Soyma boat. In the Starorussky district, the last folk sailing ship of Russia, the Ilmen soyma, is being restored. How I built the Davydovka

The ancient Novgorod soyma, which is being restored on the banks of the Ilmen, has been prepared for wintering

Last summer, an amazing story began on the shores of Lake Ilmen in the village of Ustrek, Starorussky District. A group of volunteers united around the big and important task of restoring the construction technology of the Ilmen soyma - the last representative of folk sailing ships in Russia.

The Ilmen soyma, a type of boat for smooth fishing used by local fishermen, has been known at least since the beginning of the 20th century. In the 90s, wooden soymas were replaced by iron boats equipped with motors, and the construction of wooden soymas stopped.

The initiator of preserving the secrets of the construction of the Ilmen soyma was Muscovite Vladimir Shchetanov, one of the founders of the Vodlozersk artel - a community created to support and highlight the work of a group of researchers and lovers of original navigation.

His assistants were Alexander Myakoshin, the last shipbuilder on the Ilmen, who once built soymas, Sergei Demeshev, a fifth-generation Old Russian fisherman, feedman and main fisherman of the fishing artel in Ustrek, and fishermen Alexey Kuzmin and Vladimir Klevtsov.

It was planned that in the fall the project participants would lower the soyma onto the Ilmen wave to test its performance. But the hopes did not come true. Often the weather interfered with the work, it rained, because of which it had to be stopped. But over the summer and half of the fall, the participants in the unique project accomplished a lot.

“The Soyma is almost completely built,” said Vladimir SHCHETANOV. — There are some small things left that we will finish in the spring. You can’t go out into the lake yet - the soyma needs to be cleared and equipped. It is necessary to make a walkway - a deck, equip a hut - a cabin, sheet and tar the boat, sew sails, make masts and props, and acquire the necessary gear.

The other day the boat was prepared for winter. To begin with, we soaked the body with an antiseptic, which is why the soyma acquired a greenish tint, which, as they say in the project community on VKontakte, will go away along with the tar. Then the boat was covered with a construction film awning. “Actually, usually the soyma was not sheltered here for the winter, but we feel sorry to leave a ship that has not yet seen the lake unprotected,” wrote the project participants. The Soyma will spend the winter at the shipyard in Ustrek, where it was built.

“There are always plenty of difficulties, but nothing is unsolvable,” says Vladimir Shchetanov about how the work is going. — Of course, any financial assistance from caring people would not hurt.

Now like-minded people are discussing what the sails on the Novgorod soyma will be like. According to Vladimir Shchetanov, canvas for them can be purchased in Russia, but the boat builders will cut and sew on their own. It is necessary to decide on the shape of the sails, which has changed with the advent of motor sails. Participants in the unique project will turn to fishermen for advice and help.

Let us remind you that Vladimir Shchetanov’s project involves not only the construction of a soyma, its equipment, but also testing its seaworthiness and operational qualities on the Ilmen, filming a drawing and creating a reporting video about the construction and technique of smooth fishing.

Videos, photographs, drawings after completion of the work will be available to everyone - both scientists and all those interested in the history of Russia, the Novgorod region, fishing and folk navigation. Some of the information can already be found in the project community on VKontakte “Ilmen Soyma”.

*Ilmen soyma is a type of boat for smooth fishing, which was used by fishermen on Lake Ilmen.

Characteristics:

The drawings of the traditional folk boat “Soima” were developed based on a sketch published in the book by G.V. Ash's Guide for Sailing Enthusiasts, published in St. Petersburg in 1895.

The design of the boat's hull is similar to that of boats and is designed for harsh operating conditions, so it is perfect not only for recreation on the water, but also for fishing and fishing.

The body of the soyma has whaleboat contours, i.e. sharp bow and stern. The main material for the manufacture of a wooden boat hull is selected shipbuilding pine. The longitudinal frame of the body is laminated. The sheathing is covered with copper nails and rivets, the frames are bent. Metal parts are made of structural steel. Galvanized bolts and screws are used to connect the body parts.

The outside of the soyma body is primed with red lead and painted with oil paints, and the inside is impregnated with natural linseed oil and covered with drying oil. An alternative option is to traditionally impregnate the boat inside and out with a mixture of linseed oil, tree resin and turpentine. Steel parts are epoxy coated.

The soyma is equipped with six roller oars, a rudder with a wooden tiller, and a two-masted sprint sail.

It is possible to install a stationary engine on the boat complete with shafting, systems and remote control. The engine is installed in the aft part under the casing.

Sees a dream by the sea soyma
E. G. Guro. Day through a cloud - dune (1910-1913)

The term “soima” is recorded in historical and fiction literature as the name of common river and lake vessels used in the Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga, Onega and inflowing rivers around the 16th century. Most researchers believe that the design of the “soyma” was developed in Novgorod; archaeologists have not yet found ancient “soyms”; we know the design and performance characteristics of this vessel from sources of the 17th century.

1) Existing etymology

A) Max Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary

Soyma, "one-masted ship with a deck", Ladoga, Onezhsk. (Dal), Olonetsk. (Kulik.), archang. (Under.), old. soym - the same, from Peter I. Borrowed. from Olonetsk saimu "small sailing ship with a deck", people, Veps. soim, Finnish soima "large boat, pontoon boat", probably related by alternation with Finn. saima "kind of boat"; see Kalima 219; Leskov, Zhst., 1892, issue. 4, p. 102.
(Mentioned in written monuments since 1576; see Shmele;v, VSYA, 5, p. 195. - T.)

B) S.A. Myznikov, St. Petersburg. About vocabulary of Baltic-Finnish origin in Kostroma dialects

* Soyma, a boat with two sails... 1860... In the middle of the soyma there is a keel, it sinks into the water 60-70 cm, and therefore can sail towards the wind...
* Rank of ships from the canal to the Neva River: polubarok, vodovik, soyma (Moskov. Ved., 1764, No. 17).

B) Leskov N. On the influence of the Karelian language on Russian within the Olonets province // Living Antiquity. 1892. Issue. 4. pp. 97 – 103.
Soyma is a river or lake vessel. This word is the same with the Korelian and Finnish “soima”, “saima” is a large open or only half-closed vessel.

