Going Through the Suez Canal

It is 0500hrs, pitch black, silent and creepy. The fog has descended and every ship in the convoy is covered and hidden - ghost ships in the night.

Our pilot takes us to our place in the convoy, number 27 and we are on our way south, due to arrive at the other end of Port Suez in thirteen hours time.

I am on duty for this first part of the transit. But the excitement and the oddity of this trip causes me to keep on popping up out of the engine room like a headless chicken. Up the hatch, a quick swivel of the head around and then back down to the engine room and work. Not that I am doing much, just making sure that the engines dont stop as that would cause mayhem in the Canal and cost allot of money to sort out.

The Northern End

Daylight arrived at about 0700hrs and the mist lifted. My relief was now down the engine room and I was free to wander around and to take in the sights. I went up to the bridge which provides the best view and sat there looking outwards with my camera to hand should something interesting come along.

The weather is still cool. Feels strange to look out over desert yet feeling cool!

I see: Telegraph poles, millions of them stretching alongside the Canal like marching men. I see even more electricity pylons in the distance stretching like a spider's web across the dunes. The sand is dark black, not suitable for beaches, and I see a few clusters of buildings, a barn and a few bedraggled cows that break up the otherwise barren landscape.

A lone sentry stands atop a sand-block sentry post, high and mighty over endless rolling hills of black sand but with nothing to guard against except himself.

Little green ferries chug across the river, dodging drunkenly between the large ships of the convoy. At this time of the morning these little transporters are piled high with vehicles and foot passengers on their way to work. A large modern bridge, a tribute to Japanese Technology and money swings high in a graceful arc across the Canal, but it remains suspiciously empty. Further down a large and awesome swing bridge is nearing completion.

The Pilot

I asked the Pilot who was sipping away on a begrudgingly given coffee and he told me that the Toll imposed to cross the road bridge was higher than the fare for the ferry. So nobody used it. Simple enough! He also told me in his halting English that the Swing Bridge was a railway bridge. i.e. that the bridge would have the tracks installed on it and when a train came along it would swing outwards from both banks and meet in the middle. The train would then be able to trundle on across, in the best of cases without ever stopping. He also told me that 100yrs ago the British built the first swing bridge but during the six day war (1967) they then bombed it and knocked it into rubble. Since then no trains have managed to cross the canal from the West of Egypt to the East. The pilot went on to say that England was the first country to have a train, Egypt was the second. Not sure about that last bit but the Pilot was proud of what he knew!

The Boatman

We only had one boatman onboard thankfully. Three of them would have been too much to handle. Our boatman came onboard at midnight nearly four hours before the ship sailed. He went straight to our mess room and comfortably settled himself across the settee and fell asleep. From then till 9am he had filled up that mess room with loud reverberations from his mouth and grunts that would have done justice to a family of pigs. He slept till morning then upon waking up he proceeded to set up his shop.

Yes, even the boatman plays his hand. He had come aboard with a massive bag filled with the odd t-shirt, a few watches, and some possible souvenirs.

"You like original Rolex, only 300 Singapore Dollars" was his opening gambit to me. I ignored him as I dont like people sticking their fingers into my back as I pass and shouting in my ear. He followed me into the galley where I was making a coffee for myself and he proceeded to harass me with his offers of original watches with prices that had crossed more borders than many a seafarer has done. I had that watch offered in currencies ranging from British Pounds, American Dollars and Japanese Yen to South African Rand and Russian Rubles but I just did not like his aggressive sales patter.

At one point he had me cornered in the mess room, I with a table at my side and bulkheads behind and on the other side. And there he was in front of me trying to push the watch into my pocket.

"you takee, you look, you wear. You not like, you give back. Put in pocket here! Why you not trust me?"

His hand was everywhere and I was doing my dodging routine until eventually I cracked. I shouted in a very loud and aggressive voice, move", and move he did. Like a rabbit and out and away! As I finished getting my coffee I passed him in the mess room and he had the cook trapped in the corner and was busy attempting to put the watch in the Cooks apron pocket. Poor Cook!

The Southern End

A little bit of Greenery Appears along the Canal
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

Hotter now as we get further south and looking out and I see cleaner sand. This is the stuff that beaches are made of, that tourists dream of and that sand castles are built from. Light brown and white sand stretching off to the horizon in rolling waves. Even a few trees and greenery around to break up the otherwise blandness of what could have been an empty beach (a big one that is).

Wrecks seem to dot the banks. Abandoned vehicles and buildings with no roofs become as frequent as corner grocery stores back home but the view is better as the telegraph poles and pylons are no more.

The railway continues, the occasional fifth class train chugs desperately along, pulling five or six dilapidated carriages whose deaths knell rang years ago. These blue painted and rusted carriages pass by with windows flung wide open and desperate passengers hang outwards in search of cool and fresh air. The Captain made an apt comment as one of these struggling efforts passed. "They look as if they are transporting sand", he said as we watched this train pass that was painted a light brown color - just like that of the sand that was all around it. Great Camouflage!

Later on the first class train rushes past, all windows tightly sealed to keep the cool air in and the sand out. Painted in suitable shades of blue and red this train is representative of modern technology and a tribute to those who can afford it.

The Escape

We arrived at the other end at 1700hrs. The weather was warmer and the sweltering heat of the red Sea beckoned us onwards.

The Skipper was in a complete state! Some official or other wanted something from him before he would let the vessel sail onwards and to freedom. He had no cartons of smokes left as they had all been divvied up to the pilots and immigration before we had even started the voyage. We had no food left, the skipper carried no cash and he had given his only bottle of perfume to the agent to keep him happy. He eventually managed to dream up 'paint' and so the official walked away with a twenty litre drum of distinctive Royal Blue from the ships stores.

As the Boatman left with a bag that looked suspiciously larger than when he had arrived he offered to sell me the Original Rolex for the small sum of fifty Singapore Dollars. Quite a nice reduction but then I wouldnt have bought anything from him had it been the bargain of the century. Glad to see that the Cook hadnt succumbed.

I wandered what was in the bag that the boatman carried with him, apart from the goods that he had not sold but we had nothing left to steal. Everything from the Hoover to the last tin of coffee had vanished in the Port of Suez so it cant have been much that he had taken.

We left the Canal behind at 1800hrs each of us vowing never to return and the Captain swearing that this was his last trip.

The Aftermath

The boatman's bag that seemed so much bigger when he left contained half of the videos and CDs that we had onboard. Somehow he had managed to break the lock on the cupboard and steal all of our collection of films. He had also removed the mugs from the galley so not only did we have no coffee left we also had no cups to drink the coffee that we did not have anyway.

As a note to future visitors to the Canal, should you see many a house painted in a distinctive Royal Blue color - it was us!

We left that Canal far behind and set sail down the Red Sea and to freedom.