Tower and Town, June 2017

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Editorial: Marlborough And The Sea

Marlborough and the sea? Absurd - we are as far from the sea as you can get in southern England. But we are still less than 50 miles from the coast - you can drive to the seaside in not much more than an hour. In any other country that would count as VERY close to the sea. The town has close links both to the Royal Navy and to the merchant service.

The Royal Navy has had six HMS Marlboroughs. One of them (number iii), a 74 gun third rate ship of the line, blockaded Chesapeake Bay during the war of 1812 with the USA and features in that role on our front cover. Number iv marked that transitional phase - a wooden warship powered by steam. Another (number v), an Iron Duke class dreadnought went to the Black Sea and southern Russia in 1919 to evacuate the Romanov imperial family after the revolution. The sixth HMS Marlborough, a type 23 frigate was only sold to the Chilean navy in 1998. Many Marlburians served in the Royal Navy during both world wars and many more served in the merchant marine. Some of their stories appear later in this edition.

And do not forget that our ferociously hard water and furred up kettles are because our town is built on chalk, formed from the calcium-rich bodies of tiny sea creatures over many tens of millions of years. That too is explored later in this edition.

Alexander Kirk-Wilson