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Used in Lithuania and west Russia. Fishing boat that employed a beam trawl (the kurn or Kurre) and was used on the Kurski Zaliv, a lagoon shared by Lithuania and the western enclave of Russia.
Clinker-planked of oak with a flat pine bottom, no keel, nearly vertical sides; angular bilges; strong sheer forward. Sharp, slightly curved ends; internal stem and sternpost.
Open, cuddy forward; may have house abaft the mast.
Hatchet shaped outboard rudder; curved tiller.
Mainmast stepped in forward third. Set a tall narrow spritsail; reef point at upper edge. Jib tacked to stemhead. A tiny foremast just forward of the mainmast also sprit-rigged; overlapped by the jib.
Sometimes a boomed-out jigger sail was hung from the top of the sprit and tacked to the clew.
Elaborated pennant atop the mainmast.
Reported lengths 8 – 12m. e.g. length 8m, beam 2.5m, depth 0.6m. Shallow draft.

Source: From Aak to Zumbra, a Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.

The Lithuania post gives by the stamp.

The Kurenas fishing boat (16-17th century) is flat-bottomed, usually made of oaken planks, well suited to sailing on the shallow Kursiu ilanka (Kursiu Bay) and coastal waters of the Baltic.
The kurenas, about 10m. in length, was used for fishing, shipping of small freights and other purposes.
The type of the ship is believed to have been developed after north central European, particularly Dutch examples.
Some kurenas-type fishing boats have survived until today.

Lithuania 1997 50c sg645, scott? 2023 1.40 Euro sg?, Scott?

Kurenas (Fishing Boat) 16th-17th Century

The Kurenas Fishing Boat (16-17th century) is flatbottomed sailboat, usually made of oaken planks, well suited to sailing on the shallow Kursiu ilanka (Kursiu Bay) and coastal waters of the Baltic. Flat-bottomed boats, whose draught and shape were the most suitable for sailing conditions, prevailed in the Curonian Lagoon.

Kurenas was eight to ten meters in length and 3 meters in width. It is made for four or five fishermen and was used for fishing, shipping of small freight and other purposes. This types of boats were used until 1956. Now there are only three Kurenas boat that sail on the Curonian Lagoon.

Until the end of World War II in the Curonian lagoon, only sailing boats were used for fishing with drag-nets. For many men fishing then was the sole source of supporting a family. So there’s nothing incredible about the fact that the traditional Lagoon’s fishing boat “kurėnas” was valued highly. Its worth was the same as the house. Not for nothing was the kurėnas called the fisherman’s house. Every farmstead had at least one such boat.

After World War II, the post-war political conditions brought changes in the composition of the population of the lagoon region, too. Local fishermen fled to other countries, while the newcomers did not need the sailing boats that had remained in the lagoon. In Nida only, kurėnas boats were still used for fishing till the end of the 6th decade. When motor fishing boats became widely used, the old sailing boats disappeared from the Curonian lagoon. Sailboats became unnecessary and were left to decay.

A flat bottomed sailing boat with mast. Kurenas NID.1 restored and launched in 1989. In 1990 a three-week voyage on the old kurenas was made around the Curonian Lagoon. It sailed till 2001 and now it is displayed on the Lithuanian Sea Museum grounds together with other old fishing vessels to preserve the maritime heritage. The boat is launched into water every spring . She sails in the Curonian Lagoon every summer and takes part in town festivals.

Estonia 1997, S.G.?, Scott: 323c.

Source: http://www.baltic-maritime-museums.eu/object/65.html

Source: http://www.travel-lithuania.com/pages/K ... an_vassels