Chapter 554 Panama Canal (1)

A few days later, the hijacked "San Francisco" cargo ship arrived at the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is located in Panama, a Central American country. It crosses the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is an important shipping route and is known as the "World Bridge", one of the seven wonders of the world.

As early as the 15th century, Vasco Cortes, a Spaniard who conquered Mexico, proposed the construction of a canal, but did not specify a suitable location for excavation. Later, after Vasco Nuneri Balboa conquered Panama, in 1523, King Charles I of Spain (i.e. Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) clearly proposed the idea of ​​excavating a Central American canal.

In 1534, King Carlos I of Spain ordered an investigation of the Isthmus of Panama. The Spaniards paved a post road across the isthmus with pebbles along the ridge, which was considered a preparation for excavation.

Since the 18th century, the Spanish colonial government has sent people to survey four alternative locations: the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico; a location near the Atrato River in northwestern Colombia; the Isthmus of Nicaragua; the Isthmus of Panama.

Later, as Spain's national strength weakened, the plan was shelved.

In 1869, after 11 years of construction, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation, and the project cost only 18.6 million pounds.

As the person in charge of the construction of the Suez Canal, the successful Frenchman Ferdinand Lesseps ambitiously stated that he wanted to build a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the American continent.

Subsequently, the French government and the sovereign state of Panama, Colombia, signed an agreement to obtain a license for the construction of the Panama Canal, and the Panama Interoceanic Canal Global Company was established. After two years of intense preparations, on January 1, 1881, the Panama Canal was officially started.

The successful construction of the Suez Canal brought Lesseps' reputation to its peak. He became a member of the French Academy and the French Academy of Sciences, and received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and the Star of India. The British royal family awarded him the title of Honorary Citizen of London.

Intoxicated by past successes, Lesseps mechanically copied the successful experience of building the Suez Canal, but underestimated the special terrain of Panama and hastily formulated a construction plan without detailed research, which resulted in a disaster.

The Isthmus of Panama has a tropical rainforest climate, which is humid and hot, densely covered with jungles, blocked transportation, complex terrain, backward infrastructure, and lack of basic construction conditions. When 40,000 construction troops from 55 countries entered, people found that it was simply a hell on earth: poisonous insects were everywhere in the towering jungle, which was unbearable. The hot weather caused terrible epidemics to spread, taking the lives of a large number of workers and technicians. On the Mountain of Hope near the Gatun Lock, the tombstones were chilling.

What is more terrible than the hot climate and harsh environment is human error. At first, Lesseps copied the experience of the Suez Canal and thought that a sea-level canal could be built using the numerous lakes of the Isthmus of Panama. However, four years after the construction, the arrogant French discovered that the sea surface on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama was more than 20 centimeters lower than that on the Caribbean side, and it was impossible to build a sea-level canal. This belated discovery dealt a fatal blow to the French Interoceanic Canal Company.

What bothered Lesseps the most was the American sabotage. The design of the canal was parallel to the Panama Railway operated by the Americans, which was mainly for the convenience of transporting materials, but the Americans did not cooperate at all. The railway department set up all kinds of obstacles to the distribution of canal materials and treated it negatively, which finally forced the French Canal Company to buy the railway worth only 7.5 million US dollars at a sky-high price of 25.5 million US dollars, but the retained American employees continued to make trouble and sabotage the work, making it impossible for the railway to operate normally.

Finally, the French Canal Company also had problems in operation and management. When the project was unsustainable, the senior management headed by Lesseps embezzled the publicly issued canal stock funds. In order to cover up the truth and continue to issue bonds, the company used a large amount of money to bribe officials. 150 ministers and members of the French government accepted bribes. However, the truth could not be hidden. By 1889, the French Interoceanic Canal Company was exhausted and had to declare bankruptcy. Lesseps himself went to court and was sentenced to five years in prison.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the United States felt deeply the inconvenience of mobilizing troops between the two oceans, and the desire to connect the Panama Canal became increasingly urgent.

In 1902, the United States took over the Panama Canal project, which had been unfinished for many years, for $40 million, and wanted to have a 100-year lease of the Panama Canal for $10 million, and at the same time renew it indefinitely. However, the Colombian Congress rejected this request.

At that time, Panama's sense of independence was strong, and the United States did not waste time with Colombia, and directly sent warships to Panama to support Panama's independence. Faced with the powerful United States, Colombia had no choice but to swallow its anger.

In 1903, the United States signed a treaty with Panama, in which Panama gave the United States a 10-mile wide canal zone, and the United States was responsible for protecting Panama's independence. A one-time payment of $10 million was made to Panama, and thereafter a rent of $250,000 was paid annually.

After a 10-year construction period and an investment of $500 million, the Panama Canal was in the hands of the Americans and was finally officially opened to navigation in 1914.

After the opening of the Panama Canal, the voyage from the east and west coasts of the United States was shortened by 20,000 kilometers. The voyage from New York to San Francisco was shortened by 16%, the voyage from Liverpool to San Francisco was shortened by 43%, and the voyage from New York to Sydney was also shortened by 28%; the tolls collected by the canal company were also very considerable.

It was Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, who ordered the construction of the Panama Canal. This was his main achievement during his tenure, and he was therefore carved into Mount Rushmore by the American people.

After queuing from early morning to midnight, it was finally the turn of the cargo ship "San Francisco". The traction locomotives on both sides of the canal fixed the traction ropes on the ship and slowly moved forward. The shape of these traction locomotives is similar to that of ships, with only the wheels at the bottom touching the ground. And there are fixed tracks, and these locomotives run on these tracks, a bit like a small train.

Since the Panama Canal is a lock-type canal, all ships must enter the lock chamber before passing through the Panama Canal, and the role of these large number of traction locomotives distributed on both sides of the canal is to help the ships in the lock chamber adjust their postures and ensure that these ships are always in the center of the canal. However, the traction locomotives do not provide power for the ship to move forward. The power for the ship to move forward is still completed by the ship's own power system.

The role of the traction locomotive is only to help the ship slow down and brake and maintain its position. Because of this, these traction locomotives on both sides of the Panama Canal have earned a resounding name "Canal Mule".