Chapter 12: The Canal of the Pharaohs

Seated in one of Boodles comfortable armchairs I waited until we both held tankards of porter in our hands before questioning Rollo Guest.
“What is His Majesty’s Government interest in Egypt, if not the acquisition of ancient Egyptian artefacts, Rollo?”
“The Canal of the Pharaohs, Colonel, or at least a portion of the canal.”
He took a draught of his porter while I stared at him in astonishment. “There is a canal in Egypt... ?”
“There are many canals in Egypt, Colonel. Most have fallen into disrepair and are now filled in, covered over by centuries of sand, while some so called ‘canals’ are really irrigation channels. The hieroglyphics are similar, and an untutored eye can mistake the hieroglyph meaning ‘irrigation channel’ for the hieroglyph meaning ‘canal’.”
Rollo placed his empty tankard on the table by his side before continuing. “We know, from the Greek historian Herodotus, that the Canal of the Pharaohs ran from the Nile, somewhere near present day Cairo, eastward to the Red Sea. There are conflicting accounts of when it was built, who built it, and when it fell into disrepair, but its presence is not in dispute. Napoleon visited the location where the canal entered Lake Timsah, where I believe parts of an ancient wall are still visible. His chief civil engineer, Jacques-Marie Le Pére, made a topographical survey of the Suez Isthmus, and traced the route of the ancient canal from the Red Sea to the Nile.”

“There is a canal, was a canal, from the Nile to the Red Sea, and the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, it would have been possible for Egyptian vessels to sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Are there any accounts of such journeys in Ancient Egyptian texts, or in Greek or Roman records? Both those latter civilisations ruled Egypt at times, and surely the Romans would have used the route to move their fleets from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea?”
“To date there has been no written evidence that shipping transited from one sea to the other via the canal,” Rollo said. “But that a canal existed is without doubt. Most information concerning the canal is based on the writings of Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Diodorus of Sicily.”
“And your purpose on the expedition is to substantiate those accounts by mapping the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea?”
He shook his head. “No, Colonel. HMG is not interested in a canal running from the Nile to the Red Sea, and besides we already have copies of le Pere’s survey.”
“Are there any ancient accounts of a canal running directly from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea?”
“Nothing has been discovered as yet, but as we learn more of the Ancient Egyptians from the texts they have left behind who knows what will be revealed. A civilisation that could construct the Great Pyramid at Giza would have no problem in digging a canal from Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to the Red Sea.”
Given that fact I could do nothing but agree with Rollo.
“And you are to survey the route this hypothetical canal might have taken? What is the distance from Egypt’s northern coast to the Red Sea?”
Rollo thought a moment before replying. “About a hundred miles.”
“It will take many months to survey that distance. What will Crudwright be doing while you are mapping and measuring? He expects you to be helping him.”
“I will be surveying only part of the route of this hypothetical canal. Sir Sidney Smith, the Royal Navy commodore whose squadron of gunboats thwarted Napoleon’s capture of Acre, put a topographical mapping team ashore on Egypt’s northern coast in eighteen hundred. They landed at El Said – a small fishing village to the east of the Nile Delta – to carry out a survey, and mapped about thirty miles to the south, to a village called Al-Sharqîya. My task is to find and survey a feasible route between Lake Timsah and Al-Sharqîya, a distance somewhere near twenty miles. When that has been surveyed Britain will possess a surveyed and mapped route for any future canal from El Said to Lake Timsah, and then have the French maps for the rest of the route to the Red Sea at Suez.”
His faced glowed with excitement. “Imagine if such a canal was built. There would be no need for the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope, and journey times to India and Australia could be halved.”