Let’s begin with a document from the State Archive in Bucharest, Romania and dated :10th
of July 1845.
" To His Honour Great Cavalier and Chief of the Romanian Army, Constantin
Ghica,
Report:
Today, at exactly 12 o’clock European Time, three ships have arrived at the point of
Virciorova, of Titel. These are called Csaics (shaiks). The first one has four guns and
the other two, only one. There is also a commander and 51 crewmen which,
according to the orders received from your Excellency, have anchored them and are
waiting for further orders.
Signed : Commander Petrescu"
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Petrescu, who was to become the chief of the regional Danubian Fleet and then the
commander of the United Provinces of Romania, was reporting unofficially about the very
beginnings of the Romanian Navy. These three ships were destined to replace the armed
boats that were guarding the Romanian side of the Danube.
As a consequence of the Adrianopol Treaty of 1829, the two provinces of Romania,
Muntenia and Moldova, were given the right of free trade. These 3 ships were to insure the
commercial traffic’s security and were the starting point in the creation of a national Navy.
Article 184 from the Navy Manual of 1833 states:
"The guard duty on the Danube Banks was to be, initially, carried out by 18 armed
csaiks under the command of one officer and having 8 oar-men each boat."
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As a consequence of these decisions, 12 csaiks were constructed in local ship yards, but
because of constant development of Danubian traffic, these csaiks quickly became
obsolete.
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A new step was made with the addition of three gun boats (one half csaik with four guns
and two quarter csaik with a single swivel gun)in 1845. The boats were built in the Titel
Shipyard near the Tisa river, using Austrian plans and the cost was 63,000.00 lei
(Romanian Currency) in gold. These ships were housed at the three naval bases of Braila,
Calafat and Giurgiu. The purpose of these ships was to guard and protect all the shipping
on the Romanian section of the Danube.
A very important fact, for the time, was that the three ships were displaying the Romanian
flag with its red, yellow and blue colours, the symbol of the Romanian country in the middle
and the 15 stars.
Fortunately, both the records and the complete set of plans were well preserved and can
be found in the National Romanian Archives in Bucharest. From an architectural point of
view, these vessels are typical for the Lower Danube and all tough their appearance is
somewhat archaic even for 1845, their history proved that were successful ships. With
regards to the type and the weapons they had onboard, these gun-boats were introduced
as novelty in the Boulogne fleet built by Napoleon to be used for the invasion of England.
Due to the lug type of rigging, these boats could venture even on the open sea.
Technical specifications:
Length: 47 Fusz ( 1Austrian fuss = 12 zolls = 1.037 Imperial foot)
Beam: 12 Fusz
Draft: 18 zolls
Rigging: Two masts with two lug sails
Oars: 18
Armament: 4 bronze swivel guns
Crew: 20
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