Editing English Channel (section)

=== By boat ===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=120|Date
!Crossing
!Participant(s)
!Notes
|-
|  March 1816
| The French paddle steamer ''[[Steam ship Élise|Élise]]'' (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<ref name="Mariner Mirror">{{Cite journal |last=Dawson |first=Charles |date=February 1998 |title=P. S. Defiance, the first steamer to Holland, 9 May 1816 |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |publisher=The Society for Nautical Research |volume=84 |issue=1 |page=84}}</ref>
|
|
|-
| 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]]
|-
|17 March 1864
|Race between a twin-screw steamer and a paddle steamer carrying mail. This race proved the superiority of screw over paddle.
|The ''Atalanta'' Twin-Screw Steamer and the Dover Mail-Packet ''Empress''<ref name="ILN 1864">{{cite news |title=Race between the New Double-Screw Steamer Atalanta and the Dover Mail-Packet Empress |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/HN3100064081/ILN?u=wes_ttda&sid=ILN&xid=a09e07f1 |access-date=26 February 2021 |work=Vol. 44 |issue=1253 |publisher=The Illustrated London News |date=2 April 1864 |page=319}}</ref>
|The Atalanta newly built by Messrs. J. and W. Dudgeon, of Cubitt Town Yard, Millwall, made the trip from to Dover to Calais in 77 minutes; the Empress, owned by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company took 107 minutes.
|-
| 25 July 1959
| Hovercraft crossing (Calais to Dover, 2 hours 3 minutes)
| [[SR-N1]]
| [[Christopher Cockerell|Sir Christopher Cockerell]] was on board
|-
|1960s
|First crossing by [[water skiing|water ski]].
|colspan="2"|The Varne Boat Club ran an annual cross-channel ski race from the 1960s onwards. The race was from the Varne club in Greatstone on Sea to Cap Gris Nez / Boulogne (latter years) and back. Many waterskiers have made this return crossing non-stop since this time.{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}} Youngest known waterskier to cross the Channel was John Clements aged 10, from the Varne Boat Club on 22 August 1974 who crossed from Littlestone to Boulogne and back without falling.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}
|-
| 22 August 1972
| First solo hovercraft crossing (same route as SR-N1; 2&nbsp;hours 20&nbsp;minutes)<ref>Verifiable in Hovercraft Club of Great Britain Records and Archives</ref>
| Nigel Beale (UK)
|
|-
| 1974
| [[Coracle]] (13 and a half 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wales on Britannia: Facts About Wales & the Welsh |url=http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011090450/http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html |archive-date=11 October 2008 |access-date=27 April 2010 |publisher=Britannia.com}}</ref>

