Filey event to detail Flamborough Head's importance in the Napoleonic Wars

Part of the Filey Literature Festival, Convoys, Flamborough Head & the Grimsby Road in the War Against Napoleon, is a talk detailing the navigational importance of the area.

Between 1803 and 1815 Britain was at war with 10 countries.

Fundamental to the survival of Britain in the long wars of attrition was the world-wide protection of its trade.

Flamborough Head was an important navigational mark for convoys returning to Britain from the Baltic laden with timber, hemp and wheat.

For convoys going the other way, Grimsby Road was an important rendezvous for taking valuable cargoes of coffee, sugar and textiles to Heligoland for a continent starved of these luxuries by Napoleon's continental blockade.

These goods came across Britain by canal to Hull where the ships were loaded.

More convoys and merchant ships sailed in these convoys than in the comparatively short Second World War, of course, the size of the ships and cargoes were much smaller.

Roger Knight has a long career as an archivist and museum curator and taught at the Greenwich Maritime Institute at the University of Greenwich

He has written a number of books on the Napoleonic period of British history.

Convoys takes place at Filey Sea Cadets on Southdene at 7pm on Friday, May 9.

Tickets, price £10 to include a glass of wine or beer and a Yorkshire cheese board, can be can be purchased by booking direct here, wegottickets (+£2 booking fee) or in person at Filey Post Office.