D) Almanac “Solovetsky Sea” No. 6. 2007, A. Epatko

* Notes of the Novoladoga captain Mordvinov about his four-time trip to Solovki http://www.solovki.info/?action=archive&id=394

“The origin of the very name “soima” is interesting. Most likely, this is a derivative of the Finnish word “suomi” (literally: land of Sum). This was the name of the tribe that lived on the territory of modern Finland and subsequently gave its name to the entire country. It is likely that the Ladoga soyma is a type of ancient Finnish vessel, mastered over the years by the Karelians and later by the Novgorodians.”

* Almanac “Solovetsky Sea”. No. 7. 2008, Construction of the Ladoga soima “St. Arseny”: http://www.solovki.info/?action=archive&id=435

“Not a single insurance company in Russia has undertaken to insure ships sailing with cargo on open Ladoga. Only in 1858 did the Admiralty equip an expedition to Ladoga under the leadership of an experienced hydrographer, Colonel A.P. Andreeva. He was instructed to take a survey of Lake Ladoga, map its coastline, lighthouses, describe the most dangerous capes, shoals, reefs and determine wind directions.

The researcher’s task also included a detailed inspection of local types of boats. Describing them, Andreev noted the extraordinary seaworthiness of a two-masted fishing boat - a soyma. At the same time, he came to the conclusion that nothing is known about the design of the ships that sailed on Ladoga during the times of Veliky Novgorod.”

“While visiting the surrounding monasteries on duty, the colonel noticed that the icons of the local ascetics depicted ships quite similar to the Ladoga soimas of the present time. “Based on this similarity,” the colonel wrote, “and taking into account that the Ladoga soymas have retained some primitive character to this day, we can conclude that the ships of the Novgorodians were almost the same as the current soymas.”

“Admiral Count Apraksin wrote to Menshikov with alarm in 1716: “It is ordered to make ten thousand people, so that more is better, soims who go to Murmansk.” Further, Apraksin complains in the same letter that “we don’t know a sample of those soymas and there are no craftsmen or supplies.” A month later, Menshikov reports to the Tsar: “I went to the Senate and they advised me on what method to make the soyma known to you, to which the merchant people of Ladoga are called, who do not deny it, they only ask for a model vessel, which is the only one I found here.” An interesting fact emerges from this sovereign correspondence: in the first quarter of the 18th century. Ladoga residents didn’t even know what a soyma looked like!”

2) Application of the term in Russian

A) Dictionary of the Russian language XI-XVII centuries, RAS, M., 2002, issue. 26
http://etymolog.ruslang.ru/doc/xi-xvii_26.pdf

Soyma. A small river or lake vessel with one sail (1366). “That summer of Veliky Novgorod, the Novgorodians in Nizhny Novgorod caught guests and robbed them<с>"Oymakh has come." Arhan. years., XVII-XVI centuries.

B) National Corpus of the Russian Language

N. I. Berezin. Walking along the Karelian waterfalls (1903): “Have you seen the kind of ships here; Galiot and Soima. ... After all, the soyma, the Novgorodians sailed here on the soyma, and Peter will teach you how to build galliots.”

3) Generalization and conclusion

Soyma is a “sewn” keel vessel designed for sailing on the open sea and in the basins of giant lakes (Ladoga, Onega). They had different sizes, small boats were used for local shipping and fishing, larger deck “soymas” were intended for transporting people and cargo, and were used in military operations and sea fishing until the 50s of the 20th century.

A) The original design of the “soyma”

The stems (bow and stern beams) are rolled back, the hull is sewn with roots (roots) - a flexible design that facilitates navigation in shallow areas of the sea and lakes, where short, steep waves arise during rough seas. The depth of the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland is 2-6-15 m; depth on Ladoga is 3-20-70 m, stormy winds are frequent; Onega - avg. 20-70 m, frequent waves, wave heights up to 3.5 m. When fishing, vessels are often close to each other, the stem tilted back eliminated the possibility of catching the side of another vessel in rough seas or lakes.

We can conclude that the “soyma” was intended for sailing on the open sea and in lakes Ladoga and Onega; this boat-vessel was able to withstand stormy weather and navigate a stormy sea or lake. Consequently, her name should contain a description of the seaworthiness of the vessel; ambiguity in the language, what language did the term belong to?

B) Monasteries

During the monastic colonization of the North, a number of monasteries were founded, some of them were located on islands. Along with cultural and religious activities to Christianize the local population, the monks were engaged in crafts: shipbuilding, commercial fishing, salt making and trading (salt, fish, pearls). Large monasteries, in order to ensure economic and military activities, had their own flotillas of river and sea vessels.

* White Sea: Nikolo-Karelian Monastery, main. in 1410; Solovetsky Monastery (islands), main. in 1420-30
* Lake Ladoga: Valaam Monastery (islands), main. in the 14th century; Konevsky Monastery (island), main. 1393, Staraya Ladoga Monastery, founded. in the 15th century

We found an image, SOYMA - a ship designed for sailing in the turbulent waters of the White Sea, Onega and Ladoga lakes; V. Dahl: “Whoever has not been to the sea has not prayed to God enough.” The term must contain the characteristic - a boat for sailing in stormy seas. It is advisable to consider the term “soima” in connection with biblical images and vocabulary; the consciousness and thinking of Russian people of the Middle Ages was religious.

4) Hebrew terminology and biblical image

A) Terminology

Let's bring the term into a form close to Hebrew grammar and highlight the roots SOYMA = SO + YMA, we instantly have rational (reasonable) words-concepts of Hebrew - SOE stormy, storm + YAM sea, lake.

* SOYMA = SO+YMA = Hebrew. SAA storm, gale wind, whirlwind; forms SOA, SOE stormy + YAM, YAMA sea, lake; those. boat is a vessel designed to sail in rough seas.

Source

* See Strong Hebrew 5584, SAA gust of wind, stormy wind, stormy

* See Hebrew and Chaldean Etymological Dictionary of the Books of the Old Testament, Vilna, 1878.
SAA whirlwind; http://www.greeklatin.narod.ru/hebdict/img/_332.htm

B) Biblical image

Westminster Leningrad Codex, the most complete text of the Old Testament, dated 1008, written in Hebrew in Cairo, found in Crimea (c. 1838); the verses in the Russian Synodal translation do not correspond to the Hebrew text of the Code.

