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First car ferries
The traditional cross-channel traveller had always been a foot passenger, arriving at the
port by first horse-drawn stage-coach, then steam-train - and embarking on the ferry with all their luggage.
With the growing popularity of motoring, Captain Townsend bought and converted an old
minesweeper to cater for the new market of people who wanted to take their car with them
on a Continental motoring holiday . Like other cross-channel travel, most of the demand
was from the UK side.
Cars were loaded onto the Dover-Calais car ferry
by crane: 6,000 in the first year, rising to 31,000 in 1939 before the Second World War
interupted services.
After the war, new "drive on" ferry terminals were built in Dover and Calais.
Opened in 1953,they had moveable loading bridges, so cars could drive on whatever the
state of the tide.
Bilbao Ferries and HarwichTrain Ferry
In 1936, the Southern Railway company and the new SNCF invested in new train ferry docks
at Dover and Dunkerque. These ships had rails on the cargo deck to carry railway carriages
and wagons. At each end, the ship ran into a dock
where the water level could be adjusted so that the trains could run off the ship onto the
tracks. The famous "Golden Arrow" luxury express used this route between
London and Paris.
Hovercraft
In 1959, a one-man hovercraft successfully crossed the channel, landing on the beach
inside Dover harbour. This
experimental British invention promised to revolutionise cross-channel travel - offering a
speedy crossing without the huge initial investment in building a tunnel which would be
required for high-speed trains.
The craft were successfully scaled up so they could carry hundreds of passengers and cars
- though they could not cope with rough weather. "Hoverpads" were built at Calais, Boulogne, Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate, and in Dover
harbour. British Rail, SNCF, and Hoverspeed a private company all competed to develop
the new craft.
Unfortunately, they were made less economic by the
rise in fuel prices in the 1970's, because they used fuel heavily just to stay up as
well as to move. The last services were withdrawn in 2000.
The Channel Tunnel
Schemes were talked about as early as the 18th century, and serious construction work
started on both sides in 1881 - only to be halted by political rather than engineering
difficulties. Work re-commenced in earnest a century later in the 1980s, and the Channel Tunnel was finally opened in
1994. The train ferry was ended at this time.
Crossing the channel by sailing ship
Crossing the channel by sailing ship was at the mercy of tides and weather. Until the late
19th century, landing was often a problem - ferry ports
and harbours on both sides were rather shallow and not well protected against
storms.Ships often had to wait offshore at Dublin
or Liverpool until the tide was high enough to
enter the harbour - or else cross to the beach in a small rowing boat. Travel to the coast
was equally perilous. On an 18th century horse-drawn stagecoach, you could travel from
Paris to Calais or Hook of Holland to Amsterdam within a long, dusty day - highwaymen
and the state of the roads permitting.
Long haul ferry services to Italy were introduced by P&O in 1990.
