Editing Suez Canal (section)

===Inauguration (17 November 1869)===
[[File:Suez Canal, Egypt. Lantern Slide.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|Suez Canal, Egypt. Early 1900s. Goodyear Archival Collection. [[Brooklyn Museum]].]]

The canal opened under French control in November 1869. The opening ceremonies began at Port Said on the evening of 15 November, with illuminations, fireworks, and a banquet on the yacht of the [[Khedive]] [[Isma'il Pasha]] of [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]]. The royal guests arrived the following morning: the [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Emperor Franz Joseph I]], the [[Eugénie de Montijo|French Empress Eugenie]] in the Imperial yacht ''L'Aigle'', the [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Crown Prince]] of [[Prussia]], and [[Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse|Prince Louis of Hesse]].<ref name=Scotsman>{{cite book|first=Alexander|last=Russel|title=Egypt: The Opening of the Great Canal|date=1869|publisher="Scotsman" Office|place=Edinburgh|url=https://archive.org/details/egyptopeninggre00russgoog}}</ref> Other international guests included the American natural historian [[H. W. Harkness]].<ref name="Zoe-1891">{{cite journal |title=Harvey Wilson Harkness |journal=Zoe |date=1891 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14453#page/5/mode/1up |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112211555/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14453#page/5/mode/1up |url-status=live }}</ref> In the afternoon there were blessings of the canal with both Muslim and Christian ceremonies, a temporary mosque and church having been built side by side on the beach. In the evening there were more illuminations and fireworks.<ref name=Scotsman/>

[[File:Admiralty Chart No 233 The Suez Canal - The Soundings in the Canal were taken by Captain Nares and the Officers of H.M.S. Newport in February 1870 and April 1871 RMG F0136, Published 1870 (cropped).tiff|thumb|upright=1.1|Nautical chart of the Suez Canal published shortly after the inauguration, with survey data from [[HMS Newport (1867)|HMS ''Newport'']] under [[George Nares]].]]
On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, headed by the ''L'Aigle''. Among the ships following was&nbsp;[[HMS Newport (1867)|HMS ''Newport'']], captained by [[George Nares]], which surveyed the canal on behalf of the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] a few months later.<ref name="Ritchie">{{cite book |last=Ritchie |first=G.S. |title=The Admiralty Chart |date=1967 |publisher=Hollis & Carter |location=London |pages=317–319}}</ref> The ''Newport'' was involved in an incident that demonstrated some of the problems with the canal. There were suggestions that the depth of parts of the canal at the time of the inauguration were not as great as promised, and that the deepest part of the channel was not always clear, leading to a risk of grounding.<ref name=Scotsman/><ref>{{cite journal|first=G.H.|last=Richards|title=Suez Canal, with directions for is pilotage|date=1869|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London|volume=14|issue=1|pages=75–78|jstor=1799610|doi=10.2307/1799610}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=J.F.|last=Bateman|title=Some Account of the Suez Canal, in a Letter to the President|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
|date=1870|volume=18|pages=132–144|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03089805|doi=10.1098/rspl.1869.0034|s2cid=178734036}}</ref> The first day of the passage ended at [[Lake Timsah]], {{convert|41|nmi|km|order=flip}} south of Port Said. The French ship ''Péluse'' anchored close to the entrance, then swung around and grounded, the ship and its hawser blocking the way into the lake. The following ships had to anchor in the canal itself until the ''Péluse'' was hauled clear the next morning, making it difficult for them to join that night's celebration in [[Ismailia]]. Except for the ''Newport'': Nares sent out a boat to carry out soundings, and was able to manoeuver around the ''Péluse'' to enter the lake and anchor there for the night.<ref name=PallMall>{{cite news|title=The Opening of the Suez Canal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000098/18691130/014/0011|access-date=5 October 2019|work=Pall Mall Gazette (the paper's correspondent was on board HMS Newport)|date=30 November 1869|location=London|page=11}}</ref><ref>This incident appears to have been the basis for a myth that the ''Newport'' manoeuvered around the assembled yachts on the night of 16th/17 November, and beat the ''Aigle'' to be the first through the canal (see Talk)</ref>

Ismailia was the scene of more celebrations the following day, including a military "march past", illuminations and fireworks, and a ball at the Governor's Palace. The convoy set off again on the morning of 19 November, for the remainder of the trip to Suez.<ref name=Scotsman/> After Suez, many of the participants headed for Cairo, and then to the Pyramids, where a new road had been built for the occasion.{{sfn|Wilson|1939}}

An [[Anchor Line (steamship company)|Anchor Line]] ship, the S.S. ''Dido'', became the first to pass through the Canal from South to North.<ref>Glasgow Herald, 17 November 1903</ref><ref>History of the Anchor Line 1852–1911. 1911. Glasgow, UK: John Horn, for Anchor Line.</ref>

====Initial difficulties (1869–1871)====
[[File:L'inauguration du canal de Suez, 17 November 1869 Gal18 riou 001f.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''Inauguration ceremony of the Suez canal at Port Said, 17 November 1869'', by French artist [[Édouard Riou]].]]
Although numerous technical, political, and financial problems had been overcome, the [[Cost overrun|final cost]] was more than double the original estimate.

The Khedive, in particular, was able to overcome initial reservations held by both British and French creditors by enlisting the help of the [[Sursock family]], whose deep connections proved invaluable in securing much international support for the project.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kassir |first=Samir |year=2011 |orig-year=2010 |title=Beirut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |translator=M. B. DeBevoise |edition=1st |location=Berkeley, Calif. |publisher=University of California Press |page=127 |isbn=9780520271265 |oclc=1083962708 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818212454/https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fawaz |first=Leila Tarazi |year=1983 |title=Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth-Century Beirut |url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |series=Harvard Middle Eastern Studies no. 18 |page=92 |isbn=9780674569256 |oclc=993333677 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=16 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116121306/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the opening, the Suez Canal Company was in financial difficulties. The remaining works were completed only in 1871, and traffic was below expectations in the first two years. De Lesseps therefore tried to increase revenues by interpreting the kind of net ton referred to in the second concession (''tonneau de capacité'') as meaning a ship's cargo capacity and not only the theoretical [[net tonnage]] of the "[[Moorsom System]]" introduced in Britain by the Merchant Shipping Act in 1854. The ensuing commercial and diplomatic activities resulted in the International Commission of Constantinople establishing a specific kind of net tonnage and settling the question of tariffs in its protocol of 18 December 1873.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/documentsdiplom21trgoog#page/n125/mode/1up Protocol of the Commission] (in Ffrench)</ref> This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net Tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate, both of which are still in use today.