Note 3 — Front matter

In 1807 the noted Cornish engineer Trevithick commenced a small timbered drift beneath the Thames, 5 feet by 3 feet, as an exploratory passage for a larger vehicular tunnel. Due to the small frontal area, he was able to successfully probe about 1000 feet, but the river then broke in and halted the work. Mine tunnels had also reached beneath the Irish Sea and various rivers in the coal regions of Newcastle, but these were so far below the surface as to be in perfectly solid ground and can hardly be considered subaqueous workings.