What was the first vessel to cross the Panama Canal?
SS Ancon (1901)
SS "Ancon was an American cargo and passenger ship that became the first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914. The ship was built as Shawmut" for the Boston Steamship Company by the Maryland Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland and put into Pacific service operating out of Puget Sound ports for Japan, China and the Philippine Islands. "Shawmut" and sister ship "Tremont" were two of the largest United States commercial ships in service at the time and the company eventually found them too expensive to operate.
Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt sought the creation of a canal through Central America which would link the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Most members of Congress preferred that the canal cross through Nicaragua, which was eager to reach an agreement, but Roosevelt preferred the isthmus of Panama, under the loose control of Colombia. Colombia had been engulfed in a civil war since 1898, and a previous attempt to build a canal across Panama had failed under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps. A presidential commission appointed by McKinley had recommended the construction of the canal across Nicaragua, but it noted that a canal across Panama could prove less expensive and might be completed more quickly. Roosevelt and most of his advisers favored the Panama Canal, as they believed that war with a European power, possibly Germany, could soon break out over the Monroe Doctrine and the U.S. fleet would remain divided between the two oceans until the canal was completed. After a long debate, Congress passed the Spooner Act of 1902, which granted Roosevelt $170 million to build the Panama Canal. Following the passage of the Spooner Act, the Roosevelt administration began negotiations with the Colombian government regarding the construction of a canal through Panama.
Canal
Many notable sea canals were completed in this period, starting with the Suez Canal (1869) – which carries tonnage many times that of most other canals – and the Kiel Canal (1897), though the Panama Canal was not opened until 1914.
Isthmus of Panama
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man behind the Suez Canal, started a Panama Canal Company in 1880 that went bankrupt in 1889 in the Panama scandals. In 1902–4, the United States forced Colombia to grant independence to the Department of the Isthmus, bought the remaining assets of the Panama Canal Company, and finished the canal in 1914.
Panama Canal
France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.
Panamax
"Post-Panamax" or "over-Panamax" denote ships larger than Panamax that do not fit in the original canal locks, such as supertankers and the largest modern container and passenger ships. The first known post-Panamax ship was the RMS "Queen Mary", launched in 1934, built with a 118-foot beam as she was intended solely for North Atlantic passenger runs. When she was moved to Long Beach, California, as a tourist attraction in 1967, a lengthy voyage around Cape Horn was necessary. The first post-Panamax warships were the Japanese "Yamato"-class battleships, launched in 1940. Until World War II, the United States Navy required that all of their warships be capable of transiting the Panama Canal. The first US Navy warship design to exceed Panamax limits was the , designed circa 1940 but never built. The limit was specifically removed by the Secretary of the Navy on 12 February 1940, with the (never-realized) prospect of a new set of 140-foot wide locks to be built for the Canal. The s were designed with a folding deck-edge elevator to meet Panamax limits; the limit did not apply to subsequent US aircraft carriers.
Steamboat
In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up the West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $199,999 to set up regular packet ship, mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City, Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon. Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from the Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River.
History of the Panama Canal
In 2006, the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP) proposed a plan creating a third lane of locks using part of the abandoned 1940s approach canals. Following a referendum, work began in 2007 and the expanded canal began commercial operations on June 26, 2016. After a two-year delay, the new locks allow the transit of Panamax ships (which have a greater cargo capacity than the original locks can handle). The first ship to cross the canal through the third set of locks was a Panamax container ship, the Chinese-owned "Cosco Shipping Panama". The cost of the expansion was estimated at $5.25 billion.
Panama Canal Railway
In 1847, a year before gold was discovered in California, Congress authorized subsidies to run two lines of mail and passenger steamships, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. The Atlantic lines ran from New York City, Havana, Cuba, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to Panama's Chagres River on the Caribbean Sea, at a $300,000 subsidy. The proposed Pacific line ran with three steamships from Panama City, Panama to California and Oregon on the Pacific Coast, at a $200,000 subsidy. None of the steamships used in the Pacific was built before the mail contract was let.
Panama Canal Railway
On a rainy midnight on , lit by sputtering whale oil lamps, the last rail was set in place on pine crossties. Chief engineer George Totten, in pouring rain with a nine-pound maul, drove the spike that completed the railroad. The next day the first locomotive with freight and passenger cars passed from sea to sea. The huge project was completed.
Panama Canal Zone
In 1836 U.S. statesman Charles Biddle reached an agreement with the New Granadan government to replace the old road with an improved one or a railroad, running from Panama City on the Pacific coast to the Chagres River, where a steamship service would allow passengers and freight to continue to Colón. His agreement was repudiated by the Jackson administration, which wanted rights to build a canal. In 1841, with Panama in rebellion again, British interests secured a right of way over the isthmus from the insurgent regime and occupied Nicaraguan ports that might have served as the Atlantic terminus of a canal. In 1846 the new US envoy to Bogotá, Benjamin Bidlack, was surprised when, soon after his arrival, the New Granadans proposed that the United States be the guarantor of the neutrality of the isthmus. The resulting Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty allowed the United States to intervene militarily to ensure that the interoceanic road (and when it was built, the Panama Railroad as well) would not be disrupted. New Granada hoped that other nations would sign similar treaties, but the one with the United States, which was ratified by the US Senate in June 1848 after considerable lobbying by New Granada, was the only one.
Kongō Maru (1935)
From January 1937, "Kongō Maru" was leased to Nippon Yusen, and operated on trade routes to the eastern coast of North America via the Panama Canal. She set a speed record for crossing the Pacific Ocean in nine days, 10 hours in 1939 and continued to be operated on this route until August 1941.
Maritime history of California
As steamships became available, regular paddle steamer service opened a major mail, passenger and high value cargo link between the two coasts of the United States. The first transcontinental railroad, the Panama Railroad, was finished in 1855 at a cost of about 5,000 lives and $8,000,000 and provided a major faster link with the East Coast and West Coast. Regardless of how the miners had originally got to California nearly all returned East via Panama—the easiest and fastest route. The returning miners and the returning gold were welcomed in the East and the mail and newspapers exchanged soon established strong east-west bonds. After it was completed in 1855 the ease of use of the Panama Railroad meant that the Panama Route carried most of the high value, time sensitive freight to and from California. Most female traffic went from east to west over the Panama Route which was the easiest and fasted route after about 1852. Women in the California Gold Rush were scarce but played a major role in settling California. Wives' and sweethearts' passage via Panama to California was normally paid for by miners or businessmen who had decided to stay in California. These women arriving in nearly every ship from Panama soon changed the character of women scarce California as they rapidly outnumbered the prostitutes who had initially flocked there.
