The Suez Canal, like many of the highways in this country, is not big enough for the volume of traffic it now has to carry. So it is to be enlarged and the work has already begun. A great improvement scheme is now under way, a scheme which will involve the removal of 80 million cubic yards of soil – nearly as much as that excavated when the historic waterway was first cut.

Two new by-pass canals are to be made one of them 1¼ miles long and the other 2½ miles. The shorter is to run east of the canal, south of Port Said and the other near El Kabrit. The canal itself is to be widened for 15 miles south of the Small Bitter Lake, and deepened as well as widened for more than eleven miles in the neighbourhood of El Firdan.

The creation of the Suez Canal in the 1800’s was due to the genius and resolution of a French diplomat, Ferdinand de-Lesseps, who pushed on with his scheme in the face of much opposition and difficulties of all kinds.

A shipping link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea had been a centuries-old dream, generally dismissed as a physical impossibility. Yet according to ancient historians, a canal connecting the River Nile with the Red Sea existed in 1380 BC and another in 285 BC.

Traces of these where discovered by Napoleon when he invaded Egypt in 1798. He was keenly interested in the idea of cutting the Isthmus of Suez and he detailed an engineer named Le Pere to survey the region. But Le Pere said that the level of the Red Sea was about 33 feet

 

higher than that of the Mediterranean, so that to dig a canal between the two would mean the risk of flooding Egypt. For 50 years after that the idea of a Suez Canal was considered an impossibility, and a railway was built instead – from Alexandria to Suez, via Cairo.

But in 1847, two more French experts discovered that the Red Sea was practically on the same level as the Mediterranean, and once again a canal seemed a possibility.

Ferdinand de Lesseps pressed on with his scheme, and in 1854 obtained from his friend Said Pasha, Egypt’s ruler, a concession to dig a canal direct from the Mediterranean to Suez, 100 miles away.

Criticism of his project came from all quarters. It was said that mud would block the canal entrance at the Port Said end, and that wind-blown sand would soon fill his long trench.

It was indeed a giant’s task that the indomitable Frenchman had undertaken. He, himself, described the region where he proposed to gather hordes of workmen as an appalling desert where not even a fly could live.

De Lesseps’ first step was to persuade optimists to invest their money in his seemingly mad venture. Britain, the maritime nation one would have thought most likely to be interested in this scheme, would have nothing to do with it. At length shares were bought in the new Suez Canal Company by adventurous people in France, Turkey and by the Viceroy of Egypt – who in 1875 transferred Egypt’s shares to Britain for nearly £4,000,000.

 

THE GREAT ENTERPRISE BEGUN

In 1859 De Lesseps had raised enough money to make a start, and on April 25 of that year he himself swung a pickaxe to turn the first earth at Port Said. To begin with the workers only used picks and baskets! Soon, however, the best excavating and dredging equipment then available was brought to the toilers in the desert.

One of the first problems facing the engineers was to obtain drinking water for the labourers. This was eventually solved – partly by means of conduits and partly by the digging of a shallow canal bringing fresh water from the Nile.

It was hoped that the great work would be completed in six years, but climatic and cholera took severe toll on the diggers, and it was not until 1869 that the thin ribbon of water lay across the desert.

CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE

The official opening took place in November 1869. It was a grand occasion. A fleet of 68 vessels of different nationalities was led down the waterway by the 2000 ton Aigle, which had the Empress of France on board.

Much work had still to be done, however. The intended depth of the canal was 26 feet 3 inches, and maintaining that depth was afterwards a continuous struggle against the ever encroaching sand. in addition to the dredging, frequent improvement schemes were carried out.

 

The canal people not only kept what they had won from sand, but went on winning more. Since the opening of the canal, widening and deepening operations have involved more than twice as much work as the original cutting.

At the beginning of the Second World War the canal was defenceless. Enemy aircraft flew up and down, machine gunning and dropping bombs and mines as they pleased. Then the Allies brought guns, lighters and searchlights to the scene. Balloons were moored, and the battle to close the Suez Canal was on. But in spite of severe damage, navigation was only held up for a total period of 76 days.

During 86 years of maintaining and enlarging one of the world’s most important trade links, the Suez Canal Company has also changed the face of the desert. Everywhere near the great waterway one sees gardens, public parks, fine avenues; for the company has ever been concerned for the welfare of its small army of employees.

It has built more than 1400 dwellings for them, surrounded by trees and gardens. There are social and sports clubs, playing fields and golf links where formerly stretched only the sandy, blighted desert. There are hospitals, clinics and welfare centres supervised by a surgeon and 19 doctors.

Now the greatest improvements in the canal’s history are being started despite the fact that in 14 years time the Company’s concession expires. Then the canal will be handed over, free, to Egypt

Two ships pass in the Suez Canal, banked by the desert

The Canal at El Ballah showing the modern
by-pass on the left

When first opened the Canal was 6 m deep and 22 m wide with passing bays.
1872 – increased to a depth of 7.2 m and dredging began to prevent it filling up with sand.
1908 – increased to a depth of 11 m and by 1914 it had been widened to 45 m
1939 – increased to a depth of 12 m and widened to 130 m
1948 – a by-pass canal was dug, 7½ miles long and deepened to 12½ m
1956 – during the blockage of the Canal, 2 feet of sand had accumulated whilst not in use
1958 – work began to widen the Canal by 30 m and increase the depth to 14 m.
1959 – the World Bank extended a loan of 56.5 million dollars for this work to be completed
1960 – widened enough for vessels of 45,000 tons to pass
1963 – widened enough for vessels of 60,000 tons
1966 – a six year programmed began to widen and deepen to allow 110,000 ton vessels
1970 – increased to a depth of 16.2 m
1999 – increased to a depth of 17.7 m
2010 – increased to a depth of 25 m
Today it is between 300-365 m wide. A new side channel has opened. The Canal has been
doubled in width in 5 parts – Port Said, El Ballah, Tismah, Deversoir & Kabrit.

(Researched by Patricia Jezzard)