Great Bitter Lake


The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake in Egypt, connected to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. It is connected to the Small Bitter Lake, through which the canal also runs. Before the canal was built, the site was a dry salt valley or basin. References are made to the Great Bitter Lake in the ancient Pyramid Texts. Ships traveling through the Suez Canal use the Great Bitter Lake as a "passing lane", where they can change their position in line or turn around.

Salinity

When the Suez Canal was closed for eight years, beginning during the Six-Day War in 1967, the salinity of the lake increased substantially. The salinity of the lake depends on how much seawater flows into it from the Red and the Mediterranean seas. Even when the canal is open, the Great Bitter Lake has a salinity level "more than twice" the level of the sea. While this makes it difficult for plant life to exist there, many species migrate from the Red Sea through the area.
As the canal has no locks, sea water flows freely into the lake from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In general, north of the lakes the current reverses seasonally, being north-going in winter and south-going in summer. South of the lakes, the current is tidal, reversing with the tides in the Red Sea.
Fish can migrate, generally in a northerly direction, through the canal and lakes in what is known as a Lessepsian migration. This means that some Red Sea species have come to colonize the eastern Mediterranean.

Quincy Agreement

On 14 February 1945, in the last year of World War II, Great Bitter Lake was the site of the Quincy Agreement. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, having flown directly from the Yalta Conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, met on board the naval cruiser USS Quincy with Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz.
President Roosevelt's interpreter was U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Bill Eddy, who recorded the men's conversation in his book FDR Meets Ibn Saud. The meeting is the subject of a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, entitled Bitter Lake.

Yellow Fleet

During the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal was closed. Egypt kept it closed until 1975, trapping 15 ships in the lake. These ships became known as the "Yellow Fleet", because of the desert sands which soon covered their decks. The crews of the ships would eventually organize, share resources, and later set up their own post office and stamp. Two German-flagged ships eventually sailed out of the canal on their own power. Stranded cargo included various perishables, T-shirts, and a load of toys destined for Woolworth's.