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<small>Map of the UK showing the location of Plymouth Sound at 50343°N, 4143°W ( Grid Reference )</small>
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, or just '''The Sound''', is a
Bay at
Plymouth in
England .
Its south west and south east corners are
Penlee Point in
Cornwall and
Wembury Point on
Devon , a distance of about 3
Nautical Mile s (6 km). Its northern limit is
Plymouth Hoe giving a north-south distance of nearly 3 nautical miles (6 km).
The Sound has three water entrances. One is from the
English Channel , with a deep-water channel to the west of the breakwater. Another from the northwest is from the
River Tamar via the
Hamoaze and
Devonport Dockyard , the largest naval dockyard in western Europe. The third is from the
River Plym at the northeast via
Cattewater harbour between Mount Batten and the
Royal Citadel .
In addition to ships of the
Royal Navy , large commercial vessels, including ferries to
France and
Spain use the Sound from Millbay Docks. Fishing vessels use it from Sutton Harbour beside the old town of Plymouth, called the
Barbican . There are
Marina s at Sutton Harbour, Mount Wise in the Hamoaze and
Turnchapel .
In the centre of the Sound midway between
Bovisand Bay and
Cawsand Bay is ''
Plymouth Breakwater '', which creates a
Harbour protecting anchored
Ship s from the frequent south-western storms. The
Breakwater is around 1700
Yard s long, stands in around 11
Metre s / 36 feet of water and was built by
John Rennie and
Joseph Whidbey starting in
1812 . The breakwater has a 23 metre / 75 foot tall
Lighthouse on its western end and a 9 metre / 30 foot tall beacon with a spherical cage on top at the eastern end. It is said that the cage is a life saving device designed to keep wrecked sailors from drowning in the huge waves of a storm on the low-lying breakwater.
Drake's Island is 400 metres long and around 100 metre wide and situated at the north of the Sound. It was fortified to defend Drake's Channel, the only the deep-water route to Devonport. The ''Bridge'' is a shallow reef that links Drake's Island and the Cornish mainland. At low water the depth of the Bridge can be less than one metre but at high water it can rise to 5 metres. In
World War I this natural barrier was supplemented by other obstructions to prevent
Submarine s and small ships attacking the naval base.
]]
Mount Batten , a former
Royal Air Force Flying Boat and
Search And Rescue base, is located at the northeast corner of the Sound.
T. E. Lawrence was stationed here as Aircraftsman Shaw.
Over the years, the Sound has been defended by Drakes Island,
Picklecombe Fort ,
Cawsand Fort , the
Breakwater Fort ,
Fort Bovisand ,
Staddon Fort and
Stamford Fort .
A
Harbour and
Reservoir were built at Bovisand before the
Fort existed to supply
Men-o-war anchored in the Sound with fresh water. Joseph Whidbey supervised the building of the Breakwater from
Bovisand Lodge , from which there is a view down the full length of the breakwater.
The Sound has been the site of a number of aircraft crashes and
Shipwreck s:
Fort Bovisand, Kendal McDonald ISBN 0-9528637-1-5
