NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Longship

Longships were ships primarily used by the Scandinavian Vikings and the Saxon people to raid coastal and inland settlements during the European Middle Ages. The vessels were also used for long distance trade and commerce, and for exploratory voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and beyond. Longship design evolved over several centuries and was fully developed by about the 9th century. The character and appearance of these ships have been reflected in Scandinavian boat-building traditions until today. A Viking ship tackling the wind - (photo Uwe Kils) File links The following pages link to this file: Longship Categories: GFDL images ... A Viking ship tackling the wind - (photo Uwe Kils) File links The following pages link to this file: Longship Categories: GFDL images ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Guests from Overseas, 1899 (Varangians in Russia) Longships Are Built in the Land of the Slavs (1903) Nicholas Roerich, (October 9, 1874 - December 13, 1947) also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Russian: ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°Ð¹ ÐšÐ¾Ð½ÑÑ‚Ð°Ð½Ñ‚Ð¸Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð Ñ‘Ñ€Ð¸Ñ…), was a Russian painter and spiritual teacher. ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... Look up Saxon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The longship was characterized as a graceful, long, narrow, light wooden boat with a shallow draft hull designed for speed. The ship's shallow draft allowed navigation in waters only one meter deep and permitted beach landings, while its light weight enabled it to be carried over portages. Longships were also double-ended, the symmetrical bow and stern allowing the ship to reverse direction quickly, without having to turn around. Longships were fitted with oars along almost the entire length of the boat itself. Later versions sported a rectangular sail on a single mast which was used to replace or augment the effort of the rowers, particularly during long journeys.

Longships were the epitome of Scandinavian naval power at the time, and were highly valued possessions. They were often owned by coastal farmers and commissioned by the king in times of conflict, in order to build a powerful naval force. While longships were used by the Norse in warfare, they were troop transports, not warships. In the tenth century, these boats would sometimes be tied together in battle to form a steady platform for infantry warfare.They were called dragonships by enemies such as the English. The Norse had a strong sense of naval architecture, and during the 8th–11th centuries, they were advanced for their time, compared to other European nations.

Types of Longships

Longships can be classified into a number of different types, depending on size, construction details, and prestige.

Snekke (snekkja)

The snekke was the smallest vessel that would still be considered a longship. A typical snekke might have a length of 17 m, a width of 2.5 m, and a draught of only 0.5 m. It would carry a crew of minimum 25 men (12 pair of oarsman and one cox). MorÄ…g (IPA: ; German Mohrungen) is a town in north-eastern Poland in the voivodship of Warmia-Masuria, formerly part of East Prussia. ...

Snekkes were one of the most common types of ship. According to Viking lore, Canute the Great used 1400 in Norway in 1028, and William the Conqueror used about 600 for the invasion of Britain in 1066. Canute the Great, or Canute I, also known as Cnut in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (Old Norse: KnÃºtr inn rÃki, Norwegian: Knut den mektige, Swedish: Knut den Store, Danish: Knud den Store) (died November 12, 1035) was a Viking king of England and Denmark, and Norway, and of... William I ( 1027 â€“ September 9, 1087), was King of England from 1066 to 1087. ...

The Norwegian snekkes, designed for deep fjords and Atlantic weather, typically had more draft than the Danish model designed for low coasts and beaches. Snekkes were so light that they had no need of ports – they could simply be beached, and potentially even carried across a portage.

The snekke continued to evolve after the end of the Viking age, with later Norwegian examples becoming larger and heavier than Viking age ships.

Dragon ships

Dragon ships are known from historical sources, such as the 13th century Göngu-Hrólfs Saga (the Saga of Rollo). Here, the ships are described as elegant and ornately decorated, and used by those who went í Viking (raiding and plundering). According to the historical sources the ships' prows carried carvings of menacing beasts, such as dragons and snakes, allegedly to protect the ship and crew, and to ward off the terrible sea monsters of Norse mythology. It is however likely that the carvings, like those on the Oseberg ship, might have had a ritual purpose, or that the purported effect was to frighten enemies and townspeople. No true dragon ship, as defined by the sagas, has been found by archaeological excavation. Therefore, their existence is only supported by the historical sources. Rollo has multiple meanings. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ...

