Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Pilot Author:Great Britain Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. SUEZ CANAL—ISLANDS AND SHOALS LYING IN CENTRAL TRACK THROUGH RED SEA. Variation In 1900. Gulf of Suez - - - 3 50' W. Southern part of Re... more »d sea - - 3 20' W. GENERAL REMARKS.—Approaching port Said.— The coast in the neighbourhood of port Said is unusually low, being out of sight when 3 miles distant. The lighthouse, town, and shipping are the only objects seen from the offing. At six miles to the westward of the lighthouse the coast is marked by fort Ghemil, a low building standing by itself on the low sandy shore. Between fort Ghemil and the Arab village of port Said, are two beacons, situated on the coast about 2 and 4 miles to the eastward of Shemil each in the shape of a column, painted blask and white, and surmounted by a ball. The lighthouse, and the two water towers (92 feet high, red, skeleton-shaped, with conical tops) at port Said are conspicuous; and so is the Eastern Exchange, a large, square, red block building with five flagstaffs on its roof; also the offices of the Canal Company. The latter is a white square stone building with three domes. On the shore, about 3 miles eastward of the lighthouse, is a beacon 17 feet high, in the shape of a column, painted with black and white bands, and. surmounted by a staff1. Current.—The current off the coast is very uncertain. It generally runs with the wind, from half a mile to 1 miles an hour. The general set is to the eastward. Owing to this and the low shore, more than usual caution is necessary in approaching the harbour. Outer anchorage.—The anchorage off port Said is in a sufficient depth of water, according to draught, eastward of the line of the western breakwater, and out of the line of traffic. The bottom is mud and very- good holding ground. PORT SAID HARBOUR is formed by two c...« less