Abstract: A waterborne vessel capable of carrying in its partially submerged hold a predetermined number of buoyant cargo containers, each container being partially supported by its own buoyancy and also engaged by the vessel, resulting in exchange of buoyancy between each container and the vessel. Plural hinged swash bulkheads are provided, and when the vessel is loaded to less than full capacity, some of the swash bulkheads are raised to an upright position at predetermined locations in the bottom hull structure of the vessel to resist potentially damaging forces of sloshing waters therein. When a full load of cargo containers is carried in the hold, the swash bulkheads are retracted to a stowed position in the bottom structure of the hull.

Abstract: A vessel for transport of a floating buoyant cargo such as barges, lighters, and pontoons, wherein the cargo is partially supported in the vessel by its own buoyancy. The hull has an imperforate bottom shell with rigid submarine cargo-supporting and hull-reinforcing structure, a bow, a stern, side walls providing a series of buoyancy compartments, and a hollow enclosed interior including a cargo hold. Water can be introduced into or expelled from the buoyancy compartments to adjust the draft, trim, and list of the vessel. The cargo-supporting and hull-reinforcing structure has openings communicating with the hold and providing a bottom chamber that is always flooded during the voyage but can be pumped out for maintenance and repair. A series of water conduits pass to the ocean at intervals along the length of the hold, each conduit being located (when the vessel is level) at all points above the top of the bottom chamber.

Abstract: A vessel for transport of floating buoyant barges and other containers wherein said barges or containers are partially supported in the vessel by their own buoyancy. The vessel's hull has a bottom shell with rigid submarine barge-supporting and hull-reinforcing structure, a bow, a stern, side walls providing a series of buoyancy compartments, and a hollow enclosed interior including a cargo hold. The hull has conduit means communicating with the ocean for free passage of water into and out from the hold at all times, so that the hold is always flooded to the same level as the vessel's draft during the voyage. A series of locking spuds releasably locks the barges in place in the flooded hold against movement relative to the hull, with the bottom of the barge engaging a substantial area of the submarine cargo-supporting structure. Each said spud has barge-engaging means, including an L-sectioned beam of substantial length for engaging an upper side edge of the barge over a substantial length.