Foulness Island passing of the Ministry of Defence Act 1946 and the subsequent rationalisation of five agencies in 1971, ownership of the island passed from the War Office to the Ministry of Defence. In 2003, a contract to manage the testing of munitions was awarded to the defence contractors QinetiQ, and they also control access to the island. In the 1850s, the South Essex Estuary and Reclamation Company proposed a grand scheme to reclaim around of land on the Essex coast, which would have included most of Foulness Sands and Maplin Sands. The civil engineer Sir John Rennie produced the plans, and
Island of the Blue Dolphins its New York premiere. The New York Times's Howard Thompson gave the film a rather condescending review upon its release, saying it was strictly a children's film. However, Kaye won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her performance. The film earned an estimated $2 million in rentals in North America. Island of the Blue Dolphins Island of the Blue Dolphins is a 1960 children's novel by American writer Scott O'Dell, which tells the story of a 12-year-old girl stranded alone for years on an island off the California coast. It is based on the true