Crossing the Channel: a short history

1550BC The first Channel ferry, a Dover boat, its oak planks lashed with yew sprigs, rediscovered 1992, capable of carrying freight and at least a dozen passengers 55BC Julius Caesar launches first Roman invasion of Britain, landing his fleet at Walmer in Kent AD1066 As documented in Bayeux, William the Conqueror and friends successfully make the short hop 1785 Two years after the Montgolfier brothers demonstrate hot-air balloons in Paris, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries fly Dover to Calais 1815 Pigeons convey news of Wellington's victory, from Waterloo to London 1820 Launch of the first steam-powered cross-Channel mail boat, Rob Roy – later bought by the French and renamed Henri IV 1850 Anglo-French Telegraph Company lays the first telegraph cable – copper wire coated with rubber – across the Channel 1875 Captain Matthew Webb is first to swim the Channel, in 21 hours 45 minutes 1909 Louis Blériot flies the first heavier-than-air craft, from Calais to Dover 1910 First aircraft flight with passengers – American pilot John Bevins Moisant's mechanic and cat 1912 American Harriet Quimby is first woman to fly the Channel, Dover to Calais, 59 minutes 1926 American Olympic medallist Gertrude Ederle is first woman to swim Channel, Cap Gris Nez to Kingsdown, 14 hours 39 minutes – beating the male record 1928 First car ferry service Summer 1940 Germans gather to make mass crossings by barge, but cancel in favour of an invasion of the east June 1944 Anglo-American effort proves rather more successful 1959 Engineer and inventor Christopher Cockerell makes first crossing in hovercraft SRN1, 2 hours 3 minutes 1963 Ed Yost, inventor of the modern hot-air balloon, and Don Piccard, cited by Jonathan Trappe as his inspiration, cross in 3 hours 13 minutes – their balloon, Channel Champ, is now in the National Balloon Museum, Iowa, US 1974 Bernard Thomas rows a traditional Welsh coracle across in 13.5 hours 1979 First crossing by pedal-powered aircraft, Gossamer Albatross, flown by American Bryan Allen 1990 Diggers of the Channel Tunnel – first proposed in 1802 – break through 1995 Record 22-minute crossing by hovercraft Princess Anne 2002 Former army major Paul Tucker crosses Folkestone to Calais by pedalo – and back again 2004 Richard Branson sets 100 minutes 6 seconds record for amphibious car crossing 2006 Comedian David Walliams swims in 10 hours 34 minutes for Sport Relief charity 2008 "Jetman" Yves Rossy crosses using jetpack and carbon fibre wings, in 9 minutes 7 seconds 2010 Christine Bleakley does the first water-ski crossing, of 100 minutes, despite falling eight times