Roskilde ships

See article Skuldelev ships The Skuldelev ships is a term used for 5 Viking ships recovered from Peberrenden by Skuldelev, c. ...

The largest longships so far found, were discovered by Danish archaeologists in Roskilde during development in the harbour-area in 1962 and 1996/7. The ship discovered in 1962, Skuldelev 2 is an oak-built vessel possibly of the skeid type. It was built in the Dublin area around 1042. Skuldelev 2 could carry a crew of some 70-80 and measures just under 100 feet (30 m) in length. In 1996/7 archaeologists discovered the remains of another ship in the harbour. This ship, called the Roskilde 6, has not yet been fully investigated and full details are not available. It is however thought to be around 36 m long, and has been dated to the mid-11th century. This article is about the town in Denmark. ...

The discovery of these ships overturned the skepticism of some historians that longships of this size had never been constructed. The Roskilde longships may have been a specialized type of cargo ship that the Vikings used for trade.

Recent Discovery

On September 10, 2007, Professor Stephen Harding, University of Nottingham, used ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment to pinpoint the location of a 1,000-year-old Viking transport longship (Nordic clinker design) beneath 6 - 10 feet (3.0 m) of clay in Meols, Wirral, (a well-known settling place of Vikings). The ship had been previously uncovered in 1938 during excavation of a car park. Workers at the time covered the ship over again so as not to delay construction. ^[1]. The University of Nottingham is a leading research and teaching university in the city of Nottingham, in the East Midlands of England. ... Ground penetrating radar works much like regular radar, using pulses of electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range and reading the reflected signal to detect subsurface structures and objects without drilling, probing or otherwise breaking the ground surface. ... For other uses, see Viking (disambiguation). ... The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ... Clinker has several meanings: In boat building, clinker is a method of constructing wooden boats by fixing planks to a frame so that the planks overlap each other gaining support from the frame and from adjacent planks. ... All Saints Chapel in the Cathedral Basilica of St. ... British Railways London Midland Region totem sign for Meols railway station. ... Wirral is a metropolitan borough in Merseyside, North West England, which occupies part of the Wirral peninsula, more commonly known locally as The Wirral. ...

Construction

After several centuries of evolution, the fully developed longship emerged some time in the middle of the ninth century. Its long, graceful, menacing head figure carved in the stern echoed the designs of its predecessors. The mast was now squared and located toward the middle of the ship, and could be lowered and raised. The hull’s sides were fastened together to allow it to flex with the waves, ensuring stability and integrity. The ships were large enough to carry cargo and passengers on long ocean voyages but still maintained speed and agility, making the longship a versatile warship and cargo carrier. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 611 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Longship Viking Gokstad ship Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 611 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Longship Viking Gokstad ship Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... This article is about the capital of Norway. ...

Keel, stems and hull

The Viking shipbuilders had no written diagrams or standard written design plan. The shipbuilder pictured the longship before its construction, and the ship was then built from the ground up. The keel and stems were made first. The shape of the stem was based on segments of circles of varying sizes. The next step was building the straks & ndash; the lines of planks joined endwise from stern to stern. Nearly all longships were clinker built, meaning that each hull plank overlapped the next.

As the strakes reached the desired height, the interior frame and cross beams were added. The parts were held together with iron rivets, as well as spruce strips that were fastened to the ribs inside of the keel. Longships had about five rivets for each yard of plank.

The longships’ wider hulls provided strength beneath the waterline which gave more stability, making the longship less likely to tip or bring in water. The hull was waterproofed with moss drenched in tar. In the autumn the ships would be tarred and then left in a boathouse over the winter to allow time for the tar to dry. To keep the sea out, wooden disks were put into the oar holes. These could be shut from the inside when the oars were not in use.

Sail and mast

Even though no longship sail has been found, accounts verify that longships had square sails. Sails measured perhaps 35 to 40 feet (12 m) across, and were made of wadmill (rough wool) which was woven by looms. Unlike the knarrs, the longship sail was not stitched. Model of a Knaar A knaar (plural: knaarer) is a type of Norse merchant ship famously used by the Vikings from the 9th century. ...

