Saw that myself in British Guiana loading sugar had to raise and lower the hatch "tents" 10 minutes per hour. Every day for 5 days.  If it got wet there was the danger of spontaneous combustion.

Ref # 9. Tiger, Flash is right about the Scottish Darien expedition, he tells the story very well at # 2, as he says it was a major factor in hastening the Union of England an Scotland in 1707.

Ref  #15. Unloading sugar can be a dangerous business. Charles Absolom the Kent cricketer who played one Test match for England was killed when a cargo of sugar was discharged on him at Port of Spain in 1889. 

Mark in those days it was done by bagged sugar into lighters (dumb as in unpowered barges.) Round about 1960 all the West Indian ports were converting to deep water harbours with bulk sugar loading towers.

 

It took 1 day to load 60 - 100 tons by lighter. 1 day to load 1000 tons by bulk tower. So it cost a lot of jobs. There were 3 towers in Barbados; Independence in 1966. I returned in the merchant navy in 1967 only 1 tower working,

 

 

This is Barbados deep water harbour, 3 sugar loading towers on the left . Memories!

I believe white vessel in the foreground is an experimental sailing ship

Anyway, back to the railway and its effect on the canal.

 

Upon completion, the 48 mile (77 km) long railway was proclaimed an engineering marvel of the era. The line was built as double track.

The Atlantic terminal is in Colón (aka Aspinwall); the Pacific in Panama City.

Until the opening of the Panama Canal, it carried the heaviest volume of freight per unit length of any railroad in the world. The existence of the railway was key in the selection of Panama as the site of the canal. In 1881 the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique purchased controlling interest in the Panama Railway Company. In 1904 the United States government purchased the railway from the French canal company. At the time railway assets included some 75 miles (120 km) of track, 35 locomotives, 30 passenger cars, and 900 freight cars.

[edit] Post Panama Canal

After World War II few additional improvements were made to the Panama Railway, and it declined after the US government handed over control to the government of Panama in 1979. On 19 June 1998 the government of Panama turned over control to the private Panama Canal Railway Company ("PCRC"), a joint venture between the Kansas City Southern Railroad and privately held Lanigan Holdings, LLC. In 2000 and 2001 a large project upgraded the railway to handle large shipping containers, to complement the Panama Canal in cargo transport. The line is now single track with some strategically placed sections of double track. Motive power as of October 2006 includes 10 ex-Amtrak F40PHs and 1 GP10. Rolling stock is notable for a 1938 dome car.

 

 

 

And back to the Canal.

 

An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution, and the idea of a canal was enhanced by the success of the Suez Canal. The French, under Ferdinand de Lesseps, began construction on a sea-level canal (i.e., without locks) through what was then Colombia's province of Panama, on January 1, 1880. The French began work in a rush with insufficient prior study of the geology and hydrology of the region.^[6] Among other problems, sea level on the Caribbean side of Panama is lower than on the Pacific side. In addition, disease, particularly malaria and yellow fever, sickened and killed vast numbers of employees, ranging from laborers to top directors of the French company. Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito as a disease vector was then unknown.

 

In 1893, after a great deal of work, the French scheme was abandoned due to disease and the sheer difficulty of building a sea-level canal, as well as lack of French field experience, such as downpours causing steel equipment to rust.^[7] The high toll from disease was one of the major factors in the failure; as many as 22,000 workers are estimated to have died during the main period of French construction (1881�?889).^[6]

 

According to Stephen Kinzer's 2006 book Overthrow, in 1898 the chief of the French Canal Syndicate (a group that owned large swathes of land across Panama), Philippe Bunau Varilla, hired William Nelson Cromwell (of the US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell) to lobby the US Congress to build a canal across Panama, and not across Nicaragua.

 

Cunning s*ds. They issued a postage stamp, in 1902, after having run into a 10-cent Nicaraguan postal stamp produced in the US by the American Bank Note Company erroneously depicting a fuming Momotombo volcano (which was nearly dormant and stands more than 160 km (100 miles) from the proposed Nicaraguan canal path) and taking advantage of a particularly volcanic year in the Caribbean, Cromwell planted a story in the New York Sun reporting that the Momotombo volcano had erupted and caused a series of seismic shocks. He thereafter sent leaflets with the above stamps pasted on them to all U.S U.S. Senators as witness to the volcanic activity in Nicaragua. On June 19, 1902, three days after senators received the stamps, they voted for the Panama route for the canal. For his lobbying efforts, Cromwell received the sum of $800,000.^[8]

The United States, under President Theodore Roosevelt (with John Frank Stevens as Chief Engineer from 1905�?907), bought out the French equipment and excavations for US$40 million, and began work on May 4, 1904, after helping Panama achieve the separation from Colombia by deploying troops and naval forces to stop Colombia from stopping the rebellion against Colombian governance, created by the United States of America. The United States paid Colombia $25,000,000 in 1921, seven years after completion of the canal, for redress of President Roosevelt's role in the creation of Panama, and Colombia recognized Panama under the terms of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty.

Right. Having got all the advantages which the Scots never had like pre-built railways,the Yanks actually made a start.

