S.S. “VICTORIA.”
Proposed tunnel
These boats, however, are in their turn about to be superseded: at least, various other means have been suggested for crossing the English Channel between Calais and Dover. The two most gigantic schemes are a bridge over the channel and a tunnel below it, both having one chief object in view, relief from sea-sickness during that short, and, to most landsmen, very unpleasant passage. The bridge, though it had a few influential and enthusiastic supporters, appears to have been abandoned as wholly impracticable; but the tunnel is still contemplated, and experiments are now being made to ascertain the nature of the soil beneath the bed of the sea at the requisite depth. Its projectors, who are men of influence and experience, are sanguine of success, but as its cost will be enormous, though estimated at not more than one-half that of the Suez Canal, and, as it cannot be completed for many years, other plans have been in the meantime suggested, two of which have been already partially put in operation.
and other modes of crossing the straits of Dover.
It would be entirely beyond my province to offer any opinion as to the practicability of either a bridge or tunnel, but I shall endeavour to furnish my readers with a brief outline of the novel description of vessels now prepared to cross this narrow strait.
The question of bridging, tunnelling, or otherwise crossing the channel by easier modes than the existing mail packets has long occupied the attention of men of science, however much they may have differed with regard to the best mode of effecting the object in view. Among various modes, the one suggested by Mr. Fowler, C.E., in 1864, for which plans were deposited in 1865 and 1867, and which was fully brought before Parliament in 1872, seems to be well worthy of further consideration, embracing as it does the extension of the “through traffic” without change of carriage to all parts of the continent. This is one of the important objects sought to be achieved by the tunnel, but at four times the cost.
Mr. Fowler’s plan.
Mr. Fowler proposes to build a steam-boat fit to receive a railway train complete, and carry it bodily across the channel from the South Eastern and London and Chatham lines to those of the North Eastern of France. To effect this object, it will be necessary to increase, materially, the existing facilities of Dover Harbour, and to construct a new harbour on the French coast, of sufficient depth of water to receive, at all times of the tide, vessels of the dimensions he suggests. The transport of railway trains, by means of vessels across broad sheets of water, has, already, been proved to be practicable. The operation may be seen, not merely in various parts of the United States and on the Lake of Constance, but in Scotland, where “the North British Railway Company carry trains across an arm of the sea, five miles in width.”[452] Nor is the plan suggested for connecting the steamers with the lines of railway, so that the carriages may run on board, either novel or impracticable. The ferry-boats of New York dove-tail, if I may so express it, into the end of a street and carry the whole of its traffic in one continuous line of passengers, carts, and waggons to Brooklyn, or across the Bay of New York to Staten Island and other more remote places: so that, in this respect, there is nothing visionary or impracticable in the scheme proposed by Mr. Fowler. Nor, so far as my nautical knowledge extends, are there any valid objections to it in other respects except the cost. There is no doubt that these vessels, from their immense weight, size, and speed, will realise every comfort by way of stability that can be attained in crossing the English Channel at its narrowest part, while their vast dimensions afford ample space for every possible convenience to passengers, and, even, luxuries, if desired.
