Barge

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File:Barge on River Thames, London - Dec 2009.jpg

Barges towed by a tugboat on the River Thames in London, England, UK

File:US Navy 032411-C-9409S-001 The British Airways Concorde Jet passes the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on its way to the USS Intrepid Air ^ Space Museum.jpg

A British Airways Concorde being towed in New York City, United States. It is on a deck barge.Template:Sfn

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

History of the bargeEdit

EtymologyEdit

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). A more precise meaning (see Barque) 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 <hiero>D58-G29-M17-M17-D21-P1</hiero> and similar ba-y-r for "basket-shaped boat".<ref>An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge from Google Books</ref> By extension, the term "embark" literally means to board the kind of boat called a "barque".

British river bargesEdit

18th centuryEdit

File:Watercolour of Barton aqueduct by G.F. Yates 1793.jpg

River barge below Barton Aqueduct Template:Circa

In Great Britain, a merchant barge was originally a flat bottomed merchant vessel for use on navigable rivers.Template:Sfn Most of these barges had sails. For traffic on the River Severn, the barge was described thus: "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.Template:Sfn On the River Irwell, there was reference to barges passing below Barton Aqueduct with their mast and sails standing.Template:Sfn Early barges on the Thames were called west country barges.Template:Sfn

19th centuryEdit

File:Barge, River Thames - geograph.org.uk - 2099639.jpg

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'.Template:Sfn A Lighter had neither mast nor rigging.Template:Sfn A keel did have a single mast with sails.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn Within a few decades, the term dumb barge evolved and came to mean: 'a vessel propelled by oars only'.Template:Sfn By the 1890s, Dumb barge was still used only on the Thames.Template:Sfn

File:Dutch barge.jpg

A Dutch barge in Namur, Belgium

By 1880, barges on British rivers and canals were often towed by steam tugboats.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

The Thames barge and Dutch barge todayEdit

On the British river system and larger waterways, the Thames sailing barge, and Dutch barge and unspecified other styles of barge, are still known as barges.Template:Sfn 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.

British canals: narrowboats and widebeamsEdit

File:Narrowboat at Bosley Locks No 2, Cheshire - geograph.org.uk - 4272674.jpg

A Narrowboat exiting a narrow British canal lock, Bosley Locks No 2

During the Industrial Revolution, a substantial network of canals was developed in Great Britain from 1750 onward. Whilst the largest of these could accommodate ocean-going vessels, e.g. the later Manchester Ship Canal, a complex network of smaller canals was also developed. These smaller canals had locks, bridges and tunnels that were at minimum only Template:Convert wide at the waterline. On wider sections, standard barges and other vessels could trade, but full access to the network necessitated the parallel development of the narrowboat, which usually had a beam a couple of inches less to allow for clearance, e.g. Template:Convert . It was soon realized that the narrow locks were too limiting, and later locks were therefore doubled in width to Template:Convert. This led to the development of the widebeam canal boat. The narrowboat (one word) definition in the Oxford English Dictionary is:<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Narrowboat: a British canal boat of traditional long, narrow design, steered with a tiller; spec. one not exceeding 7 feet (approx. 2.1 metres) in width or 72 feet (approx. 21.9 metres) in length{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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The narrowboats were initially also known as barges, and 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' is no longer used to describe narrowboats and widebeams. Narrowboats and widebeams are still seen on canals, mostly for leisure cruising, and now engine-powered.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Crew and poleEdit

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."<ref name="auto">Template:Cite book</ref>

The 19th century American bargeEdit

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.Template:Sfn 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 bargeEdit

The iron bargeEdit

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.Template:Sfn

Nowadays 'barge' generally refers to a dumb barge.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn In America, a barge is generally pushed.Template:Citation needed

Modern useEdit

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File:Chicago River towboat and barge 080405.jpg

Canal style tugboat pushing a barge on the Chicago River

File:Tow boat La Crosse.jpg

3×3 nine unit barge going through La Crosse, Wisconsin

File:Cumberland River barge traffic.jpg

Multiple barges pushed around a tight bend on the Cumberland River

File:The tugboat, Herbert P. Brake.jpg

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.<ref name="marineinsight_com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Barges are also used for very heavy or bulky items; a typical American barge measures Template:Convert, and can carry up to about Template:Convert of cargo.<ref name="marineinsight_com" /> The most common European barges measure Template:Convert and can carry up to about Template:Convert.

As an example, on June 26, 2006, in the US a Template:Convert 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 Template:Convert journey, only about Template:Convert 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

TypesEdit

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In the United States, "deck barge" may refer to flat deck barges, work flats, fuel flats or flats. Smaller flats are used in shipyards to permit workers to access vessels in drydocks.

GalleryEdit

PénicheRecyclageFerrailles2008Deûle2.jpg

A self propelled barge carrying recycling material on Deûle channel in Lambersart, France
Barge with cars.jpg

Self-propelled car barge on the River Danube
Péniches sur le Canal du Midi.jpg

Barges near Toulouse, France
Andromeda (ship, 1958) Hannover Mittellandkanal 2006 by-RaBoe.jpg

Self-propelled barge Andromeda in canal at Hanover, Germany
Messina Karden Bug.jpg

Tank barge on the River Moselle, Germany
CrushedStoneBarge.jpg

Self-propelled barge carrying bulk crushed stone
IjmuidenBarge.jpg

Self-propelled barge in the port of IJmuiden, Netherlands
Pegasus barge being moved by Freedom Star and towboat American 2.jpg

Deck bargeTemplate:Sfn carrying the Space Shuttle external tank for STS-119 under tow to Port Canaveral, Florida, United States
Yangzhou-Modern-Grand-Canal-boats-3351.JPG

Self-propelled barges on the Grand Canal of China near Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
CoalbargePittsburgh.JPG

Coal barges passing Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the Ohio River
Suphannahongsa-docked.jpg

Royal Barge Suphannahong docked at Wat Arun pier, one of the Thai royal barges featured in the royal barge ceremony
Donna York.jpg

Towboat Donna York pushing barges of coal up the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Ilia Efimovich Repin (1844-1930) - Volga Boatmen (1870-1873).jpg

Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870–73), by Ilya Repin
Kapal tongkang.jpg

Tongkang or car barge, landed on Ketapang Port, Banyuwangi, Indonesia
Slipway at portland.JPG

Slipway at Portland Harbour, Dorset, England, holding a split dump barge (on right)
Barge on Mosel by Kues (1).jpg

Barge on the river Mosel in Germany
Water Barge YW-59.jpg

US Navy Water Type B ship Barge, YW-59, launched August 29, 1941
YFN-958-Covered Lighter Barge-Non-Self-Propelled.jpg

YFN-958 a covered lighter barge, non-self-propelled. Built by Mare Island Navy Shipyard in 1944.
Concrete Barge - Erie Canal - Lock 13 - 3.jpg

Ferrocement Barge, US-102, in the Erie Canal
Ww2 concrete barge, National Waterway Museum.jpg

WW2 concrete barge at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK
Sun Shining Into a Barge.jpg

Sun shining into the empty asphalt barge Endeavour while under repair in Muskegon, Michigan
Pelican Barge, Darling Harbor, Sydney, NSW, AU.jpg

A barge decorated to look like a pelican carrying a jumbotron display, Sydney
AWB Rajawali Natuna.jpg

Accommodation Work Barge
Prem Tinsulanonda International School barge in Bangkok.jpg

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

ReferencesEdit

NotesEdit

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External linksEdit

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