Rhine tugboat 'Utgard'

The over 40 metres long Rhine tugboat 'Utgard' may at first sight look like an elegant ship, but don't be mistaken. 'Utgard' was a true Hercules in its time. Provided with a steam engine with over 800 hp it was able to tow a maximum of six inland barges (which had no propulsion sysyem of their own) upstream the Rhine river. This way it was possible to transport over 6.000 tonnes of cargo at one time. A tugboat like 'Utgard' is at the peak of the development of ships like this, which started aroud 1840 already. The first Rhine tugboats were able to tow four barges with a total capacity of around 400 tonnes. Until the 19th century sailing the Rhine upstream meant a lot of harsh labour. It was done under sail, but most of the time horses were used to pull a boat upstream. Because of the limited depth of the river (here and there no more than 1,25 metres) ships had to be small and shallow. A ship with a total weight (the ships own weight including the weight of the cargo) was limited to 400 tonnes, but 90 % of all Rhine barges were much smaller. 'Utgard' was built in 1913 as 'Hercules' at the Rotterdam yard of Piet Smit for the Rotterdam 'Steenkolen Handels Vereeniging' (Rotterdam Coals Trading Company) - SHV. The SHV was actually a cartel that controlled over 80 % of the Dutch market for coal and had great interest in the fast transport of huge amouts of coal from and to Germany. Dimensions of the model (lxwxh): 253 x 73 x 117,5 cm.