The shnyaka (or shneka) is an ancient type of galley flat-bottomed vessel. She looks like a Viking boat drakkar but is much smaller in size. Probably the name itself was adopted by northern Pomors from Old Norwegian language and stayed in daily use until early 20th century.
Vikings made raids in shnyakas but Pomors used them as fishing boats for catching cod. Shnyakas were built from fir or pine. Lower part of shnyaka – bottom – was made of wood steamed over the fire and chiseled out.

The shnyaka usually had one mast about six meters high with four-sided sail. Additional mizzen mast with gaff-sail was installed now and then. It was easily erected and dismantled not to interfere with rowing and fishing. The speed of the boat was not high, about 4 to 5 kilometers per hour. Her length reached twelve meters and breadth – two and a half meters. 

The boat was not so well suited for fishing business, her seaworthiness and stability were not sufficient for going too far off the cost. A strong wind could easily topple the boat.

Shnyakas were popular among Pomors of modest means. Due to their poverty, they could not afford iron nails, and planking was fixed to the hull in an old-fashioned way by stitching it with tarred vitsa: long fir root or young shoots of birch tree, osier or hazel wood twisted to make it stronger. In treeless areas, oakum thread was applied. To avoid leaking, small wedges were hammered in the holes for vitsa. The hull of shnyakas was caulked with white moss -.sphagnum.

When fishermen were on high seas, all their day-to-day routine was on board the boat, as approach to the shore required difficult maneuvering. The boat had no deck and in bad weather the crew took shelter in the fore or after parts of the vessel and slept there as well. In the night, they lied at drag anchor. Food was cooked right in the boat on fire made on a bed of stones and sand. A stock of wood and birchbark for fire was carried aboard.

Portrayer of Pomor life Konstantin Sluchevsky wrote in his Sketches on the Northwest of Russia that the Pomor shyaka’s crew consisted of “a helmsman; tiaglets who is mainly in charge of casting fishing gear and pulling it out; veselshchik (oarsman) helping everyone else when free of his direct duty; and, finally, nazhivochnik, a youngster in charge of baiting”. All crew members together were called “podruchniks”. They were not paid a salary for their job; a part of the catch was given to them instead.