Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

the realisation of a project conceived at a long past period. The idea of a canal to connect the Baltic and the North Sea dates back into the Middle Ages, and indeed a short canal was constructed in 1389, which by uniting two secondary streams of the peninsula really did provide a waterway between the two seas. The inefficiency of this means of communication may be inferred from the fact of there having been proposed since that period no fewer than sixteen schemes of canalisation between these two seas, of which the recently completed North Sea Canal is the sixteenth, and it need hardly be said the greatest, so that in comparison with it the rest vanish into insignificance. The canal was commenced in 1887, and on the 20th of June, 1895, it was opened by the reigning Emperor of Germany, William II., with a very imposing naval pageant in which nearly a hundred ships of war from the great navies of the world took part. A glance at the accompanying sketch-map will show the great importance of this canal as a highway of commerce. The entrance to the Baltic has hitherto been round the peninsula of Denmark and through the narrow “belts” and “sounds” that divide the Danish Islands, a course beset with imminent perils to navigators, for the channels abound in rocks and dangerous reefs, to say nothing about the frequent storms and the impediments of ice floes. Yet as many as 35,000 vessels have lately had to take that course annually, these representing a total tonnage of no less than 20,000,000 tons. The figures speak for the magnitude of the Baltic shipping intercourse with the rest of the world; while the losses incurred 272in traversing these forbidding waters may be gathered from the statement that since 1858, nearly 3000 ships have been wrecked in them, and a greater number much damaged. Indeed, for large vessels, there is hardly a more dangerous piece of navigation in all Europe. The importance of this canal must not therefore be estimated solely by the saving of length in ships’ course, though that is great, as the map shows. The North Sea Canal is 61 miles long, 200 ft. wide at the surface, 85 ft. wide at the bottom, and it will admit of vessels of 10,000 tons register passing through, the average time of transit being about twelve hours. The estimated cost of this undertaking was nearly eight and a quarter million pounds sterling, and about one-third of this sum was contributed by Germany, for whom the canal is of the greatest strategic importance in case of war, for her fighting ships need not then traverse foreign waters. The construction was therefore pushed forward with unusual energy, as many as 8,600 men having been engaged on the works at one time. An important naval station already exists at Kiel, the Baltic end of the canal, where there is a splendid harbour. The engineer and designer of this water-way is Herr Otto Baensch, who has devised much ingenious machinery in connection with the immense tidal locks at the extremities of the canal, and the swing bridges by which several lines of railway are carried across it. In the construction of this canal there were no vast engineering difficulties to be overcome, and hence striking feats of mountain excavation or valley bridging are not to be met with in its course, though in places there are some deep cuttings. The methods of excavating and of steam dredging that were made use of have already been illustrated in relation to the other works described in this article. The country through which the canal passes does not present any unusually picturesque features. THE PANAMA AND NICARAGUA CANAL PROJECTS. The several undertakings described in our chapter on Ship Canals are now all completed and in active operation, and but for financial mis-management and dishonest speculations, the same might probably have been said of another great project, the name of which was on everyone’s lips a short time ago, but in which public interest has lately waned; perhaps from a mistaken impression that the construction itself is involved in a common ruin with the fortunes of so many of its promoters, or that the scheme was frustrated by some unforeseen and insurmountable engineering difficulties. These assumptions have so little justification that it is quite probable that Lesseps’ last great project may yet be completed under more favourable auspices, and the Panama Canal unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal Company still exists, and possesses not only a very large part of the work almost quite finished, but 273all the extensive plant in perfect condition for resuming operations. The original scheme provided for a tidal water-way between the two oceans, without the intervention of a single lock. The canal was to be nearly 47 miles in length, 100 feet wide at the surface of the water, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 29 feet deep. The entrances are at Colon on the Atlantic side, and at Panama on the Pacific. The latter is the eastern extremity, and the western one is on the Atlantic side, owing to the configuration of the isthmus which curves round the Panama Gulf that opens to the south. A railway crosses the isthmus between the points already named, and the route of the canal is laid down almost parallel with this railway, from which it is nowhere far distant. For the first 20 miles from the Atlantic side the land is only at a very moderate elevation above the sea-level, say 25 or 30 feet, but the next 11 miles is more hilly, the elevations reaching at some points 150 to 170 feet, but these are only for short distances. A few miles farther on, they rise still higher, until at Culebra the highest point is met with, about 323 feet above the sea-level, and a cut of this depth, 1,000 feet long, would be required. Through this highest part it has been proposed to drive a tunnel, but the total extent of the deep cutting at this part of the canal would be nearly 2 