The Eastham section of the Manchester Ship Canal was to
have been opened on Monday, but owing to an accident of a somewhat serious nature, the ceremony had to be postponed. In order to render the canal navigable, it became necessary to close a gap, 250 ft. wide, in one of the embankments,—a gap which had been left open in order to facilitate the traffic on the Shropshire Union Canal, and through which the tide flowed. On Saturday afternoon, when the tide had retired, a band of six hundred navvies set to work to fill this gap, and tipped into it hundreds of waggon-loads of soil and rock. Unfortunately, however, their labours were in vain. "She rubbed her nose against the embankment, and down it came," said an old bargeman in describing the action of the tide. Then began a battle between the engineers of the Canal and the sea, which was watched by thousands of spectators. Huge boulders and truck-loads of stones and clay and earth were thrown into the gap, and a second embankment was raised. When, however, the tide again rose, this also succumbed. These defeats taught the engineers a lesson, and from Monday till Wednesday they were engaged in putting down, layer by layer, a new and far more solid breastwork. This third attempt was successful, and on Thursday the Eastham section of the Canal was finally opened for traffic.
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