Pictures from the Mighty Mississippi

**Freedom** · 06-27-2007, 08:25 PM

When does a "boat" become a "ship?"

Can you put in a requisition for a new oven?? Maybe if you just start serving burnt everything -- with a side of under cooked everything else? Nah, never mind.

Laura, thanks for starting this, it is grand to see where you work and some of the sights from your view point.

**cyber-sibes** · 06-27-2007, 09:12 PM

Hey, you're working on a pushboat*? Cool! I met a few people who worked on them when we lived on the Mississippi in Quincy Illinois a few years ago. We loved to sit by the river and overlooking the lockes and watch them. Those boats are awesome how they manuver around all those barges! (I was blown away seeing what - 12 or more barges all strapped together being floated along by a pushboat!) Must be an interesting job. Take lots of pictures up & down the Mississippi!

There was a flood a decade ago & the Missouri side of the river flooded way way inland...there is a single barge that came to rest about 1 1/2 miles inland across from Quincy -

what a HUGE, HUGE thing it is! Unbelievable, if you've never seen one!

Originally Posted by Cinder & Smoke

[[i]Tow Size: 40 Barge Maximum Tow
/s/ Phred

Did I read Phred's barge info right - your boat can push up to 40 barges at once?!? Wowzers!

*the locals call them "pushboats"

**Cinder & Smoke** · 06-27-2007, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by cyber-sibes

Did I read Phred's barge info right -
your boat can push up to 40 barges at once?!? Wowzers!

Yuppers!

The UPPER Missippi, Illinois, and Ohio Rivers limit "tows" to 15 barges ---
stretching 1/4 mile front to back!

" A Typical 15 Barge Tow, which operates on the Upper Miss, Ohio & Illinois, is restricted in size to a Maximum size of 15 Loaded or 16 Empties. This rule applies to all tows - above St. Louis, which must pass through - Locks & Dams to reach upper points, because the rivers is more narrow. Plus the limited space within locks, allows only a certain amount of tonnage to fit within them. A tow of 15 - Hopper barges, lashed together ( 3 - wide ) and 5 - Long ( "Lashed End To End" ), are equivalent to a 1/4 mile in overall length with the boat included, being approximately 1145 feet long. If Loaded, a 15 barge tow carries a "Whopping 22,500 tons of cargo, more than 4 1/2 times what the average Cargo Ship - carries!"

On the LOWER Mississippi (below St, Louis) there aren't any Locks & Dams to restrict things ...
so the tows are lashed up 8 barges wide (280 feet) by 5 deep ahead of the Boat! WW!

"Below St. Louis to the Gulf of New Orleans, tows can attain numbers of over 40 to 50+ barges in a single tow. Pushed by a single vessel. which is the largest class of Long Haul - boats. Rated above 6000 to 10500+ horsepower in the biggest vessels, powered by Twin, or Triple Screws as the ... "The Big Boys" of PUSH. With no locks to restrict - tow-size below St. Louis, the only restrictions or exceptions that reduce things are restrictions by the rivers conditions, depending on safe navigation rules, set by the Coast Guard. For Example - during low water or high water - flooding, or in towing accidents, or when the river channels are being dredged, or during bad weather .... Such things can and often do, reduce barge tow sizes or can halt traffic completely. Otherwise the vessel and/or its Capt, or owners, set the towed number of barges that it will push - safely, naturally following the CG - laws for safe navigation. So occasionally when there's a bottleneck of barges in a fleet, a boat with the power to handle massive tows, gets a chance to show it stuff. The results, a record size number of barges, pushed at one time, which boggles the mind to its massive size!"

Information from:
http://oldriverbillzumwalt.members.ktis.net/barges.htm

/s/ Phred

**Cinder & Smoke** · 07-19-2008, 07:35 PM

For some reason Ingrahm Barge Co removed a lot of the individual Boat Photos
from their web site; BUT they now link to a very neat Video shot by Fox TV 17.
NOTE: This is NOT Laura's Boat featured in the video - hers is a LOT Bigger,
but the video gives a nice snapshot of what the Towboat Crew does 24/7 for 28 days.

Let's go for a Boat Ride >>> Roll Video >>>
http://www.ingrambarge.com/default.a...esources/media

**RICHARD** · 07-20-2008, 12:17 AM

LOL,

NOw I am really confuse!

I'd laugh because a dear friend would always correct me when I said something like, "Hey, nice boat!"

"NO, A BOAT GOES ON A SHIP"!

---------------

I was expecting a caption for the first pic to be something like, "This is where the magic happens!"

**Cinder & Smoke** · 07-20-2008, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by RICHARD

A dear friend would always corrected me when I said something like, "Hey, nice boat!"

"NO, A BOAT GOES ON A SHIP"!

"A Boat goes on a Ship" ...
Not always.

... Sometimes 'little boats' ride around on 'BIG Boats'.

It depends on WHERE you go sailing with your Boat or Ship - the Where determines
if you're sailing a Boat or a Ship.

If you're out on the High Seas, sailing in Oceans ... you're probably sailing a SHIP.

BUTT ... if you're puttering around on the Great Lakes, any other Inland body of water, or
one of the major (Inland) Rivers, you're fur sure driving a BOAT - regardless of
how BIG or small it may be. A giant Great Lakes Ore Boat, measuring a huge 1,000 feet long,
(and a lot bigger than some ocean-going "Ships"), is very affectionately called their "Boat"
by the crew, it's never called a "ship".

Likewise, Laura cooks on a Mississippi River "Tow Boat" (even though it always *PUSHES* it's
cargo barges, never "tows" them), it's a TOW Boat - and the crew refers to the vessel
as "their BOAT". And it's a pretty darn BIG "Boat".

**Andie** · 07-20-2008, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Cinder & Smoke

On the LOWER Mississippi (below St, Louis) there aren't any Locks & Dams to restrict things ...
so the tows are lashed up 8 barges wide (280 feet) by 5 deep ahead of the Boat! WW!

And they do! I'll have to get a pic a the barges on the river down here sometime. It's a sight to see.

**Medusa** · 07-20-2008, 08:39 AM

Boat, ship, barge, whatever. This is really cool and thank you so much for posting it. It's so nice to have such interesting PT friends!

**G535** · 07-21-2008, 02:37 AM

Down here a ship is a passenger liner or a cargo ship, fishing vessels are boats even if some are the size of a small ship. Anything travelling only on the river is generally called a boat, tugs are boats except for the large offshore oil rig tenders which are sometimes called ships.

Confusing it is!

**Cinder & Smoke** · 06-27-2007, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by Freedom

When does a "boat" become a "ship?"

Sorta depends on WHERE you go sailing.

Sail on an inland RIVER or LAKE ... and chances are they're gonna say they're on a BOAT.

Sail on the high SEAS ... and most folks say they're on a SHIP.

"Size" doesn't really matter.

**ramanth** · 06-27-2007, 09:23 PM

How neat! I always envisioned you worked on a boat that went out to sea (for fish or whatnot).

Very cool that you get to go up and down the mighty Mississip.