Henry W. Corbett
He had embarked on the steamship "Empire City" from New York and crossed the Isthmus of Panama on the "hurricane deck of a mule" (there was no Panama Canal until 1914 over ten years after his death). At Panama City he boarded the "S.S. Columbia", one of the ships of the Pacific Steamship Company. She was then on her maiden voyage en route to San Francisco. The "Columbia" was the first steamship built to ply the route between San Francisco and Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River. He then embarked on the "Little Columbia", sleeping on the open deck, for the overnight passage up the Columbia and the Willamette rivers to Portland, incorporated as a city a month before on February 8, 1851.
History of the Panama Canal
The United States took control of the French property connected to the canal on May 4, 1904, when Lieutenant Jatara Oneel of the United States Army was presented with the keys during a small ceremony. The new Panama Canal Zone Control was overseen by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) during construction.
John Hay
Roosevelt was minded to build the canal anyway, using an earlier treaty with Colombia that gave the U.S. transit rights in regard to the Panama Railroad. Hay predicted "an insurrection on the Isthmus [of Panama] against that regime of folly and graft ... at Bogotá". Bunau-Varilla gained meetings with both men, and assured them that a revolution, and a Panamanian government more friendly to a canal, was coming. In October, Roosevelt ordered Navy ships to be stationed near Panama. The Panamanians duly revolted in early November 1903, with Colombian interference deterred by the presence of U.S. forces. By prearrangement, Bunau-Varilla was appointed representative of the nascent nation in Washington, and quickly negotiated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, signed on November 18, giving the United States the right to build the canal in a zone wide, over which the U.S. would exercise full jurisdiction. This was less than satisfactory to the Panamanian diplomats who arrived in Washington shortly after the signing, but they did not dare renounce it. The treaty was approved by the two nations, and work on the Panama Canal began in 1904. Hay wrote to Secretary of War Elihu Root, praising "the perfectly regular course which the President did follow" as much preferable to armed occupation of the isthmus.
Panama Canal
Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008, for a total of 333.7 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons. By 2012, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal. It takes 11.38 hours to pass through the Panama Canal. The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked the Panama Canal one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
Ancon Hill
The first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914, , took its name from the hill and surrounding township.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
In 1869 the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in the United States. This development reduced passenger and freight traffic across the isthmus and diminished the amount of gold and silver shipped east. During the height of the gold rush, however, from 1855 to 1858, only one-tenth of the ordinary commercial freight was destined for or originated in California. The balance concerned trade of the North Americans with Europe and Asia. The railroad company, because of its exceptionally high return on a capitalization that never exceeded US$7 million, paid a total of nearly US$38 million in dividends between 1853 and 1905. Panama received US$25,000 from Colombia's annuity and benefited from transient trade and some inflow of capital.
John Oxenham
After participating in Drake's successful voyage, Oxenham launched his own expedition to Panama, leaving Plymouth on 9 April 1576 with an 11-gun frigate (100–140 tons, name unknown) and 57 men, and after taking some prizes and prisoners, hid his ship and prizes and proceeded on the Panama mainland. The Cimarrones guided Oxenham and his men across the Cordillera de San Blas to the head of the Chucunaque River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. During the winter, Oxenham's men and their Cimarron allies felled and milled cedar trees to build a shallow-draft 45 foot, oared boat, that they then floated down the river and into the ocean, making Oxenham the first Englishman to build a vessel in the New World, and the first to sail in the Pacific.
Panama Canal locks
The seagoing tug "Gatun", an Atlantic entrance working tug used for hauling barges, made the first trial lockage of Gatun Locks on September 26, 1913. The lockage went perfectly, although all valves were controlled manually since the central control board was not yet ready.
History of the Panama Canal
The first excavations for the new approach channels at Miraflores began on July 1, 1940, following the passage by Congress of an appropriations bill on June 24, 1940. The first dry excavation at Gatún began on February 19, 1941. Considerable material was excavated before the project was abandoned, and the approach channels can still be seen paralleling the original channels at Gatún and Miraflores.
Panama Canal
In 1846, the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, negotiated between the US and New Granada, granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus. In 1848, the discovery of gold in California, on the West Coast of the United States, created great interest in a crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. William H. Aspinwall, the man who won the federal subsidy for the building and operating the Pacific mail steamships at around the same time, benefited from this discovery. Aspinwall's route included steamship legs from New York City to Panama and from Panama to California, with an overland portage through Panama. The route between California and Panama was soon frequently traveled, as it provided one of the fastest links between San Francisco, California, and the East Coast cities, about 40 days' transit in total. Nearly all the gold that was shipped out of California went by the fast Panama route. Several new and larger paddle steamers were soon plying this new route, including unsubsidized steamship lines owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt that required an overland route through Nicaragua.
Panama–California Exposition
The Panama–California Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first U.S. port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. The fair was held in San Diego's large urban Balboa Park.
Panama Canal
The most expensive regular toll for canal passage to date was charged on April 14, 2010 to the cruise ship "Norwegian Pearl," which paid US$375,600. The average toll is around US$54,000. The highest fee for priority passage charged through the Transit Slot Auction System was US$220,300, paid on August 24, 2006, by the Panamax tanker "Erikoussa", bypassing a 90-ship queue waiting for the end of maintenance work on the Gatun Locks, and thus avoiding a seven-day delay. The normal fee would have been just US$13,430.
USS Leftwich
The "Leftwich" made one of the fastest transits on record of the Panama Canal, making the passage without having to anchor. On sailing north in the Pacific Ocean, "Leftwich" found herself behind Hurricane Guillermo, which tracked along the western coast of Mexico, and then turned westward out into the Pacific, allowing the ship to arrive at her new homeport on schedule. While following the storm, "Leftwich" experienced waves.
