First Transit of the Panama Canal: SS Ancon, August 15, 1914

The SS Ancon, a U.S. Army transport ship, made the first official transit of the Panama Canal on August 15, 1914.

The Historic Passage

• Ship: SS Ancon (formerly Shawmut), 9,600 tons, 468 ft long. Operated by Panama Railroad Company.
• Cargo: 200 dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson (aboard briefly at Cristobal), Canal Zone officials, engineers, and press.
• Route: Entered from Atlantic (Limón Bay) → Gatún Locks → Gatún Lake → Gaillard (Culebra) Cut → Pedro Miguel Locks → Miraflores Locks → Pacific (Balboa).
• Time: ~9 hours 40 minutes (actual transit ~8 hours; ceremonies added time).
• Pilot: Captain John A. Constantine (Canal pilot).

Context

• Canal construction began 1904 (US); French effort 1881–1899 failed.
• Formal opening planned for 1915 (Panama-Pacific Exposition), but WWI canceled grand ceremony.
• Ancon was a "trial transit" — commercial service began later.
• First commercial ship: SS Cristobal (Aug 3, 1914, partial) or SS Ancon (official).

Significance

The transit marked the culmination of one of history's greatest engineering feats—cutting 8,000 miles off the New York–San Francisco route, reshaping global trade, naval strategy, and geopolitics. The Canal Zone became a US strategic asset until 1999 handover to Panama.

The SS Ancon was scrapped in 1947, but its 1914 passage remains the symbolic birth of the Panama Canal as a functioning waterway.