Balasore Roads is a roadstead (a sheltered anchorage), on the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n coast near Balasore. It was the location of the Bengal Pilot Service pilot boarding station (see chart). It was considered to be a generally safe anchorage, with depths varying from 5 to 15 fathoms, and with the sea bottom consisting of mud and sand. The entrance to the Hooghly River was considered to be the most difficult of any river in India, and the

river pilot A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots are regarded as skilled professional ...

station was located in close proximity to the mouth of the river. During the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

French privateer captains such as

Jean-François Hodoul Jean-François Hodoul (11 April 1765 – 10 January 1835) was a sea captain, corsair, and later merchant and plantation owner in Île de France (now Mauritius). Origins Hodoul was born on 11 April 1765 La Ciotat, Provence. His father, Raymond, wa ...

and

Robert Surcouf Robert Surcouf (12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean between 1789 and 1801, and again from 1807 to 1808, capturing over 40 prizes. He later amassed a large fortune as a ...

would cruise the mouth of the Hooghly River hoping to capture vessels anchored in the Roads, or proceeding to or from

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. The French captured both pilot vessels such as , and large

East Indiamen East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

such as .

References

{{reflist Navigation Roadsteads

See also

References