A Barge Spotters Guide
HEADS
and TAILS
The Barge Spotters Guide
Superficially, many barges look broadly similar. In England our own broad beam barges are generally refered to as Humber barges or Thames barges, whilst all Dutch barges are referred to as just that; Dutch Barges. The basic Dutch ship types, luxemotor, tjalk, klipper etc, are readily identified by the shape of the hull, but the finer points that differentiate one type variation from another are harder to spot, unless you know what you are looking for. The distinguishing features are most readily spotted by looking at the shape and build of the bow and stern. So, here we go with the first part of, The Barge Spotters Guide.
Part one: Motor barge front ends.
The Belgian built spits "Timor" now working as an outdoor pursuits centre in Scotland under the new name of "Fingle of Caledonia." In common with most general purpose spits barges, "Fingle" has a blunt bow formed out of a small number of plates.
Compare this bow to the one above. The Kempenspits "Jacoba" has a more rounded and less blunt bow and most importantly the lower part of the hull is built up from number of tapering plates to form a finer shape.
This English built barge is the Billy Boy "Sara". Similar in some ways to the Kempenspits, although it has a rounded bow the lower part utilises a lesser number of tapered plates. There are no hawse holes as the anchors were carried on deck and deployed by davit.
Another English barge, the humber Keel "Harlequin", on first inspection very similar to the Billy Boy shown above. However, the bow is blunter and the lower sections are made from wider plates.
Back with Dutch types. The beurtschip evolved from the steam powered river ships and became popular as soon as reliable diesel engines became available. "Jantje" has the sharp pointed bow that later became typical of the luxemotor and later still the "all new" Kempenaar.
"Voorwarts" , another beurtschip, again shows a bow that is a smaller version of a luxemotor
The Vreeswijk built "Vertrowen", seen on the left, is a true luxemotor. The tall and pointed bow is typical of the luxemotors built in the south of the Netherlands. The bow shape makes the ship suitable for work in more exposed waters such as the Schelde.
On the right of the picture is another luxemotor. This is "Corry 111" , built as a river and canal ship she has a lower and blunter bow than "Vertrouwen".
At the top end of the "barge" scale we have the small coaster "Zeemeeuw". The luxemotor heritage is clear in the shape of her fore-end.
The luxemotor "International" dispays a good general purpose type bow which is not identical to either "Vertrouwen" or "Corry 111". Tall and sharp to cut through the water and dispace spray, but broad and rounded enough to maximise cargo carrying characteristics.
