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English Channel

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Geography

   Satellite view of the English Channel
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   Satellite view of the English Channel

   The English Channel (French: La Manche ( IPA: [mɑ̃ʃ]), "the sleeve") is
   the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great
   Britain from northern France and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic.
   It is about 563  km (350  mi) long and at its widest is 240 km
   (150 mi). The Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of the channel,
   being only 34 km (21 mi) from Dover to Cap Gris Nez, and is located at
   the eastern end of the English Channel, where it meets the North Sea.
   During the period of ancient Roman hegemony the channel was known in
   Latin as the Oceanus Britannicus and up until around 1549 it was known
   as the British Sea.

   The channel is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m
   at its widest part, reducing to about 45 m between Dover and Calais.
   From there eastwards the sea continues to shallow to about 26 m in the
   Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the former land
   bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. The Channel Islands
   lie in the channel, close to the French side. The Isles of Scilly in
   the United Kingdom and Ushant in France mark the western end of the
   Channel. The French département of Manche, which incorporates the
   Cotentin Peninsula that juts out into the channel, takes its name from
   the surrounding seaway.

Formation

   Map of the English Channel
   Enlarge
   Map of the English Channel

   Before the end of the Devensian glaciation (the most recent ice age)
   around 10,000 years ago, the British Isles were part of continental
   Europe. During this period the North Sea and almost all of the British
   Isles were covered with ice. The sea level was about 120 m lower than
   it is today, and the channel was an expanse of low-lying tundra,
   through which passed a river which drained the Rhine and Thames towards
   the Atlantic to the west. As the ice sheet melted, a large freshwater
   lake formed in the southern part of what is now the North Sea. As the
   meltwater could still not escape to the north (as the northern North
   Sea was still frozen) the outflow channel from the lake entered the
   Atlantic Ocean in the region of Dover and Calais.

   At some point around 6500 BC, catastrophic erosion swept away the chalk
   to create the English Channel, leaving the iconic white cliffs of
   Dover. Wave action on the soft, chalk cliffs widened the Channel
   further, a process which continues today.

History

                            This precious stone set in the silver sea,
                                   Which serves it in the office of a wall
                                        Or as a moat defensive to a house,
                                   Against the envy of less happier lands.
                        —William Shakespeare, Richard II (Act II, Scene 2)

   The channel has been a key natural defence for Britain, allowing the
   nation to intervene but rarely be dangerously threatened in European
   conflicts, mostly notable in the fight against Napoleon during the
   Napoleonic Wars, and Nazi Germany during the World War II.
   Nevertheless, the channel has been the scene of many invasions and
   attempted invasions, including the Roman conquest of Britain, the
   Norman Conquest in 1066, the Spanish Armada in 1588, and the Normandy
   landings in 1944. The channel has been the scene of many naval battles,
   including the Battle of Goodwin Sands (1652), the Battle of Portland (
   1653), the Battle of La Hougue (1692) and the engagement between USS
   Kearsarge and CSS Alabama (1864).

   At times the channel has served as a link joining shared cultures and
   political structures, from pre-Roman Celtic society, the Roman culture,
   and the foundation of Brittany by settlers from Great Britain, to the
   Anglo-Norman state.

Crossing and Trade

   View over the English Channel, Strait of Dover: The 'White Cliffs of
   Dover' seen from Cap Gris-Nez (France)
   Enlarge
   View over the English Channel, Strait of Dover: The ' White Cliffs of
   Dover' seen from Cap Gris-Nez (France)

World's Busiest Seaway

   Adding to the high level of cross-channel traffic is the very
   significant traffic passing through the channel, linking the economies
   of northern Europe with the rest of the world. Combined, this maritime
   traffic makes the channel the busiest seaway in the world, accounting
   for a large share of global maritime trade (some sources place this at
   20% or more).

Seaports

   Cross-channel trade has been a significant factor for societies on both
   sides of the Channel from prehistoric times, and a number of important
   seaports and ferry locations have developed in both England (Dover,
   Southampton, Plymouth, Weymouth, Portsmouth, Poole, Newhaven) and
   France ( Calais, Caen ( Ouistreham), Dieppe, Le Havre,
   Cherbourg-Octeville, Roscoff, Saint Malo).

