Purvis Marine’s G.L.B. No. 2 was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. as Hull 789 at Decatur, Alabama, and completed in June 1953 as a double-shell hopper barge. It went to work for the Potter Towing Co. of Nashville as the Jane Newfield.
The 290 by 50 by 12 foot barge operated on the inland rivers and carried cargoes for Nashville Coals. In 1966 it joined Midland Enterprises Ltd. as Org 6522 but came to the Great Lakes in 1975 as G.L.B. No. 2 (C318425) of the Great Lakes Barge Company.
The ship has been used as a 2,500-ton capacity deck cargo barge and has been equipped with a crane. It carries a variety of materials and had a load of rock when it sank at the south face of the Purvis Dock on February 1, 2002. The 1,956 gross ton ship was raised and, during a refit at Portship in Thunder Bay, was shortened by 50 feet.
Adapted with permission from “The Ships of the Purvis Marine Fleet” by Buck Longhurst, Skip Gillham.
| Barge Particulars | |
| Length | 240′ 00″ (73.15m) |
| Beam | 50′ 00″ (15.24m) |
| Depth | 12′ 00″ (3.66m) |
| Capacity | 3,215 tons |
| Previous Names | |
| Jane Newfield | 1953 – 1966 |
| ORG 6502 | 1966 – 1975 |
| G.L.B. No. 2 | 1975 – Today |