Channel Gallery

Kiss of the Oceans - Atlantic meets Pacific - Panama Canal

The Kiss of the Oceans - The Atlantic meets the Pacific due to the construction of The Panama Canal - A lovely allegorical card relating to this phenomenal engineering project, also bearing full statistics including length, width and cost of the project. Likely to date from the opening of the canal in 1914. Date: circa 1914

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

D-Day - Supplies pour ashore

A stunning panorama photograph of a French invasion beach with the channel waters thick with US military shipping, as reinforcements and supplies are funneled ashore following the conquest of the Cherbourg peninsula. Barrage balloons protect the ships from enemy strafing. One balloon still rests on the deck of large landing vehicle. Trucks filled with supplies and troops head inland across the beach. D-Day began on June 6th, 1944 at 6:30am and was conducted in two assault phases - the air assault landing of allied troops followed by an amphibious assault by infantry. The Normandy landings were the largest single-day amphibious actions ever undertaken, involving close to 400, 000 military and naval personnel"

© Robert Hunt Library/Mary Evans

Opening of the Colchester Oyster Fishery

Ceremonial scene at the opening of the annual Colchester Oyster Fishery. On the first Friday of September the Mayor of Colchester, the Town Clerk, and the Town Sergeant go out on an oyster dredger into the Pyefleet Channel of the Colne estuary off Mersea Island, in full civic regalia. The Mayor dredges and consumes the first oyster of the season. He and his guests then proceed to an oyster lunch to celebrate the opening of the fishery. The ceremony dates back to medieval times

© Mary Evans Picture Library