Barge

Flat-bottomed watercraft for transport of bulk goods

For other uses, see Barge (disambiguation).

Barges towed by a tugboat on the River Thames in London, England, UK A British Airways Concorde being towed in New York City, United States. It is on a deck barge.[1]

Barge refers to a flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and marine water environments.[2] The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but on inland waterways, most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels.[citation needed] The term barge has a rich history, and therefore there are many types of barges.

## History of the barge

[edit]

### Etymology

[edit]

"Barge" is attested from 1300, from Old French barge, from Vulgar Latin barga. The word originally could refer to any small boat; the modern meaning arose around 1480. Bark "small ship" is attested from 1420, from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca (400 AD). The more precise meaning of Barque as "three-masted sailing vessel" arose in the 17th century, and often takes the French spelling for disambiguation. Both are probably derived from the Latin barica, from Greek baris "Egyptian boat", from Coptic bari "small boat", hieroglyphic Egyptian

| | | | | |

|
|
|
|
|

and similar ba-y-r for "basket-shaped boat".[3] By extension, the term "embark" literally means to board the kind of boat called a "barque".

### The British river barge

[edit]

River barge below Barton Aqueduct c. 1793 A Dutch barge in Namur

In Great Britain a merchant barge was originally a flat bottomed merchant vessel for use on navigable rivers.[4] Most of these barges had sails. For traffic on the River Severn the barge was described as: "The lesser sort are called barges and frigates, being from forty to sixty feet in length, having a single mast and square sail, and carrying from twenty to forty tons burthen." The larger vessels were called trows.[5] On the River Irwell there was reference to barges passing below Barton Aqueduct with their mast and sails standing.[6] Barges on the Thames were called west country barges.[4]

### British canals: narrowboats and widebeams

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

During the Industrial Revolution, a substantial network of narrow canals was developed in Great Britain from 1750 onward. These new British canals had locks of only 7 feet (2.1 m) wide. This led to the development of the narrowboats, which had a beam of no more than 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m). It was soon realized that the narrow locks were too limiting. Later locks were therefore doubled in width to 14 feet (4.3 m). This led to the development of the widebeam.

The narrowboats were initially also known as barges, but only a very few had sails, unlike earlier vessels. From the start, most of the new canals were constructed with an adjacent towpath along which draft horses walked, towing the barges. These types of canal craft are so specific that on the British canal system the term 'barge' was not used to describe narrowboats and widebeams. Narrowboats and widebeams are still used on canals, now engine-powered.

### The Thames barge and Dutch barge

[edit]

On the British canal system, the Thames sailing barge, and Dutch barge and unspecified other styles of barge, are still known as barges.[7] The term Dutch barge is nowadays often used to refer to an accommodation ship, but originally refers to the slightly larger Dutch version of the Thames sailing barge.

### Crew and pole

[edit]

The people who moved barges were known as lightermen. Poles are used on barges to fend off other nearby vessels or a wharf. These are often called 'pike poles'. The long pole used to maneuver or propel a barge has given rise to the saying "I wouldn't touch that [subject/thing] with a barge pole."[8]

### The 19th century British barge

[edit]

Dumb barge on the Thames

In the United Kingdom the word barge had many meanings by the 1890s, and these varied locally. On the Mersey a barge was called a 'Flat', on the Thames a Lighter or barge, and on the Humber a 'Keel'.[9] A Lighter had neither mast nor rigging.[10] A keel did have a single mast with sails.[9] Barge and lighter were used indiscriminately. A local distinction was that any flat that was not propelled by steam was a barge, although it might be a sailing flat.[9]

The term Dumb barge was probably taken into use to end the confusion. The term Dumb barge surfaced in the early nineteenth century. It first denoted the use of a barge as a mooring platform in a fixed place. As it went up and down with the tides, it made a very convenient mooring place for steam vessels.[11] Within a few decades, the term dumb barge evolved, and came to mean: 'a vessel propelled by oars only'.[12] By the 1890s Dumb barge was still used only on the Thames.[13]

By 1880 barges on British rivers and canals were often towed by steam tugboats.[14] On the Thames, many dumb barges still relied on their poles, oars and the tide. Others dumb barges made use of about 50 tugboats to tow them to their destinations. While many coal barges were towed, many dumb barges that handled single parcels were not.[15]

### The 19th century American barge

[edit]

In the United States a barge was not a sailing vessel by the end of the 19th century. Indeed, barges were often created by cutting down (razeeing) sailing vessels.[16] In New York this was an accepted meaning of the term barge. The somewhat smaller scow was built as such, but the scow also had its sailing counterpart the sailing scow.

