Panama Canal Basics

Between 1881 and 1888, France started construction of a sea level canal through the Isthmus of Panama.  Due to a number of factors, including desease, this effort failed and was abandoned. 

In 1904 the United States took over the construction, after conquering the mosquito problem which caused most of the desease, and completed the canal in 1914.  It was deemed that creating a sea level canal was impractical and it was decided to make the canal 85 feet above sea level, with a series of locks at each end to raise and lower ships to this level.  Three locks accomplish this at each end of the canal.  At the Pacific end there are two locks at Miraflores, and one at Pedro Miguel.  At the Caribbean end the Gatun Locks consist of all three required locks.  All the locks were built with two lanes of locks side by side.  Initially it was felt that one lane would be used for northbound ships and the other for southbound.  It was quickly decided that it was more efficient to have both lanes used for inward bound ships in the morning and outward bound ships in the afternoon.

You may have noticed that I referred to north and south as the directions of travel.  The isthmus is twisted to run east and west, so the transit is north and south.  As a matter of fact it is somewhat northwest and southeast.  This means that a ship heading from the Pacific to the Caribbean is actually moving westward during the transit.

We are approaching the canal entrance just about sunup.

A pair of tugboats escorted us to the first locks.  They are there just in case conditions prevent the ship from maintaining control on its own.

We are approaching The Bridge of the Americas.  Until a few years ago this was the only permenant bridge across the canal.  The Pan American highway crosses this bridge and allows you to drive from Panama to Alaska.  To the south there is a 40 mile break in the higway preventing a drive to Colombia.

During the entire transit, one of the cabin TV channels showed images from a camera over the bridge.  Often this gave the best view of what was ahead.  In addition, our historian was giving nearly constant information on the canal and our passage. Here we are approaching the Miraflores locks.  They are two locks wide by two locks long.  There is a container ship just entering the left hand lock. This is a photo of the cabin TV screen.

The railings were packed as we entered the first lock.

These elictrically powered canal engines (or mules) are very important.  They attach to the bow and stern of the ship on both sides and using a very powerful winch, control the position of the ship between the sides of the locks.  They are also used for stopping the ship in the correct position in the lock.  The ship provides its own propulsion through the locks.  There is a speed limit of 2.5 knots. Large ships like ours use 8 of these mules; 2 on each side of the bow and 2 on each side of the stern.

Here the container ship is entering the lock.

Now in place in the lock, the gates are  almost closed.

As water is let into the lock, the ship is rising.

Here the lock is full of water and the ship as at it maximum height, ready to pull out of the lock

The Miraflores locks were completed in 1913.

As the ships rise in the locks, the mules must rise also.  Here one of the mules is halfway up the very steep incline to the next level. In addition to having powered wheels, the mules are driven by a rack and pinion system.  There is a rack running down the center of the track for all the areas where ships would be attached.  The engine has a pinion gear that engages this rack for positive, non slip traction. For the switching yard and storage yards, this rack is not used.

Here we see a pair of lock gates closed with the water level equal on both sides.  This is the only condition where the gates can be opened.

We are in the third lock of the system, the Pedro Miguel lock.  We are about to sail out at 85 feet above sea level to go the majority of the way across the isthmus.