Gatun Lake Locks (looking towards the Caribbean Sea) from the deck of the Coral Princess cruise ship, April 2009
As seen by the ship captain: the aft deck and Princess Cruise flag
As seen by the ship passengers: 3 sets of Gatun Locks (lift of 85 feet)
Each transiting ship uses at least 52,000,000 gallons of fresh water! Anyone looking for a bountiful source of fresh water?
As seen by the Joe-kster: the “other” Princess!
Panama Canal Statistics
Creation of the Panama Canal - 1870 to 1914
Panama Canal Zone - 436 square miles
First failed construction of Panama Canal by France
January 1881 - February 1889 by Ferdinand de Lesseps, known as
“The Great Engineer” after completing the Suez Canal in 1869
Chief Engineers (U.S.) - John Wallace, June 1904 - June 2905
John Stevens, July 1905 - January 1907
George Goethals, February 1907 - January 1914
Length of canal - 50 miles with 15.5 miles sea level & salt water, &
34.5 miles elevated & fresh water
Transit time - 8 to 16 hours
Shortened distance from New York to San Francisco by 7,843 miles
Gatun Lake - 164 square miles
Miraflores Lake - 1.88 square miles
Channel across Gatun Lake - 24 miles
Channel across Miraflores Lake - 1.5 miles
Gaillard Cut (Culebra Cut) - 9 miles long
Lowest toll paid - swimmer Richard Halliburton, 36 cents in 1928
Gatun Locks - 3 sets of locks - lift 85 feet
Pedro Miguel Locks - 1 set of locks - lift 30 feet
Miraflores Locks - 2 sets of locks - lift 55 feet
Lock chambers - 1,000 feet long, 110 feet wide, 70 to 80 feet deep
Total lock gates - 46
Each transiting ship uses at least 52,000,000 gallons of fresh water
Gatun Dam - 1.5 miles long, width @ top - 100 feet, width @ base -
.5 mile, 105 feet above sea level
Miraflores spillway dam - 500 feet long with 8 gates
Total American excavation - 232,440,945 cubic yards
Greatest number of employees at one time - 56,645 in 1913
Recommended Reading: “The Path Between The Seas”,
The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 by David McCullough,
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1977, ISBN 0-671-22563-4
QuotaBillsI don't give a ship! - Unknown
I hope my ship comes in before my dock rots. - Unknown
Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm. - Publilius Syrus
Zinc: What a ship will do if it has a hole in it - Daffynitions joe-ks.com
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it. - Jonathan Winters
Tell the men to fire faster and not give up the ship. - Captain James Lawrence
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. - Louisa May Alcott
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. - John Shedd
I have a feeling that when my ship comes in I'll be at the airport. - Charles Schulz
An entire ocean can't sink a ship unless it allows the water inside. - Donna Smith
After the ship has sunk, a consultant knows how it might have been saved. - Newt Hielscher
When rats leave a sinking ship, where exactly do they think they're going? - Douglas Gauck
Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship. - Leonardo da Vinci
If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. - Sheryl Sandberg
The ship is safest when it is in port, but that's not what ships were built for. - Paulo Coelho
Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope. - Epictetus
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. - Thomas Carlyle
When I was a child, I wanted to raise horses in Wyoming or be a cabin boy on a pirate ship. - Sadie Jones
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. - Thomas Aquinas
No one would have ever crossed the ocean if they could have gotten off the ship in the storm. - Charles F. Ketterling
Most people stand on the dock of life waiting for their ship to come in when deep down inside they know it has never left port. - Zig Ziglar
He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. - Leonardo da Vinci