THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14895, 22 January 1912, Page 4

THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL.

—. ■*» THE FIRST VOYAGER. [from ocr own- connraroxDEVr.] Sax Francisco, December 25. It is indicative of the near approach to completion of the Panama Canal that a venturesome mariner has just set out from Providence, Rhode Island, in a little 21ft oil-power dory on a voyage to San Francisco, via. the waterway. To be sure, he cannot make his way completely through the canal by water, but at the present time it is navigable for small boats for its entire length with the exception of 12 miles of the Culebra Cut. Captain Harry Ritchie, who is navigating the dory, will call at Washington on his way down the Atlantic coast and ask the War Department for a permit to travel through the canal and to transport his craft over the 12 miles of dry land intervening. He plans to reach San Francisco in February. The contemplated journey is one of 7000 miles. A recent report of progress on the canal stateß that at the Atlantic entrance the waterway has reached its full width and about half of its complete depth. Here the bottom of the canal will be 500 ft wide and 41ft deep. From deep water as far inland as tho old French Canal, or about five and a-half miles, the entrance has been widened to the required 500 ft, and a depth of at least 20ft has been attained over this distance.