English Channel

the arm of sea which separates England from France, extending, on the English side, from Dover to Land’s End; and on the French from Calais to the island of Ushant. On the E. it communicates with the German Ocean by the Strait of Dover, 21 miles wide; and on the W. it opens into the Atlantic by an entrance about 100 miles wide. At its greatest breadth it is about 150 miles. The advantages of a railway tunnel acro the Channel at its narrowest part have been frequently urged; and an English company formed for the purpose of constructing a tunnel half way acro from Dover to meet a similar tunnel starting from near Calais, pushed an excavation under the sea for over 2,000 yards, but was interdicted by the British government for military reasons. This tunnel would have a total length of 23 miles.