Chaika (boat)

17 Century woodcut showing Zaporozhian Cossacks in chaikas, destroying the Turkish fleet and capturing Caffa in 1616.

A chaika (Ukrainian: чайка, Serbian: Шајка / Šajka, pl. Шајкe / Šajke) was a wooden boat with a mast and sail, a type of Galley, used by the:

• Zaporozhian Cossacks in the 16th–17th centuries in Ukraine on the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
• Serbs in Vojvodina in the 16th-19th centuries on the Danube (Šajkaši) under Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire and Habsburgs.

Types

Austrian

Tschaika were either 24 (Ganz Tschaika) or 12 metres (Halb Tschaika) in length, operated by sail or oars. Between 30 to 50 men were in service, commanded by an officer, with an NCO helmsman, an armourer, a drummer, two bowsmen, and up to 36 oarsmen.^[1]

Ukrainian

Illustration of a chaika boat from Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan's book "Description of Ukraine", 1660

Chaikas were between 18 to 20 metres in length, 3 to 3.5 metres in width, and 3.5 to 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.

Chaikas also had two helms, so that the boat never needed turning around in order to switch direction. 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

1. ^ Hollins, p. 11

• Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Ed. Volodymyr Kubijovyč. Vol. 1. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
• Dave Hollins, Austrian Auxiliary Troops 1792-1816, Osprey Publishing, 1996, ISBN 1855326205, 9781855326200

External links

• The Viking "drakkar" and the Kozak "chaika"