Replica Kozak vessel and crew duplicate historic journey of forefathers

by Danylo Kulyniak
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The journey of Thor Heyerdahl raised the point that perhaps modern man - in becoming used to the comforts of modern civilization - was losing something priceless in return, including the rich knowledge and the skills of his forfathers.

Ukrainian history, including the experience of the Kozak republic of the Zaporozhian Host, offers a breadth of possibilities with which to put this notion to a test, and an interdepartmental laboratory for historical research of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine decided to do as much when it organized a project to build a historic Kozak seafaring vessel and to sail it along one of the traditional Kozak routes from the Dnipro to the Kuban region through the Black Sea.

The international scientific and research expedition, dubbed "Bohun," was organized in conjunction with the 210th anniversary of the resettlement of the Zaporozhian Kozaks to the Kuban after the destruction of the Zaporozhian Host by Russian Empress Catherine.

The flagship, Bohun, a 20-meter, eight-ton Kozak vessel with sails and oars, and a sister ship took more than three months to construct - although the Kozaks did it regularly in 15 days.

The effort, however, came only after the project leaders had overcome even greater difficulties in determining what to build because research in Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, St. Petersburg and Warsaw turned up no design drawings. Then, archeologist Vasyl Nefiedov raised a Kozak ship called a "chaika" from the Dnipro near Khortytsia, the home of the Zaporozhian Host, just as the researchers were having no luck finding blueprints. As a result, they had a model. While the first Kozak vessel was built in Ochakiv, near Odesa, a second one, a 12-meter vessel, was constructed in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.

More than 50 people in all - historians, businessmen, computer programmers and doctors from all parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and other countries as well - have contributed to the project. The youngest member of the team is a 16-year-old who is preparing to enter the Kherson Sailing Institute, while the oldest participant is 63 years old.

The head of the expedition and the director of the interdepartmental laboratory of historical research is Capt. Serhii Voronov. Previously Mr. Voronov had built an ancient Kyivan Rus' vessel he named the Grand Duchess Olha, which he sailed along a route "from the Vikings to the Greeks."

The two Kozak ships finally set sail on July 20, when a crew of 21 modern-day Kozak sailors cast off from the docks of Kyiv, heading down the Dnipro River for the Russian Black Sea coast and the historic Ukrainian Kuban region. Because there was no wind, however, the crew started the voyage rowing rather than sailing towards its first stop in Kherson, at the mouth of the Dnipro River, where they are to meet up with a Kozak chaika. The exotic-looking flotilla will then make its way around Crimea towards the Kuban, where it is scheduled to arrive on August 24, Ukrainian Independence Day.

The crew will be forced to live a life of deprivation, filled with sweat and discomfort. Along the way they will eat 17th century Kozak fare prepared by doctoral candidate Oleksander Kostenko, an expert on the Ukrainian cooking of the Middle Ages, who will prepare "Mudryi Borsch" (Wise Borsch), "Zaporozhian Hare with Spirit" and "Dnipro Fish Chowder." They will drink home-brewed beer and strong wine.

Arguments, bickering, teasing and poor temperament will not be tolerated. According to Kozak lore, they cause storms on the open sea.

However, the adventurers decided to tempt fate a bit and lifted the ban on women on board. They will allow noted Ukrainian actress and weather reporter Ruslana Pysenka, who recently played a witch in the Polish epic film, "With Fire, and Sword," to sail with them for a time.

On the shores of the Kuban the crew will take part in a research project examining the remains of the sunken flagship of the Black Sea Kozak flotilla of Hetman Anton Holovaty, which went down off the Kuban's Black Sea coast in 1788. Hetman Holovatyi led the move of the Kozaks to the Kuban region at the end of the 18th century.

On Ukrainian Independence Day various traditional Kozak festivities are planned, including an official "viche," or ceremonial meeting.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 4, 2002, No. 31, Vol. LXX

| Home Page |