History of the Panama Canal
On 7 January 1914 the French crane boat "Alexandre La Valley" became the first to make the traverse, and on 1 April 1914 the construction was officially completed with the hand-over of the project from the construction company to the Canal Zone government. The outbreak of World War I caused the cancellation of any official "grand opening" celebration, and the canal officially opened to commercial traffic on 15 August 1914 with the transit of the "SS Ancon".
Dobbertin Surface Orbiter
On February 23, 1995, the DSO became the first car to transit the Panama Canal.
History of the Panama Canal
On October 10, 1913, the dike at Gamboa which had kept the Culebra Cut isolated from Gatun Lake was demolished; the detonation was made telegraphically by President Woodrow Wilson in Washington. On January 7, 1914, the "Alexandre La Valley", an old French crane boat, became the first ship to make a complete transit of the Panama Canal under its own steam after working its way across during the final stages of construction.
Panama Canal
An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution, and in 1855 William Kennish, a Manx-born engineer working for the United States government, surveyed the isthmus and issued a report on a route for a proposed Panama Canal. His report was published as a book entitled "The Practicability and Importance of a Ship Canal to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans".
Earl E. Stone
Later, Stone sailed aboard the when it and two other dreadnoughts became the first to sail through the Panama Canal. During World War I, he served aboard the .
SS Panaman
She was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened. In World War I, USAT "Panaman" carried cargo and animals to France under charter to the U.S. Army. When transferred to the U.S. Navy in August 1918, USS "Panaman" continued in the same duties, but after the Armistice, was converted to a troop transport and returned over 11,000 American troops from France. Returned to American-Hawaiian in 1919, "Panaman" resumed inter-coastal cargo service.
History of Panama (1977–present)
The second treaty, the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, or simply the Neutrality Treaty, was a much shorter document. Because it had no fixed termination date, this treaty was the major source of controversy. Under its provisions, the United States and Panama agreed to guarantee the canal's neutrality "in order that both in time of peace and in time of war it shall remain secure and open to peaceful transit by the vessels of all nations on terms of entire equality". In times of war, however, United States and Panamanian warships were entitled to "expeditious" transit of the canal under the provisions of Article VI. A Protocol was attached to the Neutrality Treaty, and all nations of the world were invited to subscribe to its provisions.
SS Rutland Victory
A short film about the Panama Canal featured the "Rushville Victory" crossing was made entitled ""Ocean to Ocean: Panama Canal""; it shows the crossing of the "Rushville Victory" through the Panama canal to demonstrate how the canal worked. The film is now part of a DVD titled ""USN Oil Tankers Supply and Cargo Ships"" by Campbell films, with a running time of 8:10 min. 
In 1948, the SS "Rutland Victory" was sold to the American President Lines of San Francisco and renamed the SS "President Fillmore. In 1962, the boat was sold to Victory Shipping Enterprises Inc. from Wilmington, Delaware and renamed SS "Smith Victory. In 1965, Victory Shipping Enterprises renamed it the SS "US Victory. The vessel was later sold to Transpacific Container Services of Liberia in 1969 and renamed the SS "Oriental Arrow. In 1969, Transpacific Container Services converted it to a 7,511 g.t. container ship and in 1972, it was sold to Universal Enterprise Inc. of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed the SS "Oriental Ace".
Panama–United States relations
The United States first attempted to acquire control of a canal on the Panamanian isthmus via the Hay-Herran Treaty of 1903, but the treaty was not ratified. Desperate to construct a canal, the United States saw the separatist movement as an opportunity. Despite the Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty of 1846 in which the United States would intervene in the event of a disorder between Panama and Colombia in Colombia’s favor, the United States prevented Colombian forces from moving across the isthmus to stop the Panamanian uprising. On November 4, 1903, the immediate support of the USA secured the Declaration of Independence of Panama from Colombia. In return, Panama signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty three weeks later, granting the USA sovereign rights over the interoceanic canal that would be built over the following decade.
Panama Canal Department
The Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Canal Guard of 1904–1914 both played a pivotal role in the construction and early defense of the Canal. With the active support and encouragement of the United States, Panama declared its independence from Colombia on 3 Nov. 1903 and that same month, the United States received the right to build and administer the Panama Canal.
Panama Canal expansion project
By January 2016, Panama's President Varela indicated that he anticipated the expansion to be complete around May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. The first ship to cross the canal using the third set of locks was a modern New Panamax vessel, the Chinese-owned container ship "Cosco Shipping Panama." The United States dispatched a navy ship to Panama to demonstrate U.S. naval power to the Chinese ship.
History of the Jews in Latin America and the Caribbean
For nearly five hundred years Panama has been a transit station. Long before the construction of the Panama Canal in the early twentieth century, merchants and missionaries, adventurers and bandits crossed the swamps of Panama ports and to go from the Atlantic to Pacific or vice versa.
HNLMS Zeeland (1897)
On 7 June 1917 the ship left from Den Helder for a journey round the world to Soerabaja. Along the way the ship visited Tórshavn, New York, Curaçao, Colon, Panama, San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokohama and Nagasaki. During the trip she passed through the Panama Canal and became the first foreign warship to do so. On 4 November that year she reached her destination. During the trip 53 man of the crew deserted during the visits to the US cities of New York (45) and San Francisco (8). On 3 December that year the ship left for the Netherlands. The same route was taken to reach it.
USS West Zula (ID-3501)
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, "West Zula" conducted sea trials and then departed for Chile. She loaded a cargo of guano at Arica, Chile, got underway on 22 November 1918, and proceeded via the Panama Canal toward New York City. After passing through the canal, however, she was re-routed to Jacksonville, Florida, where she unloaded her cargo of nitrates before steaming on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for repairs which lasted until the end of January 1919.
Ajax (crane barge)
On June 27, 1955, with the completion of the Panama Canal the "Ajax" was put up for sale by the Panama Canal Company. The "Hercules" was kept to do maintenance work on the Panama Canal. "Ajax" was sold to a Venezuelan firm.
Herman the German (crane vessel)
Following the closure of the shipyard, the crane was sold to the Panama Canal Commission and it was transported on the semi-submersible ship "Sea Swan" () in 1996 to the Panama Canal Zone, where it currently serves as the floating crane "Titan". "Titan" retired "Ajax and Hercules" that has served the Panama Canal since construction in 1914.
