Seven Wonders of the Industrial World…

Wednesday night (March 19) an interesting program will air on the Seven Network titled Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. This documentary series was created by the BBC and as the name suggests, it is seven episodes long looking at Seven Wonders built by man and the troubles that they went through in order to build these great monuments.

This series originally aired on ABC1 a few years ago, but if you have not seen it then it is most definably worth a watch. The series attempts to re-enact the events which occurred using original sources found from the time of construction and CGI technology to give the viewer the feel that they are actually there.

The episode being shown on Wednesday night is all about the Panama Canal which was created in order to join the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans together so large ships would not have to make the dangerous trip around South America.

This episode shows how French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps returned home to Paris after completing the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869, and was given the title of being a national hero. However on his return he had an even more adventurous scheme and that was to create a canal which would cut through the jungles of Panama to join the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

De Lesseps wanted to build the canal the same way as the Suez and have it as a sea level canal, but this proved to be a deadly mistake as the region was gripped with endless land slides and having to deal with constant rain. 20,000 people died from trying to build the canal and financial difficulties meant that the project was called off and De Lesseps lived in shame until he died in 1894.

Four years later the United States bought the rights to continue the construction of the canal under President Roosevelt. John Stevens was put in charge and his first course of action was to remove the mosquito population and fumigate the whole area to eradicate yellow fever, which was accounting for most of the deaths of the men working on the site. Stevens changed course of the first plan and decided that the only way to make this work was by creating the largest man made lake in the world and using a lock system to take the ships over the mountains. When the project was nearly complete Stevens stood down and the military had to take over in order to complete the canal and it opened in 1914.

This episode is the 5th in the series of 7, other episodes are as follows:

The Great Ship:
“In 1851, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, dreamed of creating the largest ship ever built. At 692 feet, it would be able to sail without stopping to Australia and unite the two ends of the empire. Yet his ‘Great Ship’ would destroy him, and those who were associated with it.”

The Brooklyn Bridge:
“In the mid 19th Centaury, New York was growing faster than any city in the world. A scheme was devised to unite Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River with the longest suspension bridge ever built. But John Roebling’s ambitious dream fast turned into a nightmare - a technological feat set against greed, corruption and a double family tragedy.”

Bell Rock Lighthouse:
“The deadly Bell Rock Reef in Scotland had been a ship’s graveyard for centuries. When young Robert Stevenson proposed building a lighthouse on it, other engineers thought him mad. A treacherous rock, it is almost constantly submerged and set 11 miles offshore in hazardous seas. Despite ridicule, greedy financiers, personal tragedy and the elements, the lighthouse was finally erected and still shines its warning to sailors.”

The Sewer King:
“In the hot summer of 1858, London’s decaying sewage stopped Parliament with its ‘Great Stink’. Sanitation had not changed since medieval times. Joseph Bazalgette’s vision was to build 1300 miles of new sewers. London had to be completely redesigned to accommodate the vast plan, but the eventual success led to the end of cholera epidemics.”

The Line:
“The enthralling story of two corporate giants, pitched against each other in a race to join the east and west coasts of America with a transcontinental railway. The surveyors and labourers had to battle floods, food shortages and even a war to complete the epic project.”

The Hoover Dam:
“In 1902, Arthur Powell-Davis conceived a plan to build a dam to harness the power of the dangerous and unpredictable Colorado River. At 727 feet, it would stand 60 storey’s high with a larger volume that the Great Pyramid at Giza. Ruthless Frank Crowe succeeded where he failed, but it came at a price - lives lost, legal wrangling’s and major fund disputes.”

This is a well made documentary series which gives an insight into how life was back in the days when these great triumphs were built. The acting is top notch in all seven episodes and no detail left out. If you watch Wednesday night’s episode and enjoy what you see, the series has been released onto DVD as a two disc set. The set also includes a set of collector cards, one for each episode with a description of the story behind that ‘wonder’.

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World: The Panama Canal, airs on the Seven Network 7:30pm Wednesday 19 March, or if you can’t wait buy it on DVD now .

Technorati tags: Channel Seven, Seven Network, Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

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