This canal between the Arabian desert & the Sinai peninsula formally opened Nov. 17, 1869
The guests of 
honor came ashore for a formal blessing of the canal by an .... On November 17, 
1899, the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of .... Lower Egypt, with the Fayum 
and the Peninsula of Sinai" (K. Baedeker: Leipsic, London 1885).