A sea tractor is a motor vehicle designed to travel through shallow seawater, carrying passengers on a platform elevated above a submerged chassis. The sea tractor was most popular during the early 1930s, as a unique way to give scenic tours to patrons of waterfront hotels and resorts. In other applications, sea tractors were used simply as a ferry through shallow waters. The use of sea tractors has declined since, as boats, ferries, and other aquatic vessels often serve the same function much more efficiently and comfortably.
The hotel at Burgh Island operates a sea tractor, to carry hotel guests and other visitors the 250 m (273 yd) to the island at high tide, when the causeway connecting the island to the Devon mainland is submerged. The current tractor is the third one to be used at this location.
A sea tractor is also used at South Sands Beach near Salcombe, Devon. The beach has no jetty or pier, and the South Sands Ferry therefore cannot reach dry land to pick up passengers. The sea tractor transports passengers to the ferry waiting a few metres out to sea. [1]
The United States Army Corps of Engineers operates a three-wheeled sea tractor called the Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy (CRAB). This 8.2-tonne (18,000 lb) vehicle consists of a wheeled tripod supporting an operating platform 10.7 metres (35 ft) above ground level. It can move at 2 kilometres per hour (1.2 mph) on land and at a somewhat slower speed in water. It was built for scientific research on beach nourishment. [2]
Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue, based at Ballybunion in the west of Ireland, operates a specially-constructed, tracked sea-tractor, used for launching and recovering the group's Atlantic 75-class lifeboat. [3]
Sea tractors have been featured on the children's show Teletubbies .
The Burgh Island sea tractor also appears as the method of transport between the mainland and the island in the 1941 Agatha Christie novel Evil Under the Sun . As a result, it also appears in the "Evil Under the Sun" (2001) episode of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot TV series, and features prominently in the 2007 adventure game Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun , both of which were adapted from the novel. In the game, the player can use a phone on the beach to summon the tractor to transport Poirot from the island to the village on the mainland. [4]
The second Burgh Island sea tractor features in the 1965 Dave Clark Five film Catch Us If You Can (1965).
The Burgh Island sea tractor appears in the 1994 episode of the TV series Lovejoy "Somewhere: Over the Rainbow?" (episode 66 of 73).
The third episode of the first series of the British pre-school television programme Milkshake Monkey features a sea tractor.
Burgh Island is a tidal island on the coast of South Devon in England near the small seaside village of Bigbury-on-Sea. There are several buildings on the island, the largest being the Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel. The other buildings are three private houses, and a pub, the Pilchard Inn, which dates to the 14th century. The island is strongly associated with writer Agatha Christie, who often visited and used the island and its hotel as a setting and inspiration for two famous novels: And Then There Were None (1939) and Evil Under the Sun (1941).
Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod. The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current council leader is Councillor Jim Lynch.
An amphibious vehicle is a vehicle that works both on land and on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious bicycles, ATVs, cars, buses, trucks, railway vehicles, combat vehicles, and hovercraft.
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934, under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.
Agatha Christie's Poirot, or simply Poirot, is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator, Hercule Poirot. David Suchet starred as the fictional detective. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada and on PBS and A&E in the US.
Hallowe'en Party is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November 1969 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. This book was dedicated to writer P. G. Wodehouse. It has been adapted for television, radio, and most recently for the film A Haunting in Venice (2023).
Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year.
The Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The United States Army, Canadian Army and British Army used several LVT models during World War II, and referred to those vehicles as "Landing Vehicle, Tracked."
Murder in the Mews and Other Stories is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club on 15 March 1937. In the US, the book was published by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title Dead Man's Mirror in June 1937 with one story missing ; the 1987 Berkeley Books edition of the same title has all four stories. All of the tales feature Hercule Poirot. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the first US edition at $2.00.
Aiga-i-le-Tai is a district of Samoa which includes the small islands of Manono, Apolima and tiny uninhabited Nu'ulopa lying in the Apolima Strait between the country's two main islands of Upolu and Savai'i.
Louise Alexandra Delamere is an English actress, best known for her roles as Lia in the Channel 4 comedy drama No Angels and Colette Sheward in the BBC medical drama Holby City.
A swamp buggy, also known as a marsh buggy, is a motor vehicle used to traverse boggy swamp terrain. Swamp buggies may be purpose-built buggies or vehicles modified to traverse swamp terrain. Swamp buggies are capable of traveling through or over deep mud and water, moderately dense vegetation, and rough terrain possibly including logs and stumps. They may also be capable of floating in water or mud.
Death on the Nile is a 1978 British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's 1937 novel of the same name, directed by John Guillermin and adapted by Anthony Shaffer. The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, played by Peter Ustinov for the first time, plus an all-star supporting cast that includes Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jane Birkin, David Niven, George Kennedy, and Jack Warden. The film is a standalone sequel to the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.
Evil Under the Sun is a 1982 British mystery film based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie and directed by Guy Hamilton. Peter Ustinov stars as Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective whom he had previously played in Death on the Nile (1978).
The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway was a unique coastline railway in Brighton, England, that ran through the shallow coastal waters of the English Channel between 1896 and 1901. It was designed by Magnus Volk to extend his Volk's Electric Railway from its terminus in Paston Place to the village of Rottingdean and avoid difficult terrain. While the railway was popular and carried tens of thousands of passengers, it was ultimately abandoned to make room for new sea defences, and Volk was unable to raise the funds to construct a replacement.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division is a branch of NCDOT that is responsible for the operation of over two dozen ferry services that transport passengers and vehicles to several islands along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is a 2006 adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. It is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series. The setting is five years before the events in Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, with a largely unrelated storyline. The story takes place in 1934 and follows an amateur sleuth, Antoinette Marceau, and her investigation of a murder with twelve possible suspects aboard the Orient Express, which has been blocked by an avalanche in Yugoslavia. She is aided by famous detective Hercule Poirot.
The Burgh Island Hotel is a hotel on Burgh Island, Devon in England.
In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.
Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie: