AnMary Millerp age 10, of Indianapolis, Indiana

How long is the Suez Canal?

The Suez Canal is about one hundred miles long, It runs from Port Said on the Mediterranean shore to the city of Suez on the Red Sea, Those hundred miles save 5,000 miles along the sea route from London to Bombay. The canal is a straight trough cut through the sandy desert of North Africa, It has been called the Ditch in the Sand. There are no locks as there are in the Panama Canal.

Ships pass through the Suez in convoys. Two convoys each way may pass through every day. In certain areas the canal is wider as it makes use of lakes. Here convoys may pass each other, There are brilliant lights which make it possible to travel through the canal at night. The trip usually takes about 14 hours.

A ditch of. sweet water runs alongside the canal, for the journey through the desert is hot an dry. The canal through the sandy flatlands was far easier to construct than the tricky Panama. A few lakes were used and even some older canals. For the dream of a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea is thousands of years old. One of the old canals used was built by the Pharoahs 2300 year ago.