Proposals to link the land-locked Sheffield to the sea were made as early as 1697, but it wasn't until 1815 that the Sheffield Canal Company was formed by Act of Parliament in order to construct a canal.
Proposals to link Sheffield to the navigable Don at Tinsley (and so to the Rivers Ouse and Trent, and to the Humber and the North Sea) were made as early as 1697, but these came to nothing. In 1815, the Sheffield Canal Company was formed by Act of Parliament in order to construct a canal.