BIRDS USE SHIP FOR A ROOST
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1997) - Our course is northwest over a flat sea with the outside temperature in the 80's. Yesterday we passed through the Panama Canal and we're still thinking about that marvel of engineering. 

  The canal averages 35-40 ships passing through per day. Lights were installed in 1962 to allow 24 hour per day operation.

  Since its opening has been closed three times. The first was a massive slide in 1915, the year after it was opened, and the canal was closed for seven months.

  The second was in 1968 when a Japanese ship had an accident at the cut and the canal was closed for 16 hours.

  The last time was in 1983. It was not a complete closure, but traffic was restricted of vessels drawing deep drafts because of low water. The canal has been deepened to avoid a repetition of this.

  The Gaillard cut is through the continental divide and was the largest earth-moving project in history to that time.

  A total of 262 million yards of material was excavated for the entire canal project. 323 million by the U.S. and 30 million by the French.

  The canal is 50 miles long, of which 9 miles is the cut.

  Deaths during construction are estimated at 500 per mile of the canal. Most of this loss of life, an estimated 20,000-22,000, was during the French period of construction. Most deaths were by disease with malaria and yellow fever the principal cause.

  Malaria was the biggest killer, but yellow fever is what really bothered people because of the swiftness of the disease and the high rate of fatalities.

  Healthy people would come to Panama and be dead of yellow fever a few weeks later.
U.S. deaths in the decades of canal construction were 5609. But of these, only 350 were white American. Most of those who died were black West Indian construction workers.

  William Gorgas estimated yellow fever cut down on malaria by mosquito control. Each disease is transmitted by a different mosquito.

  In just three years the canal is to be turned over completely to Panamanian administration. How well the Panamanians will be able to run it is an open question.

  One thing that is not open to question is the canal too important to the U.S. to allow any closure. The political reality is the Panamanians will be allowed to operate the canal as long as they do so in approximately the manner the United States wants.

  An object lesson to any Panamanian president who wants to become too independent is former Panamanian President Manuel Norriega who resides deep in some Florida prison.

Friends Of Bill W.

  There is a daily newsletter on the ship listing a schedule of everything happening that day. The newsletter everyday listed a meeting of the "Friends of Bill W."

  Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out who Bill W. was and why are his friends having daily meetings on this cruise ship.

  It turned out that Bill W. is a code word for Alcoholics Anonymous, from Bill Weldon, one of the founders. Incidentally, only two of Bill's friends were at the meeting. 

  We took a tour of the navigation bridge, which is a spotless room loaded with every kind of navigation made. There were four radars, two global positioning systems, depth sounder, automatic pilot, etc. But the location of the ship is still plotted manually on paper as a backup.

  Capt. Bengt Ronsen pointed out several dozen frigate birds following the ship. He said they eat flying fish and use the ship for a free ride. The roost on the ship and make a mess. And any messes on this ship have to be cleaned immediately .

  Ronsen said the birds will stay with us until late afternoon and then transfer to a southbound ship. Tomorrow evening the birds will catch going north again.

  At noon we saw a couple of pods of whales blowing but they never rolled to see what kind they were.

  The theme of dinner this evening was American Night. Each evening there is a theme, usually of a country. The entire dining staff waved U.S. flags and sang "America the Beautiful". I asked, and there was not a single U.S. citizen on the dining room staff.

  Tomorrow we arrive at Caldera, Costa Rica, at 7:00 a.m. I'm signed up to take a two-hour raft trip down the Corobici River while Betty goes shopping.