To achieve this France needed to gain control of the Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic Wars.
The new order oriented most of England and Scandinavia's trade south, toward the Mediterranean and the Orient. Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy and other French possessions in 1801, the monarch of the United Kingdom retains the title Duke of Normandy in respect to the Channel Islands.
"Margery" in March 1816, one of the earliest seagoing voyages by steam ship. The paddle steamer Defiance, Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland, arriving there on 9 May 1816. On 10 June 1821, English-built paddle steamer Rob Roy was the first passenger ferry to cross channel.
"Margery" in March 1816, one of the earliest seagoing voyages by steam ship. The paddle steamer Defiance, Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland, arriving there on 9 May 1816. On 10 June 1821, English-built paddle steamer Rob Roy was the first passenger ferry to cross channel.
It was able to make the journey across the Straits of Dover in around three hours. In June 1843, because of difficulties with Dover harbour, the South Eastern Railway company developed the Boulogne-sur-Mer-Folkestone route as an alternative to Calais-Dover.
"Five keys lock up the world! Singapore, the Cape, Alexandria, Gibraltar, Dover." However, on 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot made the first Channel crossing from Calais to Dover in an aeroplane.
By February 1915, this had been augmented by a stretch of light steel netting called the Dover Barrage, which it was hoped would ensnare submerged submarines.
On 31 January 1917, the Germans restarted unrestricted submarine warfare leading to dire Admiralty predictions that submarines would defeat Britain by November, the most dangerous situation Britain faced in either world war. The Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 was fought to reduce the threat by capturing the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, though it was the introduction of convoys and not capture of the bases that averted defeat.
During 1917, the Dover Barrage was re-sited with improved mines and more effective nets, aided by regular patrols by small warships equipped with powerful searchlights.
A German attack on these vessels resulted in the Battle of Dover Strait in 1917.
In April 1918 the Dover Patrol carried out the Zeebrugge Raid against the U-boat bases.
A much more ambitious attempt to improve the barrage, by installing eight massive concrete towers across the strait was called the Admiralty M-N Scheme but only two towers were nearing completion at the end of the war and the project was abandoned. The naval blockade in the Channel and North Sea was one of the decisive factors in the German defeat in 1918. === Second World War === During the Second World War, naval activity in the European theatre was primarily limited to the Atlantic.
During the Battle of France in May 1940, the German forces succeeded in capturing both Boulogne and Calais, thereby threatening the line of retreat for the British Expeditionary Force.
More than 11,000 were evacuated from Le Havre during Operation Cycle and a further 192,000 were evacuated from ports further down the coast in Operation Ariel in June 1940.
The German occupation of 1940–1945 was harsh, with some island residents being taken for slave labour on the Continent; native Jews sent to concentration camps; partisan resistance and retribution; accusations of collaboration; and slave labour (primarily Russians and eastern Europeans) being brought to the islands to build fortifications.
Successful invasions include the Roman conquest of Britain and the Norman Conquest in 1066, while the concentration of excellent harbours in the Western Channel on Britain's south coast made possible the largest amphibious invasion in history, the Normandy Landings in 1944.
The Royal Navy blockaded the islands from time to time, particularly following the liberation of mainland Normandy in 1944.
The German troops on the islands surrendered on 9 May 1945, a day after the final surrender in mainland Europe. == Population == The English Channel coast is far more densely populated on the English shore.
A failed attempt to cross the Channel by two Syrian refugees in October 2014 came to light when their bodies were discovered on the shores of the North Sea in Norway and the Netherlands. === By car === On 16 September 1965, two Amphicars crossed from Dover to Calais. === Other types === PLUTO was war-time fuel delivery project of "pipelines under the ocean" from England to France.
The journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century. The Mountbatten class hovercraft (MCH) entered commercial service in August 1968, initially between Dover and Boulogne but later also Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais.
Following an accident in January 1971 and a series of disastrous collisions with wreckage in February, the Dover TSS, the world's first radar-controlled traffic separation scheme, was set up by the International Maritime Organization.
The first ferry crossed under the command of Captain Hayward. In 1974 a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in 13½ hours.
The CSA was dissolved in 1999 and was succeeded by two separate organisations: CSA Ltd (CSA) and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF), both observe and authenticate cross-Channel swims in the Strait of Dover.
There is a separation zone between the two lanes. In December 2002 the MV Tricolor, carrying £30m of luxury cars, sank northwest of Dunkirk after collision in fog with the container ship Kariba.
There was no loss of life. The shore-based long-range traffic control system was updated in 2003 and there is a series of traffic separation systems in operation.
The number of ratified swims to 2004 was 948 by 675 people (456 men, 214 women) and there have also been 16 two-way crossings (9 by men and 7 by women).
The Channel Crossing Association was also set up to cater for unorthodox crossings. The team with the most Channel swims to its credit is the Serpentine Swimming Club in London, followed by the international Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. As at 2005, 811 people had completed 1,185 verified crossings under the rules of the CSA and the CSPF.
The number of swims conducted under and ratified by the Channel Swimming Association to 2005 was 982 by 665 people.
One of the recent occurrences was the MSC Napoli, which on 18 January 2007 was beached with nearly 1700 tonnes of dangerous cargo in Lyme Bay, a protected World Heritage Site coastline.
A failed attempt to cross the Channel by two Syrian refugees in October 2014 came to light when their bodies were discovered on the shores of the North Sea in Norway and the Netherlands. === By car === On 16 September 1965, two Amphicars crossed from Dover to Calais. === Other types === PLUTO was war-time fuel delivery project of "pipelines under the ocean" from England to France.
The flight was completed in 1 hour and 15 minutes for a total distance covered of including over the English Channel at an altitude of . On 4 August 2019, Frenchman Franky Zapata became the first person to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered Flyboard Air.
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