The project reclaimed some 1.2 km² of land behind a wall of rubble 2 miles (3.2 km) long and 230 feet (70 m) wide.
At the start of the First World War in 1914, Buchanan was working in India, until called to support the British Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force at Basra in Mesopotamia (now part of modern-day Iraq) with advice on improving shipping channels into the port.
However, he had already distanced himself from his compatriots by his reputation for egotism and outspokenness, and jealousy of his enormous salary as Director-General of Port Administration and River Conservancy.
Buchanan later wrote a critical book about the military campaign and his own part in turning it around, The Tragedy of Mesopotamia (1938).
His later career was largely focused overseas, notably in Australia where he prepared an influential report on the country's ports in 1926 at the request of the Federal Government.