120px, View of the hold of a container ship
A ship's hold or cargo hold is a space for carrying
cargo
In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...
in a ship or
airplane
An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...
compartment.
Description
Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (
bulk cargo
Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities.
Description
Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...
). Access to holds is by a large hatch at the top. Ships have had holds for centuries; an alternative way to carry cargo is in standardized
shipping containers, which may be loaded into appropriate holds or carried on deck.
Holds in older
ship
A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...
s were below the
orlop deck, the lower part of the interior of a ship's
hull, especially when considered as storage space, as for cargo. In later merchant vessels it extended up through the decks to the underside of the weather deck.
Some ships have built in
cranes and can load and unload their own cargo. Other ships must have
dock side cranes or
gantry cranes to load and unload.
Cargo hatch

A cargo hatch or deck hatch or hatchway is type of
door used on ships and boats to cover the opening to the cargo hold or other lower part of the ship. To make the cargo hold waterproof, most cargo holds have cargo hatch. This can be a waterproof door, like a
trap door with hinges or a cover that is places on top of the cargo hold opening, covered and held down with a
tarp or a latching system. Cargo hatch can also be flexible and roll up on to a pole. A small cargo hatch to a small storage locker is called a
Lazarette. Should a cargo hatch fail in a storm, the ship is at risk of sinking, such that has happened on
bulk carrier hatches. Some ships that sank due to cargo hatch failure:
MV Derbyshire,
MV Christinaki,
Bark Marques,
SS Henry Steinbrenner,
SS El Faro,
SS Marine Electric, and the
SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Most cargo hatches have a
coaming, a raised edge around the hatch, to help keep out water. The term batten down the hatches is used prepare the ship for bad weather. This may included securing cargo hatch covers with wooden
batten
A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields.
In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...
s, to prevent water from entering from any angle. The term cargo hatch can also be a used for any deck opening leading to the cargo holds.
Aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
and
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...
may also used the term for its cargo doors.
marineinsight.com Different Types and Designs of Hatch Covers Used for Ships, by Tanumoy Sinha, January 8, 2021
/ref>
:Basic types:
* Lifting (up to remove)
* Rolling (rolls up on to a pole, trap type)
* Folding (fold up like paper or an accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
* Sliding (slides on to the deck or over the side of ship)
* Roll stowing (roll up on to a pole, plates)
Gallery
File:SS Stevens A-deck aft cargo hatch 6.jpg, A weathered cargo hatch cover on the SS ''Stevens''
File:VIEW OF WHEELHOUSE FROM STARBOARD SIDE OF HATCH COAMING - Bugeye "Louise Travers", Intersection of Routes 2 and 4, Solomons, Calvert County, MD HAER MD,5-SOLOM,1-16.tif, Cargo hatch coaming (bottom right) on a bugeye
File:JS FUZI(AGB-5001) Cargo hatch at Port of Nagoya 20150530.JPG, Cargo hatch of the ship ''Port of Nagoya''
File:Maya OBO carrier 2.jpg, A sliding Cargo hatch cover on the OBO-carrier ''Maya''
File:Containerladeräume Schiff retouched.jpg, The cargo holds of a container ship
File:StateLibQld 1 148179 Omega (ship).jpg, Deck hatch of the ''Omega'', the last square-rigged sailing cargo ship
File:USS Henderson AP-1.jpg, at Panama Canal in 1933. With two open cargo hatches forward of the bridge.
File:Port Chicago disaster, pier diagram.jpg, Layout from above of the five cargo holds of a Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...
and a Victory ship from Port Chicago disaster.
File:Port Repair Ship diagram.jpg, Holds of U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship
File:USSRankinCargoHold.jpg, The cargo hold of for combat loading
File:Charles W. Morgan cargo hold.jpg, Wood cargo hold on the SS ''Charles W. Morgan'' at Mystic Seaport
Mystic Seaport Museum (founded as Marine Historical Association) is a maritime museum in Mystic, Connecticut, and the largest in the United States. Its site holds a collection of ships and boats and a re-creation of a 19th-century seaport vill ...
File:Mini-bulker loading scrap iron.jpg, Loading scrap iron in to a cargo hold with sliding covers
File:Cargo hold in MAGDALENE VINNEN with crew men positioning wool bales, March 1933 (6958570450).jpg, Positioning wool bales in a hold in 1933 into the ''Magdalene Vinnen'' (1921)
Image:Hatch covers on bulk carrier.jpg, The sliding hatch covers of ''Zaira.''
File:Bulk carrier midship section en.svg, Bulk carrier hold midship cross section view
File:Sabrina I cropped.jpg, ''Sabrina I'' with five large holds
File:Expositie Russische kunstschatten te Den Haag, Bestanddeelnr 919-4826.jpg, Cargo hold
File:Alberg 22 sailboat Due Point lazarette 2504.jpg, A lazarette with a white cargo hatch cover
See also
* Plug door
* Cargo aircraft
* Edward Edgar Foden
Ships with holds:
* Container ship newer mode
* Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...
* Thames sailing barge
* Type C1 ship
* Type C2 ship
* Type C3 ship
* Victory ship
References
Citations
General and cited sources
* Sawyer, L. A. and W. H. Mitchell. ''Victory ships and tankers: The history of the 'Victory' type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II'', Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
Victory Ships built by the U.S. Maritime Commission during World War II
��United States Maritime Commission
—World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine
External links
SS ''Jeremiah O'Brien'', Liberty museum ship moored at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California
* ttp://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/116liberty_victory_ships/116liberty_victory_ships.htm Liberty Ships and Victory Ships, America's Lifeline in War A lesson on Liberty ships and Victory ships from the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places.
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Ship compartments
Shipping