As we were doing some final research for the upcoming exhibit in our Albert H. Nahmad Panama Canal Gallery (dedicated to the BHS class of 1958), we came across a set of three photographs that peaked our interest. Click on the images to enlarge them.

The exhibition, Ebb & Flow (opening at the end of March), explores the vast and important role that water plays in the Panama Canal. We were researching how the Canal has dealt with floods and droughts.

The images were the perfect way to depict the dangers of flooding to Canal operations, BUT we needed to know if the event that caused the flooding in these photographs was natural or human error.

The amazing thing about working on this collection is the incredible resource we have in the community of current and former Panama Canal employees and residents that support us. They lived the experience, and are always more than willing to help us when we reach out for their expertise.

First we contacted a friend whose father was a Lock Master at Gatun, but this event was after his time so she didn’t know. Then we emailed Bill McLaughlin at CZ Images who is a long time member of our PCMC Friends Executive Council and a “go-to” for all things Panama Canal and Canal Zone. We are in frequent communication, sharing interesting things we come across during our respective preservation and research efforts.

Bill cast the community net even wider and within hours that spilled over into days, he shared some wonderful information.

A tremendous thank you for this fabulous lesson in the mechanics of the locks that came from Bob McConaughey, Lew Stabler, Bill Fall, and Bill Benny.

Here is a bit of what they shared with us.

“This is not what locks employees would call a “slop-over”. It looks to me like the control house operator opened the valves from the upper chamber to the middle chamber and the middle chamber water level had not been lowered. So, he was trying to put a full upper chamber into the middle chamber whose water level was too high for the amount going in.” – Bob McConaughey

The design of the original Panama Canal lock control boards requires that lock operations are executed in an exact sequence. You can not skip a step. This serves as a safeguard against human error.

Here is a copy of the detailed article: “Overflow of the Chambers at the Locks”. Click to enlarge the images or download the PDF below.

These angels of lock knowledge also clarified for us whether or not flooding over the lock gates and walls due to rain was even possible – meaning the level of the lake is so high that water comes over the the top of the gates of the upper lock chambers.

This must have released a stunning about of water – the culverts in the locks are 18-22 feet in diameter.

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Come learn more about the waters of the Panama Canal in the upcoming exhibition. A digital version of this exhibit will be available on our website soon. Click on the image to enlarge it.