Waterways and Water Transport in Different Countries / With a description of the Panama, Suez, Manchester, Nicaraguan, and other canals.

by J. Stephen Jeans

“It was not, however, till our own times that the ‘Canal Latéral,’ between Toulouse and near Bordeaux, has been completed, and, curiously enough, just at the moment when the railway between Bordeaux and Cette has almost entirely absorbed the traffic. So here is this magnificent canal, with its 99 locks and its viaducts and bridges comparatively unused, save by an occasional barge loaded with wine. Nevertheless, it is kept in admirable order, and the passage can be made, with certain precautions, without any difficulty.

“A pleasant, though not very picturesque voyage of thirty miles of river, brought us to the entrance of the canal. It was necessary to put on our canal screw before entering, so we laid the vessel on the ground, and entered on the following tide, through the lock, which is double, or rather twin, so that two vessels can pass at the same time. The dimensions of this, and indeed all the locks, are as follows:—Length, 28 metres; breadth, 5·80 metres; depth, 1·60 metres. The height of the bridges varies, but no vessel is allowed to pass which is higher above the level of the canal than 2·72 metres.

“Thus, it will be seen that we had about six feet of length, and five feet of width, to spare, one foot of height, and one foot under our bottom; nor is this by any means too large a margin, since, however well a vessel may be steered, and however quickly stopped, it is impossible at all times, particularly if there be a strong breeze, to ensure her entry into the locks with exactly sufficient speed. Moreover it is quite necessary that a boat should be afloat, to make a rope fast to the shore, where the canal has very sharp curves, as is the case in the old part of it, between Toulouse and Cette; and inasmuch as the boat cannot be hoisted up to davits or inboards, it will be manifest that room must be left for her in the lock. We had just room under the stern for one 13 feet boat athwart. The safe passage through the first lock and under the first bridge caused us pleasant anticipations.

“We were satisfied to have accomplished our first lock, and made fast opposite the house of the ‘Chef du Section,’ of which there are seven on the canal. He and his lady paid us a visit, as did the curé and principal inhabitants of La Reole. Next morning, the 28th, we fairly tackled the business, and accomplished that day eleven locks, stopping at Buzet. It would be tedious to describe our daily routine, and I need only remark that we took advantage of all the daylight—at this season only about 8½ hours—and accomplished some 35 to 40 miles per day, always ascending, till we arrived at Toulouse on the sixth day. This ‘Canal Latéral’ follows much the course of the Garonne. It is a splendid work, and is kept in beautiful order. The grand features are the bridges which carry the canal across the Garonne and other rivers. There are three, but by far the grandest and most interesting is that at Agen, where we found ourselves in mid-air, with the river, the railway, the high road, and part of the town far beneath us. The centre arch is a hundred feet high. After leaving Agen, the scenery became picturesque, and sometimes grand; but to really enjoy this trip it should be taken before the fall of the leaf. The whole length of the canal is lined on either side by poplar, plane, and other trees, many of them of great height, so as almost to shade the vessels passing. The locks are admirably managed, and it is surprising how little delay they cause—always supposing that there is no vessel to take precedence; but whether by chance, or that orders had been sent on to keep the road clear, we were rarely detained, and the average time in passing through was about five minutes. As we approached Toulouse, the air became keen and the nights frosty. Our ‘Chef du Section,’ who always accompanied us, informed me that some years since the canal was frozen up in the middle of December, and we consequently delayed as little as possible, and only spent a couple of days at Toulouse, which I regretted, as, besides being a pretty town, it is especially interesting as being the grand central depot of the canal, and the junction with the old ‘Canal du Midi,’ a name which has outlived the original title of Louis XIV., who christened it ‘Canal de Languedoc.’ Here, or rather a few miles to the eastward, are the numerous reservoirs and alimentary canals which bring the waters from the ‘Montagnes Noires.’ We could not stop to see them in detail, but could trace their outline far away in the distance.

“When the celebrated engineer, Vauban, came to inspect these works, he was astonished, and exclaimed that one thing was wanting only, namely, a monument and statue to the founder. This has since been rectified, and a grand obelisk is visible at the source of the canal. The story of Pierre Paul Riquet is that of many, nay, of most, great patriots. He met with scant assistance from the Government, and strenuous opposition from his countrymen; he was treated as a madman, and died of a broken heart before the great work was finished. His career seems to have been very similar to that of an illustrious man of our own day—Lesseps—save and except that the latter, happily, has been spared to see the final achievement of his splendid work.[67] He had, however, one attribute which is not common among inventors—he knew how to strike a bargain; and his contract still enriches several families, his descendants, especially the Caramans.

“On December 5th, we arrived at the summit of the canal, and it was interesting to observe the alimentation going both ways. Here the whole character and structure of the works change; instead of many miles of straight reaches of uniform width of about 100 feet, the canal becomes tortuous to a degree which is almost absurd, but which is accounted for by the fact that, in Riquet’s day there was no law ‘d’expropriation,’ and he had to make a bargain with every little landowner for permission to pass through his grounds, and being in many cases refused, he had to cut away in another, and often opposite direction. The locks here are also peculiar, being oval-shaped, to admit of two abreast; the effect of this is, that although on the map, Toulouse is at least two-thirds of the distance from Bordeaux to Cette, it is, by the canal, not quite half-way.

“These sharp curves are inconvenient, as it is necessary to turn the comers very slowly, for fear of running into vessels coming in the opposite direction, and often they are so very acute as to necessitate stopping the engines and using poles, and sometimes ropes, to get round the comers.

“Another peculiar feature of this part of the canal is the constant recurrence of multiple locks. On the first approach to double, treble, quadruple, and even quintuple locks, one feels somewhat like going over a precipice, but this soon wears off, and in reality, the ground is got over quicker than with single locks.

“The famous octuple lock at Béziers only required half-an-hour to accomplish, and it is one of the most wonderful features of this canal, it is like going down a steep ladder from the top of a cliff to the valley below. Our passage must have been a source of amusement to the natives, judging by the crowds which met us at each stopping place. I never could quite understand the exact cause of this. I asked M. Moffre, to whom I have already alluded as the obliging and amiable chief, but he did not satisfy me by saying, ‘It is the first steam yacht we have had, except one which belongs to the Emperor of Austria, and which passed through five years ago.’ ...

“From Carcassone we descended rapidly by multiple locks to the plain of Agde, having always as a grand background to the south the range of the Pyrenees, but this plain is anything but picturesque, being rocky and barren. Here we pass what the ignorant and misguided people of Riquet’s days thought would be a barrier to his great work. A sharp spur of the ‘Montagnes Noires’ here juts out into the plain, which looks like ‘thus far, no farther,’ but he was equal to the task, and set to work to tunnel an imitation of the only tunnel existing in those days, the grotto of Pausillipo at Naples, which he visited on purpose, and it is exactly similar and about the same length. Who does not remember the odd mysterious passage, high enough to pass a line-of-battle ship through? A part, unfortunately, has given way, and necessitated arching the roof, which has somewhat marred the effect, but it is still interesting and imposing. From here, a sharp descent through several multiple locks, brings us to the level of the Mediterranean, whose blue waters are seen in the distance; and on Saturday, the 10th of December, being our fourteenth day since leaving Bordeaux, we emerged from the canal into the Etang du Thau, at the mouth of which is Cette, giving access to the Mediterranean.”