Ferry

   Important ferry routes are:
     * Dover-Calais
     * Newhaven-Dieppe
     * Portsmouth-Caen (Ouistreham)
     * Portsmouth-Cherbourg
     * Portsmouth-Le Havre
     * Poole-Saint Malo
     * Weymouth-Saint Malo
     * Plymouth-Roscoff

Channel Tunnel

   Nowadays, many travellers cross beneath the English Channel using the
   Channel Tunnel. This engineering feat, first proposed in the early 19th
   century and finally realised in 1994, connects the UK and France by
   rail. It is now routine to travel between Paris, Brussels and London on
   the Eurostar train.

Tourism

   The coastal resorts of the channel, such as Brighton and Deauville,
   inaugurated an era of aristocratic tourism in the early 19th century,
   which developed into the seaside tourism that has shaped resorts around
   the world. Short trips across the channel for leisure purposes are
   often referred to as Channel Hopping.

Notable channel crossings

   Date Crossing Participant(s) Notes
   7 January 1785 First crossing by air
   (in balloon, from Dover to Calais) Jean-Pierre Blanchard (France)
   John Jeffries (U.S.) —
   15 June 1785 First air crash
   (in combination hydrogen/ hot-air balloon) Pilâtre de Rozier (France)
   Pierre Romain (France) Attempted crossing similar to Blanchard/Jeffries
   25 August 1875 First person to swim the channel
   (Dover to Calais, 21 hrs, 45 min) Matthew Webb (UK) Attempted crossing
   on 12 August the same year;
   forced to abandon swim due to strong winds/rough sea conditions
   27 March 1899 First radio transmission across the Channel
   (from ( Wimereux to South Foreland Lighthouse) Guglielmo Marconi
   (Italy)
   25 July 1909 First person to cross the channel in a heavier-than-air
   aircraft (the Blériot XI)
   (Calais to Dover, 37 minutes) Louis Blériot (France) Encouraged by
   £1000 prize being offered by the Daily Mail for first successful flight
   across the channel
   23 August 1910 First aircraft flight with passengers John Bevins
   Moisant (U.S.) Passengers were mechanic Albert Fileux and Moisant's
   cat.
   12 June 1979 First human-powered aircraft to fly over the channel
   (in 70-pound (32-kg) Gossamer Albatross) Bryan Allen (U.S.) Won a
   £100,000 Kremer Prize; Allen pedaled for three hours
   1997 First vessel to complete a solar-powered crossing using
   photovoltaic cells. SB Collinda —
   14 June 2004 New record time for crossing in amphibious vehicle
   (the Gibbs Aquada, two-seater open-top sports car) Richard Branson (UK)
   Completed crossing in 100 min 06 sec. Broke record by about six hours.
   26 July 2006 New record time for crossing in hydrofoil car
   (the Rinspeed Splash, two-seater open-top sports car) Frank M.
   Rinderknecht (SUI) Completed crossing in 194 min ( link with photos)

By boat

   William Murdoch's The Caledonia became the first steamboat to carry out
   a cross-channel crossing.

   The Mountbatten class hovercraft entered commercial service in August
   1968 initially operated between Dover and Boulogne but later craft also
   made the Ramsgate ( Pegwell Bay) to Calais route. The journey time,
   Dover to Boulogne, was roughly 35 minutes, with six trips a day at peak
   times. The fastest crossing was made in 1995 at just 22 minutes.

   The youngest recorded sailors to cross the channel by boat are Hugo
   Sunnucks and Guy Harrison aged 15 (formular 18 catamaran). They
   completed in 4 hours 15 mins in August 2006.

By swimming

   The Sport of Channel Swimming traces its origins to the latter part of
   the 19th century when Captain Matthew Webb made the first observed and
   unassisted swim across the Strait of Dover swimming from England to
   France on 24 August– 25 August 1875 in 21 hours and 45 minutes.

   In 1927 (at a time when less than ten swimmers had managed to emulate
   the feat and a number of dubious claims were being made), the Channel
   Swimming Association (the CSA) was founded to authenticate and ratify
   swimmers' claims to have swum the English Channel and to verify
   crossing times. The CSA was dissolved in 1999 and succeeded by two
   separate organisations: The CSA (Ltd) and the Channel Swimming and
   Piloting Federation (CSPF) ( website). Both organisations are
   registered with the international governing body for swimming
   Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) ( website) and
   observe and authenticate Cross-Channel Swims in the Strait of Dover.