* Psalm 55:9: “I would hasten to hide from the wind (SOA), from the storm.”

* In Israel, in the south of the country, east of Beersheba, there is a wadi, a temporary stream formed during the rainy season, which is called Nahal Soa (stormy stream), Nachal So'a; see https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachal_So

Thus, the materials of the researchers and biblical terminology allow us to conclude that the ancient Russian shipbuilding term SO + YMA is composed of two biblical words-concepts - storm + sea, lake; denotes a vessel capable of withstanding stormy sailing conditions on the sea and lakes.

Current page: 21 (book has 35 pages total) [available reading passage: 23 pages]

Font:

100% +

“It will forever be unsinkable”

... The morning of September 4, 1999 turned out to be unusually windy, which could have complicated the launching of the frigate. From the window of the wardroom one could clearly see how quickly cumulus clouds were flying over the Neva. In the morning, people began to flock to the shipyard, and the police took their places in the cordon. By noon, journalists and television arrived. The cameramen were busy filming the “Standart”, above which the giant floating crane “Bogatyr” towered.

There are two hours left before the descent. While our guys are running steel cables under the bottom of the frigate, I decide to disconnect from the bustle and climb to the top platform of the crane. The gusts of wind are more sensitive here, and therefore I do not remove my hands from the cold handrails. From here you can clearly see how a stream of people moves along the alley leading to the shipyard. I can’t believe my eyes - hundreds, thousands of St. Petersburg residents. Those who had already approached earlier are trying to squeeze closer to the ship, but the police are not letting them through. By placing yellow barriers, she keeps the crowd at bay. Children hung in clusters on the concrete fence, covering the sponsors' billboards with their feet.

All builders are invited to board the frigate. The priest serves a prayer service, as befits before the launch of each ship. I stand behind my comrades, and only individual phrases of a melodious prayer reach me: “It will be unsinkable forever...”.

It's time to descend. We ask journalists and photographers to leave Shtandart. Captain Martus is talking on the radiotelephone with the crane operator... Several minutes of tedious waiting. I look at the sky - rare clouds pass over the leaden Neva. The tense silence grows. You can only hear the Russian flag fluttering, mounted on the stern of the Shtandart.

The crowd comes to life. A small stampede begins. Everyone is interested in seeing the ship's keel leave the ground. Our team is busy keeping four ropes tied to the frigate: two from the stern and two from the bow. When lifting, it is very important to control the rocking of the ship. I hear someone shouting: “Hold tight! Now there will be a rise! " And sure enough, the planks placed under the cables begin to creak pitifully. For several seconds the frigate remains motionless, but then its hull shudders, and one and a half hundred tons of wood and metal go up. A narrow gap appears between the ground and the keel. The ship rises higher and higher. With our heads raised, we follow his “walking” body. The crane begins to turn the ship sideways towards the Neva. The stern moves massively to the side and carries us along with it. We lean on the rope, trying to hold back the advance of the frigate. Another team pulls the stem of the “Standard” back to the Neva... People rush to the wooden pier. Photographers are waiting for the moment when the pot-bellied bottom of the Shtandart touches the water surface. Creaking on the steel cables, the frigate begins to quickly descend, its black hull confidently entering the Neva waters. A cannon shot is heard. "Vivat!" - as Tsar Peter would say. The crowd of forty thousand is noisy and rejoicing. Rockets take off into the sky...

Frigate « Standard» a year after the descent. Photo by V. Martus. 2000

- Look, it’s swinging! – I hear an enthusiastic cry behind me. I catch myself thinking that the frigate is really rocking on the waves. This sounds unusual, even somewhat strange. We have been walking towards this day for five years. Five years of my life have been devoted to the construction of a sailboat, which has just been launched. It's finished!

The frigate's godmother, Englishwoman Anne Palmer, takes a bottle of champagne in her hand.

- I call you “Standard!” – A short feminine wave and the clap of broken glass announces that the ship has found its rightful name.

Vivat! The orchestras are playing a march. People are pushing towards the frigate. I'm being pushed aside. Hundreds, thousands of St. Petersburg residents pass by me. I get out of the tight ring and look back at the high masts. I remember the words from the church service spoken today: “It will forever be unsinkable...” And nothing more is needed.

Chapter 43
Construction of the Ladoga soyma "St. Arseny"

It is difficult to find another ship that would be so closely connected with the Russian North as the Ladoga Soyma. This small sailing and rowing boat “was born” in time immemorial on Ladoga, but thanks to St. Petersburg pilgrims traveling to the northern monasteries, the soyma visited both Solovki and Lake Onega. Her faded sails loomed near Valaam and in the Vologda region. Soims went to the Baltic for trading purposes - right up to Stockholm. This boat even managed to “fight” with the Swedes in the Northern War: the practical and uncomplicated design of the soyma attracted the attention of Peter I, who found that it was convenient to transport soldiers in such vessels.

My story will be about this amazing boat, overshadowed by two sails-wings...

Until the middle of the 19th century, Lake Ladoga, located very close to St. Petersburg, nevertheless remained little known. The lack of descriptions of it did not have the best effect on shipping: even in a small wave, captains preferred to go around the canals, which significantly lengthened the journey. Not a single insurance company undertook to insure ships sailing with cargo on open Ladoga.

Only in 1858, the Admiralty equipped an entire expedition to Ladoga under the leadership of the experienced hydrographer Colonel A.P. Andreeva. He was instructed to take a survey of the entire Lake Ladoga, map its coastline, lighthouses, describe the most dangerous capes, shoals, reefs and determine wind directions.

The researcher’s task also included a detailed inspection of local types of boats. Describing them, Andreev noted the extraordinary seaworthiness of a two-masted fishing boat - a soyma. At the same time, he came to the conclusion that now nothing is known about the design of the ships that sailed on Ladoga during the times of Veliky Novgorod. But things took an unexpected turn.

Ladoga soyma "St. Arseny". Photo by A. Epatko. 1998

While visiting the surrounding monasteries on duty, the colonel noticed that the icons of the local ascetics depicted ships quite similar to the Ladoga soimas of the present time. “Based on this similarity,” the colonel wrote, “and taking into account that the Ladoga soims have retained some primitive character to this day, we can conclude that the ships of the Novgorodians were almost the same as the current soims.”

