where organised crime is now involved as the penalties for getting caught are minimal and the profits massive. Of the 286,000 tonnes of eel eaten globally, 99% are American, Japanese and European eels, according to a recent study by Chuo University. They are listed as endangered – and critically endangered, in the case of European eels – by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their numbers have plummeted due to habitat loss, pollution and the climate crisis – but also due to a thriving illegal trade in European eels. Worth about €2.5bn (£2.1bn) a year, eel trafficking is Europe’s biggest wildlife crime. “If there is a demand, there will be trafficking,” says José Antonio Alfaro Moreno, lead of Europol’s anti-eel trafficking operation in an interview with The Guardian. Despite a ban on eel exports from Europe 15 years ago, the fish are still ending up on plates around the globe – but in particular in Asia. More than half of seizures of European eel between 2011 and 2018 were destined for China, a country that accounts for 70% of the world’s total eel exports. Japan is one of the largest consumers of eels globally and in 2024, an estimated 73% of the eel consumed in Japan was imported, according to the Japanese Fisheries Agency. It is currently unclear whether any of this poaching is actually being carried out locally. As for obvious reasons, those involved in the illegal trade keep things as discreet as possible, but bearing in mind the previous historic fishing of eels in the Thames in Erith and elsewhere on the river. It would seem logical to assume that it may well be happening, although at the time of writing, no hard evidence has been uncovered. Bearing in mind how legal eel fishing has formed part of the historical culture of Erith, it is remarkable just how little the humble eel is celebrated locally. Perhaps something roughly analogous to the Whitstable Oyster Festival could be set up in Erith? After all, the Oyster Festival has been tremendously successful and brings visitors and business to Whitstable, to the point where it is now the commercial and social highlight of the year. Perhaps something like it could be established for an Erith Eel Extravaganza could be set up? Comments and suggestions to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

As regular readers will be aware, I have in the past written at some length about concerns shared by both myself and many other UK residents about the future of Morrison's supermarkets. It would seem to me that since the former family owned supermarket chain was taken over by an American private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, it is being run into the ground. It has already been disclosed that the private equity company have saddled Morrisons with a huge amount of debt. As a result of this, many of the supermarket chain outlets have lost their restaurants and some have also lost things such as their butchery department or their fresh fish counter. The latest revelation is that several Morrisons delivery lorry drivers have made public their health concerns as the interior of the lorries cargo area as in many cases not been cleaned for a very long time. Unlike most other supermarket chains, Morrisons do not outsource their delivery to a third party but have their own fully employed drivers and company owned  lorries. It would appear in order to save money, they are not having the cargo areas cleaned, as is common practice. The story in full is available on the Kent Online website along with some pretty horrific photos of the unhygienic and downright revolting state of some of the lorry cargo areas. This is yet another public relations blow for Morrisons and causes me to wonder just how long the supermarket chain has left before it either goes bust or is sold off to one of its rivals. 

