ABSTRACT
The maritime and fluvial world of Napoleonic Rouen remains an important, but neglected, aspect of the city's history. Whilst Pierre Dardel has traced the evolution of the ports ofRouen and Le Havre throughout the golden commercial age of the eighteenth century, his study ends with the devastation wrought to ocean commerce in 1792-1793. From this point in time until the close of the Empire, the exact experience ofRouen's shipping remains obscure, and one must rely upon national generalisations, untested at a local level. The port of Rouen is not alone in this regard. With the noted exception of Bordeaux, there is a shortage of regional port studies. Hence, we are yet to understand fully the local variations within the sea-aspects of the Continental Blockade. This chapter aims to partially remedy this, through illuminating the impact of the Napoleonic wars and Continental Blockade upon Rouen and Le Havre's maritime commerce.
