Dover.uk.com

Addenda

ADDENDA. 

The Dover Passage, as appears from the foregoing chapters, has been the regular route between Britain and the Continent from the earliest times, the service of Packet Boats having been continuous, except in times of war. The records of suspensions in war times for early dates are not available. During the Civil War in the Reign of Charles I. the traffic was not suspended; and in the war between England and France, declared in 1744, there was an agreement that the Passage between Dover and Calais should be continued for six months, to enable those who were abroad to go home; but from September, 1744, the traffic was suspended until the Peace of Aix la Chappelle in 1748. In 1756 the Passage traffic was suspended, and not resumed until 1763. The next suspension was from 1778 to 1783. The war of the French Revolution caused the Passage to be closed from 1793 to 1802; and, again, the traffic was suspended from 1803 until the Peace of 1814. From that time until 1914 the traffic was continued, there having been no stoppage of it during the Franco-German War of 1870, although there were scarcely any passengers at that time. The Great War in Europe that broke out at the beginning of August, 1914, caused the ordinary cross-Channel traffic to be diverted to Folkestone, owing to this Port being a Naval Base.
end link