Coordinates: 50°49′24.60″N 1°7′22.08″W / 50.8235°N 1.1228°W Portsmouth Harbour is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria. The city of Portsmouth lies to the east on Portsea Island, and Gosport to the west on the mainland. At its north end is Portchester Castle, of Roman origin and the first fortress built to protect the harbour.
The mouth of the harbour provides access to the Solent. It is best known as the home of the Royal Navy, HMNB Portsmouth. Because of its strategic location on the south coast of England, protected by the natural defence of the Isle of Wight, it has since the Middle Ages been the home to England's (and later Britain's) navy. The narrow entrance, and the forts surrounding it gave it a considerable advantage of being virtually impregnable to attack from the sea[dubious ] — however, by use of subterfuge of sailing into the harbour with English flags, the French burned Portsmouth in the 1338.[1]
In modern times, the harbour has become a major commercial ferry port, with regular services to Le Havre, France, Cherbourg, France, St Malo, France, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight. There is a passenger ferry to Gosport. It is also a major area for leisure sailing. Recently, a large area of the former naval dockyard has been redeveloped into the Gunwharf Quays development, including the Spinnaker Tower.
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Islands
Portsmouth Harbour contains a number of islands. Whale Island is the home of the HMS Excellent training establishment. Horsea Island is now connected to the mainland due to land reclamation. It is also part of the HMS Excellent establishment. Pewit Island is a small island located in the north western section of Portsmouth Harbour. [2]
Portsmouth ferry port
Launch
Portsmouth investigated three locations for a ferry port at the end of the 1960s and the current location was chosen. The choice was based on cost and the likely benefit of cross-channel ferries. The site was at the end of the newly constructed M275. Originally built with two berths the site opened in 1976 with the Earl William (Sealink) running to the Channel Islands, the Viking Victory (Townsend Thoresen) running to Cherbourg and the Brittany Prince ("Brittany Ferries") running to Saint-Malo.
Expansion
All three operators increased their usage of the port during the mid-eighties, which led to expansion. An additional two berths were built, both twin tier. Berth 2 was filled and a new Berth 2 built, which was mainly used by the Earl Granville (Sealink) running to both the Channel Islands and Cherbourg, Berth 1 become more tight to use and the newly roll-on, roll-off Commodore Shipping used it for their Channel Island freight services. Berth 3 was left incomplete while Berth 4 was finished. This was generally considered the Brittany Ferries berth. When Berth 3 was finished Townsend Thoresen moved their passenger operation entirely from Southampton to Portsmouth. Shortly afterwards, Townsend Thoresen bought P&O (Normandy Ferries) and relocated them to Portsmouth. The old Southampton Ferry port was then converted to a marina.
The continued use of Portsmouth saw the creation of Berth 5 and the final stage of development. Portsmouth had seen additional ferry companies Channel Island Ferries, Hoverspeed and Truckline and new routes to Caen, Santander and Bilbao. With the advent of the Channel Tunnel and the abolition of Duty Free most of the companies disappeared. Sealink merged their Channel Island operations with the newly created Channel Island Ferries to create British Channel Island Ferries. They then later relocated operations to Poole before merging into Condor Ferries. Sealink operated to Cherbourg with the Earl Granville for several further years until the Earl Granville violently ran aground off Cherbourg. Hoverspeed ran the HOVERSPEED GB from Portsmouth to Cherbourg intermittently one summer - often the "new ferry of the future" was out of action and the now repaired but ageing Earl Granville would step into the breach - much to passenger annoyance.
Decline
By 2000 Portsmouth only had ferries from Brittany Ferries, Condor and P&O. P&O replaced the aging Super Vikings with a Ro-pax ship and a Sea-Cat on the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route, but by 2006 P&O had all but closed, the route to Bilbao ceased, and Portsmouth became a quiet port again. LD Lines run one sailing a day to Le Havre and Aznar Lineas tried briefly to compete in the northern Spain route, but it lasted 3 months before closure.
Today
Today, Brittany Ferries operates a three times daily service to Caen, daily to St Malo, and offers a high-speed seasonal service to Cherbourg, which runs twice daily except on Friday, Saturday & Sunday when it is reduced to daily. An extra morning service to Caen is scheduled. LD Lines offers a daily link to Le Havre and Condor offers freight-only sailings to the Channel Islands twice daily. The sole remaining P&O service to Bilbao cycles through every three days.
See also
References
- ^ Sumption, Jonathan (1999). The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 672. ISBN 0812216555, 9780812216554.
- ^ Department of Geography at the University of Portsmouth & The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology. "Pewit Island". The Portsmouth Harbour Project. University of Portsmouth, Department of Geography. http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/portsmouth/pewit.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
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