Roadstead

A roadstead or road^[a] is a sheltered body of water where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.^[3]^[4] Protected from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell, a roadstead can be open or natural, usually estuary-based, or may be created artificially.^[5] In maritime law, it is described as a convenient or safe place where boats usually anchor.^[6]

Definition

A roadstead can be an area of safe anchorage for ships waiting to enter a port, or to form a convoy. If sufficiently sheltered and convenient, it can be used for the transshipment of goods, stores, and troops, either separately or in combination. The same applies in transfers to and from shore by lighters or barges.^[3]^[b]

In the days of sailing ships, some voyages could only easily be made with certain wind directions, and ships would wait for favorable winds on a roadstead such as the Downs near the English Channel, or Yarmouth Roads by the North Sea.

Notable roadsteads

Basque Roads on the Bay of Biscay, near La Rochelle, France
Birzebbuga roadstead, near Valletta, Malta
Bolivar Roads off Galveston, Texas, USA
Roadstead of Brest, Brittany, France
Carrick Roads at the estuary of the River Fal, Cornwall, England
Castle Roads, Bermuda
Cherbourg Harbour (la Grande Rade) is an artificial roadstead in Normandy France
The Downs, near Deal, Kent, England
Fayal Roads in the Azores, Portugal (site of the Battle of Fayal)
Gage Roads, Fremantle, Western Australia
Hampton Roads, on Chesapeake Bay Virginia, USA
Kossol Roads, off Palau, Micronesia
Lahaina Roads of the island of Maui in Hawaii, USA
Lingga Roads at the Riau Islands, Indonesia
Roadstead of Lorient, off Morbihan in Brittany, France
Marseille Rade, France
Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, Wales
The Nore sandbank on the Thames Estuary, England
Piraeus roadstead in the Gulf of Aegina / Saronic Gulf of Greece
Puget Sound, Washington, USA
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station / Rosy Roads off Ceiba, Puerto Rico
Royal Roads in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Scapa Flow in heart of the Orkney Isles, Scotland
Schillig Roads of Friesland, Germany
Spithead on the Solent, England
Tail of the Bank by Greenock on the Clyde estuary, Scotland
Roadstead of Tallinn, Estonia
Tiefwasserreede off ports of Hamburg and Bremen, Germany
Rede van Texel was a historical roadstead off the island of Texel, Netherlands bypassed by the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam
Toulon Roads in the Mediterranean of France
Road Town of Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Trondheim roadstead, Norway
Villefranche-sur-mer roadstead off the France Riviera
Yarmouth Roads on the North Sea off Great Yarmouth, East Anglia, England

Roadsteads around the world
Singapore roadstead
Marseille Rade
Dutch ships in the roadstead of Texel, 1671
Roadstead of Villefranche-sur-mer
Greek bunker vessel AGIA ZONI III at Piraeus roadstead
Volvo Ocean Race 2012 in the roadstead of Lorient
HNoMS Harald Hårfagre or Tordenskiold at the roadstead of Trondheim, 1906
Golden Fleece lying at anchor in the roadstead (painting by Jack Spurling, 1929)

Notes

^ Charts and nautical publications often use roads rather than roadsteads.^[1] Roads is the earlier term.^[2]
^ For example, in the Second World War, many merchant ships and many troops arriving at the UK were unloaded/disembarked from ships anchored at the Tail of the Bank in the upper Clyde estuary.^[7]

References

^ Walker, George K. Definitions for the Law of the Sea: Terms Not Defined by the 1982 Convention. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012.
^ Little, William; Fowler, H W; Coulson, Jesse; Onions, C T; Friedrichsen, G. W. S. (1983). The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Volume II) (3rd ed.). London: Book Club Associates. p. 1838.
^ ^a ^b United States Army technical manual, TM 5-360. Port Construction and Rehabilitation. Washington: United States. Government Printing Office, 1964.
^ Oxford Dictionaries: Definition of roadstead in English
^ Roadstead: Extensive Definition
^ Black, Henry Campbell; Garner, Bryan Andrew (2009). Black's law dictionary (9th ed.). St. Paul, Minn: West. p. 1443. ISBN 978-0314199492.
^ Robins, Nick (21 January 2014). "Clyde Anchorages Emergency Port". Scotland and the Sea: The Scottish Dimension in Maritime History. Seaforth Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-4738-3441-5.

External links

Harbor Types of the World's Large Sized Ports Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Hofstra University site
Ports and Ocean Distances, searoutes.com

[3] Charts and nautical publications often use roads rather than roadsteads.^[1] Roads is the earlier term.^[2]

[9] For example, in the Second World War, many merchant ships and many troops arriving at the UK were unloaded/disembarked from ships anchored at the Tail of the Bank in the upper Clyde estuary.^[7]

[1] Walker, George K. Definitions for the Law of the Sea: Terms Not Defined by the 1982 Convention. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012.

[2] Little, William; Fowler, H W; Coulson, Jesse; Onions, C T; Friedrichsen, G. W. S. (1983). The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Volume II) (3rd ed.). London: Book Club Associates. p. 1838.

[TM5360-4] United States Army technical manual, TM 5-360. Port Construction and Rehabilitation. Washington: United States. Government Printing Office, 1964.

[5] Oxford Dictionaries: Definition of roadstead in English

[6] Roadstead: Extensive Definition

[7] Black, Henry Campbell; Garner, Bryan Andrew (2009). Black's law dictionary (9th ed.). St. Paul, Minn: West. p. 1443. ISBN 978-0314199492.

[Robins2014-8] Robins, Nick (21 January 2014). "Clyde Anchorages Emergency Port". Scotland and the Sea: The Scottish Dimension in Maritime History. Seaforth Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-4738-3441-5.

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Definition

Notable roadsteads

See also

Notes

References

External links