Andreev left a description of the Ladoga soima. The researcher noted that this is a small sailing and rowing vessel, fishing or cargo, which has its own distinctive features - stems rolled back. The soyma is made-up, has molded frames and a small sharp keel. To tack and reduce drift, a false keel was placed on the keel. The frames were attached both to the keel and to the sheathing with wooden dowels, the sheathing boards were laid “overlapping” and sewn together with juniper roots. Moreover, both outside and inside, recesses were provided in the boards for the stitching roots to protect the roots from damage. “It’s been proven by experience,” Andreev admired. “It’s more likely that the sheathing and frames on the soyma will rot than the tree roots will be destroyed... But how tightly and reliably this seam holds the boards, it’s amazing!”

Project of the Ladoga Soima. G. Atavin. V. Miloslavsky. 1997

I’ll add on my own that flexible connections had one clear advantage over any other fastening: by swelling, the roots made the body waterproof.

The mast of the soym consisted of two masts. The foremast was placed on the stem, and the mainmast was placed in the middle. The mast was inserted through the hole in the can into the steps, lines were placed on the ends of the sprints, then the sail was stretched diagonally by the sprint. When it was filled with wind, the mast was securely held without shrouds. The sail was controlled using a sheet; when retracting the sail, the sprint was pulled by hand to the mast, both were wrapped in a sail and tied with a sheet. Two people were enough to operate such a boat.

A compass card used on Ladoga in the 19th century.

Soymas were built without preliminary drawings and of such length as was convenient for the owner. The lightest boat of this type, up to 6 m long, was called a soyminka. The length of the hook soyma ranged from 7–8 m, and the length of the mesh – 9–10 m. Boats, the length of which reached 12 m, had a deck and a tank for live fish. They were called live fish, or salt soyma. However, if necessary, cages were built into any boat, for which two waterproof wooden bulkheads were installed, and between them holes were drilled in the sides for water circulation. On large soymas intended for transporting passengers, there were rooms in the stern.

According to Andreev, the Ladoga soymas had extraordinary seaworthiness: they were light on oars and were not afraid of headwinds - “they maneuvered very decently.” Soims traveled long distances for trading purposes. They continuously, throughout the entire navigation, made voyages to Vyborg, Aborforst, Stockholm and transported pilgrims from St. Petersburg through Ladoga and Onega to the Solovetsky Monastery.

“So, the soyma is our native ship! – Andreev enthusiastically summed up his research. – Soima has probably seen those ancient times that are dark in history. Soima has seen enough of Hanseatic goods! And even now the soyma is the only vessel used in the fresh waters of northeastern Rus'.”

It is not surprising that, after reading these messages, my hiking companion Andrei Boev and I were inspired by the idea of ​​​​building such a boat and sailing around Ladoga on it. But we did not have the main thing - drawings and a master who would undertake to recreate the medieval soyma. Then we went to the most remote corners of Ladoga, where we hoped to meet people familiar with similar boats. Konevets Island, Priozersk, Sortavala... Here we met mainly boats and homemade yachts. On Valaam, we took a particularly close look at the local fishing boats, but they were not even remotely similar to the soyma described by Andreev. An old Finn who lived on Valaam, having learned what we were looking for, asked in surprise: “A two-masted boat?.. Forget it. No one has been sailing here for a long time.”

At the end of the summer of 1994, Andrei and I reached the remote village of Storozhno, picturesquely located on the southeastern coast of Ladoga. A real fishing village: nets are hung all around, portholes are installed in the barns instead of windows...

– Are you interested in boats? – one of the local old men asked us, seeing that we were looking at the overturned boat.

- Soymami.

Five minutes later we were sitting with our new friend, and he was drawing us exactly what we had been looking for for so long. The graceful lines of the body emerged from under his calloused hand. The design of the sailing rig of the two-masted boat exactly coincided with what Andreev wrote about: the same arrangement of masts, sprint rig...

“I went to the soym as a boy,” said the hereditary fisherman Ivan Andrianov. “These were the most reliable ships on the entire lake. Rest assured! Which boat can withstand a force seven storm on Ladoga? Only soyma! It used to be that bad weather would find you in the lake, the waves were raging all around, and not a drop would fall into the soyma... These were the boats... Only here you won’t find the soyma, and, probably, they don’t exist anywhere anymore.

Hereditary fisherman Ivan Adrianov (right) tells the author about the soyma. The village of Storozhno on Lake Ladoga. Photo by A. Boev. 1994

Much later I learned that the search for masters should have been carried out much further south - on the banks of the Ilmen. It was there, close to Veliky Novgorod, to whose times Andreev attributed the origins of the soyma, that such boats are still being “made” in the coastal villages of Ustrek and Vzvad. True, these are typical Ilmen soymas - without the stem rolled back, like the Ladoga version. By the way, no one knows what causes such a bend in the bow. The authoritative ship modeler A. Zaitsev expressed the opinion that “fishing soymas when making seines had to be in close proximity to each other, and the stem thrown back excluded such a possibility.” It is difficult to agree with this opinion: after all, fish were also caught on the Ilmen, and the Ilmen soyma has an almost straight stem. Obviously, the secret lies in the particularity of the Ladoga unrest. It is likely that the sharp and forward stem climbed the steep wave more easily, making its way in the raging lake.

But let’s return to the Ilmen soyms. I remember how amazed I was when, getting off the excursion bus at the Yuryev Monastery, I immediately saw two soymas on the shore, pulled out with their noses onto the shore. Faded sails wrapped around low masts crowned tarred, pot-bellied hulls. Forgetting that my group was moving away in the direction of another church, I went, squelching through the mud, towards this mirage - two fishing soymas that emerged from the Ilmen haze, like an echo of the distant past...

Fragment of an icon from the Life of St. Nicholas. XVI century The vessel piloted by the saint resembles the main characteristics of the Ladoga soyma

Autumn has come. By that time, I had already decided to postpone our search until next summer, but I was unexpectedly informed that beyond Novaya Ladoga, on the Syas River, the boat master Alexander Kalyazin lives. We immediately went to see him, but didn’t find him - the owner was hunting. To pass the time, we walked along the shore and came across a wooden boat, made, like the soyma, “covered up” and with very good contours. The design of this boat, adapted for a motor, was clearly an echo of that distant era when people sat on the shore for weeks waiting for a fair wind.

