MY VOYAGE THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL
"The World is a book and those who do not travel,read only a page".
-St.Augustine
One of the most rewarding things about my seafaring career is the opportunity to visit magnificent places around the globe and discover amazing wonders of the world. Panama Canal, dubbed as one of the most marvelous engineering feats of mankind has roused my curiosity and brought myriad questions in my mind.
We had a scheduled port of call to Buenaventura, Republica de Colombia, a port in the country’s Pacific Ocean side. I was ordered by the Captain to observe the preparations of our passage plan being prepared by our Second Mate, our navigating officer. As he laid down the voyage plan on the chart in the ship’s chart plotting room,and delineated the course line to traverse, I was intrigued if how we should pass across the Isthmus of Panama. The Isthmus is the narrow strip of land in the American continent which connects the North America and South American landmass.
After sailing six days from Tampa, Florida,U.S.A., we maneuvered cautiously towards Limon Bay anchorage area in Panama’s Atlantic Ocean side. There were numerous ships in the vicinity awaiting their schedule of transit through the Panama Canal. Vessels of any type- cruise ships, bulk carriers, pure car carriers, gigantic container vessels, and oil tankers were scattered all around. A few minutes after we dropped our anchor, Panamanian port authorities boarded our vessel. They conducted necessary inspections with regards to safety of navigation, emergency preparedness, anti-terrorism, and marine pollution prevention. The inspections conducted were mandatory implemented prior to transit through the canal. Other authorities arranged transactions with Captain, signed and exchanged pertinent documents and papers required by Autoridad Canal de Panama.When the authorities off boarded, Captain announced our transit time, scheduled the next day at five in the afternoon. We spent an evening and a day in the anchorage area. Some of my crew members unleashed their fishing tackles and started fishing around the ship’s deck. They had caught bucketful of assorted fishes like lapu-lapu, tanigue, matambaka, and talakitok. Instead of buying frozen fishes in the market, Chief cook bought the fresh fishes at 2$ U.S. per kilo for our provision.Some of us prepared coal and grill stand for ihaw-ihaw session. The ship’s poop deck looked-like a picnic site for us. We enjoyed feasting hot-off-the grill fishes, savored with hot and spicy soy sauce, matched with a kettle of bahaw. After the outdoor activity, others still remained fishing for additional income or for just a pleasure, while some took rest and slept in preparation for our scheduled transit.
The long wait in the anchorage area was finally over. We started heaving up our anchor, then the Canal Pilot boarded our ship from a small pilot boat.The Pilot has the complete charge of the ship during its trip through the canal. On the course of our transit, I was assigned to handle the engine telegraph or the ship’s throttle control for speed maneuvers. Another task for me is to record and indicate the time of engine maneuvers executed and write it on the ship’s bell book. In the ship’s bridge or the wheel house were four of us- the Canal Pilot, Captain, an Able seaman who steers, and I. I was fortunate enough to be assigned in the wheelhouse and observe the ship’s behavior while transiting the canal and have a birds-eye view of Panama’s scenic rainforest countryside and eco-tourist parks.
We sailed from Limon Bay anchorage area by way of the harbor in the town of Cristobal near the city of Colon, Panama. After passing through the breakwater, we headed south along the channel which is eleven kilometers long that leads to Gatun locks, the first lock of the canal if a ship comes from Atlantic Ocean. The Gatun locks looked like giant steps. They consists of three pairs of concrete chambers that lift ships about 26 meters from sea level to Gatun lake.Small electric locomotives called mules run on rails along both sides of the locks. They help position and stabilize ships inside the lock.They also pull and guide the ship through the lock. As we approached the first chamber, the Canal Pilot ordered to stop the engine, and I immediately executed his command. Canal workers or linemen fastened the ends of the locomotive towing cables into our vessel.Then the locomotives pulled our ship into the first chamber of Gatun lock..While inside the lock, huge steel gates closed silently behind our vessel. Canal workers opened valves that allowed water from Gatun lake to flow into the chamber through openings in the bottom of the lock. During the next 8 to 15 minutes, the rising water slowly raised our ship.When the level of the water has the same as the water level of the second chamber, the gates in front of our ship swinged outward.The locomotives again pulled our ship into the second chamber. Again, the water level has raised.The process was repeated until the third chamber finally raised our ship to the level of Gatun lake.
