MARITIME HISTORY 



A professional committee of 1785, considering the question of invasion, decided that if an 

 enemy were allowed three months he might transport to England 30,000 men, with guns, horses, 

 and sixty days' stores, in 10 sail of the line, 85 smaller ships, and 150 shallops. Suffolk has been 

 held to be a vulnerable point in the line of English coast defence ; it will therefore be interesting 

 to inquire what facilities it would have offered to an unwieldy fleet carrying a force which, not 

 strong enough to strike efficiently itself, could only act as an accessory to the main invasion whereso- 

 ever that might be. A primary necessity for such a fleet is a port where guns and stores can be 

 disembarked in security, but it is evident that Suffolk offers few advantages in that respect. 

 Obviously the estuary formed by the Stour and Orwell is the roadstead an enemy would select, 

 and, assuming that the line-of-battle ships had silenced the defences at Landguard and Harwich, a 

 disembarkation could be effected safely in the harbour, which is, however, commanded from Shotley and 

 the Walton heights, and could only be a temporary base until they were held by the invader, and no 

 base at all if they were lost by him. The troops might have pushed on to Ipswich, but transports with 

 stores and supplies could not follow them, because the Orwell for six out of its ten miles of course 

 between Landguard and Ipswich was at low water a narrow, shallow, and tortuous stream clogged 

 with mudbanks, and above Downham Reach impassable for ships of any burden. Such as it is, 

 however, Orwell Haven is the only port in Suffolk an invader could use. The River Deben will 

 only admit small craft ; the River Aide, although deep in some places within, is marred or protected 

 at the entrance by a bar which alters in size and shifts in position, and the mouth of the River 

 Blyth is still more difficult to enter. Neither Lowestoft Harbour nor Yarmouth Haven will admit at 

 low water of vessels drawing more than ten or twelve feet. 



General Dundas, in a confidential report made in 1796, remarked that ' it seems very difficult 

 for an enemy to make any attempt on the coast of . . . Suffolk.' If he decided to dispense with a 

 port and throw his troops ashore on the coast, trusting to speed and indifferent to the chance of 

 weather dispersing his fleet and cutting him off from supplies and reinforcements, it would be a 

 very dangerous proceeding, but one which might be effected. Even now, although a steam fleet 

 could possibly hold its anchorage, the heavy surf caused by a gale would prevent communication 

 with the shore ; in sailing-ship days there was the added peril that the anchorages themselves were 

 always more or less insecure. The belt of sands which fringes part of the coast of Suffolk serves as a 

 breakwater generally, but there is usually some one quarter from which the roadsteads thus formed 

 are exposed to the full force of wind and sea and cease to be protected. Hollesley Bay has always 

 been a favourite anchorage ; it affords good holding ground and is sheltered by Orfordness, by the 

 .Whiting, and by the trend of the coast to the south-westward, from the full force of gales from any 

 quarter but those from NE. by E. to E. ; but even there a sea may easily rise sufficient to close 

 communication with the shore for a more or less lengthy period. Between Orfordness and 

 Lowestoft Roads there is practically no shelter, for the famous ' Solebay ' anchorage is only safe 

 with off-shore winds, and for sailing-vessels to remain at anchor in threatening weather would 

 be courting misfortune. Passing northwards, Lowestoft and Yarmouth Roads, formed by the 

 Newcome, Holm, Corton, and Scroby sands, may be considered one roadstead, but of the 

 Lowestoft portion the South Road is too confined to be of much use for anything but small 

 coasters, and the North Road is little larger. Corton Road, joining Lowestoft North Road with 

 Yarmouth Roads, is an area of much greater capacity, but it, like Yarmouth Roads, is exposed to 

 the northerly gales which have often wrought disaster. The channels leading inside the sands 

 frequently alter in shape and position, and if the buoys and lightships were removed an enemy 

 would find it a difficult task even to-day to run in and out continuously with safety. In the past 

 he would have been also in constant fear of a gale heaping up his transports on the shore, with 

 which also he could only hold communication by boats when the weather permitted. 



Commercially, as well as militarily, Orwell Haven has been the chief port of Suffolk. It is 

 possible, however, that the action of the sea, which has been continuous on this coast within 

 historic times, has altered the smaller ports for the worse. We know that it has destroyed 

 Dunwich, converted Southwold Bay into a meaningless geographical expression, and transformed 

 the contour of the seaboard. It may be that in the mediaeval period both the Woodbridge and 

 Orford rivers were easier of access and ran with a deeper stream than now. 



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