History of the United States Navy
Roosevelt believed that a U.S.-controlled canal across Central America was a vital strategic interest to the U.S. Navy, because it would significantly shorten travel times for ships between the two coasts. Roosevelt was able to reverse a decision in favor of a Nicaraguan Canal and instead moved to purchase the failed French effort across the Isthmus of Panama. The isthmus was controlled by Colombia, and in early 1903, the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations to give control of the canal to the United States. After the Colombian Senate failed to ratify the treaty, Roosevelt implied to Panamanian rebels that if they revolted, the US Navy would assist their cause for independence. Panama proceeded to proclaim its independence on 3 November 1903, and impeded any interference from Colombia. The victorious Panamanians allowed the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone on 23 February 1904, for US$10 million. The naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was built in 1905 to protect the canal.
Panama Canal
During the last one hundred years, the Panama Canal Authority has appointed a few "Panama Canal Honorary Pilots". The most recent of these were Commodore Ronald Warwick, a former Master of the Cunard Liners SS "Queen Elizabeth 2" and RMS "Queen Mary 2", who has traversed the Canal more than 50 times, and Captain Raffaele Minotauro, an Unlimited Master Senior Grade, of the former Italian governmental navigation company known as the "Italian Line".
This service can be requested from the Panama canal authority at any time who will consider each request.
Ancón, Panama
Ancón is a corregimiento in Panamá District, Panamá Province, Panama with a population of 29,761 as of 2010. Its population as of 1990 was 11,518; its population as of 2000 was 11,169. It is sometimes considered a suburb or small town within Panama City, northeast of the limits of the town of Balboa. Ancon Hill is also the name of a large hill that overlooks Panama City and once served as a form of protection from pirates and sea invasion. The township was originally located around this hill, and was created to house employees of the Panama Canal during its construction. As part of the construction effort, the historic Gorgas Army Hospital was founded and built on the hillside. The first ship to officially transit the canal, , was named after the district. The community continued to serve as housing for employees of the Panama Canal Company until 1980, when parts of it began to be turned over to the Panamanian government under the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Modern-day Ancón is a "corregimiento" (the Panamanian equivalent of a suburb in the United States) of Panama City, serving mainly as a residential area. The Gorgas Army Hospital building is now the Panamanian Oncology Hospital, primarily used for cancer research. The area also houses Panama's Supreme Court, just a few feet away from the Gorgas Army Hospital building, and several Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute buildings for research into tropical biology. Ancón is also a parish ("parroquia") of the District of Panama, located in the Panama Canal adjacent area.
Carnival Splendor
In January 2009, "Carnival Splendor" moved to Long Beach, California, a journey which took 49 days. The ship was too wide for the Panama Canal at the time, so it made the journey by sailing around Cape Horn. It was the first Carnival ship to have ever made this voyage. From Long Beach, she sailed year-round cruises to Mexico.
History of Panama
Bunau-Varilla arranged for the Panama City fire department to stage a revolution against Colombia which officially began on November 3, 1903. The US Navy gunboat was dispatched to local waters around the city of Colón, where 474 Colombian soldiers had landed to cross the isthmus and crush the rebellion. "Nashville"s commanding officer, Commander John Hubbard, sent a small party ashore and, with the support of the American superintendent of the Panama Railroad, prevented the Colombians from taking the train to Panama City. On November 13, 1903, after 57 years of policing Bogotá's interests, the US formally recognized the country of Panama.
USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642)
The Gold Crew relieved the Blue Crew, and spent the next few weeks in Honolulu giving the people of Hawaii the opportunity to go aboard and see the submarine named in honor of the King of Hawaii. In early June 1970, with the Gold Crew operating the boat, "Kam" got underway for Charleston, South Carolina, via the Panama Canal, for duty with Submarine Squadron 18, based at Charleston. The submerged transit to the canal took about seven days, and upon arrival off the coast of Panama, "Kam" surfaced and was met by the Panama Canal pilot who would take her through. The passage through the Panama Canal was given priority by the Canal authorities, and little time was spent waiting to enter. The boat was the object of considerable curiosity from those on ships nearby, and from the onlookers ashore. Once clear of the canal, "Kam" again submerged and began the final leg of the transit, passing through the Caribbean and out into the Atlantic.
History of Panama (to 1821)
Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela in 1501 in search of gold, was the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama. 10 years later, Vasco Núñez de Balboa visited the Isthmus and established a short-lived settlement in the Darién. Vasco Núñez de Balboa's torturous trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1513 demonstrated that the Isthmus was, indeed, the path between the seas, and Panama quickly became the crossroads and marketplace of Spain's empire in the New World. Gold and silver were brought by ship from South America, hauled across the Isthmus, and loaded aboard ships for Spain. The route became known as the Camino Real, or Royal Road, although it was more commonly known as Camino de Cruces (Road of the Crosses) because the road led to the TOWN of Venta Cruces located on the Rio Chagres.
Military history of Canada during World War I
"CC-1" and "CC-2" spent the first three years of the war patrolling the Pacific; however, the lack of German threat saw them reposted to Halifax in 1917. With their tender, HMCS "Shearwater", they became the first warships to transit the Panama Canal flying the White Ensign (the RCN's service flag). Arriving in Halifax on 17 October 1917, they were declared unfit for service and never patrolled again, being scrapped in 1920.
Remuera
Remuera's reputation as a desirable residential area around the turn of the 20th century was reflected in the use of its name for a luxury liner. SS "Remuera" was a steamship launched in 1911. She was the last delivered of three 11000 tonners built by the William Denny Organization between 1909 and 1911 for the New Zealand Shipping Company (sister ships "Ruahine" and "Rotorua"). Her inaugural voyage in 1911 was from London to Wellington. In September 1914 she was the first British ship to pass through the newly complete Panama Canal.
During the First War she was commandeered by the British Government. After the war she returned to the UK to New Zealand route, as a sign of the changing times she was now refitted to accommodate two classes of passengers as opposed to her initial layout of First, Second and Steerage. Again commandeered at the outbreak of war in 1939 she was torpedoed in the North Sea in September 1940.
History of the Royal Canadian Navy
"CC-1" and "CC-2" spent the first three years of the war patrolling the Pacific; however, the lack of German threat saw them reposted to Halifax in 1917. With their tender, HMCS "Shearwater", they became the first warships to transit the Panama Canal flying the White Ensign (the RCN's service flag). Arriving in Halifax on 17 October 1917, they were declared unfit for service and never patrolled again, being scrapped in 1920.
