One of the most difficult gaps
to close was that at Ouwerkerk.
This gap was 85 feet deep and
718 feet wide, while its total
capacity per flood tide was
forty million cubic metres of wa
ter. Four Phoenix caissons were
required to close it and some
2000 men worked on it for months.
Just before midnight on Friday,
6th November, 1953, the gap
was closed. H.M. Queen Juliana
came down in person to watch
the final operations.
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