## The modern barge

[edit]

### The iron barge

[edit]

The innovation that led to the modern barge was the use of iron barges towed by a steam tugboat. These were first used to transport grain and other bulk products. From about 1840 to 1870 the towed iron barge was quickly introduced on the Rhine, Danube, Don, Dniester, and rivers in Egypt, India and Australia. Many of these barges were built in Great Britain.[17]

Nowadays 'barge' generally refers to a dumb barge.[18] In Europe, a Dumb barge is: An inland waterway transport freight vessel designed to be towed which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion.[2] In America, a barge is generally pushed.[citation needed]

### Modern use

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Canal style tugboat pushing a barge on the Chicago River 3x3 nine unit barge going through La Crosse, Wisconsin Multiple barges pushed around a tight bend on the Cumberland River Towboat Herbert P. Brake of New York pushes a new barge east on the Erie Canal in Fairport, New York, United States

Barges are used today for transporting low-value bulk items, as the cost of hauling goods that way is very low and for larger project cargo, such as offshore wind turbine blades.[19][20] Barges are also used for very heavy or bulky items; a typical American barge measures 195 by 35 feet (59.4 m × 10.7 m), and can carry up to about 1,500 short tons (1,400 t) of cargo.[19] The most common European barges measure 251 by 37 feet (76.5 m × 11.4 m) and can carry up to about 2,450 tonnes (2,700 short tons).

As an example, on June 26, 2006, in the US a 565-short-ton (513 t) catalytic cracking unit reactor was shipped by barge from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma to a refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Extremely large objects are normally shipped in sections and assembled after delivery, but shipping an assembled unit reduces costs and avoids reliance on construction labor at the delivery site, which in the case of the reactor was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Of the reactor's 700-mile (1,100 km) journey, only about 40 miles (64 km) were traveled overland, from the final port to the refinery.

The Transportation Institute at Texas A&M found that inland barge transportation in the US produces far fewer emissions of carbon dioxide for each ton of cargo moved compared to transport by truck or rail.[21] According to the study, transporting cargo by barge produces 43% less greenhouse gas emissions than rail and more than 800% less than trucks. Environmentalists claim that in areas where barges, tugboats and towboats idle may produce more emissions like in the locks and dams of the Mississippi River.[22]

Self-propelled barges may be used for traveling downstream or upstream in placid waters; they are operated as an unpowered barge, with the assistance of a tugboat, when traveling upstream in faster waters. Canal barges are usually made for the particular canal in which they will operate.

Unpowered vessels—barges—may be used for other purposes, such as large accommodation vessels, towed to where they are needed and stationed there as long as necessary. An example is the Bibby Stockholm.[23]

## Types

[edit]

* Articulated tug and barge – Boat that maneuvers other vessels by pushing or towing themPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Barracks barge – Watercraft serving as floating personnel accommodationPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets ("accommodation barge")
* Canal motorship – The last self-propelled regularly scheduled commercial ship on the Erie canal.Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Car float – Unpowered barge with railroad tracks mounted on its deck
* Ferrocement or "Concrete" Barge – World War II barges
* Crane barge – Ship with a crane specialized for lifting heavy loadsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Dredges – Excavation of sediment, usually under waterPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Deck barge – World War II bargesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Dutch barge – Flat-bottomed shoal-draught sailing barge
* Dry bulk cargo barge – Vessel designed to carry freight in bulk format
* Gundalow – Type of New England sailing barge
* Hopper barge – non-mechanical ship or vessel that cannot move around by itselfPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
* Hotel barge
* Horse-drawn boat – Canal boat pulled by a horse on a towpath
* Jackup barge – Type of mobile platformPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Landing craft – Seagoing watercraft
* Lighter – Type of flat-bottomed barge
* Liquid cargo barge – barge that transports petrochemicalsPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
* Narrowboat – Type of British canal boat
* Norfolk wherry – Type of boat on The Broads in Norfolk, England
* Rocket landing barge – Floating landing platform operated by SpaceX
* Paddle barge – Water sportPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Péniche – type of shipPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback or Spitz barge
* Pleasure barge – Flat-bottomed, slow-moving boat used for leisure
* Power barge – Floating power stationPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Royal barge
* Severn trow – Type of British river cargo boat
* Thames sailing barge – Type of commercial sailing boat
* Tub boat – Canal cargo boat
* Whaleback barge – Type of cargo steamshipPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Widebeam – Canal boat in the style of a British narrowboat with a wider beam