List of international trips made by the President of the United States
With the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, the American Panama Canal Zone became a major staging area for the U.S. military and the U.S. became the dominant military power in Central America. When Theodore Roosevelt traveled to Panama in November 1906 to inspect progress on the canal, he became the first U.S. President to leave the country while in office. Subsequently, both William Howard Taft (in 1909) and Warren G. Harding (in 1920) visited Panama while each was President-elect.
History of the Panama Canal
The canal was a technological marvel and an important strategic and economic asset to the US. It changed world shipping patterns, removing the need for ships to navigate the Drake Passage and Cape Horn. The canal saves a total of about on a sea trip from New York to San Francisco.
History of the Panama Canal
Of the three presidents whose terms spanned the construction period, Theodore Roosevelt is most associated with the canal and Woodrow Wilson presided over its opening. However, William Howard Taft may have given the canal its greatest impetus for the longest time. Taft visited Panama five times as Roosevelt's secretary of war and twice as president. He hired John Stevens and later recommended Goethals as Stevens' replacement. Taft became president in 1909, when the canal was half finished, and was in office for most of the remainder of the work. However, Goethals later wrote: "The real builder of the Panama Canal was Theodore Roosevelt".
History of the Panama Canal
The 1848 discovery of gold in California and the rush of would-be miners stimulated US interest in building a canal between the oceans. In 1887, a United States Army Corps of Engineers regiment surveyed canal possibilities in Nicaragua. Two years later, the Maritime Canal Company was asked to begin a canal in the area and chose Nicaragua. The company lost money in the panic of 1893, and its work in Nicaragua ceased. In 1897 and 1899, the United States Congress charged a canal commission with researching possible construction; Nicaragua was chosen as the location both times.
Balboa Park (San Diego)
Beginning in 1909, San Diego Chamber of Commerce president G. Aubrey Davidson suggested that the park hold an expo to coincide with the 1915 opening of the Panama Canal. Davidson believed an expo would help improve commerce (it would advertise that San Diego was the first U.S. port of call vessels encountered after passing through the canal and sailing north), build the city's population, and expand the infrastructure of the park. He later explained the significance of holding the expo in San Diego:
Panama–Spain relations
In 1501, Spanish explorer Rodrigo de Bastidas became the first European to enter the territory of Panama and claimed it for Spain. In 1502, Christopher Columbus sailed along the shores of Panama. In 1510, Spanish explorer Diego de Nicuesa founded the first settlement in Panama and named it "Nombre de Dios". In September 1513, Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa arrived to Panama and became the first European to lead an expedition to have seen the Pacific Ocean. In 1513, Panama officially became part of the Spanish Empire.
Military history of Puerto Rico
On May 17, 1917, the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry was sent to guard the Panama Canal in defense of the Panama Canal Zone One of the Puerto Ricans who distinguished himself during World War I was Lieutenant Frederick Lois Riefkohl of the US Navy, who on August 2, 1917, became the first known Puerto Rican to be awarded the Navy Cross. The Navy Cross, which is the second highest medal after the Medal of Honor, that can be awarded by the U.S. Navy, was awarded to Lt. Riefkohl for his actions in an engagement with an enemy submarine. Lt. Riefkohl, who was also the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the United States Naval Academy, served as a rear admiral in World War II.
SS Ancon (1901)
In 1909 the ship was purchased by the Panama Canal. The ship was renamed for the Panama Canal's Pacific side terminus at Ancon. Both "Ancon" and her sister ship "Cristobal" operated under The Panama Railroad Company's Panama Railroad Steamship Line. Both ships played a crucial role in building the canal, bringing workers and supplies, notably massive amounts of cement, from New York to Panama for the construction project.
USS Belmont (AGTR-4)
New Years Day 1966 found her at anchor in Callao. Two days later she weighed anchor to return to the Panama Canal Zone. Belmont retransited the canal on 21 January 1966 and moored in Norfolk on the 28th, where she remained for almost seven weeks for upkeep and shipyard availability. On 16 March 1966, the ship embarked upon another deployment to the western coast of South America. She transited the Panama Canal on 28 and 29 March 1966 and, for the next eight weeks, cruised along the coasts of Peru and Chile. "Belmont" returned to the Panama Canal Zone for a five-day visit between 23 and 28 May 1966. On the latter day, she departed Panama and embarked upon five weeks of operations in order to spy on French atomic tests in French Polynesia (12 June 1966). The ship arrived back in the Panama Canal Zone on 13 July 1966, transited the canal the next day, and reentered Norfolk on 20 July.
Norwegian Bliss
While sailing to Seattle, her summer homeport, "Norwegian Bliss" passed through the Panama Canal and became the largest cruise ship to ever transit it.
USS Nitro (AE-23)
Leaving Davisville on 24 April 1972, "Nitro" stopped at NWS Earle to top off weapons stores. As the ship left port to begin the transit to Vietnam, seven sailors jumped off the ship in protest of the war. A trailing Coast Guard cutter collected the sailors and returned them to "Nitro". Five days later "Nitro" transited the Panama Canal for the first time.
Panama Canal
Artificially created in 1913 by damming the Chagres River, Gatun Lake is an essential part of the Panama Canal, providing the millions of liters of water necessary to operate the Panama Canal locks each time a ship passes through. At the time it was formed, Gatun Lake was the largest human-made lake in the world. The impassable rainforest around the lake has been the best defense of the Panama Canal. Today these areas remain practically unscathed by human interference and are one of the few accessible areas where various native Central American animal and plant species can be observed undisturbed in their natural habitat.
USS California (SP-249)
The yacht was a second Hauoli built in 1903, replacing one of the same name built in 1902, for mining magnate Francis Marion "Borax" Smith. This second "Hauoli" was notable for speed, described as perhaps the fastest single screw yacht of its class in the world. In 1912 the yacht was sold to Clara Baldwin Stocker, an heiress residing in Los Angeles, who renamed the yacht California. She had to await the opening of the Panama Canal to bring the yacht to her residence. It was noted as the first pleasure vessel to transit the canal. The yacht was home ported in Los Angeles. At some point, either prior to or upon the Navy's acquisition, the yacht was brought back to New York. After naval service the yacht was sold to a company in Tampa, Florida.