The canal workers released the cables, and we sailed out of the locks under our ships own power.I couldn’t believed what I had seen,and kept asking myself how could they had done this kind of project. As we headed south across the tranquil waters of Gatun lake, we passed along the huge Gatun dam. This 18 million cubic meter earth dam is one of the largest in the world. When we had reached the south eastern end of the Gatun lake, we entered the Gaillard cut, a narrow channel,13 kilometers long and 150 meters wide. Cut is an engineering term for an artificially created passageway or channel.The Gaillard cut was originally called the Culebra cut. In 1913 it was renamed in honor of David DuBose Gaillard, the engineer in-charge of digging between the hills.Dredgers had worked constantly to keep the channel clear of earthslides.In some years , the dredgers in the Gaillard cut had removed as much as 750,000 cubic meters of earth.
After we maneuvered out of the Gaillard cut, electric locomotives pulled our ship again towards the Pedro Miguel locks, the second lock of the Panama Canal. These locks lowered our vessel 9 meters in one step to the Miraflores lake. We sailed two and a half kilometers across the lake and entered Miraflores lock, the last lock. Here ,two chambers lowered our ship to the level of the Pacific Ocean. The distances these chambers must lower a ship depending on the height of tide in the Pacific.Tides at the Pacific end of the canal rise and fall about 4 meters a day. In the Atlantic side, it changes only about 60 cm. daily.
Out of the locks, we headed down a channel almost 13 kilometers long between Miraflores locks and the end of the canal. We passed the towns of Balboa, Balboa heights and La Boca. We had also passed under the Thatcher Ferry bridge, which is also an important link in the Pan-American highway. After the canal Pilot had left, we entered the Bay of Panama and headed toward the open sea of the Pacific Ocean. We had traveled almost 80 kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific in about 8 hours.
Panama Canal ranks as one of the greatest engineering achievements in the world. Upon its completion in 1914, it shortened the voyage of ships and saved time and fuel consumption in travel. Previously, ships had to travel around South American continent, in the stormy seas and icy waters of Cape Horn or via Straits of Magellan.
The U.S. built the Panama Canal at a cost of about 380 million U.S $.Thousands of laborers worked on it for about 10 years, using steam shovels and dredges to cut through jungles, hills, and swamps. They had to conquer such tropical diseases as yellow fever and malaria. The canal extends 81.63 kilometers from Limon Bay on the Atlantic Ocean to the Bay of Panama on the Pacific Ocean. The locks of the Panama Canal has a usable length of 300 meters, width of 34 meters and a depth of 20 meters. The dimensions of the locks limit the size of ships that can use the canal. For example, commercial supertankers and supercarriers of the U.S. navy cannot pass through it.
A 1903 Treaty between the U.S. and Panama gave the U.S. the right to build and operate the waterway . The U.S. also received the right to govern an area called the Panama Canal Zone on both sides of the canal. In 1977, Panama and U.S. signed a new treaty, as a result, Panama received territorial jurisdiction over the zone in 1979. The U.S. kept administrative control of some military installations and areas necessary to operate and defend the canal. A second treaty gave the U.S. the right to defend the neutrality of the canal.
The Panama Canal is an important commercial and military waterway. About 12,500 ocean-going vessels travel through it yearly, an average of about 34 per day. These ships carry about 154 million metric tons of cargo annually. About seventy percent of the ships that sail through the canal are traveling to or from U.S. ports. Other frequent users of the canal includes Japan, Canada, and Latin American countries.
My voyage through this engineering wonder was a very remarkable one. The scenes which I had only read in books about the Panama Canal became a reality when my eyes had witnessed what this man-made waterway was all about. Through out the years that passed , the Panama Canal had played a vital role for rapid, efficient, and cost-saving transport in the seafaring trade and continually serves as strategic gateway for sustainable growth of global economy.