Alexander Stepanovich returned and told us that he was ready to take on any ship, but he needed a drawing. “And don’t forget two thousand copper nails! Especially if you go into salty waters,” the master added.

The idea of ​​sewing a boat in the traditional way - using juniper roots - had to be abandoned. This task is too labor-intensive, and our master has never sewed boats in this way. By the way, in the ancient Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala” two methods of fastening parts of the vessel are mentioned: using flexible connections and wooden fasteners:

Often good housewives
Juniper is broken,
They are making a boat.

Famous folklorist V.Ya. Evseev, commenting on this passage, believed that the frame of a boat was made from juniper, on which animal skins were stretched. Alas, he was wrong: the epic talked about flexible connections intended for securing a boat. By the way, Peter I was distrustful of ships made by vice. “Novgorod ships were made only for festivities,” the Tsar wrote in 1702, “and are incapable of military affairs because on the old bottoms, which are sewn with cowhide...”

True, Peter later changed his mind about the soyma - perhaps after these nimble Finnish boats took an active part in some episodes of the Northern War. In 1702, four hundred Peter's infantrymen, mounted on soymas, took part in a successful battle with the squadron of the Swedish admiral Nummers. The participation of the Soyma in the capture of the Noteburg fortress is undeniable. It is not surprising that after a decade and a half, Peter I remembered the soims, but over these years, along with the decrease in the Finno-Ugric population in the St. Petersburg area, the craftsmen who knew how to “sew” these boats also disappeared.

Admiral Count Apraksin wrote with alarm to Menshikov in 1716: “It is ordered to make ten thousand people, so that more is better, soims, that is, for the Murmansk (Barents Sea. - A.E.) are walking." Further, Apraksin complains in the same letter that “we don’t know a sample of those soymas and there are no craftsmen or supplies.” A month later, Menshikov reports to the Tsar: “I went to the Senate and they advised me on what method to make the soyma known to you, which is what the merchant people of Ladoga are called to do, who do not deny it, they only ask for a model vessel, which is the only one I found here.”

An interesting fact emerges from this sovereign correspondence: in the first quarter of the 18th century, Ladoga residents did not even know what a soyma looked like!

But let's go back to the times of Kalevala. One of the runes reports interesting information that the Karelian-Finns sometimes did without the tree, preferring wood to it:

Ship modeler G. Atavin and boat master A. Kalyazin (Stepanych). Photo by A. Epatko. 1996

Väinimeien tesal,
Made a boat
Stone ax,
Wooden nails.

These lines from an unknown rune singer greatly encouraged Andrey and I: now we could, without departing too far from tradition, replace the roots with copper nails.

Already closely engaged in the search for materials, I realized that the construction of a large sailing boat would require considerable funds, and the two of us were unlikely to be able to complete this project. I think this idea with soyma would have remained on paper if Viktor Donskov, a surgeon at one of the St. Petersburg hospitals, had not supported us during this difficult time. Victor has a rare quality: he is a purposeful romantic who turns any dream into reality. We joked about our company for a long time: “A chemist, a historian and a doctor got together and decided to build a boat...”

Having found the master, I rushed around looking for drawings. But where can I get the drawings of an ancient fishing boat, which, according to some sources, was built “without any preliminary measurements”? Something told me that I should go to the Naval Museum.

The calculation turned out to be correct. A museum employee, having learned what we were looking for, took out from a dusty cabinet a model of the Ladoga soyma made by A. Zaitsev. We photographed it, and subsequently this photograph replaced our master’s drawings. The latter were also soon found: they were made by two famous St. Petersburg ship modelers - Andrei Larionov and Gennady Atavin. The drawing was taken as a basis from a pre-war Finnish magazine (I was never able to find out which one).

The copper nails were really bad. “All the copper has long been in the Baltic states,” friends joked. But a miracle still happened: we came across some factory that was being sold out, the director of which famously poured 40 kilograms of excellent copper nails onto the scales.

In the spring we came to Kalyazin in his Podryabinye.

“Our cut, Ladoga,” Stepanych said busily, looking at the drawing. - Well, decide what size we will sew...

We settled on a 9-meter long soyme, counting on six rowers and a coxswain.

We needed solid spruce boards no less than 11 m long. In St. Petersburg, such long boards were not cut. Stepanych, as always, came to the rescue.

“Business,” he grinned. - Podryabinye stands in the forests; I will cut down the masts myself, and there is any kind of timber in the local offices.

Model of the Ladoga Soyma. A. Zaitsev. 1980s

...Riding on a motorcycle along the broken Ladoga roads, we drove around about five forestry enterprises, and only in the sixth did we find a sawmill, ready to cut 13-meter trunks. We were promised to deliver such trunks to the sawmill by the New Year. However, an unusually snowy winter, the likes of which had not happened in the last half century, unexpectedly intervened: cars could not enter the forest to pick up cut trees.

Every weekend I went to the snow-white Podryabinye, but without success: the snow fell incessantly, so much so that even experienced hunters preferred to sit at home. It is not surprising that such a winter shocked even the surrounding wolves: due to the deep cover, the grays could not catch up with the hares and therefore reached for easier prey. One night, wolves descended on Podryabinye and carried away thirteen village dogs, including Stepanych’s guard dog.

“Look, snakes were walking around the stables,” said Kalyazin, pointing out to me numerous tracks in the snow.

This news especially excited me, since under the canopy, next to the stables, we were just about to build a soyma...

“These wolves are for war,” the local old women shook their heads.

- Listen to them more! - Stepanych smiled slyly, lighting a Belomorina, but then, casting a heavy glance outside the window, he said thoughtfully: - But the women are right: the last time the wolves visited us was in the winter of '41... Eh, all this is not good! - and shook the ashes onto the floor...

While waiting for the boards, I got acquainted with the life of this Ladoga village. Everything for me, a city dweller, was here again: the fact that almost every resident is armed, and the fact that a conversation cannot begin without a glass - “otherwise there will be no conversation,” and the fact that horses’ tails are cut with an ax, and the fact that, when a pike falls off the spoon, no one worries: “It was not our pike,” the Ladoga resident will meekly say. And you are not supposed to remember any more about the lost spoils. The hunt for the Podryabinsk people ends only when the reserves of alcohol or “wine”, as vodka has been called here since ancient times, run out. And even then, all the hunters will gather, sit down, spread out a tattered map in the clearing and calculate how close the nearest village is from here, where there is a store...