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty () was a treaty signed on November 18, 1903, by the United States and Panama, which established the Panama Canal Zone and the subsequent construction of the Panama Canal. It was named after its two primary negotiators, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the French diplomatic representative of Panama, and United States Secretary of State John Hay.
Gatun Dam
As described in History of the Panama Canal, the canal effort was begun by a French company (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique) in 1880 to 1889. With poor exploration of the options and with poor information of the costs the French company planned to construct a sea-level canal linking the two coasts. They initially thought they could do this for about $120 million. After spending about one billion Francs (about $300,000,000) losing about 22,000 workers and going bankrupt the French effort essentially ceased. A sea level canal would not have required the dam to be built but would have still required extensive provisions made to accommodate the ever-changing Chagres River flow. When the United States took over the wide Canal Zone and resumed building the canal on 4 May 1904 almost two years were spent in infra-structure preparation, mosquito abatement (the newly discovered vector spreading Yellow fever and Malaria), Panama Railroad improvements and planning before the work got up to full speed. After reviewing the options and costs, in 1906 a lock-based canal was decided upon and agreed to by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Panama Canal
In 1788, American Thomas Jefferson, then Minister to France, suggested that the Spanish should build the canal since it would be a less treacherous route for ships than going around the southern tip of South America, and that tropical ocean currents would naturally widen the canal thereafter. During an expedition from 1788 to 1793, Alessandro Malaspina outlined plans for its construction.
Spanish battleship España
In 1920 "España" carried the Spanish representative to the quatercentenary of the discovery of the Straits of Magellan in Chile, in the process becoming the Spanish Navy's first ship to pass through the Panama Canal. On 29 January 1921 she ran aground in Chilean waters off Puerto Montt on her return to Spain, though she was refloated with some difficulty. Her hull was dented badly for a length of , and the rocks tore a large hole that was approximately between frames 22 and 36, and several smaller holes between frames 48 to 56 on the port side and 58 to 76 on the starboard side. Divers effected temporary repairs with concrete in Chile, followed by permanent repairs that were made in Balboa, Panama before she made her return voyage across the Atlantic. During this period, she was assigned to the Training Squadron, along with her two sister ships. Throughout the early 1920s, she provided fire support to the Spanish Army in its campaigns in Morocco during the Rif War. While conducting a bombardment off Cape Tres Forcas near Melilla on 26 August 1923, she ran hard aground.
Herbie
"Herbie Goes Bananas" also featured the same later model door mirror as "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo". Herbie set a Guinness World Record as the first car to go through the Panama Canal during filming in 1979. Herbie's name is only mentioned 3 times in the film by the garage owner, apart from the two times Herbie honks his horn at Paco trying to say his name when Paco couldn't understand what Herbie was saying.
Panama City
One year before the start of the California Gold Rush, the Panama Railroad Company was formed, but the railroad did not begin full operation until 1855. Between 1848 and 1869, the year the first transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States, about 375,000 persons crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 225,000 in the opposite direction. This traffic greatly increased the prosperity of the city during that period.
History of the Panama Canal
By the late nineteenth century, technological advances and commercial pressure allowed construction to begin in earnest. Noted canal engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps led an initial attempt by France to build a sea-level canal. Beset by cost overruns due to the severe underestimation of the difficulties in excavating the rugged Panama land, heavy personnel losses in Panama due to tropical diseases, and political corruption in France surrounding the financing of the massive project, the project succeeded in only partially completing the canal.
SS Washingtonian (1913)
With the official opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914, American-Hawaiian line ships switched to taking the isthmus canal route. In late August, American-Hawaiian announced that the "Washingtonian"—her Navy charter ended by this time—would sail on a San Francisco – Panama Canal – Boston route, sailing opposite vessels , "Honolulan", and sister ship "Pennsylvanian".
Panama Canal Zone
The treaty led the U.S. government to contract for steamship service to Panama from ports on both coasts. When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, traffic through Panama greatly increased, and New Granada agreed to allow the Panama Railroad to be constructed by American interests. This first "transcontinental railroad" opened in 1850. There were riots in Panama City in 1856; several Americans were killed. US warships landed Marines, who occupied the railroad station and kept the railroad service from being interrupted by the unrest. The United States demanded compensation from New Granada, including a zone wide, to be governed by US officials and in which the United States might build any "railway or passageway" it desired. The demand was dropped in the face of resistance by New Granadan officials, who accused the United States of seeking a colony.
Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard
Maryland Steel built tugs, coastal passengers, dredges, cargo ships and a few destroyers. Following the purchase by Bethlehem, it serviced and repaired ships and manufactured industrial products. One famous vessel built in this early period was the , launched as "Shawmut", which, in 1914, was the first ship to transit the Panama Canal.
Maritime history of California
In 1846 the Oregon boundary dispute was settle with Great Britain and California was conquered in 1847 and annexed in 1848. The United States was now a Pacific Ocean power. Starting in 1848 Congress, after the annexation of California but before the California Gold Rush was confirmed there, had subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $199,999 to set up regular packet ship, mail, passenger and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This was to be a regular scheduled route from Panama City, Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon. Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from the Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River.
USS Pensacola (CA-24)
"Pensacola" departed New York on 24 March 1930, and transited the Panama Canal to Callao, Peru, and Valparaíso, Chile, before returning to New York on 5 June. For the next four years she operated along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea, several times transiting the Panama Canal for combined Fleet battle practice ranging from California to Hawaii.
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks are at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks are 34 m (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, post-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo.
Panama as a tax haven
An operation approved by the Roosevelt administration sought to foment armed rebellion, forcing Panama away from Colombia, then politically fragile. Roosevelt achieved this goal with the help of William Nelson Cromwell, a well-connected US Republican lawyer and also legal counsel for JP Morgan's railroad interests. The administration's key objective was allegedly to install a pro-US Panamanian government that would secure US rights over the Panama Canal. The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty resulted, establishing permanent U.S. rights to a Panama Canal Zone several miles wide, across the neck of the isthmus. Panama became independent from Colombia the same month, and the Panama Canal opened in 1914.
