Goethals Wine Receipt Dated 21 December 1914

My grandfather, a ship's steward, saved a stateroom receipt for wine purchased aboard ship by George W Goethals, the engineer who oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal.

Grandpa always claimed to have been on the first ship through the Canal, and he certainly was in the vicinity at the time of the opening, but I've found no evidence of his specific claim to date. Maybe he was aboard the S S Cristobal (right) on 3 August 1914, when it made an unpublicized commercial transit of the Canal with a load of cement? Grandpa wasn't on the manifest when that ship arrived in New York on 12 August but he could have been on the ship for the passage through the Canal. Evidence shows that he was in Panama at the time of the official opening on 15 August and the passage of Cristobal's sister ship S S Ancon. He wasn't on that ship's manifest either.

Here is what the wine receipt said:

Panama Rail Road Co.
Panama Rail Road S. S. Line.

Name... Geo. W Goethals
State Room...
Kind of Wine... Apollinairo
$... 20 c

Date...Dec 21/14

[form #] T. S. 2. 10M. 9-14