Their report was somewhat astonishing. Instead of a difference of thirty feet in level, as had been previously reported, the seas were found to have precisely the same level. One strong difference was noted, namely, a tide of six and a half feet at one end, and one and a half at the other.
In 1853 an examination was made, but the results remained unchanged. Various plans were projected. One commissioner, who did not believe it possible to construct a canal, proposed a railroad from Cairo to Suez. Some years later such a railroad was opened to the public. It was devoted to the overland transportation of the British, Indian, and Australian mails.
France, in her energy, was not satisfied with the report of the English commissioner, and later caused to be published in a prominent journal, a plan to connect the two seas by way of Alexandria and a point some six miles below Suez.
In the year 1854 Count de Lesseps, a well-known member of the French representatives in Egypt, attracted the attention of the public by the originality of his plans. Two years later he obtained from the Pacha the exclusive right to construct a ship canal from Tyneh to Suez.
Count de Lesseps' plan differed from all previous ones, for he purposed cutting directly through the isthmus to Suez, rather than to follow an oblique course and to connect the canal with the Nile.
The great masterpiece of his plan was to construct two harbors, one at either end of the canal, Tyneh and Suez.
On the Mediterranean Sea he purposed carrying the harbor five miles out from land. This he deemed necessary in order to obtain depth enough to float a ship drawing twenty-three feet of water. Any natural harbor he knew would be obstructed by the vast quantities of mud and sand brought down annually by the Nile in its passage to the sea.
As many as thirty million cubic feet are thus carried down annually, to be driven by the prevailing winds along the shore in an easterly direction down towards the southern coast line of Palestine.
Count de Lesseps calculated that to construct such a harbor as he wished would require from three to twelve million cubic yards of stone. Herein lay the great difficulty; for there were no large stone quarries except at a great distance from Tyneh.
De Lesseps planned to carry the pier at Suez three miles out from land. He foresaw many difficulties before he could hope to see his plan completed, yet these difficulties did not seem to him so insurmountable as those on the Mediterranean Sea.