Regular readers will recall that over the years I have written at some great length about local businessman, inventor and somewhat morally dubious character Sir Hiram Maxim. It is now well documented that in addition to inventing the automatic machine gun, the sprung mouse trap, and the fire sprinkler, he also constructed the first heavier than air flying machine, several years before the Wright Brothers. Whilst researching Sir Hiram Maxim, I came across the story of another pioneering aviation engineer, whose story is much less well known, but just as fascinating. Patrick Young Alexander (28th March 1867 – 7th July 1943) was a British aeronautical pioneer fascinated by the possibility of heavier-than-air flight. He was an enthusiastic balloonist and he was also particularly active in meteorology. He performed many meteorological and aviation experiments, designing and building his own equipment. He travelled widely, visiting Australia in his youth and later making many visits to the USA — crossing the Atlantic at least fifty times. Alexander was born and brought up at Hern Villa in Belvedere, and later lived in both Sheffield and Bath. His mother was Harriotte Emma and his father was Andrew Alexander from Scotland. He had an elder brother, John Edmond. His father, Andrew Alexander, was a civil engineer of some standing and a mechanical engineer. He was interested in aeronautics and was a founder member of The Royal Aeronautical Society in 1866. He presented some papers to the society including "Power in Relation to Weight in Aerial Navigation". In 1875, he went to see Thomas Moy's Aerial Steamer at The Crystal Palace. This machine had many interesting design features and may have achieved a brief hop into the air; accounts vary. That year, Andrew Alexander became manager of the Cyclops works of Charles Cammell and Company in Sheffield, where he worked on the improvement of armour plate for warships. In 1878, Patrick Alexander, doubtless encouraged by his father, built an elastic driven model aeroplane of the Penaud type. In the late summer of that year, Patrick was taken by his father to see the Paris Exhibition. One attraction was irresistible: the enormous hydrogen balloon of Henri Giffard, which was capable of taking 52 passengers at a time on a tethered ascent to 500 metres (1,600 ft). The experience left a deep impression on Alexander, then 11 years old. When Andrew Alexander left the Cyclops works, the Alexander family moved from Sheffield to Bath and Patrick decided on a career in the Merchant Navy. On 1 April 1885, just 3 days after his 18th birthday, Patrick Alexander signed as an apprentice Merchant Navy officer. The very next day he sailed upon the Minero, a barque of 478 tones bound for Fremantle in Western Australia, a distance of 12,500 miles (20,000 km) in a vessel powered only by the wind. Sixty days into the journey, while aloft helping with the sails, Patrick lost his grip and fell. As he hit the deck, he broke his leg. The ship was still three weeks away from port and there was little that could be done other than to strap Patrick into a bunk for the rest of the journey, letting the leg heal without expert attention. The Minero had left England with a crew short by one member. At Fremantle, two of the crew jumped ship, possibly encouraged by rumours of gold being found in the desert; replacement crewmen were hard to come by and only one could be found. The Minero set sail for Cossack and Port Walcott some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the North, seeking a cargo, probably of wool and pearl shell, for the return to London. Patrick was getting about with the aid of a crutch and, given the shortage of crew, he was helping as best he could. On 10 August, in rough weather on a wet and slippery deck, Alexander fell again and re-broke his injured leg. He was taken to Victoria Hospital at Geraldton. The Minero returned to London without him. Patrick returned to England; despite treatment, it was clear that his injuries would leave him lame for life. Due to his disability, he chose to come ashore, and pursue other interests. In 1893, Patrick Alexander ordered a balloon of 100,000 cubic feet (2,800 m3) capacity from Percival Spencer. At the time, C.G. Spencer and Sons' largest advertised balloon was of 80,000 cubic feet (2,300m3) and when it was made it attracted much public interest. Capable of lifting 12 passengers, it was one of the largest balloons yet made. Alexander named her the Majestic. In 1894, Patrick took it to Germany where he conducted scientific ascents that excited interest among German scientists and the lay public, as well as that of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Ever since the first balloon ascent by the Montgolfier Brothers in 1783, it had been realised that for balloons to be really useful, they had to be navigable. Patrick Alexander applied his mind to this problem of airship propulsion. In 1893 and 1894 he filed a number of patents. His ideas included reciprocating oars and an adjustable-pitch propeller that resembled a pair of fans. One patent includes a means of heating the gas in the balloon envelope by using piped steam, the steam pipe also served to support the balloon in the shape of a parachute in the event of the balloon being burst or punctured. None of Patrick’s ideas ever came to anything; but throughout his life, he never lost faith in the practicality of airships. Patrick Alexander was very interested in the development of heavier-than-air flying machines. Early in the 1890s, he travelled to Germany to meet Otto Lilienthal who was experimenting with gliders, and he continued to study ideas from a wide variety of sources. Patrick was in contact with Octave Chanute and others experimenting with flight. In the USA, sometime before 1903, Patrick visited Samuel Pierpont Langley whose successful models had attracted much attention. At Christmas 1902 he visited the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk. On hearing that Patrick Alexander was planning a return trip to the USA in October 1903, the Wright brothers, not known for welcoming interruptions to their work, said they would be happy to meet him. However, Patrick missed a crucial telegram and never received their message. Patrick must have been most disappointed to have missed the opportunity to witness the first flights of the Wright Flyer on 17 December 1903. Sadly at the age of fifty, his inheritance gone, Patrick Alexander spent the remainder of his life at The United Services College, Windsor, where he taught students the basic principles of aeronautics. He would also hold model flying competitions for the students in the park, watched by the Eton College boys. A young apprenticed carpenter boy, who lived in the same road as Patrick Alexander, started the ‘Windsor Model Aircraft Club’. The boy was very keen at making propellers and testing them on model airplanes he built and flew in the park. The boy later became to be known the designer of the Hawker Hurricane fighter - the backbone of the RAF during the Battle of Britain -  Sir Sydney Camm. Patrick Alexander died on 7 July 1943, almost penniless — having given most of his money away. Today, he is not well known; having failed to make any singular, lasting contribution to aviation, and there being just a few modest memorials to his name. His primary contribution to the history of aviation was that through his tireless efforts, many journeys, writings, public speeches, and generous donations he was responsible for collecting and disseminating ideas across nations and continents without which development in the field would have proceeded more slowly. He was a generous man — generous with his time, his intellect and with his money. An inheritance and his business ability made him wealthy, but financial success meant little to him, and he ended up giving almost all of his money away. He was driven by native curiosity and ambition, and yet he was always supportive of the efforts of others, often making generous financial contributions, and was not jealous of their achievements. Patrick Alexander was buried in a small churchyard in Windsor. Ironically his headstone faces the flight path from Heathrow Airport.

Another piece of local history that you may not be aware of; the invention of the car exhaust silencer and the firearms sound suppressor (often incorrectly referred to a silencer) were developed and manufactured locally. In 1902, the first successful, commercially available suppressor was invented by Hiram Percy Maxim. Maxim was an American inventor, graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and son of the aforementioned Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim - inventor of the first portable, fully automatic machine gun: The Maxim Gun, which as I have previously written, was produced in Fraser Road, Erith, and later in Crayford. Hiram Maxim senior was born in the USA, but became a naturalised Briton, and worked in the local area for much of his life. Whilst the initial work by his son on the silencer was carried out in the Maxim companies Hartford, Connecticut design studios, much of the manufacturing was carried out in the Erith factory - mainly as Maxim Senior felt that the products could be marketed to various European defence agencies - always a man with his eye on maximising a profit. The Maxim Silencer, patented in 1909, was a tubular device attached to the barrel of a firearm which significantly reduced noise and muzzle flash when fired. It was regularly advertised in sporting goods catalogues where it was available for mail order, both in the USA and here at the time. The Maxim Silencer was marketed to all sportsmen and intended to enhance the shooting experience by reducing the risk of hearing damage and noise pollution. At the same time, silencers and mufflers for internal combustion engines were being created using the same noise reduction techniques. Maxim Junior took advantage of this and founded his own company, Maxim Silencers, Inc. in 1912. While the Maxim Silencer began Maxim’s success, his company still remains, over 130 years later, as a leader in motor vehicle exhaust, heat recovery, and emissions control silencers. It now no longer has any local connections, and operates exclusively out of the USA.

The end video this week is some aerial drone footage showing the historic grade II listed St Paulinus Church and grounds in Crayford. Comments and feedback to me  at hugh.neal@gmail.com.