Fig. 916.—Bautastone. Harestad, Upland, Sweden. Ship with
crow’s nest.
“He (Hakon) had two east-journey Knerrir, which lay outside his ships. On them, and also in the prows of both, were húnkastalis” (c. 5, Hakon Herdibreid).
“They (Hakon’s men) prepare themselves for pouring down stones and shots from the hunkastalis on board the trading-ships” (c. 9, Hakon Herdibreid).
The different parts of a ship were the lypting[[130]] an elevated place, where the commander stood and steered, and from which he could survey the whole scene of battle; stafn (prow); rausn (forecastle); fyrir-rum (foreroom), so called, probably, on account of its being before the mast; and krapparum, the third room from the stern.
The place in which the weapons were kept was called the hasœtis-kista, or high-seat chest.
“The King went down into the foreroom, opened the hasœtis-kista, and took out many sharp swords, which he gave to the men” (Olaf Tryggvason, c. 117).
“In the foreroom were also sleeping-places. The men in this and the stafnbuar were called fyrir-rumsmenn. Those before the mast were all called frambyggjar (bow-sitters)” (Harald Fairhair, c. 11).
The ship was highest forward and aft, and was pointed at both ends.
