West Mersea`s king and queen of the oyster trade.
Written and illustrated by Ken Adams.
From Essex Countryside February 1977, transcribed by Joe Vince July 2025
King and Queen of the oyster industry in Great Britain must be Douglas and Marie Mussett, of West Mersea. The couple have supplied millions of top quality oysters for twenty-five years to all parts of the country for customers, including royalty, titled people, MPs - Edward Heath is a regular and when the King of Denmark visited Colchester he sent for three dozen of the oysters he had heard so much about.
Oysters are supplied for the famous Colchester Feast and if you are wealthy enough to dine at Claridges in London, Mussett`s oysters will be offered. The large oysters named "Royals" are £2 a dozen but eating out could set you back £4 or more.
The couple are often called to cater for banquets in high society. Marie then looks radiant in a long evening gown, but the diners would not recognise her when she is gathering oysters. Dressed in a seaman`s sweater, jeans and thigh-boots, she is up at the crack of dawn setting out in a small boat hauling a dredger and grading the "catch" from the oyster beds.
How Marie became involved in the oyster industry is rather a romantic tale. When she was seventeen she went to West Mersea and began her career working for Douglas. It wasn`t long before her boss proposed marriage and from then it was oysters all the way.
But it was not before Douglas was struck down with a severe chill that Marie took part in gathering the oysters and now Douglas claims: "Marie is Britain`s - if not the world`s - only woman oyster merchant." The couple have two sons, Howard and Redvers, and although not involved in the flourishing family business they help out at odd times.
Douglas boasts that his family founded West Mersea and it has been oyster merchants in the area since 17th Century.
Some 3 ½ million oysters are put down each season in beds in Tollesbury, Great Wigborough and West Mersea. When the oysters are brought ashore they are kept in constant running water and goods are warranted to comply with the Clean Food and Drug Act.
The Mussett's oyster bar is situated on the waterside in front of their charming old-world home, aptly named "Oyster Cottage". During the summer season scores of holidaymakers go into the bar with the usual question: "Is there a pearl in an oyster?"
Marie said pearls are not often found in English oysters. "I have found five small ones in the last twenty-five years", she said.
An oyster lover is a three-year-old jackdaw, The bird made his home with the Mussetts since falling from a nest when only a few weeks old. It eats oysters and also enjoys a drop of Champagne to wash it down. Money, matches or trinkets must not be left lying around or Jack will playfully whisk them away.
Marie opens oysters for the jackdaw.
Most people are familiar with the Colchester Oyster Feast, "but", said Douglas, "there is no such thing as a Colchester oyster... They either come from West Mersea or the Brightlingsea area.
Another thing which annoys Douglas is seeing pictures of people with their heads thrown back eating oysters. He said: "Never lift a half - shell and pour it into the mouth. Take the shell in the hand, squeezing a little lemon on the oyster and bring your mouth down on the oyster and suck it up and chew. To swallow loses all the flavour of the most delicious fruit from the sea."
Douglas Mussett demonstrating the correct way to eat an oyster.
| 