miles in length. This would no doubt be a work of the most formidable magnitude, for it has been calculated that no less than 24,000,000 cubic yards of material, consisting for the most part of solid rock, would have to be removed. It is not supposed, however, to offer any great difficulty in an engineering point of view. Doubtless it would be costly, and would take some time to accomplish. Another heavy piece of work would consist in constructions for controlling a mountain torrent called the Rio Chagres, through the valley of which the canal passes. This stream is very variable in the quantity of water it discharges, rising in the rainy season 45 feet above its ordinary level, and sending down forty times as much water as it does in the dry season. Mr. Saabye, an American engineer, who examined unofficially the works of the Panama Canal in 1894, considers that about one half of the total excavation has already been done, and one half of the total length of the canal almost finished, and remaining in comparatively good condition. At both ends, including 15 miles on the Atlantic side, there is water 18 to 24 feet deep. “Besides the work already done, the Canal Company has on hand, distributed at both terminals, and at convenient points along the canal route, an immense stock of machinery, tools, dredges, barges, steamers, tug-boats, and materials for continued construction. At Panama, La Boca, and Colon, as well as along the canal, are numerous buildings—large and small—for offices, workshops, storehouses, and warehouses, and for lodging and boarding the men who were employed on the work. The finished work, as well as all the machinery, tools, materials, buildings, etc., are well taken care of and looked after. The Canal Company employs one hundred uniformed policemen, besides numerous watchmen, machinists, and others, whose sole duty consists in watching the canal and looking after needed repairs of plant and care of materials. In fact, the work and the whole plant is in such a condition, so far as I could ascertain, that renewed construction could be taken up and carried to a finish at any time it is desired to do so, after the Company’s finances will permit.” An enormous amount of money has already been expended on the Panama Canal, and much of it lavishly and unnecessarily. A reorganised 274company may probably be able to form such estimates of the probable cost of completing the work under careful and efficient management, that financial confidence in it maybe restored. The canal not only already possesses the requisite plant, but the route has the special advantages of assistance in transport from the railway everywhere at but a short distance from it, and fine commodious harbours for its ocean mouths. If it were finished as originally designed, vessels could pass through it with one tide, say in about six hours. It is understood that before the Panama enterprise is again proceeded with, the Company think that a sum of about £25,000 should be expended in a complete survey and re-study of all the conditions, and the results submitted to the most eminent engineers. A rival scheme for carrying a ship canal across the isthmus that divides the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is that known as the Nicaragua Canal, as the proposed route is to cross Lake Nicaragua, an extensive sheet of water situated some 400 or 500 miles north-west of the Panama Canal. The lake is 110 miles long and 45 miles broad, and is on its western side separated from the Pacific by a strip of land only 12 miles wide, having at one point an elevation not exceeding 154 feet, which is probably the lowest on the isthmus. The lake drains into the Caribbean Sea on the east, by the San Juan river, a fine wide stream, 120 miles in length, which is navigable for river boats from the Caribbean Sea up to the lake, except near its upper part, where some rapids at certain times prevent the passage of the boats. This canal project first took definite form in 1850, when a survey was made and routes reported on. The scheme attracted some attention in the United States, and in 1872, and again in 1885, further surveys and estimates were made at the instance of the States Government. The earlier schemes provided for the rise and fall between sea and lake-–108 feet, a considerable number of locks—eleven on each side, making the total length from sea to sea 181 miles. The report of the latter advocated the canalization of the San Juan by a very bold measure, namely, the construction of an immense dam, by which the waters were to be retained in the valley for many miles at the level of the lake. A company was formed to promote the project, and again in 1890 there were more surveys and estimates made. This company actually expended a considerable sum of money in attempting to improve the harbour at Greytown, which would have formed the eastern terminus, but had become silted up. But it was found afterwards that it would be better to recommend the formation of an artificial harbour at another point, by constructing two long piers running out into the sea, although this change would involve the abandonment of a few hundred yards of canal already excavated by the company near Greytown. The company has also laid down about 12 miles of railway along the proposed route, with wooden and iron sheds as workshops, offices, etc., and, moreover, had dredges and other appliances at work. At this stage it was proposed that the United States Government should guarantee the bonds of the Nicaragua Canal Company to the extent of more than twenty million pounds sterling. By an Act of Congress passed in March, 1895, a commission of engineers was appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the feasibility, permanence, and cost of construction and completion of the Nicaragua Canal by the route contemplated. The report of this commission is an elaborate and exhaustive review of the whole scheme based upon a personal examination of the