[HN Gopher] The Early History of the Channel Tunnel
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The Early History of the Channel Tunnel
Author : Petiver
Score : 58 points
Date : 2024-01-11 15:28 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (publicdomainreview.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (publicdomainreview.org)
| timdiggerm wrote:
| The description of de Gamond's diving work is particularly
| amazing. I had no idea such a thing was possible.
| OJFord wrote:
| I just popped back to say the same, absolutely extraordinary.
|
| > After exhausting all terrestrial research methods, Thome de
| Gamond set out to solve the mystery of the strait via three
| extraordinary solo dives in 1855. Weighed down by 160 pounds of
| flint, he stoppered his ears with home-made plugs of lard, and
| turned his mouth into a de facto valve, using olive oil to
| expel air without taking in water. Thus equipped, he
| successfully descended over one hundred feet to collect soil
| samples from the seabed, ascending afterward with the help of
| ten inflated pig bladders.
| synarchefriend wrote:
| Another description:
|
| https://www.gutenberg.org/files/66685/66685-h/66685-h.htm
|
| Geological conditions existing in the middle of the Strait
| were, up to that time, almost entirely a matter of surmise,
| based on observations made on the British and French sides of
| the Channel, and in the process of finding out more about
| them, [18]Thome de Gamond decided to descend in person to the
| bottom of the Channel to collect geological specimens. In
| 1855, at the age of forty-eight, he had the hardihood to make
| a number of such descents, unencumbered by diving equipment,
| in the middle of the Strait. Naked except for wrappings that
| he wound about his head to keep in place pads of buttered
| lint he had plastered over his ears, to protect them from
| high water pressure, he would plunge to the bottom of the
| Channel, weighted down by bags of flints and trailing a long
| safety line attached to his body, and a red distress line
| attached to his left arm, from a rowboat occupied also by a
| Channel pilot, a young assistant, and his own daughter, who
| went along to keep watch over him. On the deepest of these
| descents, at a point off Folkestone, Thome de Gamond, having
| put a spoonful of olive oil into his mouth as a lubricant
| that would allow him to expel air from his lungs without
| permitting water at high pressure to force its way in, dived
| down weighted by four bags of flints weighing a total of 180
| pounds. About his waist he wore a belt of ten inflated pig's
| bladders, which were to pull him rapidly to the surface after
| he had scooped up his geological specimen from the Channel
| bed and released his ballast, and, using this system, he
| actually touched bottom at a depth of between 99 and 108
| feet. His ascent from this particular dive was not
| unremarkable, either; in an account of it, he wrote that just
| after he had left the bottom of the Channel with a sample of
| clay
|
| ... I was attacked by voracious fish, which seized me by the
| legs and arms. One of them bit me on the chin, and would at
| the same time have attacked my throat if it had not been
| preserved by a thick handkerchief.... I was fortunate enough
| not to open my mouth, and I reappeared on top of the water
| after being immersed [19]fifty-two seconds. My men saw one of
| the monsters which had assailed me, and which did not leave
| me until I had reached the surface. They were conger eels.
| synarchefriend wrote:
| Here is a modern account of a conger eel attack (with a
| graphic photo). Seems they are quite vicious.
|
| https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/diver-felt-like-a-rag-
| do...
| empath-nirvana wrote:
| Wouldn't have been easier to just dredge from a boat? Surely
| they had 100 foot long ropes?
| 867-5309 wrote:
| I always wonder what happens to the fossils and minerals found on
| big digs like this
| carl_dr wrote:
| https://www.samphirehoe.com/about-samphire-hoe/creation/ - on
| the UK side, most of it ended up being used for land
| reclamation.
| DrBazza wrote:
| The entrance tunnel to Samphire Hoe is one of the early
| attempted tunnels.
| Symbiote wrote:
| The article is about previous attempts to dig a tunnel, in the
| 19th century etc.
|
| Crossrail (now the Elizabeth Line) had an exhibition in London
| at some point.
|
| The artifacts they'd dug up were from the stations and
| underground crossings, i.e. the traditionally-dug bits.
|
| The tunnel boring machine just crushes everything. (And for
| that line is mostly deeper than artifacts anyway.)
| nicoboo wrote:
| I worked for Eurotunnel/Getlink, actual operator of the
| tunnel(s), as a software architect between 2012 and 2020.
|
| I can tell several fossils were displayed in the main office
| building both in France and in UK.
|
| I remember a big ammonite, like 90 cm wide at least, displayed
| on the French Terminal, main office building with a sign next
| to it explaining the context of the discovery.
| nicoboo wrote:
| Really interesting article, with lots of knowledge and
| illustrations.
|
| Thanks to the author and to the person sharing it. I really
| enjoyed this reading today.
| tanepiper wrote:
| I love Le Shuttle, it's my favourite way to travel back to the
| UK, which I did over Christmas/New Year to see family.
|
| You drive up, sit in your car for 40 minutes and drive off -
| there's no faff (unless some overzealous UK border guard asks a
| bunch of questions on a British passport like how long I'm
| staying, when I'm going back, do I have accommodation, etc) - if
| you're early or late they just put you on another train, you can
| easily take pets (for us two dogs).
|
| I'm glad it's there, keeping some kind of physical connection to
| Europe.
| Someone wrote:
| > you can easily take pets (for us two dogs)
|
| ...if they meet the necessary requirements.
| https://www.gov.uk/bring-pet-to-great-britain:
|
| _"You can enter or return to Great Britain with your pet cat,
| dog or ferret if it:
|
| - has been microchipped
|
| - has a pet passport or health certificate
|
| - has been vaccinated against rabies - it will also need a
| blood test if you're travelling from an country that is not
| 'listed'
|
| You must use an approved route - unless you're travelling
| within the UK or from Ireland.
|
| You need to fill in a declaration if you are not going to sell
| or transfer the ownership of your pet.
|
| Dogs must also usually have a tapeworm treatment."_
| peterpost2 wrote:
| To bring a pet to the eu is even more extensive nowadays it
| requires a health certificate nowadays, common rate for that
| is about 150PS per Animal.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| this is generally true, of taking any sort of animal or
| agricultural product across a border.
|
| heck, sometimes you encounter this in a domestic situation
| (e.g. Hawaii and the mainland US). It keeps diseases
| contained and is also meant to prevent animal trafficking.
| DrBazza wrote:
| Pictures of the 1880 attempt when they found the old tunnel
| digging the new one. See the images tab.
|
| https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/channel-tunnel-1880-attempt...
| nickt wrote:
| I went right down a rabbit hole with Subterranea magazine...
|
| Sorry! But the magazine is genuinely fascinating.
| livrem wrote:
| The 1880's boardgame Invasion included the channel tunnel as an
| optional rule for experienced players, adding another attack
| vector for the player trying to invade South-West England. As I
| understand it part of the reason for creating the game was to
| show how dangerous it would be to have the tunnel. It fits in
| time with the examples in the article of worries about the
| tunnel's military use?
|
| https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26597/invasion
|
| https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3510336/invasion
| wkat4242 wrote:
| I'm kinda suprised how accurately those early images depict what
| actually happened. The drilling machine, the way the tracks are
| in the tunnel.
|
| They didn't have the tech yet but it was pretty accurate IMO.
| stuaxo wrote:
| Wonder if there any pictures from the point where the new tunnel
| intersected the old one ?
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