Chain-boat navigation[1] or chain-ship navigation[2] 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 pressure boilers – able to overcome the force of the river current – became commonplace.
- ^ Document, Volume 1, Issues 1-9, The Commission, US National Waterways Commission, 1909, p. 55.
- ^ Engineering News, Record, Vol. 46, McGraw-Hill, 1901, p 69.