Note 52 — Chapter XIX · SEIZURE OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

It is related that the President of the Canal Company subsequently posted himself at the landing-place at Ismailia at the moment when a number of men from the ships were about to disembark, and emphatically declared that "no one should land except over his dead body." This, however, was without effect, for according to the story he was gently pushed aside by a bluejacket with the observation—"We don't want any dead bodies about here, sir; all you've got to do is to step back a bit." Though the anecdote is probably apocryphal, it serves to illustrate exactly the attitude adopted by the British Navy towards the Canal authorities.