The Essex County Council has arranged for the extraordinary happenings at the end of January and the beginning of February, 1953, when large parts of the east coast were flooded, to be recorded in a splendidly produced and well illustrated book, more than 850 pages in length, entitled The Great Tide (Essex County Council, 30/-). The account has been written by Miss Hilda Greave.

The presentation is careful, factual, and effectively dramatic. The parts played by the Southend-on-Sea, Clacton, and Walton and Frinton life-boats during the period of floods are given due prominence and are recorded in considerable detail..