[1] The canal was part of a larger scheme for the construction of a secure inland canal route from London to Portsmouth, which allowed craft to move between the two without having to venture into the English Channel and possibly encounter enemy ships or natural disaster.

[2] This section (technically the Ship Canal) links Chichester Harbour at Birdham with the junction at Hunston.

[7] To ease passage between the Chichester and the Portsea sections a steam vessel, the Egremont, was made to tow 40-ton barges in trains of six.

[11] In 1830 tolls were reduced and for a while traffic picked up with cargoes including 20 tons of marble from the Mediterranean for the king.

In the same year the company made Ports Creek navigable to allow the passage of barges around the north of Portsea Island to Portsmouth Harbour.

c. cxxxviii), the same year in which the canal company was wound up (the winding up order having been applied for in 1888).

A section of the Portsmouth-London mainline railway follows the course of the canal between Portsmouth & Southsea and Fratton stations.

[16] In 1979 Portsmouth City Council agreed to spend £35,000 over the next decade to refurbish the lock.