My definition for this article is that a Canal Zoner is one of an occupying
army who served in the Canal Zone
Now let’s go back a bit and perhaps find out. In the reign of Ramesis the Second in B.C. 1330 an attempt was made to start a Suez canal by linking up the City of Bubastis (an ancient city near Heliopolis and on a branch of the Nile) to the Gulf of Suez via the Bitter Lakes connecting the Nile to the Red Sea. This was a disaster due to famine and great loss of life so no Canal Zoners there.
In 1798 Napoleon found the remains of an old canal near Suez and a plan was prepared. At that time it was calculated that the Red Sea was some 30 ft higher than the Mediterranean and locks were planned. Nothing came of the scheme. So no Canal Zoners there.
Further surveys suggest that the difference between the two seas was negligible and in 1849 Ferdinand de Lessops worked out a scheme. In 1854 he brought these plans to Said Pasha and a company was formed. Before they could start they had to provide a supply of drinking water and a fresh water canal was made from Ismailia to Port Said and 3000 camels and donkeys were used to carry water to the workers making this canal. The Egyptian Government bought this canal for £400,000.
Work then started on the Suez Canal proper and the machinery employed in its making cost £2,400,000 and it was calculated that 96,938,066 cubic yards of sand and mud were excavated (give or take a couple of million cubic yards or so!!). It turned out that there was very little difference in the levels of the Red and the Med. And it was found that there was a current always running at between a ½ and I mile an hour from Lake Timsah towards Port Said. The distance from Port Said to Suez is about 100 miles of which 60 miles are through the lakes. When the work was finished in 1869 the average width was 90 yards and the average depth was 28 ft. The distance saved on the journey from England to India was about 4,840 miles. The Egyptian Government supplied 20,000 fellahin or workers in the excavations and once the canal reached the Lake Timsah basin, which was an area of swamps and reeds, it took 5 months to fill. The inauguration ceremony took place on November 16th 1869 with great ceremony and it is recorded that 10 vessels went through the canal in the remaining 6 weeks of that year. In 1870 the number increased to 486 and in 1905 it had gone up to 4116 and it then went from strength to strength.
The earliest British Canal Zoners were probably our troops who fought in the battles of Quassassin in August 1882 and Tel-el-Kebir in September 1882. These battles were fought to sort out the warring factions in Egypt and to secure the future of British interests in the Canal Zone and from then on the British had a very watchful eye on the Egyptian political scene. In 1914 a British Protectorate was established and in 1936 Egypt’s independence was recognised by Britain.
Then came our war when the largest forces of all time were sent to the Canal Zone to prevent the enemy from flooding through to take the vital waterway. Without boasting we can say that we were ‘THE GREATEST’ and in addition to chasing the Germans and Italians out, whilst we were perhaps not the earliest Canal Zoners, we chased more bints, ate more sand, we were all affected with the ‘Gippo guts’, had more desert sores, killed more flies and our forces, with some relief, left Egypt in 1957.
- Alec Adamson, RAMC Canal Zone, Sudan & Tripolitania 1942-46