You can still hear screams of terror in Old Panama

Written by Sydney Tremayne


PANAMA VIEJO: Old Panama. Stand inrepparttar graveled, tree-lined road,repparttar 136948 convent and public baths to your left,repparttar 136949 Jesuit church to your right, and listen carefully. Screams of terror. Shouts of domination. The clash of steel. Musket fire. The roar of flames consumingrepparttar 136950 city. It is January, 1671.

Henry Morgan and 1,200 fierce, dirty, scruffy and desperate pirates are here, smelly from a nine-day trek throughrepparttar 136951 jungle, sweating underrepparttar 136952 summer sun.

Morgan had thought his men would be able to live offrepparttar 136953 land on their way acrossrepparttar 136954 isthmus fromrepparttar 136955 Caribbean. He was wrong. Villages were deserted, their crops burned. Morgan had thought he could takerepparttar 136956 city now known as Panama Viejo by surprise. He was wrong again. The Spanish knew ofrepparttar 136957 impending attack three weeks before it came.

With a relatively small defensive force, they could easily have wiped out Morgan’s half-starved and exhausted crew at any number of ideal ambush points alongrepparttar 136958 route throughrepparttar 136959 jungle. That they did not even try can be blamed on Don Juan de Guzman, governor of Panama, who died withrepparttar 136960 city he considered invincible.

After nine days of unimpeded passage throughrepparttar 136961 jungle, Morgan’s men staggered torepparttar 136962 top of a small hill and sawrepparttar 136963 Pacific inrepparttar 136964 distance. Below them, fat cattle grazed on lush grass, and trees were laden with fruit. Another Spanish act of stupidity.

The pirates fell onrepparttar 136965 cattle, hacking off great chunks of raw meat almost beforerepparttar 136966 animals were dead. As you imagine them fightingrepparttar 136967 next day in Panama Viejo, also think ofrepparttar 136968 blood that stained their beards, hands, faces andrepparttar 136969 clothing that had been reduced to rags inrepparttar 136970 jungle. Think of them brandishing their weapons and screaming like banshees, and you can imaginerepparttar 136971 terror they struck inrepparttar 136972 local population.

Guzman made another error that led torepparttar 136973 death of Panama Viejo: onrepparttar 136974 plains outsiderepparttar 136975 city, he ranged 4,000 troops, well-armed, smartly dressed: infantry, cavalry and artillery. There should have been no contest, faced with a disorganized rabble of a little more than 1,000. Whatrepparttar 136976 Spanish did not reckon on wasrepparttar 136977 fear ofrepparttar 136978 jungle. These men would rather die quickly fighting than again facerepparttar 136979 horrors ofrepparttar 136980 jungle and a likely slow death there.

The defenders placed their largest guns onrepparttar 136981 road leading to Panama Viejo. Morgan’s men simply skirted a small hill and came towardrepparttar 136982 city from another direction, makingrepparttar 136983 fixed guns useless.

Spanish fighting discipline worked against them, as well. Asrepparttar 136984 two forces approached each other,repparttar 136985 pirates leaped into a long ditch protected by underbrush. The Spanish cavalry, 400 ofrepparttar 136986 finest mounted troops inrepparttar 136987 Americas, under orders to charge, trotted forward in close formation toward 200 specially selected marksmen with orders to wait untilrepparttar 136988 horsemen were almost upon them.

The slaughter was ghastly. What was left ofrepparttar 136989 cavalry retreated, reformed, and challengedrepparttar 136990 pirate wall of death a second time withrepparttar 136991 same result. They never broke line. The tactic was repeated with diminishing numbers untilrepparttar 136992 cavalry was wiped out. Morgan’s men were left virtually unscathed.

Now it wasrepparttar 136993 infantry’s turn to be sacrificed. Fighting in Spanish block formation, close together and inrepparttar 136994 open, they were mowed down underrepparttar 136995 deadly fire of an opponent they could not even see. The pirates fought from behind trees, hummocks, anything that would provide shelter;repparttar 136996 Spanish remained in formation out inrepparttar 136997 open.

