Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

Although not a particularly wide body of water, the Channel was a formidable obstacle for an invasion fleet in 1066. The ships did not have a great deal of freeboard; that is, they sat low in the water. They were heavily laden with men, supplies and horses. They were square-rigged and could not sail close into the wind, so that favourable weather kept William the Bastard at St Valéry-sur-Somme until prayer brought a southerly breeze. The prevailing winds are westerlies, and they tend to push the water up into the funnel of the converging shores which reach their narrowest in the straits of Dover. Further the tides mean that, twice a day, the North Sea apparently tries to escape into the Atlantic and vice-versa. When the tide is running westwards and the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, short, steep, high seas result that are capable of swamping even modern small vessels. Even in 1944 the D-Day operations were jeopardized by the uncertainty of conditions in the Channel.

See also: Dover; St Valéry-sur-Somme; ships; William the Bastard

Related Reading:

• Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition)- The Fall of Saxon England
  (Campaign 13 )