Snik (Snik)

[Anatol]

Ship type. A small steel or wooden boat with a nearly straight, strongly sloping stem and little sheer, and a rounded stern. Also called a Snikke or Snick.
Vessels called Sniks have existed since the 14th century. I know little about these older types. Nowadays, a Snik refers to the Snik as we know it from the 19th century.
Examples include the Frisian Snik (including the Potato Snik, the Small Snik, and the Veer Snik), the Groningen Snik, and the Hollandse or Warmond Snik.
See also "From Snik Boy to Pusher" by Jan Sepp and text and images on Vaartips.
The term Snik seems to have fallen into disuse between the 16th and 19th centuries. Names like the Kaag and Snebbeschuit were more common during that period. The exact differences between all these types or names are sometimes unclear. For centuries, the Snik was used as a tow barge, and the two words have almost become synonymous. However, there were also many sniks that were sailing ships.
Related terms: aardappelsnik, tow barge, Snikkeschuit, Snikkeschip, tow barge, shooting barge, and hull barge.
Ship type. During the nineteenth century, a type of barge similar to the snik emerged among towboats, with a slightly curved stem beam, a somewhat rounded bow, and a rounded but peaked stern. This type originated in the designs of Van Loon. The first examples appear to have been built in Friesland, but later they seem to be found only in Groningen. In steel examples of this vessel, the stem beam is sometimes completely absent.
Ir. E. van Konijnenburg characterizes a similar vessel as a "Trekschuit" (tow barge), Vaartips as a Groninger Snik (groninger barge), the Fries Scheepvaartmuseum (Frisian Maritime Museum) refers to it as a Groninger Jaagsnik (tow barge), G.J. Schutten as a Frisian tow barge, and still others speak of a Frisian Snik (fried barge).
Some claim that this unusual bow stem arose from a ban in the city of Groningen on the use of ships with long, strongly projecting stems, the so-called Snebbeschuiten (see further there). However, it is unlikely that this ban from 1621, which according to GJ Schutten did not apply to ferry boats, had any influence on the type of ship in the 19th century.
Nederland 2025; 1,0.
Source: https://www.debinnenvaart.nl/binnenvaar ... d=sma#snik.