Before “installing” the cladding boards, we soaked them in hot drying oil. True, we were recommended to use melted seal fat. But where can you get these seals? Photo by A. Epatko. 1997

It will be a good mast! Photo by A. Epatko. 1996

These Ladoga residents are desperate people! Stepanych told how two of his comrade’s fingers were shot off by mistake during a hunt: they were mistaken for a bear... The fingers hang on the skin, the hand is bleeding. And there was still vodka left; I can’t go back home... So they performed the operation right in the forest: they gave the hunter a sip from the bottle, put the brush on a stump, doused it with vodka - and scraped it with a knife... Cleanly, like a piece of butter, they cut it off. And for the hunt!

Stepanych's son Vanya also did not lag behind the elders. I remember he came to the hut one morning. He came in sleepily, put the gun in the corner, and took off his boots.

- What, I say, were you hunting?

“No,” Vanya shakes his head, “I’ve been sitting on the river all night: someone got into the habit of stealing our shuttles...”

Yes, cool people live in Podryabinye. God forbid you get to them not with good intentions, and even under the hot hand!

About twenty years ago, as Kalyazin told us, there lived in their village a fish inspector, and at the other end of the village there was a bulldozer driver and, of course, an avid fisherman. And for the fish inspector, he is not a fisherman, but a real poacher. One day our fisherman cast his nets, and in the morning they were removed. Who took it? We know who... There is no one else to take them off. Then the man started his bulldozer and, crossing himself - who wants to take a sin on his soul - drove his tractor to the fish inspector’s bathhouse. He picked it up with a ladle and dumped it in the river... Now he’s steering straight towards his enemy’s house - and he drove straight into the house... So much so that the windows fell down... The tracks are slipping, the house is shaking... “Vanya! - the fisherman shouts from his cabin. “Where are the networks?” - “Nets in the bathhouse!” – a muffled voice comes from the house. - “There is no bathhouse! - the tractor driver roars. “Where are the networks?”

Kalyazin himself told this story without laughing: he felt sorry for both fellow villagers, and the lost nets, and the bathhouse that floated into the river distance... Probably, that is why - due to the sensitivity of his soul - Stepanych was the unofficial head of the village. His house was never empty; As soon as we sit down quietly at the table to discuss the work plan for the soyma, someone is already knocking on the window. Everyone needs Stepanych. To plow the garden - to Stepanych; which motor to attach - to Stepanych; put together a coffin, if someone dies, go to Stepanych. We needed him as much as anyone else. And therefore, so that the master would not be particularly distracted when leaving for the city, we left him a written plan of work on the soyma.

Finally, in June 1996, the long-awaited moment of laying the soyma arrived. One of its designers, Gennady Atavin, opened champagne and “blessed” the axed keel.

Kalyazin built the boat alone, combining this work with haymaking and caring for horses. Sometimes his son Vanya helped him, and we tried to come here every weekend. The master rarely looked at the drawings. If he noticed that I was “testing the strength” of some part of the soyma, he would say: “Don’t doubt it, the boat will be glorious, the first storm is mine!”

Stepanych at work. Photo by A. Epatko. 1997

When the keel was already completed, we harnessed the horses and went into the forest to get the stem. What was needed was a keel with a sharp bend and, at the same time, a certain thickness, without cracks. In two days we had to look through a lot of trees before finding a suitable option. As soon as the stems took their place, Kalyazin placed two powerful patterns at the bow and stern and began to attract the cladding boards to them, fastening them together with rivets. This was the most important stage of construction: “As you laid the first boards, so will the rest,” the master often said. - Bend the board, don’t be afraid! “She herself must lie down in her place,” Kalyazin encouraged us.

Andrey and I also set out to rivet the sheathing, but it turned out that it was not so easy. Soft annealed nails bent under the blows of the hammer, stubbornly refusing to enter the tree. The dexterity came gradually along with the confidence that we could do it. True, it was not without risk: to get tools, we often had to walk through the paddock where Stepanych’s horses grazed - the red Krokha and the handsome black stallion Malysh. Baby was an unusually calm horse, but Baby, when he saw people, stood up and neighed wildly, thereby expressing all sorts of displeasure. Therefore, walking through its territory for some kind of roulette, I felt like a bullfighter and preferred to arm myself with a heavy stick...

By the way, if Kalyazin had roulettes, they were quickly lost. And our soyma ended up being built truly “without any measurements.” When a ruler was needed, Stepanych usually found some piece of wood, planed it with one stroke and proudly showed us: “Well, why not a ruler?” Our master generally worked with what he had at hand. To draw a straight line on a board or keelson, he sometimes used his favorite “old-fashioned” method: he smeared the thread with coal, pulled it on nails like a string, and “beat” it with a slight movement of his fingers. Surprisingly, the result was a perfectly straight black line.

Stepanych built it soundly, but slowly and with long breaks. May was a holy month for him: hunting, and in the last days - plowing and potatoes. July – you can’t sleep either: haymaking. And September is the holy of holies: the opening of the hunting season and the same potatoes. But we put up with it - he “sewed” the boat firmly and conscientiously. And we were right: later, in England, where we finally reached on a soyma, one of the specialists in replicas of wooden ships admitted to us that the Ladoga soyma was the best boat he had ever seen... Well, if in the homeland of Captain Cook they admired Stepanych’s work - what else can be added to this?

While Kalyazin was slowly “stitching the boards together,” I continued to sit in libraries, looking for any information related to the soyma. Some experts rightly believed that the soyma was a type of ancient Finnish vessel, mastered over the years by the Karelians, and later by the Novgorodians. The latter, according to the outstanding researcher of the Russian North I.P. Shaskolsky, “transferred this type of vessel to the White Sea, where mention of it is found in documents of the 17th century.” If these sources are correct, then perhaps the soyma was at one time a fairly common ship on the White Sea. A. Zaitsev even puts forward the version that from the end of the 18th century, the Soims began to be forced out of this region by the more seaworthy Shnyaks and Yols.

