The Roman Channel crossing of A.D. 43 : the constraints on Claudius's naval strategy

Abstract

The academic consensus that the Roman invasion of A.D. 43 landed at Richborough, Kent, has been challenged in recent years. Proponents of the alternative hypothesis that it took place at or near Fishbourne, West Sussex, have claimed that this makes better sense of the admittedly garbled account in the ancient sources of the land campaign in Britain. This thesis asks what sense the Fishbourne hypothesis makes in terms of the options for the naval strategy of the crossing. After considering the respective archaeological and topographical contexts of Richborough and of Chichester Harbour, the thesis discusses the type of ships which would have been available to the Roman invasion forces and assesses the evidence for their performance. It concludes that the transports would have been square-rigged ships of the Romano-Celtic tradition with extremely limited windward performance and sluggish speed potential. The constraints imposed on ships of such limited performance by the marine environment are discussed, including the significance of the tidal régime in the Dover Strait and the English Channel, the statistical frequency of the prevailing winds and the nature of the navigational hazards. On the basis of information given in Caesar's account a century earlier, an estimate is made of the number of ships required to transport the whole invasion force across the Channel at the same time and the conclusion is reached that this figure might be in the order of 725 to 1,050 vessels, including escorting warships. Drawing evidence from invasion passages made at other times in the Channel, the thesis investigates the constraints imposed on the naval operation by the number of ships involved. Further study of the conduct of these invasion passages concludes that the option chosen for each is heavily influenced both by the maritime environment of the Channel and the politico/strategic context of the invasion. The thesis concludes by examining the options available to the Roman naval planners of A.D. 43 and argues that the strategic situation at that time was such that an invasion landing anywhere in the Solent area was out of the question. The most likely scenario is that the invasion forces crossed from Boulogne in three groups to land at a secure beachhead at Richborough.

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