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]

Ormos Ammoudi, Santorini, Greece

Santa Elena alongside Kriti Jade at Birzebbuga roadstead, Malta

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)

See also

• Anchorage
• Battle of Copenhagen (1801), a naval battle fought at the roadstead of the Port of Copenhagen

• Transport portal

Notes

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