page_title: Chain boat navigation
section_title: Early technical developments before the 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Chain boat navigation / Historical development / Early technical developments before the 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Entwurf zur Seilschifffahrt von Fausto Veranzio (um 1595)
context_page_description: Chain-boat navigation or chain-ship navigation is a little-known chapter in the history of shipping on European rivers. From around the middle of the 19th century, vessels called chain boats were used to haul strings of barges upstream by using a fixed chain lying on the bed of a river. The chain was raised from the riverbed to pass over the deck of the steamer, being hauled by a heavy winch powered by a steam engine. A variety of companies operated chain boat services on rivers such as the Elbe, Rhine, Neckar, Main, Saale, Havel, Spree and Saône as well as other rivers in Belgium and the Netherlands. Chain boats were also used in the United States.
  The practice fell out of favour in the early 20th century when steamships with powerful engines and high boiler pressures – able to overcome the force of the river current – became commonplace.
context_section_description: The transportation of goods by river in the early days of the chain boat was restricted to wooden ships without their own on-board power. When travelling downstream, boats were either simply propelled along by the current or sails would employ wind power. To move upriver, men or draught animals on towpaths were used to haul the boats on long ropes. In shallow waters boats could also be propelled upstream by long poles. Where towing from a towpath on the riverbank was not possible, a method known as warping was used. These sections of river could be negotiated by anchoring a rope ahead of the boat and then using the crew to haul it upstream.
  In an illuminated manuscript dating to 1438, the Italian engineer, Jacopo Mariano, illustrated the fundamental concept on which chain boat navigation was subsequently based. The boat is pulling itself upstream on a cable laid along the river. The rope is wrapped around a central shaft driven by two, side-mounted water wheels (see upper diagram). Behind the river craft is a small boat-like object being pulled by the current, that is holding the cable taut and thus ensuring the necessary friction on the shaft.
  In 1595 Fausto Veranzio described a system of cable boat navigation that enabled greater speeds, which also did not need any additional means of propulsion. Two boats are connected by a cable that is led round a pulley anchored firmly to the riverbed. The smaller boat, which is travelling downstream, is moving very fast, driven by the large water sails on either side and is thereby hauling the larger boat upstream against the current. The large barge in the picture has two, side-mounted water wheels that coil up the cable and increase its speed further. It is not, however, recorded whether the system was used in practice.
  In 1723 Paul Jacob Marperger, who later became the Electoral Saxon Kommerzienrat described a proposal by mathematics professor, Nicolaus Molwitz from Magdeburg, to use mechanical assistance in order to cope with the fast currents below Magdeburg's bridges. At that time, 50 men were needed to negotiate this section of the river. The idea was to build a 'machine' with two horizontal shafts, the towing cable being turned around the front shaft in such a way that it was continuously being unwound from it again and onto the rear shaft. According to Marperger, with the additional use of levers it should have been possible for five or six men to successfully effect the passage of the boat. At the same time, however, he stressed that the machine was "produced" but "never taken into use". From his description, elements of this basic principle seem to be similar to those subsequently used later in building chain boats. This section of river was later to become the starting point for the first chain boats in Germany.
  The first practical attempts to use a cable boat were in 1732 at the instigation of Marshal Maurice of Saxony, then in French service. These took place on the River Rhine in the vicinity of Strasbourg. Three pairs of cylinders of various diameters were arranged on a horizontal shaft and driven by two horses. Depending on the required force, the rope was hauled in by winding it round one of the pairs of cylinders whilst the other two pairs coasted. The variable ratio allowed for a better utilization of force. Compared with the towing from the land this system could move double the load for the same number of draught horses per craft.
caption: Fausto Veranzio's concept of ship haulage around 1595
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