I became convinced that the soyma is a typically Finnish (and not even Karelian) ship when I was at the Maritime Museum in Stockholm. There are two soimas on display (albeit without the snub-nosed stem characteristic of the Ladoga version) and next to it there is an explanatory sign in Swedish and English: “Fishing boat of the Åland Islands.” As you know, Åland is an island part of southwestern Finland. It remains to add that the name “Soima” speaks for itself: most likely, it is a derivative of the Finnish tribe “Sum”, who lived in the south of Finland and later gave the name to the whole country - “Suomi”.

“Kizhanka”, apparently, also incorporated the design of the soyma. Only for some reason there is only one mast... Engraving by A. Avdyshev. 1970s

However, not everyone agreed with this argument. For example, G. Ash, in his authoritative work “A Guide for Sailing Lovers,” wrote about the soyma as a ship of purely Russian origin, “the construction of which was not influenced by any foreign elements.” At the same time, the researcher paid tribute to the excellent seaworthiness of this fishing vessel and noted its original design features: “The excellent qualities of the Ladoga soyma have been developed over centuries,” writes Ash. – We see that the midships of the ship is placed in the middle of the ship; However, the soyma, as a cargo ship, does not have permanent waterlines, and therefore no midsection, and even with a slight trim the midsection moves aft. This is an extremely wonderful feature. Without exception, all previous ships had a midsection ahead of the middle; only relatively recently did yacht architecture, and with it other branches of shipbuilding, realize how important it is to change the midsection closer to the stern than to the bow; The builders of the soyma, who lived several centuries ago, internalized and applied in practice a principle that we have only reached now. Thus, Russians can rightly be proud of their Ladoga soimas of purely Russian origin, especially since the lines themselves leave nothing to be desired. It's hard to imagine a more perfect line. And indeed, soymas on the move are very light and fast; their sea quality is excellent; Soymas maneuver perfectly, they are quite fast with oars... Fishing boats,” the researcher sums up, “are often distinguished by such excellent sea qualities that cannot even always be found on yachts.”

We were able to verify the validity of the last conclusion a year later, when our sailing soyma could not be caught up by a Dory-type yacht with a powerful engine.

During my research about the soyma, I sometimes came across rather controversial information, which, I think, will be interesting to readers. For example, that the soyma has been known in Pomerania since the 11th century, and that one of the soymas went all the way to America in 1834! The latest version was written by folklorist V. Pulkin. The researcher took this information from the Olonets collection of the late 19th century. “Not very long ago, one could still meet old people around the basin of Lake Onega, sailing the seas as sailors on Russian and foreign ships,” the collection reported, “and around 1834, one of the Onega peasants sailed on his own ship to America and back.” . As you can see, the original source does not name the type of vessel, so we will have to part with the version that the soyma saw the American coast for now...

However, there were also more reliable sources. For example, in 1804, the English traveler J. Atkinson sketched the soymas he saw. But where the traveler met them and where these drawings are now kept was not reported.

Later reports about soymas are also very interesting, especially when the author saw these marvelous boats “live”. Such information about the soims - only in this case the Ilmen ones - was left by local historian M. Barinov, who observed the soims in the late 1960s and even went to Lake Ilmen on them. “Soyma is not like any of the ships I know,” he writes. – At first glance, it refutes all the elementary laws of shipbuilding. Let's start with the fact that it has a bow trim. She has two short masts and the front one is fixed right near the stem, exactly in the place where on large ships there is a bow flagpole for the bow flag. The two masts, in any case, are located more than strangely. Moreover, both masts are tilted forward! I’m not talking about such details that are understandable only to specialists, such as the awkwardly placed centerboard well, etc. In a word, it’s not a ship, but a caricature, it doesn’t float, but tumbles.”

