Fresh from constructing a sea-level canal through the flat Egyptian sand, de Lesseps was determined, without having set foot in Panama and after only the vaguest of topographical studies, that his project through the mountainous central American isthmus would also be a sea-level canal, requiring no locks to cope with changes in altitude.

ECONOMIST: The Panama Canal

More fisticuffs burst out, Paul Tito heavily engaged with Hartley and opposing locks Lawes and Christian Day, before Parks slotted over the penalty to level the match at 6-6 on the half-hour mark.

BBC: Blues 19-23 Northampton

De Lesseps's insistence that the canal be built without locks had led engineers to try to cut directly through the rock to sea level.

ECONOMIST: The Panama Canal