Panama Canal 2 Essay Research Paper Intro

Panama Canal 2 Essay, Research Paper

Intro

In the 16th century, Europeans dreamed of building a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Spanish kings considered building a canal to carry treasure from their South American colonies back to Spain, but no attempt was made. Such a project only became possible in the 19th century, with the machinery and knowledge produced during the Industrial Revolution, the transition from an agricultural to a mechanized economy.

In the late 1870s a private French company won a concession from Colombia to build a sea-level canal in Panama and soon raised enough money to begin construction. Excavation in Panama began in 1882, but the company quickly ran into problems caused work and went into bankruptcy. Reorganized a few years later as the New Panama Canal Company, it barely managed to keep the concession and prevent the equipment from deteriorating.

At this point the Panama Canal seems to be giving the illusion of failure, but as you will see with the miraculous chain of events this ditch in the middle of Central America will be transformed into the great engineering wonder we know it to be today

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Body

As you saw, traveling through the canal can be quiet the experience. The canal consists of dredged approaches and three sets of sets of locks at each end. At Gatun, on the Atlantic side, the locks form continuous steps; on the Pacific, a small lake separates the middle and upper locks.

To travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a ship enters Limon Bay from the north and anchors behind a breakwater to await scheduling of its passage. When ready, the canal authorities send out a canal pilot to take the vessel through the locks. The canal employs about 240 highly trained and experienced pilots to handle the complex job of steering ships through the waterway. As soon as the pilot takes over, the ship is under canal jurisdiction.

The ship travels south-southeast about 7 miles and enters the first lock at Gatun. Line handlers at the lock attach steel mooring cables that are controlled by powerful electric locomotives, called mules. The mules guide the ship through the locks and steady it while the chambers are filled with water. In three steps the ship is raised to the level of Gatun Lake, 85ft above the sea.

The canal s 12 locks have the same dimensions: 110 ft wide by 1000 ft long. The gates at each end are 7 ft thick. Water enters and leaves each lock through a system of main culverts or pipes, which connect to 100 holes in the floor of each chamber. For each ship traveling through the canal, about 52 million gallons of fresh water are used.

At the top of the Gatun locks, the ship drops the mooring lines and proceeds under its own power for 23 miles though the lake, following the former channel of the Chagres River. The waterway gradually narrows until the river turns to the east at Gamboa, following under a bridge of the Panama Railroad. The canal s marine division, with cranes, dredges, tugs, and barges, is located at Gamboa.

South from Gamboa, the canal follows a channel dug through the mountains, which was the most difficult part of the construction project. Called Gaillard Cut, this section measures 9 miles and traverses the Continental Divide, a ridge made of rock and shale. Numerous landslides occurred both during and after construction, requiring frequent dredging to keep the canal open. The channel through the cut is 500 ft wide, the narrowest part of the canal. Originally only 300 ft, the cut was widened in phases beginning in the 1930s to allow two-way traffic. In the 1990s it was enlarged even more to accommodate larger ships.

At the southern end of Gaillard Cut, the ship slows and enters Pedro Miguel locks. Again, cables and mules guide and steady the ship before it is lowered 31ft to Miraflores Lake. The cables are released and the ship crosses the lake, which is 1.3 miles long and lies 54 ft above sea level. The ship then enters the last two locks, also named Miraflores, and is lowered to the level of the Pacific Ocean. The final stretch of the canal carries the ship to the harbor of Balboa, where the canal pilot leaves the vessel. The ship sails under the Bridge of the Americas and into the Bay of Panama, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. Northbound ships anchor in the Bay of Panama while waiting for their turn to travel through the canal to the Atlantic. The entire trip through the canal takes between 8 and 10 hours plus waiting time. The canal operates 24 hours a day year-round.

A large volume of the worlds ships, cargo, and passengers travel through the canal every year. In 1996 more than 15,000 ships, about 42 per day, made the crossing. From 1985 to 1995 the number of ships, their tonnage, and the amount of tolls collected all increased. Toll rose to $460 million in 1995, a 50 percent increase over 1985 figures. About 14,000 ships, 400,000 crewmembers, and 300,000 passengers traveled through the canal in 1995.

A wide variety of general cargo vessels and specialized ships pass through the canal. The most common are bulk carriers; and passenger liners. Many vessels naval, fishing boats, barges, dredges, floating dry-docks, and ocean-going tugs use the canal.

The Panama Canal Commission, an U.S. government agency under the Department of Defense, operates the canal. The commission was es