EXTENSIVE SHIP CANAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 202, 28 August 1888, Page 4

EXTENSIVE SHIP CANAL.

Of that vast work, as projected, the ship canal between' Bordeaux on tlie . Atlantic seaboard and Nai'bonne on; the Mediterranean const, it is stated that the cost will be some £26,000,000, and while its. length would lie about 330 miles the use qf it \yould be a saving of, nearly 700 miles by vessels going from Southern . IJrahce or Northern Italy to" the Northern Atlantic. The plan, it is said, contemplates having a railroad run along the margin of the canal, and using locomotives to tow the vessels through, by which means, it is believed, a speed of seven miles an hour may be maintained both day and night, as during the hours of darkness the canal might be illuminated with electric lights. There would be, according to the plan, thirtyeight locks in the canal, and the depth of water, twenty-seven feet,; would, permit French armour-clad vessels .to pass through the canal, thus uniting the two coasts of the country, and avoiding the passage through the Strait of Gibraltar, which miglib in time of war be blockaded by the fleet of an enemy, and1 would deprive the English of certain advantages which they now have in the Gibraltar fortifications. It is thought; that, for commercial purposes, the pati'bnage of the canal will be sufficient to pay a 1 good rotuva on the money invested in its construction. . ■■ :; !}.:=:v , ■■; ' ■'■' ■.■:'-(J .:■ ': (V... ■■['-'■::