A schooner barge is a type of ship; a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

converted as a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

. Schooner barges originated on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

in the 1860s and were in use until World War II, although a few survived into the 1950s. Even though steamboats were used for time-critical routes such as for passengers and mail, schooners were still economical to use for bulk cargoes such as grain, wood, or iron ore. Steam tugs were introduced on the Great Lakes that could tow one or more barges. Since old schooners were available, they could be adapted to towing service with reduced crews. When winds were favorable, the schooner barge could have one or two sails rigged to save fuel in the steam tug. Eventually schooner-rigged wooden ships were purposely built for use as barges. The concept was later extended to salt-water use, with, for example, the United States Navy converting some schooners for use as barges for coal. Theodore J. Karamanski ''Schooner Passage: Sailing Ships and the Lake Michigan Frontier'' , Wayne State University Press, 2000, pp. 35-41 Because of rough weather and small crews, schooner barges were frequently lost from tows, set adrift during bad weather, or sunk. By the 1920s, schooner barges were no longer in practical use on the Great Lakes since steam and diesel powered ships provided better operating flexibility and safety, with lower crew costs than a tug and barges hauling the same amount of cargo.

References

+Barges Barges Merchant sailing ship types {{Water-transport-stub

See also

References