A roadstead or road is a sheltered body of water where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching. Many roadsteads are located near ports, but differ from ports in that they do not provide direct access to shore. Protected from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell, a roadstead can be open or natural, usually estuary-based, or may be created artificially. In maritime law, it is described as a convenient or safe place where boats usually anchor.
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.
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 off 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 sheltered among the Orkney Isles, Scotland
- Schillig Roads off 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 on Tortola, British Virgin Islands
- Trondheim roadstead, Norway
- Urmston Road, Hong Kong
- Villefranche-sur-mer roadstead off the French Riviera
- Yarmouth Roads on the North Sea off Great Yarmouth, East Anglia, England
