Note 329 — Chapter IX

It is fair to recollect that my old friend and colleague on the Harbour of Refuge Commission, Captain Vetch, R.N., more than thirty years ago (and therefore before M. de Lesseps) proposed a ship canal from Suez to Tineh, on the Mediterranean, a distance of about 75 miles, to be carried out by British capital. At that time the idea of the height of the water at Suez above that of the Mediterranean prevailed. Captain Vetch therefore calculated that, with a canal 180 feet wide at the top, 96 feet at the bottom, and 21 feet in the depth, the steady descent of the water along this gradient would produce scourage sufficient to clear away the sand and mud accumulated at the Mediterranean end. No doubt Captain Vetch’s observations and details tended to satisfy M. de Lesseps of the feasibility of some such canal.