It took one miss and several hits Monday before a bottle of bubbly was smashed against the towknee of the MV Nathan Golding, sending liquid flying to bless the newest in the line of boats owned by Vicksburg-based Golding Barge Line. Thirteen-year-old Mary Hannah Campbell, goddaughter of company owner Steve Golding, did the honors while the tow, completed in July, was in town on its way to New Orleans.

“It’s cool,” the St. Aloysius seventh-grader said of the boat and the privilege of breaking the traditional champagne bottle.

The boat, a 2,000-horsepower vessel used to push tank barges with petrochemicals and other petroleum products, was named for Golding’s 31-year-old nephew, Nathan Golding, a resident of San Diego, who was not at the ceremony. It’s the second boat named for him. The first was sold in the 1990s when Golding sold his company, Ole Man River Towing, started by his father, Thomas Golding.

The current company was also begun by his father in 1965 under the name Big River Shipbuilding. Four years later, it became a barge towing company and Steve Golding came aboard in 1972. The MV Nathan Golding, built at Quality Shipyard in Houma, La., is the fifth boat Golding has had built in the past three years. It follows the MV Angie Golding, named for Golding’s mother; the MV Stephen Austin Golding and the MV John Reid Golding, both named for his two sons; and the MV Boyd Golding, named for a first cousin of Thomas Golding. Four other vessels are on order, he said.

Both inside and out, the boat vastly differs from the 30- to 40-year-old vessels the company leased before introducing new boats into the fleet, Golding said. Marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, flat screen TVs in every room and an overall cleaner interior give comfort to crew members, who spend four weeks at a time on the river.

“A clean boat is a happy boat,” said Capt. Earl Connor, a 22-year veteran who has worked for the line for a little more than a year.

Crew member Kyle Rowell, who said the Nathan Golding is the newest boat on which he’s worked, takes pride in the vessel that was docked at Big River Shipbuilding for the christening.

“Everything works right. You can actually see the work you do,” he said.

Golding said the boat, which travels all inland waterways of the United States, also sports better technology, better fuel efficiency and improved electrical equipment.

“The crew comfort separates it from the other boats,” he said. “It’s a comfortable place to live — not only for sleeping, but for working.”