Panama CanalWay back in 1534 the enterprising King of Spain, Charles V, mooted the idea of building a shipping canal across the central American isthmus to connect the
Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, but it was not until 1880 that the French took up the challenge, under the auspices of
Ferdinand de Lesseps, fresh from his triumph with the
Suez Canal. The French attempt proved disastrous, daunted by disease and the inhospitable conditions, which ended up claiming an estimated 22,000 lives before construction was abandoned in 1889. In 1904 the United States Government decided to give it
a go, first setting to work to improve conditions for laborers, and on 15 August 1914, the cargo ship 'Ancon' became the first of hundreds of thousands of vessels to traverse the canal, which has been hailed as one of the greatest engineering wonders of the world.
Today control of the canal has been handed over to the
Republic of Panama, and it is not only trading ships that undertake the eight hour trip through the canal, obviating the long and treacherous route around
Cape Horn at the tip of
South America. Among the 14,000 ships a year that pass through the canal are hundreds of cruise liners, carrying excited tourists, and pleasure boats from motor launches to ocean-going yachts. On the shore the canal provides a spectacle for thousands more tourists who flock to watch the ships pass by, making it one of the most popular attractions for those who holiday in cosmopolitan
Panama City, from where the waterway stretches to the city of Colon at the Caribbean end.
The canal essentially consists of a series of locks and lakes, including the massive Lake Gatun, which was created by flooding acres of forest during construction. Another of the most spectacular parts of the canal is the Gaillard Cut, where laborers hacked their way through nine miles of solid rock. Cruising through the canal is a spectacular experience, more like sailing along a wide, natural tropical river, overhung with lush jungle foliage, than traveling along a man-made waterway.
