The Great Bitter Lake (Arabic: البØيرة المرة الكبرى‎‎; transliterated: al-Buhayrah al-Murra al-Kubra) 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 (Arabic: البØيرة المرة الصغرى; transliterated: al-Buhayrah al-Murra as-Sughra), through which the canal also runs. Before the canal was built (1869), 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 of the LakeEdit
When the Suez Canal was closed, during the war, the salinity of the lake increased substantially. The salinity of the lake depends on how much seawater flows into it from the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Even when the canal is open, the Great Bitter Lake has a salinity level "more than twice" the level of the sea, and while this does make it difficult for plant life to exist there, many species (of crabs, for example) do 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.
The Quincy AgreementEdit
On 14 February 1945, 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 (2015).
The Yellow FleetEdit
During the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal was closed, leaving 15 ships trapped in the lake until 1975. 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 (like eggs and fruit), T-shirts, and a load of toys destined for Woolworth's.
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