-St.Augustine
One of the most rewarding things about my seafaring career is the opportunity to visit magnificent places around the globe and discover amazing wonders of the world. Panama Canal, dubbed as one of the most marvelous engineering feats of mankind has roused my curiosity and brought myriad questions in my mind.
We had a scheduled port of call to Buenaventura, Republica de Colombia, a port in the country’s Pacific Ocean side. I was ordered by the Captain to observe the preparations of our passage plan being prepared by our Second Mate, our navigating officer. As he laid down the voyage plan on the chart in the ship’s chart plotting room,and delineated the course line to traverse, I was intrigued if how we should pass across the Isthmus of Panama. The Isthmus is the narrow strip of land in the American continent which connects the North America and South American landmass.
After sailing six days from Tampa, Florida,U.S.A., we maneuvered cautiously towards Limon Bay anchorage area in Panama’s Atlantic Ocean side. There were numerous ships in the vicinity awaiting their schedule of transit through the Panama Canal. Vessels of any type- cruise ships, bulk carriers, pure car carriers, gigantic container vessels, and oil tankers were scattered all around. A few minutes after we dropped our anchor, Panamanian port authorities boarded our vessel. They conducted necessary inspections with regards to safety of navigation, emergency preparedness, anti-terrorism, and marine pollution prevention. The inspections conducted were mandatory implemented prior to transit through the canal. Other authorities arranged transactions with Captain, signed and exchanged pertinent documents and papers required by Autoridad Canal de Panama.When the authorities off boarded, Captain announced our transit time, scheduled the next day at five in the afternoon. We spent an evening and a day in the anchorage area. Some of my crew members unleashed their fishing tackles and started fishing around the ship’s deck. They had caught bucketful of assorted fishes like lapu-lapu, tanigue, matambaka, and talakitok. Instead of buying frozen fishes in the market, Chief cook bought the fresh fishes at 2$ U.S. per kilo for our provision.Some of us prepared coal and grill stand for ihaw-ihaw session. The ship’s poop deck looked-like a picnic site for us. We enjoyed feasting hot-off-the grill fishes, savored with hot and spicy soy sauce, matched with a kettle of bahaw. After the outdoor activity, others still remained fishing for additional income or for just a pleasure, while some took rest and slept in preparation for our scheduled transit.
The long wait in the anchorage area was finally over. We started heaving up our anchor, then the Canal Pilot boarded our ship from a small pilot boat.The Pilot has the complete charge of the ship during its trip through the canal. On the course of our transit, I was assigned to handle the engine telegraph or the ship’s throttle control for speed maneuvers. Another task for me is to record and indicate the time of engine maneuvers executed and write it on the ship’s bell book. In the ship’s bridge or the wheel house were four of us- the Canal Pilot, Captain, an Able seaman who steers, and I. I was fortunate enough to be assigned in the wheelhouse and observe the ship’s behavior while transiting the canal and have a birds-eye view of Panama’s scenic rainforest countryside and eco-tourist parks.
We sailed from Limon Bay anchorage area by way of the harbor in the town of Cristobal near the city of Colon, Panama. After passing through the breakwater, we headed south along the channel which is eleven kilometers long that leads to Gatun locks, the first lock of the canal if a ship comes from Atlantic Ocean. The Gatun locks looked like giant steps. They consists of three pairs of concrete chambers that lift ships about 26 meters from sea level to Gatun lake.Small electric locomotives called mules run on rails along both sides of the locks. They help position and stabilize ships inside the lock.They also pull and guide the ship through the lock. As we approached the first chamber, the Canal Pilot ordered to stop the engine, and I immediately executed his command. Canal workers or linemen fastened the ends of the locomotive towing cables into our vessel.Then the locomotives pulled our ship into the first chamber of Gatun lock..While inside the lock, huge steel gates closed silently behind our vessel. Canal workers opened valves that allowed water from Gatun lake to flow into the chamber through openings in the bottom of the lock. During the next 8 to 15 minutes, the rising water slowly raised our ship.When the level of the water has the same as the water level of the second chamber, the gates in front of our ship swinged outward.The locomotives again pulled our ship into the second chamber. Again, the water level has raised.The process was repeated until the third chamber finally raised our ship to the level of Gatun lake.
