Chaika (boat)
Development | |
---|---|
Year | 1500s |
Role | Marine warfare/transportation |
Boat | |
Crew | 50 or 60 |
Draft | 4 m (13 ft) (board down) |
Hull | |
Type | Monohull |
Construction | Wood |
LOA | 20 m (66 ft) |
Beam | 3.5 m (11 ft) |
A chaika (Ukrainian: чайка, chayka, Hungarian: csajka, Polish: czajka, Serbian: шајка / šajka, Slovene: šajka or plitka, ) was a wooden boat that could have a mast and sail, a type of galley, used in early modern warfare and cargo transport by the:
- Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
- Habsburgs.
- Slovenes from the 16th to the early 20th century on the Drava River.[1]
Types
Austrian
Tschaika were either 24 (Ganz ("Full") Tschaika) or 12 metres (Halb ("Half") Tschaika) in length, operated by
Zaporizhian Host (Ukraine)
Chaikas were between 18 and 20 metres in length, 3 and 3.5 metres in width, and 3.5 and 4 metres in depth. The bottom of a chaika was carved out of a single tree trunk, with sides built out of wooden planks. To protect the boat from enemy guns or from sinking, reed bales were tied to the gunwales of the boat. Some chaikas also had two steering oars, so that the boat never needed turning around in order to switch direction.[citation needed] One such boat could carry around 50 to 60 men and up to 6 falconets (small cannon).
A similar, but larger boat used by the Zaporozhian Cossacks for both transport and warfare was called a baidak.
References
External links
- The Viking "drakkar" and the Kozak "chaika" Archived 2020-11-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Media related to Chaika (boat) at Wikimedia Commons