3-070-517 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Panama Ship Canal: arrival of the engineers at Colon, 1881. 'Our Illustrations, from sketches by Captain Chamberlaine-Bey, Secretary to the Directors of this great undertaking, shows the scenes at Colon (Aspinwall), the Atlantic seaport of the Isthmus passage, on Jan. 30, when the steamer Lafayette, of the French Transatlantic Company, brought the staff of civil engineers commissioned to perform the works preliminary to cutting the ship canal designed by M. de Lesseps from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. They were met at landing by the Mayor of Colon and other municipal and official persons, with some representatives of the Government of the Columbian Federal Republic, who presented addresses of welcome and congratulation. The members of the engineering staff are Messrs. Armand Reclus, Chamberlaine-Bey, G. Blanchet, A. Harel, G. Morel, J. Weber, G. Roux, G. Clavenaa, L. Verbrugghe, L. Fontan, F. Pidona, L. de Cazenave, S. Guignard, and P. Sosa, names which have quite an international aspect. The Sketches represent the harbour of Colon, with part of the town, the church and the British Consulate; the vessel lying in the harbour; the landing of the engineers from Europe, and their reception by the local authorities'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.