Thursday 1st January

On This Day in 1894:

"The Opening of the Manchester Ship Canal"

From the Canal Archive:

At 10 o'clock, on the sounding of a steam whistle, a procession of vessels led by Samuel Platt's grand steam yacht 'Norseman' carrying the Company Directors set out on a journey along the Canal from Latchford. Thousands had travelled to see the New Year event and on the signal of the whistle, as described by Sir Bosdin Leech, 'a mighty sound of cheers was given, but this was quickly drowned out by the combined efforts of scores of steam whistles and sirens, it was perfect pandemonium''

50,000 people turned up on New Year's Day to take part in the celebrations. Manchester city council spent £10,000 on decorating the city! Obviously it was a big deal for the industrial city to gain such an important line of communication to the sea, bringing the cotton from the plantations of the American South to the hub of the British textiles industry in Lancashire.

The Manchester Ship Canal remains in operation to this day. For a 'virtual tour' (a bunch of pictures along the route), please yourself and go here.

The Norseman leads the way

In May of that year, Queen Victoria turned up to formally open the canal. For some time this was the standard Victorian definition of "fashionably late".

The Quote:

"When you're in a hole, stop digging"

Healey

This quote comes from Dennis Healey, who obviously never dug a canal in his life.