The Rede van Texel, formerly Reede van Texel, was a
roadstead
A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5 ...
off the
Dutch island of
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
. It was of considerable importance to Dutch long-distance shipping between roughly 1500 and 1800.
[Fort De Schans op Texel (ca.1574)]
historiek.net, 18 July 2017. The Rede van Texel was located off the east side of the island, near the town of
Oudeschild.
Functions
At the roadstead ships from cities around the
Zuiderzee safely anchored and waited for favourable sailing conditions, hired
pilots and picked up provisions and sometimes additional crewmembers. A lot of
transloading
Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...
was done at the Rede van Texel, as the
shoals of the Zuiderzee prevented most ships from sailing to and from their ports fully laden.
The ships anchoring at the Rede van Texel, sometimes up to 150 together, were mainly
merchantmen
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...
, most notably from the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock co ...
, but also
whalers and
war ship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and ...
s. For the island of Texel the roadstead meant a substantial source of income.
Safety
The safety that the roadstead provided was only relative. Frequently storms would damage or sink ships, sometimes dozens in one day.
[Onderwaterarcheologie op de Rede van Texel]
maritiem erfgoed.nl, 27 August 2015. Some 44 fully laden merchantmen were lost on Christmas Eve 1593, littering the east coast of Texel with bodies and wreckage.
The Dutch
merchant and
poet Roemer Visscher
Roemer Pieterszoon Visscher (1547 – 19 February 1620) was a successful Dutch merchant, the first Dutch underwriter and writer of the Dutch Golden Age.
Life
Visscher was born in and lived in Amsterdam and was an important and central figure of t ...
suffered a sizeable loss that night and named his third daughter
Maria Tesselschade
Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher, also called Maria Tesselschade Roemersdochter Visscher or Tesselschade (25 March 1594 – 20 June 1649) was a Dutch poet and glass engraver.
Life
Tesselschade was born in Amsterdam, the youngest of thre ...
(''Texel Damage'') after the disaster. In December 1660 upwards of 100 ships may have been lost in a storm at the Rede van Texel.
It is estimated that a total of between 500 and 1000 ships were sunk at the roadstead.
In 1574
William the Silent
William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Rev ...
had a fort built near Oudeschild to protect the Rede van Texel, which must have been one of the busiest ports at the time.
Decline
In the course of the nineteenth century the Rede van Texel lost most of its purpose. Both the
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775-1783), broke out o ...
and the
French occupation had already been disastrous for Dutch merchant shipping, with a decline of activity at the roadstead in its wake. This was followed by the opening of the
Noordhollandsch Kanaal
The Noordhollandsch Kanaal ("Great North Holland Canal") is a canal originally meant for ocean-going ships. It is located in North Holland, Netherlands. The canal was of great significance in Dutch history.
Location
The canal is about 75 kil ...
in 1824, bypassing Texel to some extent, and the introduction of the
steamship, which didn't have to wait for favourable winds. The opening of the
North Sea Canal
The North Sea Canal ( nl, Noordzeekanaal) is a Dutch ship canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea at IJmuiden, constructed between 1865 and 1876 to enable seafaring vessels to reach the port of Amsterdam. This man-made channel terminates at Amster ...
finished what was left of the roadstead, as ships from the mainport of Amsterdam bypassed Texel altogether.
Sources
* Vos, A.D. (2012);
Onderwaterarcheologie op de Rede van Texel', Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 041 (
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Amersfoort), p. 37-47.
{{Reflist
Roadsteads of Europe
History of North Holland