London and Shoreham Great Ship Canal Company

In the ‘Civil Engineer And Architects’ Journal’ of 1856 is a paragraph on the foundation of a company named the London And Shoreham Great Ship Canal Company.

In October 1856, Mr James Boyd of London proposed the building of a ship canal that would directly link ShorehamBy-Sea to London. The objective was that ships, no matter what their tonnage, would avoid the risk, delay, danger and expense of, having sailed from the Atlantic through the English Channel, then needing to go around the Foreland to gain access to London by the Thames Estuary. The number of vessels that were lost or sustained serious damage off the Foreland, or on the treacherous Goodwin and Margate Sands each year was said to be sufficient to warrant the project.

This ambitious project again received consideration in 1908, as reported by the ‘Westminster Gazette’ and ‘The Telegraph’. The cost of constructing the ship canal was estimated at over 30 billion pounds - an astronomical figure to consider spending at that time. A royal commission was appointed to study the feasibility of the project and to consider the problems water-farers currently encountered on the busy existing canals of the country. The Shoreham to London ship canal, if constructed, would have been 47 miles long, with a large and easily accessible natural harbour at the Channel end (Shoreham). Cutting the canal through the Dorking Hills, would it was said, be the cause of the only serious engineering difficulty to be overcome. This cutting would though be as much trouble as raising the financial cost for the project.

The ship canal project continued through its planning stages for the following reasons: A) Shipbuilding could be concentrated on the River Thames and the largest ships ever built could be constructed there. (B) The tonnage ships carried could be increased. (C) The Royal Navy would be able to dock its largest battleships in the River Thames. At the time Britain feared invasion from France and the rise of the German navy. It was thought the Royal Navy being based in the Thames could counter both threats. (D) Sailing time for vessels travelling to the Atlantic Ocean would be cut and the ships would avoid the dangerous Goodwin Sands. (E) It was thought the canal would solve recurring shipping problems on the Thames, which was a busy working river at the time. (F) The canal would open a new avenue by which London’s ‘toiling millions’ might go on convenient excursions to the south coast, namely Shoreham-By-Sea. (G) It would bring industrial prosperity to two, if not to three or four, of the Southern Counties. (H) The existence of the canal would create new industrial towns and villages along its way. (I) The construction of the canal would give several years of