It's yards provided many wooden ships for the Royal Navy, and Christopher Jones the Captain of the "Mayflower" came from Harwich, and his house can be seen in King's Head Street to this day. A unique Treadwheel crane can be seen on the Green, which was used in the Navyard to pull ships and timber from the water.
During the Napoleonic wars a large concealed fort or Redoubt was built to protect the harbour against the French, fortunately it's guns were never fired in anger. Today it has been painstakingly restored by volunteers from the Harwich Society, and is an interesting tourist attraction.
Harwich International, the passenger port, offers modern Airport style checkin facilities for the HSS ferry "Stena Discovery", which travels to the Hook of Holland in 3 hours 40 mins i.e. over 70 kph!
There are also conventional car ferries to Cuxhaven Germany, and Esbjerg Denmark.
The town's population is 15,000 many employed at the port or it's support Industries, many also commute to either London or Colchester 18 miles, our nearest large town.