// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
Stuck in the Suez Canal – the short version (2021)
Never got round to reading Stranded in the Suez Canal? Don’t worry – here’s the short version.
09.00: Peter Flack, serving as third mate on the Blue Funnel cargo ship Agapenor, was up on deck. He can vividly remember the outbreak of hostilities to this day:
I came up to the bridge about 7.30am for my 8 till 12 shift, and we were approaching the Suez Canal from the south, on a northbound convoy. We were about to enter the Great Bitter Lake, one of the passing points in the canal. I was on the bridge with the deck apprentice. The captain, communicating by pipe and whistle, called up to tell me he’d just heard that war had broken out between Israel and the Arab states. He calmly said, ‘If you see anything unusual, please let me know but don’t tell the Egyptian pilot.’ We continued on our way. I figured something interesting was about to kick off, so I asked another seaman to bring me my camera.
At around 9 a.m., planes appeared to come out of the sun to the east, 15 degrees above the horizon. . . over the old Agapenor came the Israelis. . . . In they went as low as ever until right overhead when they released their bombs to devastating effect. Most of the [Egyptian] planes were knocked out and the fuel supply was in flames. . . . Naturally everyone ran for cover, but none hit.
The Egyptian air bases at El Kabret were obliterated in this surprise assault, the precursor to Israel’s invasion of Egyptian territory.
Peter Flack was witnessing the outbreak of the Middle East war on 5 June. That day, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered 14 cargo ships from 8 nations that were travelling through the Suez Canal to halt. They gathered in the Great Bitter Lake. The following day, Nasser blocked the canal at both ends, trapping the ships in the warzone between Israeli forces on the east bank and the Egyptians to the west. In six days of fighting against its Arab neighbours, Israel seized the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and from Egypt, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula.
The war was over, but Nasser did not permit the ships to budge. Did he intend to use them as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations? Nobody knew.
With around 200 crew aboard, these merchant ships were vast warehouses, transiting the Suez Canal to transport food, drink, clothing, toys and industrial materials to destinations across the globe. Joining the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, the canal was a vital short cut between Europe and Asia and Africa. Without it, ships had to make a far longer journey around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. The Agapenor was homeward bound to Liverpool; the longer route would have added an extra loop of 8,200 km.
Although the 1967 war was brief, tensions between Israel and Egypt continued. They escalated into confrontation again with the War of Attrition in March 1969, an attempt by Egypt to wear down the Israeli forces and push them out of the Sinai Peninsula. Naturally, Israel retaliated. After 1970, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat planned to reopen the canal. But the 1973 Arab–Israeli War intervened; the renewed conflict further delayed the preparations.
Over the years, the ship owners employed crews to maintain the stranded ships and protect their precious contents. The perishable foods were eaten or eventually rotted. In early 1969, the seafarers dumped hundreds of tonnes of mouldy fruit overboard – for a while, a sea of bobbing, rotting apples surrounded the ships. Yet the non-perishable goods would retain their value.