A trunk deck ship is a type of merchant ship with a hull that was stepped inward in order to obtain more favourable treatment under canal toll rules then in effect. As those tolls were set by net tonnage, a measure of volume, and as the tonnage rules did not account for all of the cargo space of such vessels, trunk deck ships incurred lower tolls than more conventional ships of equivalent capacity. When the measurement rules were changed, this ship type was no longer built.
Trunk deck ships were influenced by (and allegedly copied from) turret deck ships. [1] In 1892, the Sunderland, England firm of William Doxford and Sons Ltd. built its first turret deck ship. Inspired by U.S. whalebacks, one of which had recently visited Liverpool, Doxford built a ship which had a curved hull form which was stepped in above the waterline. [2] The narrow part of the hull, called a turret, was part of the hold. [3]
Four years after the first turret deck ship, the first trunk deck ship appeared. SS Trunkby, completed in 1896, was built by Robert Ropner at his shipyard at Stockton-on-Tees. [4] [1] This vessel was of "three-island" construction with a forecastle, bridge house, and quarterdeck, extending to the full width of a low-freeboard hull. A distinctive feature was a long "trunk" along the centerline, with a breadth of about half the vessel's beam, which connected the three elements of the superstructure. [5] This trunk was stepped inward from the sides of the hull. [6] That trunk was not a deckhouse or superstructure, but was part of the hull, and contained cargo space. [7]
In hull form, trunk ships resembled turret deck vessels, differing mainly in eliminating the curves and joining the above-water horizontal part of the hull with the vertical strakes and sides of the trunk by right angles. [8] The similarity was such that Doxford, builder and operator of the turret decks, sued Ropners for patent infringement. [1]
As with turret deck ships, the design of the trunk deck ships was said to maximize strength while reducing the amount of steel needed for construction. [9] Disadvantages included the narrow hatches atop the trunk, which inhibited efficient loading and unloading. The low freeboard meant smaller waves could board the ship, and the bridge and superstructure therefore had to be stronger to resist wave action. [1]
Trunk deck ships had a low net tonnage (an approximate measure of cargo space) in comparison to their deadweight tonnage capacity (weight of cargo). [10] Net tonnage is a computation of volume, and the method of measurement used at the Suez Canal to determine tolls was based on a measure of net tonnage which excluded the cargo spaces in the trunks of these unconventional hulls. Trunk deck ships therefore paid less in tolls. [1] In 1911 the toll measure changed at Suez, and construction of the type ceased. [1]
A hull is the watertight body of a ship, boat, submarine, or flying boat. The hull may open at the top, or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.
A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, load capacity and purpose. Ships have supported exploration, trade, warfare, migration, colonization, and science. Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce.
A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been eliminated.
USS Charger (CVE-30) was an escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II converted from a commercial C3-P&C cargo/passenger liner hull built as Rio de la Plata intended for the Moore-McCormack company's American Republics Line serving the east coast of South America. The ship was requisitioned for conversion to an escort carrier type intended for Royal Navy use and initially commissioned as HMS Charger (D27). Days later the transfer was rescinded with the ship returning to U.S. Navy control to become USS Charger which operated throughout the war as a training ship on the Chesapeake Bay with two ferry missions to Bermuda and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are used for military purposes.
A turret deck ship is a type of merchant ship with an unusual hull, designed and built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The hulls of turret deck vessels were rounded and stepped inward above their waterlines. This gave some advantages in strength and allowed them to pay lower canal tolls under tonnage measurement rules then in effect. The type ceased to be built after those rules changed. The last turret deck ship in existence was scrapped in 1960.
The bow is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern.
Sir Robert Ropner, 1st Baronet was a German-British shipbuilder, shipowner, and Conservative Member of Parliament.
A whaleback was a type of cargo steamship of unusual design, with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal. When fully loaded, only the rounded portion of the hull could be seen above the waterline. With sides curved in towards the ends, it had a spoon bow and a very convex upper deck. It was formerly used on the Great Lakes of Canada and the United States, notably for carrying grain or ore. The sole surviving ship of the "whaleback" design is the SS Meteor, which is docked in Superior, Wisconsin, as a museum ship.
The SS Christopher Columbus was an American excursion liner on the Great Lakes, in service between 1893 and 1933. She was the only whaleback ship ever built for passenger service. The ship was designed by Alexander McDougall, the developer and promoter of the whaleback design.
SS Sagamore was a steam cargo ship that was launched in 1893 and sunk in 1917. She was the only whaleback ship built in the United Kingdom, and one of only three whalebacks to operate outside the Great Lakes.
The Ocean ships were a class of sixty cargo ships built in the United States by Todd Shipyards Corporation during the Second World War for the British Ministry of War Transport under contracts let by the British Purchasing Commission. Eighteen were lost to enemy action and eight to accidents; survivors were sold postwar into merchant service.
SS Clan Ranald is a steamship wreck off the coast of South Australia that is of unique historic importance. She is the only example in Australian waters of a turret deck ship: a type of steel-hulled cargo ship with an unusual hull shape that was built in the 1890s and 1900s.
The Henry Cort was a 320-foot (98 m) long whaleback freighter. It sank four times during its career; finally running aground at Muskegon, Michigan in November, 1934. The ship broke apart over the winter and was scrapped in 1935.
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Monte Pascoal is a container ship owned by A.P. Moller Singapore Pte. Ltd. and operated by Maersk Line AS. The 272-metre (892 ft) long ship was built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in Okpo, South Korea in 2004. Originally owned by Monte Pascoal GmbH, a subsidiary of Hamburg Süd, she has had two owners and been registered under two flags.
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104 was an American whaleback barge in service between 1890 and 1898. The fourth whaleback constructed, she was built between October 1889 and February 1890, in Duluth, Minnesota by Alexander McDougall's American Steel Barge Company, for McDougall's fleet of the same name, based in Buffalo, New York. She was a whaleback, a class of distinctive, experimental ship designed and built by McDougall. The whalebacks were designed to be more stable in high seas. They had rounded decks, and lacked the normal straight sides seen on traditional lake freighters. 104 entered service on April 21, hauling iron ore from Two Harbors, Minnesota.
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