• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Sinking Ashore: Stuck In Beach Mud, Sand Or Quicksand

North Somerset beaches are well known for stuck-in-the-tidal-mud incidents.

After one particular tragedy in 2002, fundraisers managed to donate a mini hovercraft rescue craft to work alongside the existing kit, which was put into operation in 2003. In its first year they rescued 50-odd people from the mud/sand, plus quickly getting first responders to medical incidents on that stretch of coast.

https://www.burnham-on-sea.com/barb/

2382BEB8-020C-4C74-ADC1-0647EB826D7B.jpeg


[photo BARB 2021 from https://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news...kayakers-in-muddy-estuary-next-to-brean-down/ ]
 
I hadn't seen this thread before the other day. I've been thinking of it ever since. Now I'm scared of beaches . . . :worry:
 
The Van is suffering a bit of damp on the electrics, just goes to show you should not just leave your van were it is
and bugger off on your jet ski, the people on the sand behind don't realise they are only yards from being up to
the armpits in mud. What happens once you go down in it is it starts to dry round you and you cant move, the answer
is to pump water round the legs turn it back to mush and drag them out, our Coastguard used to use fire extinguishers
filled with water a a lance on the end of the hose, stick it down next to the casualty fire it off and drag them out, not
sure what kit they use now.
With the Chinese cockle pickers the tide came round the back of them cutting them off and it was dark, things were
not helped by not speaking English and quiet a few doing a runner so it was impossible to be sure how many were missing
some were picked up thumbing on the M6 I believe. The sands are quite flat so once the tide reaches a certain height
it rushes over the sands faster than a man or woman can run.

175054979_10219629514464210_9139192578071116906_n.jpg
 
I hadn't seen this thread before the other day. I've been thinking of it ever since. Now I'm scared of beaches . . . :worry:

This thread didn't exist until this past week. I wanted to add a recent news item, and in the course of looking for an appropriate location to post it I noticed we had a number of similar reports strewn throughout the forum. I invested the time in searching out such 'stuck in the ground' reports and consolidating them into a dedicated thread.

The Fortean connection is that after seeing how common such reports were it made me wonder how many mysterious disappearances and / or deaths may have resulted from simply getting stuck in the mud (etc.) and not being able to summon help.
 
There used to be a guy that was a heavy drinker, one morning they found one of his shoes
on the slipway, he was never seen again, at the time it was thought he had mistakenly turned
right instead of left and walked off the end just how he had managed to loose one shoe was
never explained.
 
The Van is suffering a bit of damp on the electrics, just goes to show you should not just leave your van were it is
and bugger off on your jet ski, the people on the sand behind don't realise they are only yards from being up to
the armpits in mud. What happens once you go down in it is it starts to dry round you and you cant move, the answer
is to pump water round the legs turn it back to mush and drag them out, our Coastguard used to use fire extinguishers
filled with water a a lance on the end of the hose, stick it down next to the casualty fire it off and drag them out, not
sure what kit they use now.
With the Chinese cockle pickers the tide came round the back of them cutting them off and it was dark, things were
not helped by not speaking English and quiet a few doing a runner so it was impossible to be sure how many were missing
some were picked up thumbing on the M6 I believe. The sands are quite flat so once the tide reaches a certain height
it rushes over the sands faster than a man or woman can run.

View attachment 38228
Not much of a story so keeping it short. When I was about 10 we were on holiday at St Mary's Bay on Romney Marsh. We were doing the usual - sat on the beach with deck chairs etc. The beach there is very flat and the tide comes in quickly.

A film crew with a camera on a van were behaving like arrogant asses.

How we laughed when they got their van stuck in the sand with the tide coming in. No, they didn't get it out. No, no-one helped them.
 
Maximum grue! Thank you :twothumbs:

The whole idea is horrible. Mud springs going gloop... :omg:

is the phenomenon related to the stream bed being worth fossiling in? or is it just coincidence that two nice things are together?
Ngaio Marsh wrote a fine mystery that centered around the mud springs going gloop. You might enjoy it (or not.) I think it's called Color Scheme although her titles were changed inexplicably in the US sometimes.
 
It's surprising how many eyes are on you when out on the sands,
this is a link to incident reports from the Fleetwood watch tower
down at Rossall Point
https://www.ncifleetwood.co.uk/incidents-2/

This is a link to Fleetwood Lifeboat launches 2021 at the bottom of this page
are links to other years.

http://www.fleetwoodlifeboat.org.uk/launches/4594740042

I know Fleetwood very well! (I have some relatives living there) I remember the old fishing docks and ferry terminals that are no longer there, as well as the sad demise of the lovely pier :( - I spent many afternoons playing the old penny slot machines, I've been a regular visitor since 1980.

I like taking my binoculars on each visit and viewing the 'new' island [https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...d-off-the-coast-of-the-uk.61467/#post-1701669 ] in the old shipping channel, as well as the coastguard (?) 4x4 that drives out over the flats and parks for a while before nipping back before the next tide.

IMG_2213 (Copy) - Copy.JPG
 
Last edited:
The island is not only still growing but is slowly moving towards the river channel,
the 4X4 would likely be bate diggers Coastguard rarely take a vehicle on the beach
unless it's dire emergency. Don't know if you have noticed but the old Wyre light
is on it's last legs it as a definite list.
 
A girl and her grandfather had to be rescued from mud after chasing their dog.

Llanelli mud rescue: Girl, 3, and grandfather 'well and truly stuck'

A girl, three, and her grandfather sparked a major rescue when they got stuck in mud with their dog after she chased it on a beach, rescuers say.

The pair had become "well and truly stuck", at North Dock, Llanelli, on Wednesday, rescuer Nigel Richards said.

Fortunately, the tide was out at the time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56843249
 
A horrible case of a woman getting caught in the mud in some Alaskan tidal flats and drowning when the tide came in:
Tidal flats can be particularly dangerous. In one unfortunate case in September of 1988 a woman in Alaska got caught in the mud flats near Turnagain. Adeana Dickinson and her husband were using an ATV to cross the flats when the trailer they were towing got stuck. She hoped off the back to push it out and her legs got caught in the mud. The patch she was stuck in was not light sand but powered rock, making the material particularly heavy. Her husband worked for two hours and managed to free one leg before the tide started coming in. Emergency rescue was called and a team worked to free her, but was forced to back off and watch her drown as the sea rose around them.
http://www.unmuseum.org/quicksand.htm
 

Missing woman from Stoughton (Massachusetts) found alive after being stuck in mud for days​

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/missing-woman-emma-tetewsky-stoughton-found/

Emma Tetewsky, a missing woman from Stoughton, was found on Monday evening by hikers after being stuck in the mud for several days in Easton's Borderland State Park.

Three officers waded through the swampy area until they found a woman about 50 feet away from land. Using ATVs, Easton police officers were able to free Tetewsky from the mud and carry her back to land.

Once on land, Tetewsky received aid from Easton Firefighters before being taken to Good Samaritan Hospital with "serious, but not believed to be life-threatening injuries," according to Easton Police.
 
Deep Water was about a natural spring with allegedly mystical healing powers. Or rather the murder of the 'promoter'.
I'm not sure but I recall one of her short stories talking of a mud pool or quicksand.
I'm currently redecorating my library, so my copy of her short stories (Death on The Air) is out of reach at the moment, so I can't check.

Edit: Just Googled - it's Colour Scheme.
 
Back
Top