|-
| August 1984
| First crossing by [[pedalo]] (8hrs 6mins)
| Ric and Steve Cooper (UK)
| Charity event organized by Littlehampton Rotaract to raise funds for [[Blood Cancer UK|Leukaemia Research]], the [[RNLI]], and other charities in memory of Angie Jones.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 May 2022 |title=Littlehampton and Basingstoke join forces for the RNLI |url=https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2022/may/03/littlehampton-and-basingstoke-join-forces-for-the-rnli |access-date=June 22, 2023 |website=Royal National Lifeboat Institution}}</ref>
|-
|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-power]]ed crossing using [[photovoltaic cell]]s
| SB ''Collinda''
| —
|-
| 14 June 2004
| New record time for crossing in amphibious vehicle (the [[Gibbs Aquada]], three-seater open-top [[sports car]])
| [[Richard Branson]] (UK)
| Completed crossing in 1 hour 40 minutes 6 seconds – previous record was 6 hours.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}
|-
| 26 July 2006
| New record time for crossing in [[hydrofoil]] car (the [[Rinspeed#Splash|Rinspeed Splash]], two-seater open-top [[sports car]])
| Frank M. Rinderknecht (Switzerland)
| Completed crossing in 3 hours 14 minutes<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stuart Waterman |date=27 July 2006 |title=Rinspeed "Splash" sets English Channel record |url=http://www.autoblog.com/2006/07/27/rinspeed-splash-sets-english-channel-record/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825093638/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/07/27/rinspeed-splash-sets-english-channel-record/ |archive-date=25 August 2010 |access-date=1 November 2008 |publisher=Autoblog}}</ref>
|-
| 25 September 2006
| First crossing on a towed inflatable object (not a powered [[inflatable boat]])
| Stephen Preston (UK)
| Completed crossing in 180 min<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inflatable Drag |url=http://www.stupidsteve.co.uk/inflatable.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121000912/http://www.stupidsteve.co.uk/inflatable.html |archive-date=21 November 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008}}</ref>
|-
| July 2007
| BBC ''[[Top Gear (2002 TV series)|Top Gear]]'' presenters "drive" to France in amphibious cars
| [[Jeremy Clarkson]], [[Richard Hammond]], [[James May]] (UK)
| Completed the crossing in a 1996 [[Nissan Hardbody Truck|Nissan D21]] pick-up (the "Nissank"), fitted with a Honda outboard engine.<ref name="imcdb.org">{{Cite web |title=1996 Nissan Truck [D21&#93; in "Top Gear, 2002–2010" |url=http://imcdb.org/vehicle_132991-Nissan-Pickup-D21-1996.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205224138/http://imcdb.org/vehicle_132991-Nissan-Pickup-D21-1996.html |archive-date=5 December 2010 |access-date=27 April 2010 |publisher=IMCDb.org}}</ref>
|-
|20 August 2011
|First crossing by [[diver propulsion vehicle]] (sea scooters)
|A four-man relay team from Scarborough, headed by Heath Samples, crossed from Shakespeare Beach to Wissant.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}
|It took 12 hours 26 minutes 39 seconds and set a new Guinness World Record.
|}
Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the ''[[Steam ship Élise|Élise]]'', ex the Scottish p.s. "Margery" in March 1816, one of the earliest seagoing voyages by [[steamboat|steam ship]].

The paddle steamer ''Defiance'', Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland, arriving there on 9 May 1816.<ref name="Mariner Mirror" />

On 10 June 1821, English-built [[paddle steamer]] ''Rob Roy'' was the first passenger ferry to cross channel. The steamer was purchased subsequently by the French postal administration and renamed ''Henri IV'' and put into regular passenger service a year later. It was able to make the journey across the Straits of Dover in around three hours.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History of the Channel Ferry |url=http://www.sailingandboating.co.uk/history-channel-ferry.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903085647/http://www.sailingandboating.co.uk/history-channel-ferry.html |archive-date=3 September 2011 |access-date=20 January 2009 |website=www.sailingandboating.co.uk}}</ref>

In June 1843, because of difficulties with Dover harbour, the South Eastern Railway company developed the [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]]-[[Folkestone]] route as an alternative to Calais-Dover. The first ferry crossed under the command of [[Captain Hayward]].<ref>[http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/ferries.htm Channel ferries & ferry ports] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107214821/http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/ferries.htm |date=7 January 2009 }} ''theotherside.co.uk'', accessed 28 December 2018</ref>

In 1974 a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in 13{{frac|1|2}} hours. The journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the [[Bull Boat]]s of the [[Mandan]] Indians of [[North Dakota]] could have been copied from coracles introduced by [[Prince Madog]] in the 12th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wales on Britannia: Facts About Wales & the Welsh |url=http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011090450/http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html |archive-date=11 October 2008 |access-date=6 February 2010 |website=www.britannia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=John |first=Gilbert |date=5 April 2008 |title='Coracle king' to hang up paddle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/7331209.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110084652/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/7331209.stm |archive-date=10 January 2015 |access-date=10 January 2015 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

The [[Mountbatten class hovercraft]] (MCH) entered commercial service in August 1968, initially between Dover and Boulogne but later also [[Ramsgate]] ([[Pegwell Bay]]) to Calais. The journey time Dover to Boulogne was roughly 35&nbsp;minutes, with six trips per day at peak times. The fastest crossing of the English Channel by a commercial car-carrying hovercraft was 22&nbsp;minutes, recorded by the ''Princess Anne'' MCH SR-N4 Mk3 on 14 September 1995,<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 1966 |title=Hovercraft deal opens show |work=BBC News |location=London |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_3025000/3025267.stm |url-status=live |access-date=1 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223224314/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_3025000/3025267.stm |archive-date=23 December 2010}}</ref>