Chief Engineer (1905�?907), John Frank Stevens', primary achievement in Panama was in building the infrastructure necessary to complete the canal. He rebuilt the Panama Railway and devised a system for disposing of soil from the excavations by rail. He also built proper housing for canal workers and oversaw extensive sanitation and mosquito-control programmes that eliminated yellow fever and other diseases from the Isthmus. Stevens argued the case against a sea level canal like the French had tried to build. He successfully convinced Theodore Roosevelt of the necessity of a canal built with dams and locks.

 

Because of the number of Irishmen employed each worker was issued with this drawing to show which way to dig. Argentina was not accepted as a short cut.

The canal actually was staged as

Culebra 1904

 

Miraflores locks 1908

 

 

Gatun locks 1909

The opening of the canal 1914

As a matter of interest note Tincan in the bows of the ship. This crosses the french canal.

These are the staging posts

Atlantic Entrance
Gatún Locks
Trinidad Turn
Bohío Turn
Orchid Turn
Frijoles Turn
Barbacoa Turn
Mamei Turn
Gamboa Reach
Bas Obispo Reach
Las Cascadas Reach
Empire Reach
Culebra Reach
Cucaracha Reach
Paraiso Reach
Pedro Miguel Locks
Miraflores Lake
Miraflores Locks
Balboa Reach
Pacific Entrance

The Americans also gradually replaced the old French equipment with machinery designed for a larger scale of work (such as the giant hydraulic crushers supplied by the Joshua Hendy Iron Works), quickening the pace of construction,^[6] President Roosevelt had the former French machinery minted into medals for all workers who spent at least two years on the construction to commemorate their contribution to the building of the canal. These medals featured Roosevelt's likeness on the front, the name of the recipient on one side, and the worker's years of service, as well as a picture of the Culebra Cut on the back.^[9]

In 1907 Roosevelt appointed George Washington Goethals as Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal. The building of the canal was completed in 1914, two years ahead of the target date of June 1, 1916. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914 with the passage of the cargo ship Ancon.^[10] Coincidentally, this was also the same month that fighting in World War I (the Great War) began in Europe. The advances in hygiene resulted in a relatively low death toll during the American construction; still, 5,609 workers died during this period (1904�?914).^[11] This brought the total death toll for the construction of the canal to around 27,500.

 

 

The Japanese built monster subs, dubbed "Sen Tokus", and work began on the first one in early 1943 but only three were actually built—I-400, I-401 and I-402. They each displaced 6,560 tons, were 400 feet long (as compared with a typical U.S. sub's length of just over 200 feet) with a surface speed of 19 knots and 6.5 knots submerged. Overall, they were three times the size of an average WWII sub and had a crew consisting of between 144 and 220 men, depending on the mission. As is usual with any new class of vessel, many design flaws required correction and the intricacies of launching aircraft from a surfaced submersible required lots of training. But eventually, within 45 minutes of surfacing, her skilled personnel could break out, assemble, fuel, arm and catapult all three aircraft. The sleek-looking Aichi M6A Seiran bombers had a wingspan of 40 feet and a length of 38 feet. The planes were launched by a 120-foot catapult and were hoisted back aboard by powerful hydraulic cranes. They were stowed in the hanger compartment with floats detached and wings and tails folded. There was even room for a fourth plane if needed.

There were at least two ways for this mighty new weapon to reverse Japan's faltering fortunes. One would be a strike on the Panama Canal. A surprise attack from the Atlantic side where the Americans had virtually no air defenses, would destroy the Gatun locks, thus draining Gatun Lake.

 

Work proceeded quickly on planning of the Panama attack, which was dubbed "Operation PX". By June, 1945 all the boats were completed and disguised with fake funnels to give them the appearance of innocent coastal steamers in the event of any Allied air reconnaissance. They proceeded north into the Sea of Japan on the west coast of Honshu to Takaoka where a full-scale replica of the Gatun Locks had been built in Toyama Bay. This was used for a number of simulated air strikes but snooping American subs were an occasional annoyance.

 

 On August 15th, 1945 Emperor Hirohito made his dramatic radio announcement from the Imperial Palace announcing Japan's surrender. Orders came from Tokyo to abort the attack. Captain Ariizumi was struck dumb, thinking initially that it might be an Allied ploy of some sort. Finally he was forced to accept Tokyo's orders as valid and ordered his flotilla to destroy all code machines, documents and ordnance, fire all torpedoes and catapult all aircraft into the sea. Most painful of all was the order to hoist the black flag of surrender and proceed to the nearest Allied base. Captain Ariizumi never did surrender, prefering suicide. He had given instructions that his body be wrapped in the Japanese flag and buried at sea. 
 

Flash also touches on the Presbyterian Scots immigrating to the American colonies. Something that came back to haunt the limeys. See Revolutionary War.

 

T-Dog

Well we own new Edinburgh New Jersey and Canada. Plus the British West Indies.

What have you got? Boston?

Flash, Boston has world champion sports teams & lots of Irish. You are stuck with Canada which has always been a drain on the public purse. We got the better of the deal.

 

T-Dog

 

T-Dog, King of self contradiction.

 

 

Tommy:  Pease don't bring up Boston.  Reminds me of the Kennedy's.  I can not understand why people with a great gene pool can't figure out the swimmer is a bum.