Panama Canal Museum

2002 Seal of the Canal Zone

The seal of the Canal Zone has had a long and interesting history, from its creation in 1905 until the Canal Zone Government ceased to exist in 1979. to this day, the seal can be found on collectibles and other items of memorabilia and remains a popular symbol for former residents and employees of the unique enterprise that was the Panama Canal Zone.

The origins and design of the seal are somewhat cloudy, Gaillard Hunt, an official of the United States Department of State, who also designed the seals of Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands, was commissioned by the Isthmian Canal commission (ICC) to design a Canal Zone Seal. At the same time Maj. General George W. Davis, the first Canal Zone governor, submitted several designs for consideration by the Isthmian Canal commission in Washington. He wrote: “The motif of my design was, first, to comply with the law, second, to give it an essential interoceanic canal character, for the United States has but one errand in Panama, to make a canal, join the seas for the benefit of mankind and I therefore adopted the motto expressive of that idea.” He noted also, that, “It is well known that M. Delesseps adopted for his {French Canal” Company, the idea of which was that the continents were divided for the benefit of mankind.”

Artists of “Messrs. Tiffany and Company” in New York prepared the design that was recommended by Mr. Hunt. The design was adopted by the ICC but only after its chairman changed the original word “earth’ to “land” and made the sdales of the Spanish galleon smaller. The seal was delivered to the Canal zone in 1906 and was used until October 1979 to attest the authenticity and validity of official acts of the Canal Zone Government.

The original design consisted of a shield with a ribbon below; there was no border. In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson’s issued an executive order giving the first official description of the seal: “A shield, showing at the bottom a Spanish galleon of the 15th century under full sail coming head on between two high banks, all purpure (heraldic term for purple), the sky yellow with the glow of sunset; in the chief of the arms of the United States. Under the shield the motto: the land divided: the world united.”

The Tiffany color design for the seal was in many ways markedly different from President Wilson’s description. The Spanish galleon shown passing through the Canal in the lower part of the shield is brown and flied an orange-and-white flag.. the banks of the Canal are brown, with green grass, and the water is blue, showing a yeoow-gold reflection from the slightly orange sky. Below is the light blue ribbon bearing the motto: “The land Divided; The World United” in metallic gold letters.

For years reproductions of the seal proved troublesome, with mistaked being made in the arrangement of the white and red colors in the bars of the chief andin various shadings. In 1956, it was decided to settle definitely the question of the proper color scheme. Acting Governor Herman W. Schull, Jr. asked employees of the Canal’s Architectural Branch to come up with desgns based on President Wilson’s description. Illustrator Franklin Kwai Ben’s rendition was selected as the most faithful execution of the official description. Kwai Ben showed the ship’s full hull, the water, and the Canal banks all purple and gave the seal a circular blue boarder bearing the words, “Seal of the Canal Zone, Isthmus of Panama” in golden-yellow letters.

Governor Davis is said to have remarked in 1905 that the Seal of the Canal zone would be a fixture on the Isthmus “for all Time.” His words have an ironic ring today, as the Canal Zone has been erased from maps of the world and the seal has long since been retired.