page_title: Arka Noego
section_title: Battle at Hel, May 17, 1627
hierarchical_section_title: Arka Noego / Battle at Hel, May 17, 1627
context_page_description: Arka Noego was a war pinnace in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy that played an important role in two naval battles of the Polish–Swedish War. Small, fast and lightly armed when compared to the impressive man-of-war galleons of the Swedish Navy, excellent leadership, a fine crew and aggressive marines combined to bring the Arka Noego into parity with her larger opponents. Major roles in two impressive victories followed in the fall of 1627.
context_section_description: The Arka Noego (“Noah's Ark”) was a 16-gun war pinnace that was built for the Polish Navy in 1625.  Her Master was Magnus Wesman and her home port was Gdańsk, in the Polish–Lithuanian Complex. She saw significant action on more than one occasion.
  On May 17, 1627, with the galleons Król Dawid and Wodnik (King David and Aquarius), the Arka Noego engaged a squadron of the Swedish Navy in the vicinity of Hel, Poland.  The two forces separated after a brief exchange of cannon fire. The next day, the Arka Noego was attacked by elements of a 24-ship Swedish Leba convoy. After a brief exchange of cannon fire, the much larger Swedish convoy broke through and sailed to Kołobrzeg. During the fight, one cannon on the Arka Noego blew up but caused little damage. After a few days, the Polish ships returned to the Wisłoujście squad after running the Swedish blockage of Gdańsk Bay.
  The Arka Nuevo was captured by the Swedish Navy, sometime in 1635 and her fate thereafter is unknown.
caption: Gdańsk coin, 1589
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