Barge No. 012

Version 1.1. Metadata and presentation revised September 8, 2026; original evidence review retained.

Selected appearance

Late steel work-barge form, c.1970s. NOAA calls this Barge 12 and describes its rectangular welded steel hull. This depicts an intact interpretation of its late working form, not a verified original 1897 configuration. Hull height, hatch layout and equipment placement are provisional; no original arrangement plan was recovered.

Documented evidence

NOAA describes a rectangular welded-steel barge 160×44 ft. NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Barge No. 012

The wreck has deck access hatches, ladders, storage compartments and winch equipment. NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Barge No. 012

Reasonable interpretation

Hull lines, draft, colors and small fittings

Deck layout and machinery proportions

Example railcars/stores are illustrative, not a historical loading manifest

The project calls this Barge No. 012; NOAA calls it Barge 12. The shared name match is supported by the same approximate Thunder Bay Shoal location, 160 ft length, reported 1897 launch and 1975 loss. This is not an identification of another unrelated Barge 12.

NOAA describes a rectangular welded-steel barge, 160 ft long and 44 ft wide, sunk alongside Nordmeer on July 8, 1975. Its record reports open deck hatches with ladders and storage compartments. The linked survey photographs show the low steel hull and heavy winch equipment. NOAA Barge 12 record and photographs.

setHatches(boolean) controls hatch_covers, exposing simple compartment wells and ladders. These are limited visual suggestions, not a complete or navigable interior model. The intact display condition is reconstructed from the surviving barge type; paint colors, corners, plate courses and equipment proportions are inferred.

NOAA gives 40 ft wreck depth; the workbook gives 35 ft and labels the cause a collision. NOAA’s summary does not confirm that cause. The workbook and canonical records are preserved, and neither wreck depth is used as ship draft. Position confidence remains approximate.

Unresolved uncertainties

No complete original lines plan is claimed. Exact loaded draft, concealed surfaces and fine fittings remain interpreted. The earlier research context below retains the source distinctions used for this reconstruction.

This reconstruction is explicitly the late working form, c.1970s. The 1897 launch date alone does not establish the original hull fabrication, equipment or subsequent alterations. No original arrangement drawing or verified early photograph was recovered. The history connecting the early date with the surviving welded hull is unresolved. Do not describe the model as an exact 1897 vessel.

The model uses a 48.768 m by 13.4112 m hull. Hull height is a provisional 2.8 m display dimension; no verified hold depth was available, so depthOfHoldFeet is null. The illustrative waterline is Y=1.85 m. Six hatches in two rows, their covers and stiffeners, compartment boundaries, ladders, vents, bollards, plate seams and both winches are reconstructed schematic details, not a surveyed arrangement. The few barrels and crates are examples of stores, not an authenticated deck-load inventory. There is no invented crane, deckhouse, propulsion engine, mast or sail rig.

Sources

• NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Barge No. 012

Illustration conditions

Lake, shoreline, lighting and weather are artistic staging, not evidence of a specific historical voyage. AI artwork is supplemental; the GLB and direct renders establish the delivered geometry.