Bridgewater canal: the world’s first swing aqueduct still working perfectly ... a fantastic piece of Victorian engineering. ibid.
The Manchester ship canal will be the biggest waterway ever built. ibid.
Panama: many of the men are killed in an area of the Pacific ocean where tall mountains block the canal’s path. ibid.
For years a disturbing rumour has swirled around Manchester: a serial killed dubbed The Pusher is stalking the city’s canals. January ’15 the story went global when a disturbing statistic came to light: 85 bodies, most of them men, have been pulled from the water since 2008. 28 of these deaths returned an open verdict and the inquest remained unexplained. Manchester’s Serial Killer, Channel 4 2016
They built one of the wonders of the modern world … the Manchester Ship Canal. How the Victorians Built Britain s1e4: The Birth of the Machines, Channel 5 2018
Britain’s canals: for more than 200 years these wonders of engineering have cross the length and breath of our nation, connecting major cities to our industrial heartlands, they were the heartblood of our industrial revolution. Dan Jones, Building Britain’s Canals I, Channel 5 2020
The Grand Union Canal: at 152 miles is is the longest stretch of man-made waterway in Britain, linking Birmingham with London. ibid.
Joseph Brindley … began building the Bridgewater canal in 1869 using 600 local labourers. ibid.
Brindley had been responsible for building 365 miles of canals connecting Britain’s cities with its industrial heartlands. ibid.
Government approved the building of a new canal – the Grand Junction – in 1793. Costing £600,000 and running 93 miles between London and Braunston in Northamptonshire. ibid.
Up to 60 navvies are believed to have lost their lives during the tunnel’s construction … The Blisworth tunnel was considered something of an engineering wonder. ibid.
The mill-owners of Yorkshire and the coal-kings of Lancashire combined to create one of the greatest ports in the British empire with the building of the Leeds-Liverpool canal. ibid.
134,593. Every gate requires twelve oak trees. ibid.
The Leeds-Liverpool canal: at just over 127 miles, Britain’s longest single stretch of man-made waterway. It was originally designed so the eighteenth-century wool manufacturers of Yorkshire had faster access to England’s west coast. Dan Jones, Building Britain’s Canals II: A Transport Revolution
The father of the canal – John Longbotham – set a course through some of England’s highest countryside with inventions such as this: the revolutionary five-lock system at Bingley in Yorkshire. ibid.
The rainfall combined with the canal transformed the north-west of England into the industrial powerhouse of the world. ibid.
Moving such volume of coal simply wouldn’t have been possible without the Leeds-Liverpool canal. ibid.
The Kennet & Avon canal designed to link up the cities of Bristol & London and to bring prosperity to the south-west: it includes 104 locks, passes through three England counties and some of the country’s most scenic landscapes, and unlike the great industrial canals of the north and the Midlands, it has a genteel air complete with fine architectural touches. ibid.
It takes roughly a week to navigate its 57-mile course. ibid.
The Caen Hill locks: with nearly thirty locks in two miles, this is the crowning glory of the Kennet & Avon. ibid.
Egypt was not a colony, it was a protectorate ... The Suez Canal – it had to be protected. Jeremy Paxman, Empire I, BBC 2012
On March 23rd 2021 one of the largest container ships ever built ploughed into the sandy banks of the Suez Canal. The Ever Given blocks one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for nearly a week, triggering a global emergency. Why Ships Crash, BBC 2022
12% of the world’s trade passes through the Suez Canal. ibid.
Each year there are over 2,500 shipping crashes and incidents. ibid.