Canvey Island windsurfing area. The "Canvey Island Swimming Club" provides lessons and training and is based at Waterside Farm Leisure Centre. The British record for the largest shore-caught angler fish (Lophius piscatorius) is from Canvey Island, caught by H.Legerton in 1967. During 1953 and 1954 two unusual fish were washed up the shoreline and are known as Canvey Island Monster. Canvey Island Canvey Island is a civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary in Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170. It is separated from the mainland of south Essex by a network of creeks.
Canvey Island been discharged into the river by the means of seven sluices (later known as Commissioners Dykes). The completion of the work saw a considerable number of the Dutch engineers take land as payment for their work, and consequently settle on the island. Approximately one-third of Canvey's streets have names of Dutch origin. The coast of Canvey Island was host to the Chapman Lighthouse as briefly described in Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness". It is believed that the peril of the mudflats below such shallow waters off the Canvey Island coast prompted the Romans to devise some form of beacon