Seeing his army being routed, Guzman sprang what he thought would berepparttar 136998 master strategy ofrepparttar 136999 battle, he loosed 2,000 wild bulls that had been brought intorepparttar 137000 city just days before. Driven by yelling cowboys,repparttar 137001 maddened bulls were driven acrossrepparttar 137002 field to tramplerepparttar 137003 pirates. The pirates simply shotrepparttar 137004 cowboys and a few lead animals, andrepparttar 137005 bulls, bellowing in terror, headed forrepparttar 137006 hills.

Hopelessly outnumbered,repparttar 137007 defenders fled for Panama Viejo withrepparttar 137008 attackers hot on their heels. The defenders tried to make a stand inrepparttar 137009 city itself, but their morale was broken and they gave up less than eight hours afterrepparttar 137010 first shot had been fired.

Now there was a new menace in Panama Viejo. Amidrepparttar 137011 shouts, groans and screams, Morgan heard thatrepparttar 137012 residential district was ablaze. Homes of cedar and other aromatic woods ofrepparttar 137013 wealthy andrepparttar 137014 thatched roof dwellings ofrepparttar 137015 poor andrepparttar 137016 slaves burned like tinder inrepparttar 137017 dry summer wind. Residents and pirates worked shoulder to shoulder, butrepparttar 137018 fire was impossible to control.

Panama Canal: Challenge of Connecting Two Oceans of Different Levels

Written by Sydney Tremayne


Many would be surprised to know thatrepparttar Panama Canal runs north to south to linkrepparttar 136924 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, not east to west.

By shorteningrepparttar 136925 route and reducingrepparttar 136926 cost of transportation betweenrepparttar 136927 two oceans,repparttar 136928 Panama Canal allows for lower-cost imported goods and commodities in many part ofrepparttar 136929 world. (It saves almost 8,000 miles on a trip from New York to San Francisco.) By eliminating forrepparttar 136930 majority of shippingrepparttar 136931 treacherous route aroundrepparttar 136932 tip of Argentina, it has no doubt saved countless lives and millions of dollars in lost vessels. However, it is estimated to have cost some 30,000 lives inrepparttar 136933 two attempts – French and American – to build it between 1880 and 1914.

Reducingrepparttar 136934 distance betweenrepparttar 136935 two oceans provides Panama with a major share of its gross domestic product. Some 13,500 ships transitrepparttar 136936 canal each year, almost 40 a day.

Not commonly known isrepparttar 136937 fact thatrepparttar 136938 two oceans have different sea levels, and different levels of high tide. Atrepparttar 136939 entrance torepparttar 136940 Panama Canal,repparttar 136941 Pacific Ocean can rise as much as 20 feet, but 45 miles away,repparttar 136942 difference between high tide and low inrepparttar 136943 Atlantic is just three feet.

The longest part ofrepparttar 136944 canal, sandwiched between gigantic sets of locks at either end, is manmade Gatun Lake andrepparttar 136945 Gaillard Cut. Gaillard Cut actually rips through a low point inrepparttar 136946 mountain chain that runs allrepparttar 136947 way from Alaska torepparttar 136948 tip of Argentina.

The Panama Canal has six locks, three near either end. Fromrepparttar 136949 Pacific Ocean, near Panama City,repparttar 136950 Miraflores Locks' two chambers each raise vessels 27 feet. A short distance away,repparttar 136951 Pedro Miguel Lock lifts shipping a further 31 feet. Most ofrepparttar 136952 passage throughrepparttar 136953 canal is at 85 feet above sea level.

The Gaillard Cut is followed byrepparttar 136954 town of Gamboa, whererepparttar 136955 Chagres River entersrepparttar 136956 canal. Withoutrepparttar 136957 Chagres andrepparttar 136958 immense amount of water that flows from it, there could be no Panama Canal.

The three steps ofrepparttar 136959 Gatun Locks each lower ships about 28 feet, torepparttar 136960 level ofrepparttar 136961 Atlantic Ocean.

The locks are gravity fed fromrepparttar 136962 Chagres and Gatun Lake. No pumps are needed. Water pours through a huge culvert inrepparttar 136963 center wall of each lock, a culvert so massive that a locomotive could pass through it. Other large culverts pass throughrepparttar 136964 side walls. Water fills or empties through vents alongrepparttar 136965 bottom ofrepparttar 136966 locks, 26 million gallons in just eight minutes.

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