   Although the swimming rules and regulations of the two organisations
   are virtually identical, the CSA has not always been prepared to
   recognise swims conducted under the auspices of the larger and more
   popular CSPF.

   A comprehensive list of all registered and verified solo swims is
   available from
   http://home.btconnect.com/critchlow/ChannelSwimDatabase.htm

   A comprehensive list of all registered and verified solo and relay
   swims is available from http://www.doverlife.co.uk/channelswimming

   For a list of Channel Swimming Association Records for swims registered
   only under the rules of the Channel Swimming Association and verified
   by that body, go to [www.channelswimmingassociation.com
   www.channelswimmingassociation.com]
     * On 24 August– 25 August 1875 Capt. Matthew Webb made the first
       crossing of the English Channel from England to France.

     * On 12 August 1923 Enrico Tiraboschi made the first crossing of the
       English Channel from France to England.

     * On 6 August 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim
       the Channel, breaking the men's record of the time by two hours.

     * On 24 November 1927, Mercedes Gleitze, the first British lady,
       swims across wearing a Rolex Oyster.

     * In July 1972, Lynne Cox became the youngest person to swim the
       English Channel at age fifteen, breaking both the men's and women's
       records. She swam the channel again in 1973, setting a new record
       time of nine hours and thirty-six minutes.

     * The oldest verified male swimmer to cross is American George
       Brunstad, who was aged 70 years and 4 days when he crossed on 27
       August and 28 August 2004, taking 15 hours 59 min.

     * The oldest male swimmer to cross under the rules of the Channel
       Swimming Association is Australian Clifford Batt, who was aged 67
       years and 240 days when he crossed on 19 August 1987, taking 18
       hours 37 minutes.

     * The fastest ever verified swim of the channel was by Christof
       Wandratsch in 2005. He crossed the channel in 7 hours 3 minutes and
       52 seconds.

     * The fastest verified female channel swimmer is Yvetta Hlaváčová in
       2006. She crossed the channel in 7 hours 25 minutes and 15 seconds.

     * The fastest swim of the channel made under Channel Swimming
       Association rules is by Chad Hundeby of the USA on 27 September
       1994. He crossed the channel in 7 hours 17 minutes.

     * The titles "King" and "Queen" of the Channel, held by those with
       the most successful crossings, are taken seriously by the swimming
       community and there has been some controversy over the refusal by
       some to recognise others' swims.

     * The undisputed "Queen of the Channel" is Alison Streeter MBE with
       43 crossings including one 3-way and three 2-way swims.

     * The "King of the Channel" title is held by Kevin Murphy with 34
       crossings, including three doubles.

     * The Channel Swimming Association’s title of “King of the Channel”
       awarded to the male swimmer who has made the most number of
       crossings the English Channel as authenticated by the CSA, is held
       by Michael Read with 33 crossings.

     * The Channel Swimming Association’s title of “Queen of the Channel”
       awarded to the female swimmer who has made the most number of
       crossings the English Channel as authenticated by the CSA is held
       by Alison Streeter MBE with 39 crossings.

     * Other swimming crossings include: Vicki Keith (first butterfly swim
       crossing); Florence Chadwick (first woman to swim the Channel in
       both directions); Montserrat Tresserras (first woman to swim the
       Channel in both directions, as verified by the Channel Swimming
       Association); Marilyn Bell (youngest person up to 1955); Amelia
       Gade Corson (first mother and second woman); Mercedes Gleitze
       (first Englishwoman, 7 October 1927); Brojen Das, the first Asian (
       23 August 1958); Comedians who have swum the channel Doon
       Mackichan, and David Walliams BBC report.

   The team with the most number of Channel swims to its credit is the
   International Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team with 35 crossings by 25 members
   (by 2005).

   By the end of 2005, 811 individuals have completing 1185 verified
   crossings under the rules of the CSA, the CSA (Ltd), the CSPF and
   Butlins.

   The total number of swims conducted under and ratified by the Channel
   Swimming Association to 2005: 982 successful crossings by 665 people.
   This includes twenty-four 2-way crossings and three 3-way crossings.

   Total number of ratified swims to 2004: 948 successful crossings by 675
   people (456 by men and 214 by women). There have been sixteen 2-way
   crossings (9 by men and 7 by women). There have been three 3-way
   crossings (2 by men and 1 by a woman). (It is unclear whether this last
   set of data is comprehensive or CSA-only.)

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel"
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