Photos

This is another photo that I took while working onboard the cruise liner Queen elisabeth II or also known as the QE2, sorry for the quality but I had to scan this one as it was taken with a film camera, but my purpose here is to ilustrate my experience, on this particular shot we were about to enter the first lock of 2 towards the pacific and which was named by Fernando Magalhaes or Magellan , the crossing took most of the day which was quite enjoyable since it was something new for me, the ship had to be pulled in into the giant locks by side trains that were located on either side of the locks, one can be seen on the lower right of my shot, I also crossed the Suez canal in Egipt but unfortunately I did not take any photos in this location.

So, the following is what the Panama canal is all about, the Panama Canal or in Spanish Canal de Panamá is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it has had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America.

Although the concept of a canal near Panama dates back to the early 16th century, the first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership, after this attempt failed and saw 22,000 workers die the project of building a canal was attempted and completed by the United States in Panama in the early 1900 with the canal opening in 1914, the building of the 77 km canal was plagued by various problems including disease and landslides,by the time the canal was completed, a total of 27,500 workers were thought to have died in the French and U.S. attempts since its opening the canal has been enormously successful and continues to be the key for the international cruise liners namely the Queen Elisabeth 2 and to a wide variety of shipping, each year more than 14,000 ships pass through the canal, the canal can accommodate vessels from small private yachts up to fairly large commercial ships, a typical passage through the canal by a cargo ship takes around nine hours and with a toll price ranging from a 1000 to 120.000 dollars per vessel only but the few will cross the canal , I hope you enjoyed reading thid piece of lecture and thanks for your comments or critics