The Panama Canal, across the Isthmus of Panama in Central
America, is 82 kilometres (50 miles) long. The canal enables ships, and you and
I, aboard myriad types and sizes of yacht, to travel to and fro between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans, without having to travel all the way around South America, via Cape
Horn.
This reduces voyages by thousands of miles and many days, in the case of ships, and weeks
in that of sailing boats, whose owners find the attractions of the Horn too chilly to contemplate.
'The Big Ditch' was built by the United States of America,
who took up the project after the attempt by the French, headed by Vicomte Ferdinand Marie de
Lesseps, was abandoned. Lesseps, who had successfully overseen the building of the Suez
Canal, embraced the opportunity to build the Panama Canal but, unfortunately, he underestimated the very different problems that surrounded the construction of the largest and most complex project of its kind ever
undertaken.
The canal was started in 1904 and completed in 1914. It cost 350 million dollars to complete and employed tens of thousands of
workers. It also inspired the invention of a host of innovative specialised earth-moving machinery and new methods of construction.
Much was learned about building on the grand scale, the Ancient Egyptians not being around to offer
advice...
The canal cuts through central Panama, the most populated region, and has been central to many disputes between the
government of the United States of America and the Panamanian government.
America had long wanted to build a canal, not just for strategic reasons (i.e the ability to rapidly move
the U.S. Navy round both its seaboards without having to sail around the South American continent)
but also for the trading opportunities it would create.
In the middle of November 1903, Panama signed a treaty with the United States, giving
permission for the canal to be built. For some, inexplicable, reason the government of Panama authorised a French citizen, Philippe
Bunau-Varilla, formerly employed on the abandoned French attempt, to negotiate
on their behalf with the United States over the building of the canal.
Bunau-Varilla gave the United States even more than they asked
for - a perpetual lease on a section of central Panama 16 kilometres (10
miles) wide, where the canal would be built, plus the right to take any further land
that may be needed and the right to use troops to intervene in Panama. In exchange, the Americans agreed to pay 10 million dollars plus a yearly payment of 250,000
dollars and to guarantee Panama's independence.
In effect, Bunau-Varilla virtually gave away the land to the United States. America
controlled the canal and a large section of the surrounding land known as the Panama Canal
Zone.
The Panamanians felt that the Americans ran the canal, and canal zone, as if it were American territory and resented that attitude.
They felt that their country was getting no benefit from the canal and believed that the deal
had been made by default as no Panamanian had signed the agreement.
In retrospect, the deal that had been struck, from beginning to end, would
have been laughable if it weren't so serious.
In 1977, after riots and international pressure, the United States agreed to
negotiate with the government of Panama, recognising Panama's ownership of the canal and
the surrounding land, giving control of the canal to Panamanian authorities
as of December 1999.
TRAVELLING THROUGH THE CANAL
Because the Isthmus of Panama extends from
East to West, a vessel transiting the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the
Pacific actually travels North West to South East. Ships that are to transit
the canal are required to anchor behind the breakwater in Limon Bay and await scheduling from the canal
authorities.
At the designated time, a Pilot will be sent to the ship to take it through the
locks. The moment the Pilot takes control, the ship is under the jurisdiction of the
canal. Very large ships, or ones that are hard to manoeuvre, may require two or more pilots and, sometimes, a tug is
needed. The pilot takes the ship the seven miles to Gatun lock, where line handlers attach steel mooring lines,
controlled by powerful electric locomotives called 'mules'. The mules guide the ship through the locks and steady it as the chambers fill with
water. In three steps, the vessel is raised to the level of Gatun Lake,
26metres (85feet) above sea level.
The canal has twelve locks arranged in three sets of double locks at each
end. The locks are each 305 metres (1000 feet) long and 33 metres (110 feet)
wide.
The lock gates are 2.1 metres (7 feet) thick.Water enters and leaves each lock through a system of main culverts, or pipes, that connect with one hundred holes
in the floor of each chamber. Every deployment of the lock system uses 52 million gallons of fresh water, fed by gravity flow from Lake
Gatun. To conserve water, flotillas of smaller vessels are often sent through together with larger ships.
At the top of the Gatun locks, ships and boats clear their lines and, under their own power, proceed for
37 kilometres (23miles) across Lake Gatun and then follow the former channel of the Chagres
River.
The waterway narrows until the river turns eastward at Gamboa. South of Gamboa, the canal follows a channel cut through the
mountains. At the Southern end, the ship enters the Pedro Miguel locks.
Cables and mules are, again, used to guide and steady the ship as it is lowered
the 9.4metres (31feet) to Lake Milaflore.
The ship is released and then crosses the lake which is 2.1 kilometres (1.3
miles) long and is 16 metres (54 feet) above the level of the Pacific Ocean.
The ship now enters the last two locks, also named Milaflores, and is lowered to the Pacific
Ocean. The final stage through the canal carries the ship to the harbour of Balboa, where the canal pilot hands back the control of the ship to the captain and leaves the
vessel. The entire trip through the canal takes between 8 and 10 hours plus waiting
time which varies according to traffic. The canal is operational 24 hours a day 12 months of the year.
Each vessel pays a toll based on its capacity.
You may already have read Chris Baily's
description of his transit, aboard 'Prana', of 'The Big Ditch' as the canal
is affectionately known, in the first issue of MarineZine. If not, we can
recommend it as a good read!
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