Sailing ships

by E. Keble Chatterton

Fig. 27. Viking Ship-form Grave.

But it is the third kind of burial that tells us as much about the Viking ship as the Brigg discovery taught us about the primitive dug-out. For instead of sending them out to sea there was also the custom of dragging the huge ship ashore, and placing the distinguished seaman’s body in the bow, a sepulchral chamber (clearly shown in Fig. 28) of wood was erected above. Together with his horse, his dogs, his weapons and other belongings he was left to sleep in peace. Finally over the whole boat a huge mound was raised towering to a great height, and the proceedings were completed. Now, within recent years some of these mounds have been excavated with results of remarkable historic value. Ever since the beginning of the nineteenth century the Norwegians have taken a real interest in their national antiquities, and these ancient craft have been treated with the care and reverence to which they have every right. But besides Norway these ships have been found elsewhere. Even in England relics of a Viking ship 48 feet long, 9 feet 9 inches wide, and 4 feet high were found near Snape in Suffolk during the year 1862. Viking remains have also been discovered in the Orkneys. In 1875 an enormous specimen was found at Botley, a charming little place up the river Hamble which flows out into Southampton Water opposite Calshot. This was probably a Danish ship and a relic of one of her nation’s incursions against our shores. She has been thought to belong to the year A.D. 871 when the Danes invaded Wessex. At any rate she was in length 130 feet while her upright timbers measured 14 feet 10 inches. The caulking was found to be of ferns and moss and indeed the impression of the leaves of the former was still visibly outlined on the wood. The timber was oak as far as could be discerned, and bore evidences of having been burned. Nowadays there is not enough water at Botley to float such a ship, but at high tide, and allowing for the silting up of the river it would have been as snug a place as ever could be found along the south coast, after the Vikings were wearied with fighting and the buffeting of the waves.

Of the other Viking ships discovered we shall give to each for convenience the name of the district where she was found. The Nydam ship was discovered in October, 1863, in the Nydam Moss to the north-east of Flensburg in the Duchy of Schleswig. Nydam is in a dale and was once part of a bay of Als Sound, and in former times was navigable. Systematic diggings were undertaken at the expense of the Danish Government and afterwards the ship was placed in the hands of an expert restorer. She is as usual built of oak, her lines being very similar to the Scotch fishing boats that flourished on our coasts up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and resembling the boat well known as a whaler. The rudder was placed on the starboard about 10 feet from the stern and was about 9½ feet in length. She is sharp at both ends with high stem and stern posts; 77 feet long, as much as 10 feet 10 inches across her midships, she was clinker-built of eleven oak planks. The keel is an inch deep and eight inches thick, being broad at the middle but diminishing gradually toward the sternpost. The planks were fastened with large iron nails and caulked, as was the custom, with some woollen stuff and pitch. She had twenty-eight oars, was flat-bottomed, and her date has been estimated as about the middle of the third century of our era. I admit she is not entitled to be called a sailing ship, but as she will be found to belong so closely to the sailing class we cannot afford to neglect her. With her was also found another similar ship but of fir and armed with a ram low down at each end. Remains of another boat were also discovered with her as well as bronze brooches, silver clasps, wooden boxes, bone combs, many shield boards or pavisses (also seen in the Gogstad ship, Fig. 28), 106 iron swords, spear shafts and heads, 36 wooden bows, iron bits still in the mouths of the skeleton horse-heads, pots, bowls, knives, axes, clubs, and thirty-four Roman coins, belonging to dates between 69 and 217 A.D.[42] These composed the personal property, already alluded to, that was always buried with the Viking. Professor Stephens (see note) was of the opinion that one or more of these three boats had been scuttled and sunk in order to avoid capture by the enemy, and goes on to refer to the fact that in the twelfth century the Wends and Slavs employed the same means when pursued. Their tactics included dragging the ship ashore, scuttling her and then decamping and seeking shelter.

The Tune ship was found in Norway, near the town of Frederikstad in the year 1865. She is of especial interest to us as being the first specimen of a sailing craft that we have from the North. She was found under the funeral mound that had been raised over her, and measured 45½ feet long; her width is supposed to have been 14½ feet, for not the whole of the hull was rescued. Her height from keel to bulwark has been estimated as about four feet. Clinker-built of oak, there were found just abaft the mast the unburnt bones of a man and his horse. From internal evidence this ship has been thought to belong to the Iron Age, and is obviously a Viking ship.

About the year 1873 the Brosen ship was found near Danzig. She was 57 feet long, 16 feet wide, 5 feet high and pointed at both ends. Her planking was 1½ inches thick of oak and clinker-built. The caulking consisted of the hair of elk, bear, or some other wild animal, with an application of tar. The bottom was flat. In 1890 the Gloppen ship was found during excavations of a mound on the fjord of that name near to Bergen. I understand that the remains are preserved in the Bergen museum.

