Notable Channel Crossings
As one of the narrowest but most famous international waterways lacking dangerous currents, the Channel has been the first objective of numerous innovative sea, air, and human powered crossing technologies.
| Date | Crossing | Participant(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 January 1785 | First crossing by air (in balloon, from Dover to Calais) | Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France) John Jeffries (US) |
— |
| 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 |
| March 1816 | the French paddle steamer Elise (ex Scottish-built Margery or Margory) was the first steamer to cross the Channel. | ||
| 9 May 1816 | Paddle steamer Defiance, Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland | ||
| 10 June 1821 | Paddle steamer Rob Roy, first passenger ferry to cross channel. | The steamer was purchased subsequently by the French postal administration and renamed Henri IV. | |
| June 1843 | First ferry connection through Folkestone-Boulogne | Commanding officer Captain Hayward | |
| 25 August 1875 | First person known 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 because of 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 offered by the Daily Mail for first successful flight across the Channel |
| 2 June 1910 | First person to make a double crossing of the Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft (a Short Wright biplane). | Charles Stewart Rolls (UK) | From Swingfield Downs, Kent to Sangatte, France, returning to Eastchurch, Kent. |
| 23 August 1910 | First aircraft flight with passengers | John Bevins Moisant (US) | Passengers were mechanic Albert Fileux and Moisant's cat. |
| 16 April 1912 | First woman to fly across the Channel (Dover to Calais, 59 minutes) | Harriet Quimby (US) | Her accomplishment did not receive much media attention, as the RMS Titanic sank the evening before. |
| 23 August 1926 | First woman to swim across the channel (Cap Gris Nez to Kingsdown, 14 hours 39 minutes) | Gertrude Ederle (US) | Five men had swum the channel before Ederle. Ederle beat their best time by two hours, creating a record for a female swimmer that stood until Florence Chadwick swam it in 13 hours 20 minutes in 1950. |
| 18 September 1928 | First flight across the Channel by autogyro | Juan de la Cierva (SPA) | Achieved as part of the first flight by autogyro between London and Paris. |
| 19 June 1931 | First crossing in a glider | Lissant Beardmore (UK) | Aero-tow from Lympne to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 m). Landed at Saint-Inglevert Airfield, Pas-de-Calais. |
| 25 July 1959 | Hovercraft crossing (Calais to Dover, 2 hours 3 minutes) | SR-N1 | Sir Christopher Cockerell was on board |
| 22 August 1972 | First solo hovercraft crossing (same route as SR-N1; 2 hours 20 minutes) | Nigel Beale (UK) | |
| 1974 | Coracle (13½ hours) | Bernard Thomas (UK) | As part of a publicity stunt, the journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from Welsh coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century. |
| 12 June 1979 | First human-powered aircraft to fly over the Channel (in 55-pound (25 kg) Gossamer Albatross) |
Bryan Allen (US) | Won a £100,000 Kremer Prize; Allen pedalled for three hours. |
| 14 September 1995 | Fastest crossing by hovercraft, 22 minutes by "Princess Anne" | MCH SR-N4 MkIII | Craft was designed as a ferry |
| 1997 | First vessel to complete a solar-powered crossing using photovoltaic cells. | SB Collinda | — |
| 30 August 1998 | First Channel swim by a paraplegic. | John Maclean | Completed crossing in 12 hours and 55 minutes. An attempt earlier in the month was aborted due to bad weather. |
| 31 July 2003 | Crossing in a 20-mile (32 km) long freefall using a wingsuit and a carbon fibre wing | Felix Baumgartner (Austria) | |
| 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 1 hour 40 minutes 6 seconds - previous record was 6 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 3 hours 14 minutes |
| 25 September 2006 | First crossing on a towed inflatable object (not a powered inflatable boat) | Stephen Preston (UK) | Completed crossing in 180 min |
| July 2007 | BBC Top Gear presenters drive to France in amphibious cars. | Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May (UK) | Completed the crossing in a 1996 Nissan D21 pick-up (the "Nissank"), fitted with a Honda outboard engine. |
| 26 September 2008 | First crossing with a jetpack | Yves Rossy (SUI) | Crossing completed in less than ten minutes. |
| 12 March 2010 | First crossing by water ski | Christine Bleakley (UK) | Completed in just over 1 hour 40 minutes. She completed the challenge for BBC Sport Relief, falling eight times during the crossing. |
| 28 May 2010 | First crossing by helium balloon | Jonathan Trappe (US) | Completed in 4 hours. He crossed the Channel dangling beneath a cloud of coloured helium balloons and controlled his altitude by cutting the balloons free one by one, with a pair of scissors. |
| 18 July 2010 | First crossing by RS Tera | Children aged 7 to 16 from CCSC, DSC and Downs SC (UK) | Crossing made in single-handed 9-foot (2.7 m) sailing dinghies. Dover to Boulogne (27 miles (43 km)) in 5 hours. |
| 20 August 2011 | First Crossing by Sea Scooters | A four-man relay team from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, headed by Heath Samples LL.B Hons, crossed from Shakespeare Beach to Wissant. | It took 12 hours 26 minutes 39 seconds. It set a new Guinness World Record. |
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