Canvey Island Floods Canvey Island’s history can be traced through Roman and Celtic occupation. The name can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon origins and translates into “The Island of Cana’s People”. In the early C17 a thriving dairy industry from the sheep that grazed the marshes, produced cheese, which was the main source of income as well as the selling of the meat and wool. The importance of this animal is reflected in the coat of arms with a sheep in the centre of the shield. Throughout the Island there are many reminders of the Dutch irrigators, many of whom settled and came to build dykes that assisted in draining the land. The Dutch workers settled here because their payment was not in cash but in land. The Cornelius Vermuyden Secondary School takes the name of the Dutch engineer who was commissioned to undertake this work. Although the land was drained the Island has had a constant battle with flooding throughout its history and work on the sea wall was a constant drain on resources. Today, Canvey Island is a community of around 50,000 people and building land being made available has assisted the growth in housing and the community. The darkest day in Canvey’s history occurred in January 1953. The storm of January 31 1953 was the worst peacetime disaster in British history and killed 307 people. Many of the dead were residents of Canvey Island. 30, 000 people were evacuated on the east coast of England. On the same night 132 out of 172 passengers and crew died when they abandoned the ferry Princess Victoria in heavy seas. In Holland 1,835 were drowned as dykes gave way. On the East coast of England every coastal town was battered and Canvey Island’s losses were terrible. Along the coast there were breaches in the sea defences in 1,200 places and thousands of animals drowned. Deep water crashed into people's homes, and in the south and east 24,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and it took nine months to drain the floodwater and repair the sea walls. In 2003 survivors of the 1953 floods attended a 50th anniversary memorial service at Chelmsford Cathedral led by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. This section of Essex Life in Archive film examines a film about the Canvey floods, which was shot in 1953, and new video produced by pupils and staff of Canvey Island Infant School, when they interviewed a flood survivor and visited the modern sea defences.