Monument MPM1978 - Boat House foundations and winches

Foundations to a boat house at the former torpedo testing range site on Horsea Island recorded during a walk over survey in 2016. The remains of two winches which had been used to haul boats up the slipway to the boat house were also recorded.

Foundations to a former boat house and the remains of two winches used for hauling boats up the slipway to the boat house were recorded during a walk over survey at the former torpedo testing range on Horsea Island by the Maritime Archaeology Trust in 2016. [1]

The boat house was built in 1898 and originally had a patent slipway and large-boat cradle. The building could house two 56ft steamboats inside and two on the slipway. Two winches used for hauling the boats up the rails of the slipway were powered by obsolete Schwartzkopff 3-cylinder engines taken from torpedoes with a capacity of 36 tons. The engines remained in use until 1941. [2]

The boat house is still shown on the 1938 ordnance survey map but was damaged by Second World War bombing. The building appears to have been demolished by 1952. [1, 3, 4]

<1> Maritime Archaeology Trust, 2018, Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War: First World War Wireless Stations of the South Coast of England (Bibliographic reference). SPM582.

<2> Ripley, Basil, 1982, Horsea Island and The Royal Naval (Bibliographic reference). SPM410.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1938, Ordnance Survey Map 1938 (Map). SPM378.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1952, Ordnance Survey Map 1952 (Map). SPM67.