On 21 May 1894: The Manchester Ship Canal was opened.

From Mainly Norfolk with thanks; Harry Boardman sang THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL to the tune of The Girl I Left Behind Me on his and Dave Hillery’s 1971 Topic album Trans Pennine. They noted: The Manchester Ship Canal, opened in 1894, was of tremendous economic importance, both to Lancashire and the country as a whole, changing as it did one of the world’s greatest commercial and trading centres from a land-locked city to an important inland seaport.

The Manchester Canal comes from an undated printed sheet and was supplied by Paul Graney of Manchester. The notion of describing a mere canal voyage in terms of the dangers of the deep has been very popular in times past, to judge by the number of versions on the go, one of the best known of which is The Calibar.

Harry Boardman sings The Manchester Canal

O the S.S. Irwell left this port the stormy sea to cross.
They heaved the lead and went ahead on a voyage to Barton Moss.
No fair ship e’er left the slip from this port to Natal
Than the boats that plough the waters of the Manchester Canal.

The third day out or thereabout, a great storm swept the main.
The captain called his officer, I just forget his name.
“You see that light there on the right?” “Aye, aye,” he did exclaim.
“Well it’s the Wilsons’ Brewery lightship at the end of Ancoats Lane.”

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The Manchester Canal · Harry Boardman · Dave Hillery · Bob Diehl    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKI2vqgxgQ