The Fleet
The Fleet is a tidal lagoon on the south coast of Dorset, the water trapped behind the shingle bank of Chesil Beach.
The Fleet is just over 8 miles long and covers an area of 1,190 acres. At its broadest at Littlesea the Fleet is just 984 yards across, but most is narrower. In the middle is a pinch-point known as the Narrows where it is just at just 71 yards across from the main shore to Chesil Bank, and this divides the Fleet into the West Fleet and the East Fleet. The deepest part of the Fleet is about 15 feet though above the Narrows it is about 6 feet deep.
The Fleet connects to the sea by a narrow channel at Ferrybridge into Portland Harbour, but sea water can also enter the Fleet by percolation through Chesil Beach under some tidal conditions, and in storms water is hurled from the sea over Chesil Beach intothe Fleet. Fresh water too can enter the Fleet from the several streams which enter it along its 8 mile length, and from drainage from the land, though the water is brackish from the sea.
One interesting, occasional phenomenon is seen in some storms, when the seas bursting over Chesil Bank through its shingle about and can cause voids form in the Fleet side of the beach which are locally known as "canns", though major occurences may happen only once every 10-15 years or so.
Tides and temperatures
The Fleet is strongly tidal where it connects to the English Channel at Ferrybridge but the tide does not afect the whole lagoon in the same way, and beyond the Narrows the rise and fall of the tide is minimal, affected more by longer-term tidal movement; the monthly cycle of spring and neap tides and storm surges in the English Channel.
The protected water in the Fleet is generally warmer than the surrounding sea in the summer and cooler in the winter.
Wildlife
The Fleet is owned by the Ilchester Estates, as it has been since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Many wading birds make their home here.
Both Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon are a "Site of Special Scientific Interest", and the view of the beach from Abbotsbury has been voted by Country Life magazine as "Britain's third best view". This is also part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, though that does not seem to bother the swans. Fossils often turn up in the Fleet, as they do all along this coast.
Miscellany
J Meade Falkner's 1898 novel Moonfleet is set on the Fleet and its shores, a story of smugglingm, which was indeed once prevalent here. The village of Moonfleet is based on the real hamlet of East Fleet.