The canal workers released the cables, and we sailed out of the locks under our ships own power.I couldn’t believed what I had seen,and kept asking myself how could they had done this kind of project. As we headed south across the tranquil waters of Gatun lake, we passed along the huge Gatun dam. This 18 million cubic meter earth dam is one of the largest in the world. When we had reached the south eastern end of the Gatun lake, we entered the Gaillard cut, a narrow channel,13 kilometers long and 150 meters wide. Cut is an engineering term for an artificially created passageway or channel.The Gaillard cut was originally called the Culebra cut. In 1913 it was renamed in honor of David DuBose Gaillard, the engineer in-charge of digging between the hills.Dredgers had worked constantly to keep the channel clear of earthslides.In some years , the dredgers in the Gaillard cut had removed as much as 750,000 cubic meters of earth.
After we maneuvered out of the Gaillard cut, electric locomotives pulled our ship again towards the Pedro Miguel locks, the second lock of the Panama Canal. These locks lowered our vessel 9 meters in one step to the Miraflores lake. We sailed two and a half kilometers across the lake and entered Miraflores lock, the last lock. Here ,two chambers lowered our ship to the level of the Pacific Ocean. The distances these chambers must lower a ship depending on the height of tide in the Pacific.Tides at the Pacific end of the canal rise and fall about 4 meters a day. In the Atlantic side, it changes only about 60 cm. daily.
Out of the locks, we headed down a channel almost 13 kilometers long between Miraflores locks and the end of the canal. We passed the towns of Balboa, Balboa heights and La Boca. We had also passed under the Thatcher Ferry bridge, which is also an important link in the Pan-American highway. After the canal Pilot had left, we entered the Bay of Panama and headed toward the open sea of the Pacific Ocean. We had traveled almost 80 kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific in about 8 hours.
Panama Canal ranks as one of the greatest engineering achievements in the world. Upon its completion in 1914, it shortened the voyage of ships and saved time and fuel consumption in travel. Previously, ships had to travel around South American continent, in the stormy seas and icy waters of Cape Horn or via Straits of Magellan.
The U.S. built the Panama Canal at a cost of about 380 million U.S $.Thousands of laborers worked on it for about 10 years, using steam shovels and dredges to cut through jungles, hills, and swamps. They had to conquer such tropical diseases as yellow fever and malaria. The canal extends 81.63 kilometers from Limon Bay on the Atlantic Ocean to the Bay of Panama on the Pacific Ocean. The locks of the Panama Canal has a usable length of 300 meters, width of 34 meters and a depth of 20 meters. The dimensions of the locks limit the size of ships that can use the canal. For example, commercial supertankers and supercarriers of the U.S. navy cannot pass through it.
A 1903 Treaty between the U.S. and Panama gave the U.S. the right to build and operate the waterway . The U.S. also received the right to govern an area called the Panama Canal Zone on both sides of the canal. In 1977, Panama and U.S. signed a new treaty, as a result, Panama received territorial jurisdiction over the zone in 1979. The U.S. kept administrative control of some military installations and areas necessary to operate and defend the canal. A second treaty gave the U.S. the right to defend the neutrality of the canal.
The Panama Canal is an important commercial and military waterway. About 12,500 ocean-going vessels travel through it yearly, an average of about 34 per day. These ships carry about 154 million metric tons of cargo annually. About seventy percent of the ships that sail through the canal are traveling to or from U.S. ports. Other frequent users of the canal includes Japan, Canada, and Latin American countries.
My voyage through this engineering wonder was a very remarkable one. The scenes which I had only read in books about the Panama Canal became a reality when my eyes had witnessed what this man-made waterway was all about. Through out the years that passed , the Panama Canal had played a vital role for rapid, efficient, and cost-saving transport in the seafaring trade and continually serves as strategic gateway for sustainable growth of global economy.
posted by Arez at 11:44 PM