But far surpassing any of these we have already mentioned is the great Gogstad ship discovered in the year 1880 near to Sandefjord. The mound in which she lay was 18 feet above sea-level, and the prow was placed looking seaward, as if ready for a voyage again. The condition in which this fine old ship was found is nothing short of marvellous, and is attributable to the fact that the blue clay in which she was embedded had preserved her from the air. The upper part has unfortunately been damaged, owing (thinks Du Chaillu) to the clay being mixed with sand, and so allowing the air to penetrate. She is clinker-built, entirely of oak, and caulked with cow’s hair spun into a sort of cord. Her planking is of oak, 1¾ inches thick, and her length over all is 79 feet 4 inches, beam 16½ feet, and depth 6 feet amidships, but 8½ feet at the extremities. She weighs about twenty tons, displacing about 959 cubic feet. Her gunwale above water is amidships 2 feet 11 inches, while at bow and stern it rises to 6½ feet. Her draught is only 3 feet 7 inches. In many respects she resembles the Tune ship, but this is indeed a sailing vessel. There is a step for the mast, and thirty-two oars were carried—sixteen on either side—the oar-holes being provided with shutters so as to keep out the sea. Through the courtesy of the British Consul at Christiania I am enabled here to show two excellent photographs of the ship as she now lies in the keeping of the Royal Frederiks University, Christiania. Professor Gabriel Gustafson has been instrumental in preserving the ship from further decay, and the reader who desires a complete description of the Gogstad ship is referred to the latter’s publications concerning her. It is quite evident from her construction that her builders possessed the greatest experience and that her designer, whoever he may have been, thoroughly “understood the art, which was subsequently lost, to be revived in modern times, of shaping the underwater portion of the hull so as to reduce the resistance to the passage of the vessel through the water.”[43] It is the opinion of experts in naval architecture that for model and workmanship this vessel is a masterpiece, nor for beauty of lines and symmetrical proportions could she be surpassed to-day by any man connected with the art of designing or building ships.

As rebutting the statement of those who would limit the possibilities of these early ships to short voyages, it may not be out of place to mention that at the end of the nineteenth century an exact replica of this Gogstad ship was built, and sailed across the Atlantic on her own bottom. She proved to be a capital sea-boat and was for some time a source of great attraction at the Chicago exhibition. From the various articles of antiquarian interest that were found in the Gogstad ship, as well as from the style of carving with which the vessel was decorated, she has been given the date of somewhere between the years 700 and 1000 A.D. According to the Sagas such a ship as this would carry two or more boats propelled by from two to twelve oars. It is therefore interesting to remember that fragments of three were found within this mother ship.

Photo. O. Voering, Christiania.

Fig. 28 shows the bakbordi or port side looking forward from the stern. The dark triangular erection towards the bows is the sepulchral chamber in which the old sea-chief was laid. The unfortunate break in the ship’s side below was evidently the work of thieves bent on stealing some of the articles of value while the ship was under the mound. The wooden shields, or pavisado to protect the oarsmen from the enemy, are much in evidence, and the beautiful lines of her stern cannot fail to be admired. She has a somewhat flat floor amidships for greater stability, but the general sweep of her lines is exquisite. Fig. 29 is even more interesting still as showing the stjornbordi or starboard side looking forward. The height of the stern, and the planking, are here clearly discerned: but especially claiming our attention is the rudder. Here it is now a fixture, having developed like the Mediterranean ships from a loose oar at the side. It remained as we see it here until the beginning of the fourteenth century. In this Gogstad ship the rudder is fixed to a projection of solid wood, on which it is pivoted. Into the neck of the rudder a tiller was fitted, which we shall see quite clearly in the illustration of the seal of Winchelsea in the following chapter. Even nowadays, while in the modern Scandinavian ships the rudder is at the end and not at the side of the ship, the steering helm comes round at the side so as to avoid the high sternpost. Figs. 30 and 31, which have been sketched from modern Norwegian and Russian ships, will show not merely how wonderfully has this Viking type prevailed up till to-day, but how the tiller also has altered only very slightly. From the stern of the Gogstad ship will be noticed the rope for pulling up the rudder clear of the water-line (as in St Paul’s ship) so as to avoid damage when beaching. The steering side was of course always the starboard, whence this word originates. On this side the reader will notice the oar-holes mentioned above. The class to which this Gogstad ship belongs is that of the skuta, which was extensively used in Norway. Such craft as these, though they were not the biggest of the Viking ships, were nevertheless of great speed. The actual word skuta indicates “to shoot,” in the sense of passing speedily. No doubt the familiar Dutch craft schuyt is, at least in name, derived from this.