The Viking might busy himself either with war or trade, but whatever his occupation, living as he did in insular or peninsular lands, good ships and good seamanship were essential to his livelihood. Seamen now often abandoned that timid hugging of the coast, sailing only by day time and in fair weather, which characterised the old Phoenician traders, and boldly sailed across the uncharted main with no help save that of the sun and stars by which to steer their course. It was this boldness of spirit alone which enabled them to reach the lonely Faroes, the distant Shetlands and Orkneys, and the yet more remote Iceland. Irish monks and anchorites had shown similar fearlessness, but their bravery was often that of the fanatic and the mystic rather than the enterprise of the seaman. Boldness of seamanship led to boldness in exploration. From Iceland the Vikings sailed to Greenland, and by the year 1000 had discovered Vinland, the N.E. part of North America. Ottarr rounded the North Cape and sailed the White Sea in the 9th century, while Harold Hardrada in the 11th century made a voyage of Polar exploration.
Of their ships we know a good deal both from the sagas and from the remains of actual ships preserved to us. The custom of ship-burial, i.e. burial in a ship over which a grave chamber, covered with a how or mound, was erected, was common in the Viking age, and several such ships have been discovered. The two most famous are those of Gokstad and Oseberg, both found on the shores of Christiania Fjord. The Gokstad vessel is of oak, clinker-built, with seats for sixteen pairs of rowers, and is 28 ft. long and 16 ft. broad amidships. It dates from about 900, and in form and workmanship is not surpassed by modern vessels of a similar kind. There is a mast for a single sail, and the rudder, as always in those days, is on the starboard side. The gunwale was decorated with a series of shields painted alternately black and gold. The appearance of the vessel when fully equipped can perhaps best be judged from the pictures of Viking ships to be seen in the Bayeux tapestry. There we may note the parti-coloured sail with its variegated stripes, and the rich carving of stem and stern. These magnificent sails were a source of much pride to their possessors, and the story is told of Sigurd Jerusalem-farer that on his way home from Jerusalem to Constantinople he lay for half-a-month off Cape Malea, waiting for a side wind, so that his sails might be set lengthwise along the ship and so be better seen by those standing on shore as he sailed up to Constantinople. The stem often ended in a dragon's head done over with gold, whilst the stern was frequently shaped like a dragon's tail, so that the vessel itself was often called a dragon.
The Oseberg ship is of a different type. The gunwale is lower and the whole vessel is flatter and broader. It is used as the grave-chamber of a woman, and the whole appearance of the vessel, including its richly carved stem, indicates that it was used in calm waters for peaceful purposes.
The story of the escape of Hárek of Thjotta through Copenhagen Sound after the battle of Helgeäa in 1018 illustrates the difference between a trading-ship and a ship of war. Hárek struck sail and mast, took down the vane, stretched a grey tent-cloth over the ship's sides, and left only a few rowers fore and aft. The rest of the crew were bidden lie flat so that they might not be seen, with the result that the Danes mistook Hárek's war-galley for a trading-vessel laden with herrings or salt and let it pass unchallenged.
PLATE I
Viking ship from the Bayeux Tapestry
In the last years of the Viking period ships increased greatly both in size and number. Olaf Tryggvason's vessel, the Long Serpent, in which he fought his last fight at Svoldr, had thirty benches of oars, while Cnut the Great had one with sixty pairs of oars. This same king went with a fleet of some fourteen hundred vessels to the conquest of Norway.
In battle the weapons of defence were helmet, corselet and shield. The shields were of wood with a heavy iron boss in the centre. The corselets were made of iron rings, leather, or thick cloth. The weapons of offence were mainly sword, spear and battle-axe. The sword was of the two-edged type and usually had a shallow depression along the middle of the blade, known as the blood-channel. Above, the blade terminated in a narrow tang, bounded at either end by the hilts. Round the tang and between the hilts was the handle of wood, horn, or some similar material, often covered with leather, or occasionally with metal. Above the upper hilt was a knob, which gave the sword the necessary balance for a good steady blow. Generally the knob and the hilts were inlaid with silver, bronze, or copper-work. The battle-axe, the most characteristic of Viking weapons, was of the heavy broad-bladed type.
Next to warfare and trade, the chief occupation of the Viking was farming, while his chief amusement was the chase. At home the Viking leader lived the life of an active country gentleman. His favourite sport was hawking, and one of the legendary lives of St Edmund tells how Ragnarr Loðbrók himself was driven by stress of storm to land on the East Anglian coast, receiving a hospitable welcome from the king, but ultimately meeting death at the hands of the king's huntsman who was jealous of his prowess as a fowler.