Panama Canal
Another effort was made in 1843. According to the "New York Daily Tribune", August 24, 1843, a contract was entered into by Barings of London and the Republic of New Granada for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Darien (Isthmus of Panama). They referred to it as the Atlantic and Pacific Canal, and it was a wholly British endeavor. It was expected to be completed in five years, but the plan was never carried out. At nearly the same time, other ideas were floated, including a canal (and/or a railroad) across Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Nothing came of that plan, either.
Nunavik (ship)
In 2014, "Nunavik" became the first cargo ship to make an unescorted voyage through the Northwest Passage. The vessel left Deception Bay, Canada, on 19 September and passed Point Barrow, Alaska, on 30 September. After clearing the Bering Strait, the vessel headed to Bayuquan, China, with a cargo of nickel ore. According to Fednav, the voyage reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1,300 tonnes when compared to a similar voyage through the Panama Canal.
The Northwest Passage route is forty percent shorter than the Panama Canal route.
Nicaragua Canal
The history of attempts to build a Nicaragua canal connecting the Caribbean Sea and thus the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean goes back at least to 1825 when the Federal Republic of Central America hired surveyors to study a route via Lake Nicaragua, above sea level. Many other proposals have followed. Despite the operation of the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914, interest in a Nicaragua canal has continued. With emergence of globalization, an increase in commerce and the cost of fuel, and the limitations of the Panama Canal, the concept of a second canal across the American land bridge became more attractive, and in 2006 the president of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños, announced an intention to proceed with such a project. Even with the Panama Canal expansion project, which began commercial operation to modern New Panamax vessels on 26 June 2016, some ships would be too big for the Panama Canal.
Centennial Bridge, Panama
Since the bridge represented a major bottleneck in the Pan-American Highway, Panama's Ministry of Public Works requested tenders for a second canal crossing in October 2000. The contract to build a replacement bridge was awarded in March 2002. An ambitious schedule of just 29 months was set for construction, so that the bridge could open on the 90th anniversary of the first ship transit of the Panama Canal by the cargo ship "Ancon," on 15 August 1914. The bridge was named for Panama's centennial, which occurred on 3 November 2003.
Panamax
On October 22, 2006, the Panama Canal Authority (with the support of the Electoral Tribunal) held a referendum for Panamanian citizens to vote on the Panama Canal expansion project. The expansion was approved by a wide margin, with support from about 78% of the electorate. Construction began in 2007, and after several delays, the new locks opened for commercial traffic on 26 June 2016.
The plans to build another set of larger locks led to the creation of the Neopanamax or New Panamax ship classification, based on the new locks' dimensions of in length, in beam, and in depth. Naval architects and civil engineers began taking into account these dimensions for container ships. With the new locks, the Panama Canal is able to handle vessels with overall length of 366 m (1201 feet), 49 meters beam and 15.2 meters draft. and cargo capacity up to ; previously, it could only handle vessels up to about . The Neopanamax standard accommodates ships up to 120,000 DWT.
History of the Panama Canal
Although a large celebration was planned for the canal's opening, the outbreak of World War I forced the cancellation of the main festivities and it became a modest local affair. The Panama Railway steamship , piloted by Captain John A. Constantine (the canal's first pilot), made the first official transit on August 15, 1914. With no international dignitaries in attendance, Goethals followed the "Ancon" progress by railroad.
Panama Canal
On November 2, 1903, US warships blocked sea lanes against possible Colombian troop movements en route to put down the Panama rebellion. Panama declared independence on November 3, 1903. The United States quickly recognized the new nation. On November 6, 1903, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, as Panama's ambassador to the United States, signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting rights to the United States to build and indefinitely administer the Panama Canal Zone and its defenses. This is sometimes misinterpreted as the "99-year lease" because of misleading wording included in article 22 of the agreement. Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country's new national sovereignty. This would later become a contentious diplomatic issue among Colombia, Panama, and the United States.
José Manuel Marroquín
The events leading to the separation of Panamá from Colombia arise from the desires of business and strategic interests that wished to construct an interoceanic canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. The concept of such a canal through Panamá dates to the early 16th century. The first attempt to construct the Panama Canal began in 1880 under Colombian control and French leadership. But this effort had failed and another project was being considered through Nicaragua. President Marroquín vehemently opposed such idea and pushed for plan to build the canal through Panamá. Therefore, the administrations of Marroquín and Roosevelt signed the treaty “Tomás Herrán-John Hay" in January 1903. The treaty provided in part that the French company would transfer its construction rights to the US; the US would build, operate and exploit the canal for a period of 99 years; Colombia would receive a down payment of $10 million pesos and royalties of $250 thousand pesos every year until the end of the contract; and that the Colombian Congress would ratify the treaty within eight months. President Marroquín presented the treaty for Congress’ consideration and ratification. Colombian Congress rejected the treaty and Panamá proclaimed its independence.
SS Panaman
After the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 (which found six American-Hawaiian ships in Mexican ports), the Huerta-led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping. This loss of access coupled with the fact that the Panama Canal was not yet open, caused American-Hawaiian to return in late April to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Straits of Magellan. With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August, American-Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route.
In October 1915, landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American-Hawaiian ships, including "Panaman", returned to the Straits of Magellan route again. "Panaman"s exact movements from this time through early 1917 are unclear. She may have been in the half of the American-Hawaiian fleet that was chartered for transatlantic service. She may also have been in the group of American-Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America, delivering coal, gasoline, and steel in exchange for coffee, nitrates, cocoa, rubber, and manganese ore.
SS Aleutian
"Havana" was sold to the Panama Railroad Steamship Company on behalf of the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1905. She was renamed "SS Panama" and would serve a crucial role in the construction of the Panama Canal. The steamship company was already running connecting service with New York and San Francisco. It also ran a Central American line of steamships linking Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador, and Guatemala to Panama City. The shipping service was greatly expanded as canal construction began. The line's heyday was during the construction period; once the canal was finished in 1914 the service shifted to the business of supporting the maintenance and operation of the canal and its supporting infrastructure, including the railroad.
Bowdoin (Arctic schooner)
"Bowdoin" first crossed the Arctic Circle on 23 August 1921. A place unknown to most of the world, the Arctic had had few visitors. Only sixteen years before, the goal of many generations of Arctic explorers had been reached when a northwest passage was traversed — a route which was, practically speaking, unusable, and after the construction of the Panama Canal, no longer necessary. Peary's North Pole expedition was merely a dozen years past. The last few Hudson's Bay and Davis Strait whalers had made their final trip home two years before.