## Image gallery

[edit]

* A self propelled barge carrying recycling material on Deûle channel in Lambersart, France

* Self-propelled car barge on the River Danube

* Barges near Toulouse, France

* Self-propelled barge Andromeda in canal at Hanover, Germany

* Tank barge on the River Moselle, Germany

* Self-propelled barge carrying bulk crushed stone

* Self-propelled barge in the port of IJmuiden, Netherlands

* Deck barge[1] carrying the Space Shuttle external tank for STS-119 under tow to Port Canaveral, Florida, United States

* Self-propelled barges on the Grand Canal of China near Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China

* Coal barges passing Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the Ohio River

* Royal Barge Suphannahong docked at Wat Arun pier, one of the Thai royal barges featured in the royal barge ceremony

* Towboat Donna York pushing barges of coal up the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky, United States

* Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870–73), by Ilya Repin

* Tongkang or car barge, landed on Ketapang Port, Banyuwangi, Indonesia

* Slipway at Portland Harbour, Dorset, England, holding a split dump barge (on right)

* Barge on the river Mosel in Germany.

* US Navy Water Type B ship Barge, YW-59, launched August 29, 1941

* YFN-958 a covered lighter barge, non-Self-propelled. Built by Mare Island Navy Shipyard in 1944.

* Ferrocement Barge, US-102, in the Erie Canal

* WW2 concrete barge at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK

* Sun shining into the empty asphalt barge Endeavour while under repair in Muskegon, Michigan.

* A barge decorated to look like a pelican carrying a jumbotron display.

* Accommodation Work Barge

* A restored teak barge used for educational programmes on the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok

## See also

[edit]

* Transport portal

* American Waterways Operators
* Burlak
* Canal boat Ross Barlow
* Car float
* Chain boat
* Container on barge
* Dory
* Float (nautical)
* Hughes Mining Barge
* Lighter
* Mobro 4000
* Pusher (boat)
* Shallop
* Tub boat
* Type B ship

## References

[edit]

* "All craft great and small", Canal & River Trust, W. Owen, London, 2019, retrieved 21 January 2020
* CESNI (2021), European Standard laying down Technical Requirements for Inland Navigation vessels (PDF), European Committee for drawing up Standards in the field of Inland Navigation (CESNI), archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09
* Commissioner of Navigation (1905), Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation, Department of Commerce and Labor
* Dickens, Charles (1880), Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to the Nore, Charles Dickens, London
* "Evolution of the inland barge", Proceedings of the merchant marine council, vol. 15, The Merchant Marine Council of the United States, pp. 140–141, 1958
* Illustrated Glossary for Transport Statistics 4th Edition, Eurostat - ITF - UNECE, 2010, ISBN 9789282102947
* McKellar, M.W.; Hocking, H.H. (1871), "Court of Common Pleas", Reports of the Cases Relating to Maritime Law: Decided by the Admiralty, vol. III, Horace Cox, London
* Phillips, J. (1792), A general history of inland navigation, foreign and domestic, I. and J. Taylor, London
* Redman, John B. (1843), "The terrace pier, Gravesend", Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, London
* Royal Commission on Labour (1893), Index to the Evidence taken before Groups A., B., & C., Her Majesty's Stationery Office
* Seymour, D.C. (1869), Proceedings of the commercial convention held in New Orleands, L. Graham & Co. New Orleans
* A Society of Gentlemen (1763), A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, W. Owen, London

