| Show T A D E S 0 L A IT E S U E Z s wa e FRENCHMEN HEEP IT J 1 I experienced special pilots guide ships through the suez canal popular idea that british control I 1 canal agree with fac facts ts prepared by national society washington D C service amany THE HE suez canal thought by many laymen to be british controlled is the property of and is operated by the compagnie Uni verselle du canal maritime de suez registered as an egyptian company under egyptian law with its main administrative offices in paris the president is always french as are also 21 of its 32 directors and its entire secretariat a and nd higher personnel the general workers are a cosmopolitan group the canal company does nothing that it can get others to do equally well when hand labor gave way to machine operation various entrepreneurs pren eurs were given the work ot of excavation and the majority of the digging was done by contractors part of the west jetty made up of cement blocks worth 65 apiece was built by contract the company compan had to construct construe a freshwater fresh water er c anal and sta as eions in order to carry on its basic work but it leaves the delivery of the water to others the personnel has just three things to do to keep the canal open to keep the ships passing through and to keep the records the maintenance of the canal and its improvements is in the hands of the works department whose officers are first class graduates from the ecole Poly technique and the ecole centrale in paris dentistry for dredges one never knows how much equipment is required in the upkeep of of a canal until he accompanies a member of the works department through the shops and around the small harbor where the broken toothed dredges come back to have their dentistry done it looks a as s though every disabled or incorrigible piece of wood or metal in that part of the world were dumped about compared with the works department the traffic department has a nice clean job one sees no clutter of papers no bulky correspondence the principal officers are recruited from the french navy there is in addition to the watchfulness of captain and pilot an eye on every ship that goes through the canal from the time she is sighted in one sea until she is turned loose to shift for herself in the other the british post office refused to recognize the canal for two years too slow they said yet nothing but an airplane has equalled equal led the speed actually attained between port said and port tewfik on the canal itself the traffic department has some little boats which can make the trip in a tr trifle me over two hours and a half the speed for steamers on the canal is miles an hour but pilots exceed the limit when side winds prevent the ship from obeying her rudder at a lower speed the canal is now miles long jetties betties having added considerably t to its length in recent years guard against blasts during the transit of the canal two pilots are used each making one half the journey they serve only in an advisory capacity though many a captain lets the pilot handle the ship as though it were his own officers of the company unhesitatingly ta sacrifice a single vessel to the common good A shipload of explosives was sunk near the port said waterworks water works and a cargo of benzine in the commercial basin but ships carrying dangerous cargoes are being removed farther and farther from the main anchorages and as careful a quarantine is kept against spontaneous combustion as against cholera of the towns on the canal only one existed before de lesseps began his work suez then a miserable arab village is now a miserable arab town A few apartment houses are rising on squares of salt encrusted land which are filled in to bring them up to the level of at the street the sweet water canal brightens things up and flowers fruits and vegetables line its banks clouds and the softer light thai that comes with them give to nondescript suez a beauty such as many a greener lovelier spot would envy the upper curve of the red sea becomes purest emerald and beside it the tawdry town seems carved from silver and onyx in the background their imposing flanks mottled by shadows into a chocolate and coffee marbling lie the barren hills of africa in the middle distance gray oil tanks seem almost phosphorescent in spite of the brightness of the thole scene and tall chirr chimneys ineys of the e port ibrahim refineries rise like full leaded exclamation points suez lady finds love suez has little to do with the canal it lies up a creek in which the chows dhows from the arabian coast are stranded at low tide and is 4 with port tewfik by a causeway 4 port tewfik like port said is a byproduct by product of the canal when there was need for land on which to build the dredges dumped it there along the canal front runs the avenue helene a shady bund with a comradely cafe or two nurs maids occupy shaded benches and one healthy little miss of three or f four who had fallen quite in love wan with lieutenant stood gazing at his monument for minutes together port tewfik gateway to the teeming east is provincial on the canal and hence a busy place it is not a port at all ships wait in the gulf of suez until the pilot takes them in hand ships coming down the canal dont stop at port tewfik they only drop the pilot and signal full speed ahead port ibrahim is principally a haven for tankers which come there to spew up the viscous crude oil or pump forth a suver silver stream of refined petroleum to the east of suez there was formerly a large camping ground for mecca bound caravans made up of swarthy egyptians slender syrians serious faced turks and moslems from stan clad in wadded gowns made of bright colored cloth like upholstery cretonnes cre tonnes with their women hiding behind veils presents desolate scene now this vast expanse is deserted A single stalking camel or a bedouin on horseback would make it a desolate picture lacking the living element it is only empty the first station north of suez is lufa near the small wharf are some brightly painted buoys at the foot of the signal mast are the canvas balls cylinders and cones used to signal to passing ships back of the homes and office is a water tank served by a windmill and provided with a filter A few trees give sparse shade that is all along the northern half of the canal the railway runs just behind these canal stations and the station master can keep in touch with the world on land as well as the world of ships but lufa is a lonely spot the visitor is greeted like a prodigal son some ships have a strict mall mail schedule to keep others are unkempt tramps whose engines need no slowing down to keep them within in the proper speed the station master knows no favorites vo rites it may cause the captain of a great cruise ship some chaffing at table if he has to tie up and let a smudgy tramp steam slowly by but he takes his orders from those who know the canal and would lose their jobs if they As the tide ebbs and hows flows between the red sea and the equalizing tanks of the bitter lakes the ship facing the current be it ragged tramp or merchant prince ties up |