A. Zaitsev

Modeling small wooden ships is the favorite leisure activity of Alexander Zaitsev, an architect at the Spetsproektrestavratsiya Institute.
His first work - a model of the Algerian brigantine XVII Vienna - was published in our magazine No. 6 for 1971 and attracted the attention of many readers.
While serving on the Order of the Red Banner cruiser "Aurora", the young sailor, under the guidance of our country's most experienced modeller, the commander of the "Aurora", captain of the first rank Yu. I. Fedorov, built a model of the Russian frigate "Peter and Pavel". This work was awarded a certificate at the 1972 naval model competition.
As a result of five years of searching in the archives and libraries of Leningrad and Moscow, A. Zaitsev was able to recreate the exact appearance of one of the most original types of Russian lake vessel - the Novgorod soyma. The drawings of this vessel published in this issue allowed its author to make a model, which in 1979 at the 1st Moscow desktop model competition brought him first place in class C3. Speaking with this model at the First All-Union Competition in Leningrad in 1980, Alexander Zaitsev took second place. Now the modeler is finishing the reconstruction of the drawings of the Russian military tender "Falcon". It is enough to take a look at the map of Ancient Rus' to understand what a convenient geographical position Veliky Novgorod occupied at that time.
Its remoteness from the Baltic Sea made it less vulnerable to aggressive western neighbors - the Swedes and the Livonian Order, and impenetrable forests and swamps reliably protected the city from the Tatar cavalry, which devastated the plains of Eastern and Southern Rus' in the 13th-15th centuries.
At the same time, from Novgorod along rivers and lakes, through portages it was possible to get to the shores of the Baltic, White, Black and Caspian seas. This made the city one of the largest trading centers of medieval Europe: since ancient times, rivers were considered more convenient and safer than land roads for merchants and pioneers. In addition, horse-drawn carts could not compete with ships in terms of carrying capacity, and transportation by land was much more expensive.
One of the most important items of external and internal trade of the Novgorodians was fish, which was found in abundance in the rivers and Lake Ilmen. Novgorodians, stocking up for future use, dried it, dried it, smoked it or salted it. Such “canned food” served as the main food for Russian soldiers during campaigns. For residents of Novgorod, catching fish was much easier and faster than getting the same amount of food by hunting, and it was incomparably cheaper than corned beef from domestic animals.
Trade, fishing and the desire to expand their possessions are the main economic reasons that determined the development of shipbuilding in ancient Novgorod.
Huge forest reserves along the river banks determined the design features and construction technology of Novgorod ships, and the navigation area determined their proportions, optimal dimensions, contours and sailing weapons.
One of the most common types of ships in ancient Novgorod is considered to be the soyma. Its distinctive features are the embroidered body and the pins rolled back. The latter is due to the short, steep wave of shallow lakes. When setting the seines, the fishing boats had to be in close proximity to each other, and the stem, which was tilted back, eliminated the possibility of catching someone else’s side when one vessel collided with another.
The lightest boat of this type, up to 6 m long, was called a soyminka. The length of the hook soyma ranged from 7-8 m, and the length of the net - 9-10 m. Boats, the length of which reached 12 m, had a deck and a tank for live fish. They were called live fish, or salt soyma. However, if necessary, cages were built into any boat, for which two waterproof wooden bulkheads were installed, and holes were drilled in the sides between them for water circulation.
Fast on the move under sail, light on oars, tacking well and capable of sailing steeply into the wind, soymas were used by gangs of Novgorodians for trips to the White Sea for “fish teeth”. They crossed rapids rivers without the risk of breaking the keel (when swimming through the rapids, hitting the stones, the keel board of the boat springs). On the lakes, high stems ensured good penetration of the wave. Light soymas were easy to drag across watersheds.
The sailing rig of these ships is extremely simple. The mast was inserted through the hole in the can into the steps, constructions were applied to the legs of the sprints, the sail was stretched diagonally by the sprint, when it was filled with wind, the mast was securely held without shrouds. The sail was controlled using a sheet; when retracting the sail, the sprints were pulled to the mast by hand, both were wrapped in sail and tied with a sheet.
The reconstruction of the drawings of the soyma, made by me, dates back to the era of the late 17th century. This is exactly what the ships that Peter I was forced to use for combat in the first years of the Northern War looked like. One of the remarkable combat episodes of this war was the battle in 1702 at the mouth of the Voronezh River with a squadron of the Swedish admiral Numers of six ships that had weapons from 5 to 14 guns. Colonel Ostrovsky's 400 soldiers, planted on soymas and karbass, bravely repulsed the Swedes. In another operation of the Russian soyma under the command of Colonel Tyrtov, Numers, having lost several ships and 300 soldiers, retreated to Vyborg, leaving Lake Ladoga forever. The participation of the Soyma in the capture of Noteburg, Nyenskans, as well as in the Neva victory, when the Russians boarded the Swedish 10-gun galliot "Gedan" and the 8-gun shnyava "Astrild" is undeniable. Even after the appearance of large warships in Russia, soymas continued to be used for night raids, reconnaissance, and often for the daring capture of small Swedish warships.
Later, cargo soymas began to carry a bowsprit and a straight sail on the foremast, their carrying capacity reached 100 tons. Such ships were also built on the White Sea, but at the end of the 18th century they were replaced there by the more seaworthy shnyaks and yols. On Ladoga, soymas were still built in the old way, that is, they were sewn with screws until the beginning of the 20th century, and nails were used only for attaching the sheathing boards to the stems. Over the years, this method was replaced by a more technologically advanced and faster assembly using copper nails and rivets. Few people now know that in 1941-1944 the soims participated in supplying besieged Leningrad from the beginning of navigation until the autumn freeze-up, delivering ammunition and food and picking up the wounded and children on the way back.
And today, in the vast expanses of Ladoga and Onega, and even on the Neva, you will come across a strange snub-nosed boat - a monument to the nautical wisdom of the ancient Novgorodians.

HOW TO BUILD A SOYMA MODEL

The greatest effect in the manufacture of this model can be achieved if we use fine-grained “scale” wood, and the curved parts of the body are made of wood that has a natural curvature, similar to the outlines of the object being manufactured. Since real soyma were built from pine, the material for building the model can be coniferous species with a fine structure: larch, yew, thuja, etc.
Start construction with the keel, which is a flat board of elliptical cross-section 3 mm thick. Then cut out the stems and install them using glue and dowels so that the end of the keel is closed. Make frames No. 1 and No. 9 from the fork of two knots. Insert them into the sockets on the stems and secure them in a vertical position with dowels. The remaining frames are made of two parts, fastened with dowels. Install them on the keel and reinforce them with the same dowels. Start covering the boat from the keel to the shearstrake. First, trim the edge of the first, narrowest board adjacent to the keel, and cut the ends obliquely so that they fit into the tongue grooves of the stems. Press the board to the frames with clothespins or clamps. After this, drill blind holes in the board and stem and hammer in the dowels using glue. Then make the same hole in the board and frame and again hammer the dowel onto the glue. In exactly the same way, attach the board to all other frames up to the sternpost. Place the next board with its edge on the edge of the first, mark its position, drill blind holes and secure with dowels with glue. Boards that bend steeply must first be steamed.
Fasten the boat skin like this: drill a through hole in the edges of the boards superimposed on one another at a certain angle to the plane. Then the next one is indented by 3-3.5 mm, as if towards the previous one. The third hole is punched parallel to the first, the fourth - parallel to the second, and so on. On the side of the board where the distance between two adjacent holes is smaller, cut a groove from one hole to the other for laying the stitching material. Novgorodians used thin branches of bird cherry or juniper as viza, after steaming them in boiling water. Our model can be sewn with one strand of brown thread. Sewing should be done from the inside of the hull from bow to stern. The thread pulled into the hole is pulled and secured with two “matches” - thin round pegs, the protruding ends of which are then cut off.
Having sewn the hull, insert the semi-bulks, cut in the cans, steps of the main mast, make the spar, sails and parts that should be in the boat.
Pay attention to the fastening of the sprints to the masts. Their lines cover the mast with a tightening loop, which, under the weight of the sprints and sail, is tightened and does not slip. Tie the sheets into the lower corners of the sail using a clew knot, replace the masts, and hang the sprints. The toe and top corners of the sails must be tightly hinged to the toes of the sprints.
Tie the ropes to the eyelets of the anchor and grappling anchor with a fishing bayonet. Make the anchors, gaff, and ax blued - from low-carbon steel. Paint the hull of the soyma from the outside up to the shearstrake resin, the shearstrek white, cover the inside of the hull, steering wheel, tiller, all wooden parts, spar, oars, hook handle and ax handle with drying oil.
The relief on the model board can be made of foam plastic, papier-mâché, plasticine or clay with the addition of glue and painted with tempera or gouache. The modeler's imagination and artistic taste will be the best guide here.