A belyana () is a type of large disposable ship that was used for timber rafting along the rivers Volga and Kama from the end of the 16th century until the middle of the 20th century. Belyanas were among the largest wooden ships ever built, with the largest ones being up to long with a load capacity up to 12,800 tons.
Belyanas were built in the Upper Volga region of Russia without any special tools or plans. Never motorized, after 1870 they also had no sails and could only float downriver, using specialized anchors to turn and stop. Each year in the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of belyanas were built and floated to Astrakhan, where they were entirely dismantled and the wood sold. With the development of railroads in the Soviet Union, belyanas became too complex and too expensive; the last belyana was built in 1939.
In 2015 tourists found the remains of a wooden ship in the Vetluga river; archaeologists determined that it was an 80-meter-long belyana that caught fire some 350 years ago and was abandoned by its crew. It is the only known finding of such a vessel.
History
Belyanas were built since the 16th–17th centuries at the places of timber extraction in the Upper Volga region and on the Kama, and were designed for a single trip downstream. The main cargo was timber, in some cases bark fibre, mats, and other similar goods. The length of the hull was up to 120 meters, the width 25 meters, the height 5 meters, the load capacity up to 12,800 tons. The hull was not tarred, which determined the name of such a ship, , derived from the Russian word , "white", as opposed to tarred ships, which were black. The cargo could be placed in the hull and in the superstructure with gradual expansion to the sides (up to 2.5–3 meters). There was no upper deck. Dense stacking of the loaded timber was used to achieve an acceptable structural strength of the ship. Two or three holes for anchors and probes were made directly above the laid cargo, and cabins were also erected, where the crew lived during the floating. The vessel traveled 2000 to 3500 km during the trip.
Small belyanas had a draught of 2.5 to 2.8 meters and could carry up to 1600 tonnes; medium belyanas had a draught of approximately 3.5 m and could carry 3200 tonnes; the large ones had a draught of 5 m and could carry between 7200 and 12,800 tonnes.
Logging and sailing on the river were carried out in the absence of any mechanization. Workers went to cut wood in groups, bringing food from home. For three to four months they lived in the forest without returning home, contenting themselves with a meager and monotonous diet and sleeping in small winter huts that did not heat well. On the banks of the Usta and Vetluga, the bark was peeled from the logs, and then the belyana was built and loaded.
Some of the smaller vessels were assembled and disassembled twice in one season. These were the ones that went to places where the Volga is close to the Don river. The ship docked at the shore, all the cargo was transported by horse- or ox-drawn carriage to the Don. The vessel was then disassembled, the material was transported, reassembled, reloaded and released to the lower reaches of the Don, where it was unloaded and dismantled a second time.
In 1884 there were 120 belyanas on the Volga, and in 1885 152 were built.
Construction and equipment
About 240 pine and 200 spruce logs were needed to build a medium-sized belyana. The flat bottom was made of spruce and the walls were made of pine. The distance between the frames was not more than half a meter, due to which the strength of the hull was extremely high. The vessels were originally built without a single nail and only later, in the 19th century, did iron nails begin to be used. No tarring was performed, and the logs were simply tied tightly together.
The load of logs, beams and planks was distributed in even rows with wide openings between them so as to provide quick access to its bottom in the event of a breach or other accident. In addition, properly laid logs dry faster, which protects them from rot. In order to withstand the pressure of the water from the outside, the internal load did not touch the boards, and wedges were driven between it and the boards.
As soon as the load began to exceed the height of the board, the next logs were laid so that they protruded outwards and a new load was placed on them. Such protrusions were made bilaterally and very carefully so as not to disturb the balance of the ship. The resulting widenings sometimes protruded beyond the board by four or more meters—the total width of the vessel at the top could be much larger than the bottom.