Shitik () is a small, broad-bottomed vessel in which parts of the hull have been sewed with belts or

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

and fir-tree rods called ''vinya'' ().

Etymology

There are two proposed origins for the name of this boat. The first is that it comes from the verb , meaning 'to sew'. This explains some of the design features of the boat. The second is that the shape of the boat is similar to that of larvae of

Trichoptera The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...

, which are also called (''shitik'').

Types

The term Shitik refers to two different vessel types:

Sea Cargo Ship

The Shitik was a keeled vessel, powered by sail and oars. It was used as a sea trade and transport ship. The ship has a rounded-off bottom and, therefore, features a considerable expansion of the hull and disorder of boards. This design improves the ship's performance. Shitik had a single mast with a direct sail, oars, and a hinged wheel. The vessel had a canopy to protect the cargo from the rain although there is also a bunkhouse below the deck. The underwater contours of the vessel allowed it to navigate in

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

: when compressed it was squeezed out onto the surface. When docking the ship and hauling the anchor, Shitik needs the assistance of a vessel called osinovka boat. It is believed that in the 13th century, the Shitik was the most widespread coastal transport vessel. Shitiks were mainly built between the 11th–17th centuries. Initially, Shitiks were built on the coast of the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

, and the

Northern Dvina The Northern Dvina (, ; ) is a river in northern Russia flowing through Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River to the east, it drains most of Northwest Russia into the Arctic O ...

Sukhona The Sukhona () is a river in the European part of Russia, a tributary of the Northern Dvina. The course of the Sukhona lies in Ust-Kubinsky, Sokolsky, Mezhdurechensky, Totemsky, Tarnogsky, Nyuksensky, and Velikoustyugsky Districts of Volo ...

Vychegda The Vychegda (; ) is a river in the European part of Russia, a tributary of the Northern Dvina. Its length is about . Its source is approximately west of the northern Ural Mountains. It flows roughly in a western direction, through the Komi Re ...

Vetluga Vetluga () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Vetluzhsky District in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Vetluga River, after which the town is named. Population: Hi ...

, and Tikhvinka rivers. Later the building of such boats also spread in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, since Shitiks plied the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Shitiks were regularly used during the first phase of the Russian maritime fur trade in the North Pacific, from the 1740s to 1799, especially for exploring and collecting furs in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

. They continued to be used in

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

by the

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the c ...

in the early 19th century.

River boat

Shitiks were an important innovation on the Siberian rivers. Many shallows and reefs made a

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

useless, and a shortage of nails made it necessary to improve techniques of sewing the

planks A plank is timber that is flat, elongated, and rectangular with parallel faces that are higher and longer than wide. Used primarily in carpentry, planks are critical in the construction of ships, houses, bridges, and many other structures. Plank ...

. It was successfully operated throughout the 18th–20th centuries, being gradually replaced with new types of ship. When artisan shipbuilders had the opportunity to use aluminium, the boat found a new niche. It is basically used by hunters and fishermen to reach inaccessible places in the

taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...

. Making Shitiks is popular on the

Lena River The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob (river), Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is long and has a capacious drainage basi ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The design of the boat has been retained, but they are now made of aluminium sheet. Shitiks now have pointed bows instead of sawn-off ends.

Sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

s are no longer used; they are powered by

outboard motors An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

. Shitiks are useful in overcoming shoals; they have speed and adequate capacity. The absence of a

is a problem, as it results to poor stability. Such a boat does not transfer a wave, and every movement of a passenger risks

capsizing Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fr ...

the vessel. But this combination of features suits hunters and fishermen, who can use it to cross rivers of – depth. Well known Shitiks: on the First Kamchatka expedition under the command of

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...

, an auxiliary vessel "Fortuna" boat-shitik was used (in other sources it was a two-masted

Galiot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a fla ...

)

Notes

{{Sailing vessels and rigs Ship types Sailing ships

Etymology

Types

Sea Cargo Ship

River boat

See also

Notes