Cruise Ship passes through Gatun Locks Panama Canal

by Amy Cicconi

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Cruise Ship passes through Gatun Locks Panama Canal

Artist

Amy Cicconi

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Photograph - Photograph

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View from the rear (aft) of Royal Caribbean cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas, as it passes through the Panama Canal's Gatun Locks, entering from the Atlantic Ocean. The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax; an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax vessels.

A ship sailing into the Canal from the Atlantic Ocean enters the the Canal through Limon Bay, the port of the town of Cristobal in the Canal Zone. While the ship is still in deep water, a Canal Pilot comes on board from a small boat, (a launch). The pilot has complete charge of the ship during its trip through the Canal. After passing through the breakwater at the entrance to the bay, the ship proceeds south along the seven-mile channel that leads to the Gatun Locks. The shipyards, docks and fueling stations of Cristobal line the eastern shore of the bay.

This lock system, which resembles giant steps, or stairs, is made up of three pairs of concrete chambers that lift ships about 85 feet from sea level to Gatun Lake. Small electric locomotives called 'mules' run on tracks along both sides of the locks. They pull ships through the locks. The locomotives run up an incline at the end of each chamber to reach the next higher level. This allows the same set of locomotives to pull vessels through the entire length of the Gatun Locks. Four to 12 locomotives are used for each ship, depending on its size. As the ship approaches the first chamber, its engines are shut off. Canal workers fasten the ends of the locomotives' towing cables to the vessel. The locomotives then pull the ship into the first chamber. Huge steel gates close silently behind the vessel. Canal workers open valves that allow water from the Gatun Lake to flow into the chamber through openings in the bottom of the lock. During the next eight to 15 minutes, the rising water slowly lifts the ship. When the level of the water, is the same as that in the second chamber, the gates in

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March 3rd, 2013

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