“ Kolzum retained some of the trade of Egypt with Arabia and countries farther east long after the canal was closed, but by the 13th century it was in ruins and Suez itself, which had supplanted it, was also, according to an Arab historian, in decay. On the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in the 16th century Suez became a naval as well as a trading station, and here fleets were equipped which for a time disputed the mastery of the Indian Ocean with the Portuguese. ”

“ The harbours are connected with the town by an embankment and railway built across a shallow, dry at low water save for a narrow channel. On one of the quays is a statue to Thomas Waghorn, the organizer of the “overland route” to India. ”