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January 9th, 1909 - USS Wisconsin
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Maison Hollandaise House
In some accounts of the history of the Suez Canal Company offices, the SCC
offices are confused with the Navy House, which was an entirely different
building. The Navy House was first called the Maison Hollandaise. It was built
in the late 19th century by Prince Hendrik of Holland, who was a friend of
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the canal. It overlooked the Bassin de
l'Arsenal (Arsenal Harbour) and was designed to be a centre for Dutch trade
interests. It also contained a hotel and a casino. After the British took over
running the canal, they purchased it and made it into their naval headquarters.
It was renamed as the Navy House. It was tragically, destroyed by the British
themselves, to prevent it falling into Egyptian hands, when their forces pulled
out of Egypt suddenly following the failure of the 1956 invasion.
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