STORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL

  At sea Day 15.  Lunch of oxtail stew.

Bones.

Raspberry sherbert and coconut ice cream cone.

Tomorrow we arrive in Panama City, and on day 17 transit the Panama Canal.  So we went to the Theater to watch a 56-minute documentary released in 1987:  A Man, A Plan A Canal, Panama, a Nova program.

• While the French started this all in the 1880's, they failed for being too early.  The technology and science were on the verge of being being developed.
• When President Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901, he took on this effort as his main crusade.
• The Panama Canal made the U.S. a world power.
• Certainly, it is in the top ten of all construction projects, along with the Great Pyramids of Ghiza, Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Hoover Dam and Eiffel Tower.

The Story of the Panama Canal.

• What is it?
• 51-mile waterway in Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
• Locks lift ships up to Gatun Lake, the  largest man-made lake, 85 feet above sea level.
• 52 million gallons of fresh water is used in a single passing,  Droughts do threaten operation,
• The Norwegian Encore, if the trip were direct through the canal, would be 6206 miles long from Seattle to Miami.  
• It would be 9206 miles longer if the ship went around South American.
• The saving is 8000 nautical miles
• The factor of 1.151 difference is the curvature of the Earth.
• One knot equals one nautical mile/hour, or roughly 1.15 statute mile/hour.
• 
  History.
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey for a route through the Americans to ease the voyage from Spain to Peru.
• The Kingdom of Scotland in 1698 launched the ill-fated Darien scheme.
• Beginning in 1826, the U.S. began negotiations with Gran Columbia (present-day Colombia, Venezuala, Ecuador and Panama.  Simon Bolivar declined the American offer,
• Great Britain made an attempt in 1843.
• The discovery of gold in California in 1846 triggered an Treaty between the U.S. and New Granada.  This led to the U.S. constructing the Panama Railroad in 1855.  This helped clear some dense forests.  But no water route.,
• The French in 1876 explored the prospects,
• 
  Earlier, Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1869 had built the Suez Canal, allowing for a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern oIndian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea.  
• This reduced the sail distance by 5500 days,  
• The property of Egypt, but with European shareholders, mostly British and French,  President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1856 nationalized the Suez Canal.
• A week after the opening of the Suez Canal, Lessups married his second wife, who was a third his age, and they had 12 children.
• The French attempt began in 1881, inspired by 76-year old Lesseps, who in 1884 headed the Franco-American Union that presented the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. 
• There were a lot problems, including a scandal at the end, where he was found guildty of misappropriating funds.
• But effectively, the French effort failed.
• De Lessups made only two trips to the canal site.
• The choice of a sea-level canal, like the Suez, doomed the project.
• However technical difficulties, 22,000 deaths, mostly from Yellow Fever and Malaria, plus financial problems killed the project in 1889.
• There was a second French effort in 1894, with a plan similar to what the Americans did., but they have up.
• 
  Beginning in 1901 when Theodore Roosevelt became president, he worked with the U.S. Senate came up with $40 million to purchase French interest in the canal.

• 
  Some political shenanigans occurred, and Panama separated from Columbia in 1903 with U.S. help, leading the U.S. propping up the new government,  Gunboat diplomacy was criticized, but the African adage used by Teddy, Speak softly and carry big stick, and you will go far.  
• There were leadership changes in Panama for the U.S. Panama Canal Project, and you can read the details here, but the bottom line is that the canal was completed in 1914.
• 
  By the 1930s, water supply became an issue, but Madden Lake was created.
• Panama got full control over the canal in 1974.
• The canal was upgraded in 2016.
• In 1921 Colombia got some special concessions and recognized the independence of Panama.

• 
  Cost to transit Panama Canal.  A large and fully loaded container ship pays $337,000.
• The largest pays a little more than a million dollars.
• A liquified natural gas company paid $2.4 million to skip to the front of the line, bringing the charge up to $3 million.
• The average cost of transiting the Panama Canal since the expansion has been $900,000. 
• 
  However, Japan's Eneos Group paid a $4 million bill last year during drought conditions. 
  2023 experience 41% less rainfall than usual.
• Usually, cruise ships pay between $100,000 and $300,000 to transit.
• Small ships spay from $1,600 to $4,100, depending on length.

• 
  In 1928, Richard Halliburton swam through the canal and paid 36 cents because he weighed
  129 pounds.  Took him 14 hours.  The average transit time for a ship is 8-10 hours.

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