Engineering:Pausik

The Pauzoks at Lena River in 1881
Class overview
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cargo ship
Tonnage:	120 tonnes (130 short tons)
Length:	24 m (79 ft)
Notes:	a river flat-bottomed sail-rowing vessel

Pauzok (Russian: Паузок) is a flat-bottomed single-sticker boat and is built for travelling the rivers of Russia .

Aside from its flat bottom, another prominent feature of that is its lack of deck. The boat has a mast with a direct sail and is steered by oars. The single mast usually measures 24 metres (79 ft) in length.

There is also a large space reserved for cargo (see image). It has a load-carrying capacity of 120 tonnes (130 short tons). Usually, pauzoks accompany big vessels because they are useful for cargo transportation in shoals. These boats are mainly built in the northern regions of Russia, particularly Volga, Lena River, and in other places.

Pauzoks are also used to deliver cargo to the coast or in carrying cargo in sections where the river bed has a relatively steep slope. This boat is stable and can independently navigate the rapids. There were cases when pauzoks broke in the coast. If the boat encounters this difficulty, the crew often uses a long, thick, and wide board which in Siberia is called Opleukha (Russian: оплеуха Translated: slap in the face). This is the part that the oarsmen use as a lever to move the vessel towards a current. A small dam is formed, and small rising of water raises the pauzok and it can be pushed off from a bank on a deep-water place.

Facts

Delivery of cargoes to Lensky polar station were made on the Lena River with active use of pauzoks.