Ports Harbours Index
Generated illustration. Not a historical photograph. A fleet at anchor.
Hub
Ports and harbours were the arteries of eighteenth-century naval war: without them, fleets could neither refit nor resupply. This subdomain maps the strategic geography of anchorages from Portsmouth and Cadiz to Malta, Toulon, and the Caribbean careening stations that kept copper-bottomed warships operational. It sits adjacent to Sea Lanes and Straits (movement between ports), Naval Victualling (what flowed through them), and Trade Routes (commercial traffic sharing the same quays).
Primary Notes
- Cadiz — Spanish Naval Port — first filled port note; Combined Fleet base 1805
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife — Spanish Port — shore of the night assault, 24 July 1797
- Cartagena — Spanish Naval Port — Córdova sailed 1 February 1797; overflow
- Brest — Intended 1805 Junction — Villeneuve went south instead of on to Brest; overflow
- Vigo and Coruña — Villeneuve Put-Ins 1805 — put-ins only; overflow
- Rochefort and Ferrol — Calder Taken Off 1805 — taking-off only; overflow
Roadmap
(planned notes as red-links — add as research identifies gaps)
- Portsmouth Dockyard — Facilities and Workforce 1793-1815
- Valletta Grand Harbour — Nelson’s Mediterranean Base
- Cadiz Roads — Blockade Conditions and Anchorage Hazards
- Toulon — French Naval Base and the 1793 Siege
- Caribbean Careening Stations — English Harbour and Port Royal
Cross-Cutting
- See also: MOC_Geography_Places
- See also: _Home