Panama Canal
On 1 April 2016, a more complicated toll system was introduced, having the neopanamax locks at a higher rate in some cases, natural gas transport as a new separate category and other changes.
As of October 1, 2017, there are modified tolls and categories of tolls in effect.
Small (less than 125 ft) vessels up to 583 PC/UMS net tons when carrying passengers or cargo, or up to 735 PC/UMS net tons when in ballast, or up to 1,048 fully loaded displacement tons, are assessed minimum tolls based upon their length overall, according to the following table (as of 29 April 2015):
Morgan Adams of Los Angeles, California, holds the distinction of paying the first toll received by the United States Government for the use of the Panama Canal by a pleasure boat. His boat "Lasata" passed through the Zone on August 14, 1914. The crossing occurred during a 6,000-mile sea voyage from Jacksonville, Florida, to Los Angeles in 1914.
United States involvement in regime change
In 1903, the U.S. aided the secession of Panama from the Republic of Colombia. The secession was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French–US corporation whose aim was the construction of a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama thus connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1903, the U.S. signed the Hay-Herrán Treaty with Colombia, granting the United States use of the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for financial compensation. amidst the Thousand Days' War. The Panama Canal was already under construction, and the Panama Canal Zone was carved out and placed under United States sovereignty. The US did not transfer the zone back to Panama until 2000.
William Henry Aspinwall
Following the Steamship Company, Aspinwall then promoted a railway in Panama. The project, which began in May 1850 and was later known as the Panama Canal Railway, was the first transcontinental railroad in the Americas and was built to provide a shorter and more secure path between the United States' East and West Coasts. When completed in 1855, the line was designated as an "inter-oceanic" railroad crossing as it connected ports on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The tropical rain forest terrain and outbreak of malaria and cholera, rendered its five year construction, at a cost of $8,000,000, a considerable engineering challenge, and required more than seven thousand workers drawn from "every quarter of the globe."
Maritime history of California
Those going to California by crossing Panama, Nicaragua or Mexico had a much quicker trip than going around Cape Horn or taking the California Trail to California. A typical trip could be done in about 30–90 days assuming shipping and transit connections could be made. The biggest handicap the Panama, Nicaragua or Mexico routes had was the wait until scheduled Pacific shipping was established in late 1849 to carry them to California. These routes also suffered form the risk of catching a possibly fatal disease and having to potentially endure threats of attack by bandits. Unfortunately, getting shipping from the Pacific ports of Panama, Nicaragua, or Mexico to California was very problematic until mid to late 1849. Mail, returning gold miners and gold shipments nearly all used the Panama Route. The number of passengers who used the Panama route in 1849 and 1850 is unknown but must be numbered in the tens of thousands. In 1851 29,600 passengers used the Panama Route. This increased to 33,000 passengers in 1852 and dropped to 27,200 passengers in 1853. by the time the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in the United States in 1869, it is believed 800,000 travelers had used the Panama Route to get to and from California. Its estimated that 20% of the original Argonauts left to return home—most via the Panama Route. Many returned to California with their wives and families.
Gulf of Panama
The creation of the Panama Canal in 1914 was a major breakthrough in terms of international transport, as it formed Panama and the surrounding area as a new international hub of trade and transport. However, although it brought business to the area, the new boom in transport in the area took a major toll on the environment. As the Panamanian economy has grown over the years, so have the laws and policies relating to it, specifically marine policy. Marine resources in and around the Panama Bay are key to many major industries such as farming and fishing, and over 80% of the surrounding population directly rely on them to survive. Although the laws that have been put into place over the years made major changes to the infrastructure and government, there are still major gaps in the enforcement and structure of these laws.
USS Panama
USS "Panama" (SP-101) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1920.
"Panama" was built as a civilian motorboat in 1914 by Luther Finder, at Key West, Florida. During her period in commercial service, she saw extensive use in laying underwater telegraph cable for Western Union in and around Key West, and may also have been used as a passenger ship.
Territories of the United States on stamps
The Panama Canal opening was commemorated on its 25th anniversary with a 3-cent stamp issued on August 15, 1939. The stamp shows a steamship passing through the Gaillard Cut, President Theodore Roosevelt on the left promoted the canal and General George W. Goethals on the right was chief engineer and first governor of the Panama Zone.
History of Panama
Panamanian history which has been shaped by the recurrent theme of transisthmian commerce, looked now at the possibility of a canal to replace the difficult overland route. In 1519, the Spanish crown built a cobbled track joined the oceans, and by 1534, the Chagres River was dredged, facilitating traffic for two-thirds of the way.
Panama Canal Zone
The treaty was approved by the provisional Panamanian government on December 2, 1903, and by the US Senate on February 23, 1904. Under the treaty, Panama received , much of which the United States required to be invested in that country, plus annual payments of ; with those payments made, as well as for the purchase of the French company assets, the Canal Zone was formally turned over by Panama on May 4, 1904, when American officials reopened the Panama City offices of the canal company and raised the American flag. This marked the beginning point for U.S. excavation and construction which concluded in August 1914 with the opening of the canal to commercial traffic.
Panama Canal Railway
The first steamship used on the Pacific run was the $200,000 three-mast, dual-paddle steamer . It was in length, in beam, and deep, with a draft of , and grossed 1,057 tons. When it sailed around the Cape Horn of South America, it was the first steamship on the west coast of South and North America. When it stopped at Panama City on , it was besieged by about 700 desperate gold seekers. Eventually, it departed Panama City for California on , with almost 400 passengers, and entered San Francisco Bay, a distance of about , on February 28, 1849 — 145 days after leaving New York. In San Francisco nearly all its crew except the captain deserted to seek their fortunes in the city and the gold fields. The ship was stranded for about four months until the company could buy a new supply of coal and hire a new — and much more expensive — crew.
Royal Viking Line
On May 1, 1976 the "Royal Viking Sky" and "Royal Viking Star" became the first sister ships to have transited the Panama Canal simultaneously in different directions, the "Sky" sailing westbound and the "Star" eastbound.