This exhibit is a fragment of a Pomor boat hull with a place for a row lock. It comes from the village of Unezhma in the Onega Uyezd, Arkhangelsk Governorate. While Pomor vessels of other types — lodyi, kochi, and shnyaki — have not survived to our days, karbass boats continued to be “sewn” in some northern villages even in the 21st century.

For the first time, “sewn karbasses” were mentioned in the 1591 “Customs Charter” of the Solovki Monastery, but this does not mean they had not been built before that. The technology of “sewn boats” has been known in Russia since ancient times. Hull boards were sewn together using threads made of roots of conifer trees, the twisted trunks of young birches, willows, or bird cherries, and animal tendons. The seams were sealed with caulk and tar.

For centuries, “boards chopped with an ax” were used, as they were referred to in ancient documents. Logs were cut along the trunk using wedges, and then processed with an ax. The introduction of saws and the mechanized sawing of logs in the Russian North dates back to the late 18th century. However, sawn boards were not used by shipbuilders until the 1820s.

There is no evidence of drawings of karbasses or other Pomor vessels. The craft of shipbuilding was passed down through generations. Each craftsman had their own set of measuring poles with notches. If necessary, they would make sketches on sand. Although some vessels shared the same name, they could vary greatly in design. From the Pomor region, karbasses came to Eastern Siberia where they acquired new distinctive features.

Karbasses differed in both their area of navigation and purpose. Fishing, traveling, postal, cargo, customs, and pilot vessels are known. Pilgrims were transported on karbasses to the Solovki Monastery from Kholmogory and then from Arkhangelsk. Up to 45 people could be accommodated on such passenger vessels, with 5 crew members. During the reign of Peter the Great, karbasses were used as auxiliary vessels during military operations in the Baltic Sea.

A lively karbass had sufficient stability, so it did not take in much water. A typical karbass had a sharp stern, although there was also a square, transom keel line (on smaller boats, there could also be a curved keel). The value of a karbass was usually determined by the number of pairs of oars (there were special names for vessels with three, four, five, and six pairs of oars), or by the number of boards in the hull lining.