It was the summer of 1945 and the war in Europe was over. My regiment found itself being loaded onto a troopship at the Mediterranean port of Marseille in the south of France. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were embarking on a 38- day voyage more than half way around the world to Manila in the Philippines, and were being redeployed to participate in the Pacific war.

Our vessel was a peacetime passenger ship, which had normally carried a few hundred people. Now there were a few thousand troops on board, sleeping about ten to a cabin designed at most for two. It was really crowded, to say the least. The ship couldn’t possibly carry enough fresh water for consumption and bathing so many soldiers on such a long voyage. When converted into a troop carrier, the ship’s plumbing was modified so that the showers used freshly pumped sea- water. We were provided with something called “salt water soap” and it was supposed to lather when used with sea- water. I suppose it did lather a little, but after using it a week or so, everyone was dreaming of a fresh water shower.

We sailed through the Caribbean and entered the Panama Canal. It was a first for most of us and we spent hours on deck watching the process of moving through 3 locks and being raised to the level of Gatun Lake. After a couple of hours on the lake I remembered some of what I had learned about the Panama Canal in high school and realized that we were sailing through fresh water. I tore myself away from the railing and went below to the shower room. I turned on the water and sure enough, it was fresh. The ship’s plumbing system usually pumped sea water, but here we were in a fresh water lake so that is what was being picked up. Into the shower I went and enjoyed the only fresh water bath in 38 days on that ship. At that time I really didn’t fully understand the engineering significance of Gatun Lake in the success of the Canal-but more about that later.

The narrow Isthmus of Panama made people think about a canal right from its discovery and exploration by the Spanish in the 16th century. The technological level of that period made such a canal an unattainable dream. Instead, Spain put its energy into finding a direct sea route to the west coast of South America and in 1520; Magellan found a 363-mile strait, which did, indeed, connect the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. It was little used because it proved to be an unpredictable and hazardous route. Centuries later, the builder of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps, came forward with a plan to construct a sea level canal through the Isthmus. Work began in 1881 but was halted in 1889 when his company went into bankruptcy. Digging a ditch through mostly sand at Suez was considerably easier than cutting through soil and rock in a disease infested jungle.

Until 1903 there was no more construction activity on the Isthmus. In that year the U.S., under President Theodore Roosevelt, purchased the equipment and rights from the French company to build a canal and the work began again.

The diseases, mainly yellow fever and malaria, that had plagued the French effort and were brought under control through the exertions of Col. William C. Gorgas of the Army Medical Corps. Col. George W. Goethals of the Army Corps of Engineers oversaw Engineering and construction. The American builders rejected the plan of de Lesseps for a sea-level canal and chose instead to reduce the amount of digging to a minimum. The damming of the Chagres River and creation of a lake in the middle of the Isthmus accomplished this. That’s right, it was the very same lake that had provided fresh water for my shower. This artificial water body, Gatun Lake, was at an elevation of 85 feet above sea level. It presently comprises some 23 miles of the 42- mile long Canal. Digging on the Continental Divide was also kept to a minimum because only enough earth and rock had to be removed in order for the water from Gatun Lake to flood a channel deep enough for ships to pass through. This dig is eight miles long and is known as the Gaillard or Culebra Cut.

The problem of how to raise and lower ships from sea level to Gatun Lake at 85 feet above was solved by the construction of locks, three sets on the Atlantic side of the Lake and three sets on the Pacific side. Locks are long chambers open to the sky with swinging water- tight doors at both ends, and were in common use in Europe and the United States long before 1903. There is one big difference though; the Panama Canal locks are huge by comparison with earlier structures anywhere. A lock is a device for changing the level of a floating vessel. When the gates are closed, water can be added into or drained from the chamber thereby raising or lowering the enclosed vessel. When the desired level is reached, one set of gates is opened to allow the vessel to move ahead into the next lock or a body of water. In the case of the Panama Canal it takes three locks to get up to the 85 foot Gatun Lake level and three locks to get back down to sea level.

The need to be able to move U. S naval vessels between the Atlantic and Pacific determined the size of the locks. Each chamber was designed to handle a ship up to 1000 feet long and 110 feet wide with a draught of 40 feet. To speed up movement through the Canal, the locks were constructed in pairs so that ships could pass through in opposite directions. Vessels approach the locks and move through most of the Canal under their own power. Once ready to pass through the locks, the ship’s engines are shut down and the vessel is pulled through by electrically powered donkey engines resembling small locomotives. These are called mules.

A trip through the 42- mile long Canal usually takes about 9 hours. Most people remain on deck watching progress through the locks or looking at the lush tropical landscape. The various nationalities and flags of passing ships are also a matter of interest and emphasize the importance of the Canal to world commerce. Cruise lines have recognized that the Canal is a great attraction and there are now regular trips through it between Atlantic and Pacific ports. For people who can not take the time or afford such a trip, there are shorter voyages from the Caribbean Sea up through the Gatun Locks and into Gatun Lake, turning around to go back down to the Caribbean. In a normal day the Canal can handle about 36 ships, so there is much to be seen.

Some years after my wartime transit of the Canal I had the good fortune to go through from the Pacific to the Atlantic. This time my wife and I were passengers on a cargo ship. Needless to say, there was plenty of fresh water on board and I smiled every time I took a shower remembering that first trip.