Dracone Barge
Encyclopedia
A Dracone Barge is a large flexible watertight tube intended to carry a liquid cargo while towed mostly-submerged behind a ship. One large current example of the type has a capacity of 935 cubic metres (4.23m diameter, 91m long) while weighing only 6.5 tonnes empty.
The Dracone Barge was invented in 1956 by Professor William Hawthorne
as a new type of oil tanker. The intent was to create an improved transport technology: the long tube can be pulled by a lower powered vessel than the equivalent tanker, the cargo can be handed off at the destination very quickly, and incurs no drag cost when empty (because it can easily be taken aboard), as compared to the similar unladen to laden drag of the rigid-hulled tanker of equivalent capacity.
The common modern use (patented by BP
in 1976) is in the clean-up of petroleum
spills or pollution slicks, where any small and manouevrable vessel (e.g. a harbour tug) with pumping gear mounted on it can gather up a much larger volume of liquid than it can carry by pumping it promptly back over the side into a Dracone Barge. A secondary, but related use, is the offloading of bilgewater from large ships that must be treated (at a shore-side facility) and not dumped directly into the sea. Another, somewhat unusual, use by the U.S. Navy, is the use of strings of air-inflated barges to form an on-the-water barrier at a considerable distance around valuable ships docked or anchored near to shore. Dracone barges are still used for their nominal purpose in some cases, where ship-to-shore transport needs to be achieved in a place without a deep water dock.
The vessels were given the name "dracone" as it was "the nearest word in Greek for a mythical monster such as a sea serpent." However, one year earlier Frank Herbert
wrote his first novel The Dragon in the Sea
about submarines towing large bags to carry oil, and other sources say the naming was an "overt acknowledgment of the source of his idea".
The Dracone Barge was invented in 1956 by Professor William Hawthorne
William Hawthorne
Sir William R. Hawthorne CBE, FRS, FREng, FIMECHE, FRAES, was a British professor of engineering who worked on the development of the jet engine....
as a new type of oil tanker. The intent was to create an improved transport technology: the long tube can be pulled by a lower powered vessel than the equivalent tanker, the cargo can be handed off at the destination very quickly, and incurs no drag cost when empty (because it can easily be taken aboard), as compared to the similar unladen to laden drag of the rigid-hulled tanker of equivalent capacity.
The common modern use (patented by BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
in 1976) is in the clean-up of petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
spills or pollution slicks, where any small and manouevrable vessel (e.g. a harbour tug) with pumping gear mounted on it can gather up a much larger volume of liquid than it can carry by pumping it promptly back over the side into a Dracone Barge. A secondary, but related use, is the offloading of bilgewater from large ships that must be treated (at a shore-side facility) and not dumped directly into the sea. Another, somewhat unusual, use by the U.S. Navy, is the use of strings of air-inflated barges to form an on-the-water barrier at a considerable distance around valuable ships docked or anchored near to shore. Dracone barges are still used for their nominal purpose in some cases, where ship-to-shore transport needs to be achieved in a place without a deep water dock.
The vessels were given the name "dracone" as it was "the nearest word in Greek for a mythical monster such as a sea serpent." However, one year earlier Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
wrote his first novel The Dragon in the Sea
The Dragon in the Sea
The Dragon in the Sea , also known as Under Pressure from its serialization, is a novel by Frank Herbert. It was first serialized in Astounding magazine from 1955 to 1956, then reworked and published as a book in 1956...
about submarines towing large bags to carry oil, and other sources say the naming was an "overt acknowledgment of the source of his idea".