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Evolution 1958, p. 141.
2. ^ a b Eurostat 2010, p. 77.
3. ^ An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge from Google Books
4. ^ a b A Society of Gentlemen 1763, p. 261.
5. ^ Phillips 1792, p. 218.
6. ^ Phillips 1792, p. 75.
7. ^ Canal & River Trust 2019.
8. ^ Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill (1885). H. W. Lucy (ed.). Speeches of Lord Randolph Churchill. G. Routledge. p. 51. "...never was land so easily and cheaply in the grasp of the capitalist as it is now, if he chose to put out his hand, and yet there is not a capitalist in his senses who would touch it with a barge pole."
9. ^ a b c Royal Commission on Labour 1893, p. 24.
10. ^ Royal Commission on Labour 1893, p. 52.
11. ^ Redman 1843, p. 238.
12. ^ McKellar & Hocking 1871, p. 391.
13. ^ Royal Commission on Labour 1893, p. 39.
14. ^ Dickens 1880, p. 15.
15. ^ Dickens 1880, p. 17.
16. ^ Commissioner of Navigation 1905, p. 22.
17. ^ Seymour 1869, p. 90.
18. ^ CESNI 2021, p. 1.
19. ^ a b KaranC (2021-01-15). "What is an Offshore Barge?". Marine Insight. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
20. ^ Lennon, Anastasia E. (2023-04-05). "How it will happen: Barges carrying massive wind turbine parts to perform a complex dance through New Bedford Harbor". The New Bedford Light. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
21. ^ Kruse, C. James (January 2022). "A MODAL COMPARISON OF DOMESTIC FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION EFFECTS ON THE GENERAL PUBLIC: 2001–2019" (PDF). National Waterways Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
22. ^ Schmid, Eric (2023-09-18). "Is barge shipping better for the environment?". Marketplace. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
23. ^ Dresch, Matthew (4 April 2023). "On board 500-room barge Bibby Stockholm asylum seeker 'floatel'". Dorset Live.

## External links

[edit]

Look up barge or bargee in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barges.

* Barge Lehigh Valley 79 at the Waterfront Museum, Brooklyn, New York, United States
* Britain's Official guide to canals, rivers and lakes
* Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barge" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
* DBA The Barge Association
* The American Waterways Operators

* v
* t
* e

Modern merchant ships

Overviews|

* Ship
* Cargo ship
* Cargo
* Maritime transport
* Freight transport
* Merchant marine
* Maritime history
* Shipping line

Dry cargo|

* Barge
* Bulk carrier
* Car float
* Chain boat
* Coastal trading vessel
* Collier
* Container ship
* Heavy-lift ship
* Hopper barge
* Lake freighter
* Lighter aboard ship
* Livestock carrier
* Reefer ship
* Roll-on/roll-off (RORO)
* Train ferry

Tankers|

* Chemical tanker
* Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO)
* Gas carrier
* Hydrogen tanker
* LNG carrier
* Oil tanker

Passenger|

* Cable ferry
* Cargo liner
* Cruise ship
* Cruiseferry
* Ferry
* Narrowboat
* Ocean liner
* Roll-on/roll-off (RORO)
* Train ferry

Support|

* Anchor handling tug supply vessel
* Diving support vessel
* Emergency tow vessel
* Fireboat
* Platform supply vessel
* Pusher
* Salvage tug
* Tender
* Tugboat

Other types|

* Cable layer
* Crane vessel
* Dredger
* Drillship
* Fishing vessel
* Floating restaurant
* Icebreaker
* Merchant submarine
* Narco-submarine
* Pipe-laying ship
* Research vessel
* Riverboat
* Semi-submersible
* Snagboat

Related|

* Nautical operations
* Affreightment
* Admiralty law
* International Chamber of Shipping
* List of merchant navy capacity by country

* v
* t
* e

World War II Maritime Commission ship designs

Cargo designs|

* Type C1
* Type C2
* Type C3
* Type C4
* Type C5
* (Type C6)
* (Type C7)
* (Type C8)
* (Type C9)
* Type N3

