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The history of the Panama Canal has always been of great interest to me. The idea of shortening the route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is something that was thought about since the 1500’s and as certain technologies advanced, a serious effort was made in the late 1800’s by the French to construct a sea-level canal. The amount of excavation that had to be done in this rugged, jungle terrain coupled with the scores of deaths of workers from various tropical diseases like malaria and yellow fever, caused the French to abandon the idea. Around this time, there were also proposals the build a canal across Nicaragua but after the French failure in Panama, the Americans bought their interests and took up the challenge in 1904 with a new approach. Firstly, the threat of diseases from mosquitos had to be controlled. Sanitation protocols like fumigation, eliminating or treating standing water and quarantine for sick workers were put in place to minimize the spread of said diseases. The actual plan for building the canal was to use a system of locks at either end that would raise and lower ships to sea level from the manmade Gatun Lake which sat at 85ft (26m) above sea level. This system saved a lot of excavation work.

Transiting the Panama Canal has long been a dream of mine. That dream has been realized as my wife and I recently took a cruise from Miami to Los Angeles aboard the Regent Seven Seas Grandeur. Being a person of Barbadian descent, I’ve long known that a number of our countrymen as well as others from neighbouring islands like Jamaica, Grenada, Trinidad and Martinique were recruited as laborers during the construction of the canal. The West Indian workers who did most of the manual labour, accounted for roughly 75 percent of the more than 40,000-person workforce with the majority hailing from Barbados. My maternal great grandmother’s brother was one of those workers.

The S.S. Ancon, an American steamship arriving at Cristobal, Panama in 1909 with 1500 Barbadian workers. They travelled on deck, crowded together and were known as “deckers.” The work they were about to embark on was difficult and dangerous, the environment harsh and even though they were paid less than their American counterparts, it was more than they could make at home.

We entered the 51 mile (82km) long waterway on the Atlantic side near the port city of Colon which sits in Limon Bay. We were immediately met and escorted by pilot boats that take navigational control of the ship. We crossed under the Atlantic Bridge and prepared to enter the Gatun locks which are about 10 km from Colon. The three sets of double locks here will raise the ship 85 ft up to the level of Gatun Lake, (created by damming the Chagres River in 1908). Running parallel to these locks are the newer, longer and wider locks. Completed in 2016, they can accommodate the massive cruise and cargo ships of today. The canal transit time can run anywhere from 8 to 10 hours and tolls can be as high as $450,000 generating billions of dollars for Panama.

As the ships prepare to enter the locks, they are tethered on either side, bow and stern to electric locomotives called mules. They run along a narrow guage rail track and are responsible for guiding the ships through to prevent them from crashing into the canal walls, precision work at its finest as some ships are just inches away from the walls. It’s a three-step process as each of the three locks is filled to raise the ship the 85 ft to the level of Gatun Lake. Each lock takes about 10 minutes to fill or drain and the doors are opened or closed in about 2 minutes. Seeing the massive more than 100-year-old lock gates up close is pretty impressive.

The process is slow but oh so interesting. As we prepared to enter the third lock, we got a close-up view of the Grand Mark, an automobile transporter ship going by in the opposite direction, heading north. An estimated forty ships pass through the canal daily, however in the dry season when the lake level is lower, that number is reduced.

Exiting the locks, we reached the wide expanse of Gatun Lake. We traveled another 37 km (23 miles) to the Pedro Miguel locks by way of the Culebra Cut. This hilly section of the canal and the amount of excavation that had to done proved to be the most difficult task. The French originally planned on this part being narrower and deeper but there were countless landslides and much of the work had to be redone. Financial problems, the underestimation of the effort it took plus the multiple deaths mostly from falling rock, forced the French to give up.

Along the way we get an idea of the denseness of the still untamed jungle teaming with tropical birds and animals. The thoughts of what it was like to pull of this amazing feat of engineering boggles the mind. It’s estimated that about 25,000 lives were lost during the three decades of construction, 20,000 mostly to tropical diseases during the French effort and another 5,000 after the Americans took over. So many were left disabled that artificial limb makers at the time were lobbying for contracts with the builders. The sacrifices those men made were immense.

We’re near the Pedro Miguel locks where we will begin to be lowered to sea level. We cross the small Miraflores Lake, then by a hydroelectric plant and the visitors observation decks before the final locks, Miraflores. There are trips you can take from nearby Panama City to the canal visitors centre and museum, or you could opt for a partial transit excursion where you experience a couple of the locks in operation. We saw some recreational boats as there are a few eco lodges in the nearby Gamboa area of jungle.

The USA had operated the canal since its opening in 1914, however total control was handed over to the Panamanian government in 1999. The vast majority of cargo to transit the canal originates in the US.

Lured with the promise of steady work and wealth, the West Indian workers embarked on this journey with great anticipation. In reality, it was anything but. Living conditions were horrible, accommodations were dilapidated decades old buildings left over from the French effort. Some workers pitched tents and lived in the jungle, others rented rooms if they could find them. The work force was highly segregated. The so-called skilled workers (white) from the US and some from Europe were paid .20 cents per hour in gold and those who were deemed unskilled (black) from the Caribbean were paid .10 cents per hour in silver. Despite to disparity in pay, some workers were still able to save enough to buy land and raise the standard of living for their families back in the home countries. Working conditions were brutal and the threat of death was always around the corner. Those who made it out alive were considered lucky. At the end of construction, many West Indians stayed and settled in Panama, some went on to Cuba to work in the sugar industry, while others returned to their countries. A few made it to the USA as well.

The following photos are courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Work on the Culebra Cut was difficult and the most dangerous place to be. It was hot, humid and loud from the dynamite explosions and the steam shovels. Many died here as a result of landslides and also from premature dynamite explosions.

Worker pictured in a dynamite debris field. At some point, you were called upon to do dynamiting which was considered the most dangerous job. Some workers, when it was their turn, would gather their belongings and give them to a friend. Dynamite in those days was very unstable and premature explosions were common, so your safe return was not guaranteed.

Pouring concrete at Pedro Miguel locks.

West Indian workers operating drilling equipment

Rock drilling equipment.

For those of you who have crossed the Panama Canal and to those who may in the future, spare a thought for those who made it possible. The word hero gets thrown around a lot these days, but these workers in my estimation are truly that. With almost one million ships crossing since its opening, the Panama Canal is recognized as one of the Wonders of the Modern World.