{"id":11291,"date":"2022-07-20T13:53:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=11291"},"modified":"2022-07-20T14:05:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T11:05:38","slug":"the-corinth-canal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2022\/07\/20\/the-corinth-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Corinth Canal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 37\u00b057’14″N 22\u00b057’20″E<\/a><\/h6>\n

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For centuries one tyrant after another envisioned a canal<\/a> uniting the Gulf of Corinth and the Aegean Sea. Seeking a shortcut to the long, risky voyage around the Peloponnese peninsula has always made economic sense. One of the first attempts was by Periander<\/a> around 600BCE. High costs and a lack of labour made him settle for a portage road instead. The Diolkos<\/a><\/em> allowed ships to be towed overland on wheeled carriages and is one of the earliest examples of intermodal logistics*. Pretty cool tech for the time, but still not a canal.<\/p>\n

A stark lack of hydrologic science led to rumours the Aegean would inundate the Gulf of Corinth should the two bodies of water ever connect. That bit of bad data helped delay projects for centuries. Julius Caesar thought about having a go, but the Ides of March intervened. Caligula commissioned a study, but he too wound up with the worms before the consultants made their final report. Nero got as far as personally breaking ground with a pickaxe in 67CE. With the help of several thousand slaves, he hollowed out a couple of trenches. But the effort proved too much for his weak constitution and he too shuffled off the mortal coil. Work halted soon after his death.<\/p>\n

Sixteen hundred years later the Venetians, having conquered the Peloponnese and built a few nifty castles, considered the project, but then thought the better of it. In 1830, with the help of Lord Byron, the Greeks booted out the Ottomans and under its newly constituted government commissioned yet another study. This time undertaken by the French. When the price tag came back at 40 million francs, the project was once again shelved. (If you’re familiar with the history of I-5\u2019s <\/em>Interstate Bridge<\/a><\/em> near Portland this will sound depressingly familiar. \u2013 ed.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Enter the French<\/h6>\n

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The French went on to build the Suez Canal, at the cost of some 120,000 lives, and opened it in 1869. With a strong case of FOMO<\/a>, the Greeks passed a law authorising the building of the Corinth Canal the following year. It took 12 years to figure out the financing. Finally, in 1882 work started in earnest, led by a French company, the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe<\/em>. Construction continued for eight years until the money ran out and bankruptcies ensued. Thanks to new financing and the formation of a new Greek company, the canal was completed on July 25, 1893.<\/p>\n

Success was brief. Immediately after opening landslides delayed traffic for a year. Winds and tidal currents discouraged ship owners from using the canal and revenues fell significantly below expectations. Then World War I happened, and traffic declined even further. German bombs in World War II initiated landslides that were cleared by the US Army Corps of Engineers, who reopened the canal to traffic in 1947.<\/p>\n

At just under 25 metres wide, useful cargo ships soon became too large to squeeze through the canal\u2019s rickety 90-metre-high limestone walls. Today it is mostly a tourist attraction. Of the 11,000 ships passing through annually, most are small cruise ships and private yachts. It\u2019s not cheap. Our bill came to \u20ac249. Still, less expensive than motoring around the far end, I guess.<\/p>\n

Enter Aleta<\/h6>\n

In 2021 another landslide closed the canal and it only reopened on July 5 this year. Of course, Covid has put the kybosh on tourism and it hasn\u2019t recovered. The quiet streets of Corinth saw many bars and restaurants shuttered. The smaller boutiques that were open had sales on. Tough for the local economy, but easy for us to find a mooring along the town\u2019s harbour wall.<\/p>\n

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