Note 107 — Chapter XX

Mr. Stephenson entertained a very strong opinion as to the inexpediency of making this canal, and the impracticability of keeping it open except at an enormous expense. Of course it was possible to make the canal provided there was money enough raised for the purpose. But, even if made, he held that it would not long be used, for there would not be traffic enough to pay working expenses. In 1846, Mr. Stephenson carefully examined the country along the line of the proposed canal, from Tineh on the Mediterranean, to Suez on the Red Sea, in company with the agents of M. Talabot, a French engineer, and M. de Negrelli, an Austrian engineer. They ascertained that there was no difference of level between the two seas, and that consequently a canal capable of being scoured by the waters of either was impracticable. On the occasion of Captain Pim's reading a paper on the subject of the revived project of the canal before the Geographical Society on the 11th of April, 1859, Mr. Stephenson took part in the discussion which followed. He held that any harbor constructed at Port Said, however far it might be extended into the sea, would only act as a mud-trap, and that it would be impracticable to keep such a port open. Mr. George Rennie had compared the proposed breakwater at Pelusium with the breakwater at Portland, on which Mr. Stephenson observed, "Why, at Portland, the stones are carried out from the shore and thrown into the sea, but at Pelusium there is no solid shore, and all the stones must be brought 100 miles. Can there be any comparison between a breakwater at Portland and one in the Mediterranean on a lee-shore, where there is no stone and no foundation whatever? It is only the silt of the Nile. The Nile brings down millions of tons of mud yearly, and hence the Delta formed at its mouth. The moment you construct a harbor at Port Said and project piers into the sea, you immediately arrest the course of the mud, and will never be able to keep the port open. It would be the most extraordinary thing in the world to project two jetties into an open sea on a lee-shore, which has for almost three months in the year a northeast wind blowing upon it. There is no seaman, except in fair weather, who would venture to approach such a place. To render it at all accessible and safe, there must be a harbor of refuge made, and we know from experience in our own country what a large question that would open up. But even suppose such a harbor to be made. The current carries the mud of the Nile in an easterly direction; and if you provide a harbor of refuge, which means a quiescent harbor, it will act merely as a gigantic mud-trap. I believe it to be nearly if not absolutely true, that there is no large harbor in the world maintained on the delta of a large river. Any such harbor would be silted up in a few years. And whoever has traveled over the district between Port Said and Suez, and seen the moving sands, must see that it would be necessary to dredge, not only that harbor, but the canal itself." Mr. Stephenson's conclusion accordingly was that the scheme was impracticable, that it would not justify the expenditure necessary to complete it, and that, if ever executed, it would prove a commercial failure.