Emergency cargo|

* Liberty ship ("EC2-S-C1")
* Victory ship ("VC2-S-AP1")

Tanker|

* T1 tanker
* T2 tanker
* T3 tanker
* Liberty ship ("Z-ET1-S-C3")

Special-purpose|

* Type S2 ("Tacoma-class frigate")
* Type S3-S2-BP ("Landing Ship, Tank")
* Type S3-S2-BP1 ("Neptune-class cable layer")
* Type S4-S2-BB3 ("Casablanca-class escort carrier")
* Type S4-SE2-BD1 ("Gilliam-class attack transport")
* Type S4-SE2-BE1 ("Artemis-class attack cargo ship")
* "Crane vessel-Derrick Barge"

Miscellaneous-cargo|

* Type L6 ("Lakers")
* Type N ("Coastal Cargo")
* Type P1 ("Passenger")
* Type P2 ("Passenger")
* Type R ("Refrigerated")
* Type B ("Barge")

Tugs|

* Type V ("Tugs")

See also:- Empire ship, Fort ship, Park ship, Ocean ship.

* v
* t
* e

United States naval ship classes of World War II

Aircraft carriers|

* Lexington
* RangerS
* Yorktown
* WaspS
* Essex
* MidwayC

Light aircraft carriers|

* Independence
* SaipanC

Escort carriers|

* Long Island
* Charger
* Bogue
* Sangamon
* Casablanca
* Commencement Bay

Battleships|

* Wyoming
* New York
* Nevada
* Pennsylvania
* New Mexico
* Tennessee
* Colorado
* North Carolina
* South Dakota
* Iowa
* MontanaX

Large cruisers|

* Alaska

Heavy cruisers|

* Pensacola
* Northampton
* Portland
* New Orleans
* WichitaS
* Baltimore
* Oregon CityC
* Des MoinesC

Light cruisers|

* Omaha
* Brooklyn
* Atlanta
* Cleveland
* FargoC
* JuneauC
* WorcesterC
* CL-154X

Gunboats|

* Dubuque
* SacramentoS
* Asheville
* PlymouthS
* WilliamsburgS
* St. AugustineS
* VixenS
* Erie
* PGM-1
* PGM-9

Destroyers|

* Sampson
* Caldwell
* Wickes
* Clemson
* Farragut
* Porter
* Mahan
* Gridley
* Bagley
* Somers
* Benham
* Sims
* Benson
* StevensonX
* Gleaves
* Fletcher
* Allen M. Sumner
* Robert H. Smith
* Gearing

Destroyer escorts|

* Evarts
* Buckley
* Cannon
* Edsall
* Rudderow
* John C. Butler

Patrol frigates|

* Asheville
* Tacoma

Patrol boats|

* Action
* PT boat

Minelayers|

* OglalaS
* WassucS
* MonadnockS
* MiantonomahS
* TerrorS
* KeokukS
* SalemS
* WeehawkenS
* Camanche
* Chimo

Minesweepers|

* Lapwing
* Raven
* Auk
* EagleS
* Hawk
* Admirable

Submarines|

* O
* R
* S
* Barracuda
* ArgonautS
* Narwhal
* DolphinS
* Cachalot
* Porpoise
* Salmon
* Sargo
* Tambor
* Mackerel
* Gato
* Balao
* Tench

Tankers|

* T1 tanker
* T2 tanker
* T3 tanker

Cargo ships|

* Liberty
* Victory
* Haskell
* Andromeda
* Arcturus
* Artemis
* Tolland
* Alstede
* Aldebaran
* Adria
* Acubens
* Arctic
* Denebola
* Hyades
* Mizar

Auxiliary ships|

* Ammunition
* Floating drydock
* Repair dock
* Barracks
* Collier
* Combat stores
* Destroyer tender
* Depot
* High-speed transport
* Hospital
* Ice cream barge
* Net laying
* Motor torpedo boat tender
* Reefer
* Oiler
* Repair
* Seaplane tender
* Submarine tender
* Underway replenishment

Completed after the war

Single ship of class

Cancelled

Authority control databases

National|

* Latvia

Artists|

* KulturNav

Other|

* NARA

*[c.]: circa
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template