The Matagorda Steam Tugboat: Virtual Reconstruction of the Historical Naval Heritage

The vessel, which was first named the Mary Mac and later called the Matagorda, is a steel-built propeller tug with a pine deck. Its main function was not to assist vessels in their maneuvers, but to transport workers from the Cádiz dock to the Matagorda factory in Puerto Real (Cádiz). This work approaches shipbuilding by means of a technique already in disuse such as riveting. The Matagorda is the object of the study, as it is one of the few remaining riveted boats in Spain. It is observed how this technique generates a way of designing and building different from the current one, in addition to generating professions that today have become obsolete due to the appearance of welding. Finally, a geometric model of the Matagorda tugboat is made using the CATIA software. In order to achieve this, the original drawings that are still preserved in the historical archive of the El Dique museum located in the Puerto Real Shipyards are used. The final objective of this study is none other than to value these industrial and cultural physical vestiges that the history of the technique has left behind.