Koch

The koch was a special type of small one or two mast wooden sailing ships designed and used in Russia for transpolar voyages in ice conditions of the Arctic seas, popular among the Pomors. The Russian Northern Koch had such a body shape that the ice did not squeeze it, but squeezed it to the surface. The ship was easily dragged across the ice by drag. The development of koch began in the 11th century, when the White Sea shores began to be settled. This type of ship was in wide use during the heyday of Russian polar navigation in the 15th and 16th centuries. There is documentary proof that in those days the private Russian civil fleet in the Arctic seas numbered up to 7,400 small ships in a single year. In the 17th century, kochs were widely used on Siberian rivers during the Russian exploration and conquest of Siberia and the Far East. In 1715, during the Great Northern War, the Russian Arctic shipbuilding and navigation were undermined by the ukase (decree) of Tsar Peter the Great. According to the ukase, only novomanerniye ("new-mannered") vessels could be built, that is the civil ships, which could also be used for military purposes. The koch with its special anti-icebound features did not suit this aim.

The model of the ship is molded of clay and painted with watercolors.