The true story of a legendary vessel

The reign of Méhémet-Ali
[1800-1847]

The parting of the French with Egypt left Egypt unorganised. The Mamelukes partly discredited by their defeat, no longer controlled the country. A young Albanian general, Mehemet-Ali, would quickly restore order. During a banquet he poisoned the head Mamelukes, then nominated himself governor (pasha or lord) of Istanbul. This rather odd character, new lord, Muslim to the tip of his nose, was fascinated by the Napoleonic style and therefore eagerly pursued French artwork. He in turn surrounded himself with French engineers, like Napoleon, and attempted to keep a good political relation with the France the duration his life.

A man that could represent this period: is a Lyonnais called Joseph-Anthelme Sève. A sailor from Trafalgar, who at the time was a lieutenant in Napoleon's Army. He would appear in Egyptian history once he became a Colonel in charge of an expedition to find coalmines. He would quickly come back to his first love and reorganize the Army Mehemet-Ali was hoping to install. In 1820, he created an Infantry School and for this the pasha elevated him to the rank of Aga. He converted to Islam and was renamed Soloman Aga. The pasha in 1824 asked him to create an officers academy in Aswan as well as to create a Special Forces army of 500 Mamelukes, whom he would be in charge of. In return, Mehemet-Ali would become Khedive, that's to say viceroy of Egypt and pasha for life. He had absolute power.

The ascension of Soloman would follow. In 1824 he rose to the rank of bey. But he wasn't alone. Doctor Clot, also French, the overseer of Egyptian healthcare, was also nominated to the status of bey. Practically all the great Egyptian engineers were French and graduated from the "Ecole Polytechnique": Louis Linant de Bellefonds, Charles Lambert, and Louis Jumel. They were in charge of the reconstruction of Khedive. The ports were enlarged and some canals and some barge projects were born. The greatest challenge was using the water from the Nile. Another polytechnicien reorganized the Egyptian Marina. Lefébure de Cerisy was nominated chief naval engineer in 1829. He organized the Alexandrian arsenal and more importantly created the Bulak arsenal, north of Cairo. Practically all the Egyptian sailors were directed by French sailors. Like J. Besson, the Vice-Admiral of the fleet, Lefébure de Cerisy handled the training, and French craftsmen came to instruct the Egyptians on ship carpentry and how to make sail lofts. We imagine that in 1840, over 5,000 qualified workers worked in the Egyptian shipyards. In 1831, the Egyptians launched the Misr, a ship with 120 canons mounted by a crew of 1,000 men. The Egyptian Marina dominated the Mediterranean. In 1839, Turkey agreed to give Mehemet-Ali the Khedivate inheritance. In the eyes of Europe, Egypt is a model of modern development. Solomon, nominated pasha in 1833, is the symbol of Franco-Egyptian cooperation. Flaubert came to visit him and his daughter, Nazli married King Fouad. So, she became the mother of the king Farouk.

The first dam on the Nile, at Esna, was built in 1847; the first step in regulating the river flow. The polytechniciens were everywhere: the Ecole Superière de Polytechnique was more or less a nest of Saint-Simon ions and Egypt their ideal terrain for executing their ideas on the development of societies. The first projects to build the Suez Canal were being brought to life.

The first railroad was opened in 1857 between Cairo and Alexandria. These communication lines were a high priority for the Khedive. While Alexandria specializes in ships for the high seas, Bulak built riverboats, notably steam-ships, and other kinds of flat barrages for the transportation of merchandise. Egypt would then become a vast construction site: Principle materials were lacking however. Wood bought from Turkey became a priority for Lefébure de Cerisy and his successors. As a result, they experienced delays and prevarications. The first regular line between Cairo and Alexandria wouldn't open until the end of 1850. It was then imperative for the Egyptian government to conquer the Sudan and find a way to restructure itself along the Nile.