I will do my best to give the best info I can, this is all
thanks to Hutch our Port Lecturer who gave us the lecture the day prior and
then a running commentary from 5.00am until 5.00pm today. The entire ship was up early in readiness for
our very big day. It is indeed the 8th
wonder of the world, it is 100 years since it was finished, I will not do it
justice but will do what I can.
Christopher Columbus did four trips across the Atlantic from
Spain. On one trip he sailed up the river at the
start of what is now the Panama Canal and into
the lake, but the mountain range stopped him from going further. Without him knowing it he got to within 12
miles of the Pacific, a great shame that he did not go further. (It was 1513 before the first European
discovered the Pacific.)
In 1513 the Isthmus of Panama was claimed for Spain. The Panama Canal
is the result of a saga of human ingenuity and courage that goes back to that
century. Since then the idea of building a route that would join the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans was conceived. The first firm effort to build an all-water
route Panama
began with the French in 1880, but financial troubles and diseases made the
initiative fail. After its independence
in 1903 Panama negotiated an
agreement with the United
States for the construction of the canal. The first works began in 1882, the French
abandoned the idea, all the equipment was taken over by the jungle and 20% of
their workforce died (nearly 30,000 people).
The French wanted $109,000.000 it was agreed to pay $40,000,000 but took
three years to get this finance OKed.
The US
paid $10,000,000 in gold and then agreed to pay $250,000.00 p.a for 99
years. The first engineer in charge of
the program left after a year in fear for his life because of disease. On August 1, 1905 a fellow by the name of
Stevens was appointed, he ordered all work to stop, he was obviously a very
clever man with vision because he ordered a whole infrastructure to be put in
place before any work was commenced. He
was a very successful railroad builder.
He built houses, recreational facilities etc. he eradicated Yellow Fever
which was major killer of the workmen, he drained the swamps etc sprayed
everything with insecticide, raised all the work platforms etc thereby keeping
the men out of the water and keeping them healthy. He also was instrumental in getting the
families of the men to live there as well.
Work continued, he also resigned after a time.
“The interoceanic waterway uses a system of locks with two
lanes that operates as water elevators and raises the ships from sea level to
the level of the Gatun
Lake, 26 metres above sea
level, to allow the crossing through the Continental Divide, and then lowers
the ships to sea level on the other side of the Isthmus.
The water used to raise and lower the vessels in each set of
the locks is obtained from the Gatun
Lake by gravity and
poured into the locks through a main culvert system that extends under the
locks chambers from the sidewalls and the centre wall.”
The locks only use fresh water.
It was finished on August 15, 1914, under budget, and on
time. The cost being between 352 and 385 million US dollars. There were 5609 lives lost.
“The Canal initiated
round-the-clock operations on May 12, 1963, with the installation of new
fluorescent lighting in Culebra Cut and the
three locks.”
On May 10, 1913 two
steam shovels met; President Woodrow Wilson was informed and he pushed the
button which ignited the explosion and the water first flowed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It has
only been closed twice in 1974 for 12 hours and in 1989 for one day.
“At noon on December 31, 1999, Panama
took over full operation, administration and maintenance of the Canal, in
compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties negotiated with the United States
in 1977.”
There are extensive works currently under way to expand the
canal so that larger ships can pass through.
At present only ships up to 294 m long and 32m wide can pass through the
locks. When finished ships up to 366 metres long and 49 metres wide will be accommodated. This is an immense undertaking.
I keep adding things in quotes, I have taken these from a
pamphlet we have been given. All the
other info is what I took from Hutch’s lecture, now if anything is incorrect it
will be my error, not the info he gave us.
“Canal Expansion
In 2014, when the Panama Canal
completes 100 years of operation, the expansion will be complete. At that moment, the waterway will double its
capacity to handle the increasing demand of worldwide trade.
To ensure the social and environmental feasibility of the
project, the expansion complied with the environmental impact studies that
include mitigation measures such as reforestation, wildlife rescue and
archaeological and paleontological rescue.
Furthermore, the expansion will help mitigate climate
change, since bigger ships will transit through this route, reducing the global
emissions of CO2 that result when using alternate routes.”
Water will also be saved, as there will be a lake which will
hold the water used for the locks and it will be pumped in and out enabling the
water to be reused.
This is just a little bit of info about our entering into
the canal and then into the locks. The
ship has two tugboats to assist the passage thru. The Pilot comes on board, the
captain relinquishes his control to the Pilot, there are line handlers,
electricians a great many people involved for each ship to pass thru. When our ship enters the lock there is only
25 inches either side of the ship, and 10ft 3ins under the keel, we are
attached to eight mules, four either side, the very first mule was made by
General Electric and now they are made by Mitisbishi at the cost of $1.9
million US dollars each, there are 100 mules in operation throughout the lock
system. At present there are two lanes
and they can be used in either direction, there was a container ship beside us
going in the same direction as us.
Before the ship enters the lock it waits its turn, and whilst it is
doing that it sits at anchor in the lake. Even though the ship is attached to
the mules, it does go thru under its own steam.
The funny thing being, the lines have to be attached to the ship from
the mule and the only way this can be done is by two men in their rowboat, with
all the equipment and the cost of the whole process and the only way it can be
achieved is by these fellows in the rowboat.
A great amount of water is used for this whole process, if
it is low rainfall they can then get the water from the Maddern Lake but if it
is extremely low then the ships cannot pass thru at all, if that had been the
case two weeks notice has to be given. I
am sure this does not happen often.
I am sure at some point we will be told what the actual cost
for our passing thru will be and I will let you know then, I did read an
article maybe 6 months ago saying it was about $250,000.00 per ship, I can
totally understand this, anyway when I know I will let you all know.
I could go tell you all more but Sam says Sabine you will
have bored your readers to death. Hope
not. I learned about the Panama Canal when I was in grade 3 and for whatever
reason it totally fascinated me, I did not ever imagine getting the opportunity
of going thru but it way surpassed any imaginings I had. All the best Sabine and Sam XXX