The sail was held in place by the mast. The mast was supported by a large block of wood called "kerling" ("Old Woman" in Old Norse). (Trent) The kerling was made of oak, and was as tall as a Viking man. The kerling lay across the two ribs and ran width-wise along the keel. The kerling also had a companion: the "mast fish", a wooden piece above the kerling that provided extra help in keeping the mast erect.

Navigation and propulsion

Navigation

The Vikings were experts in judging speed and wind direction, and in knowing the current and when to expect high and low tides. Viking navigational techniques are not well understood, but historians postulate that the Vikings probably had some sort of primitive astrolabe and used the stars to plot their course. Image File history File links Viking,_replica_of_the_Gokstad_Viking_ship,_at_the_Chicago_World_Fair_1893. ... Image File history File links Viking,_replica_of_the_Gokstad_Viking_ship,_at_the_Chicago_World_Fair_1893. ... One-third scale replica of Daniel Chester Frenchs Republic, which stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004 The Worlds Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher... A 16th century astrolabe. ...

The Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou suggested in 1967 that the "sun-stones" referred to in some sagas might have been natural crystals capable of polarizing skylight. The mineral cordierite occurring in Norway has the local name "Viking's Compass". Its changes in colour would allow determining the sun's position (azimuth) even through an overcast or foggy horizon. See [1]

An ingenious navigation method is detailed in "Viking Navigation Using the Sunstone, Polarized Light and the Horizon Board", by Leif K. Karlsen [2]. To derive a course to steer relative to the sun direction, he uses a sun-stone (Solarsteinn) made of Iceland spar (optical calcite or Silfurberg), and a "horizon-board". The author constructed the latter from an Icelandic saga source, and describes an experiment performed to determine its accuracy. Karlsen also discusses why on North Atlantic trips the Vikings might have preferred to navigate by the sun rather than by stars. (Think high latitudes in summer: long days, short to no nights).

A Viking named Stjerner Oddi compiled a chart showing the direction of sunrise and sunset, which enabled navigators to sail longships from place to place with ease. Almgren, an earlier Viking, told of another method: "All the measurements of angles were made with what was called a 'half wheel' (a kind of half sun-diameter which corresponds to about sixteen seconds of arc). This was something that was known to every skipper at that time, or to the long-voyage pilot or kendtmand ('man who knows the way') who sometimes went along on voyages... When the sun was in the sky, it was not, therefore, difficult to find the four points of the compass, and determining latitude did not cause any problems either." (Algrem)

Birds provided a helpful guide to finding land. A Viking legend states that Vikings used to take caged crows aboard ships and let them loose if they got lost. The crows would instinctively head for land, giving the sailors a course to steer. Little is known of Viking compasses, though Viking legends do tell of small magnetic stones floating on a piece of wood in water to provide a point of navigational reference.^{[citation needed]}. For navigating in the western North Atlantic, a magnetic compass would not have been very useful because of the nearby magnetic pole.

That some Vikings knew how to build a solar calendar is demonstrated by runic inscriptions found near Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. A Viking trader that the runes say was trading for nuggets of native copper left the indigenous people a tool to calculate when to plant crops. When the shadow of a stick placed in a hole in the runestone intersected a line marked on the stone, it was the correct time of year to plant. One source suggests these runes resemble those found near Ringerike in Norway [3]

As an aside, to reach the Trent River (off Lake Ontario, about 1,800 km from open sea) the trader's crew must have been capable of portaging around the formidable Lachine rapids on the St Lawrence River near Montreal.

Propulsion

The longship had two methods of propulsion: oars and sail. At sea, the sail enabled longships to travel faster than by oar and to cover long distances overseas. Sails could be raised or lowered quickly. Oars were used when near the coast or in a river, to gain speed quickly, and when there was an adverse (or insufficient) wind. In combat, the variability of wind power made rowing the chief means of propulsion.

Longships were not fitted with benches. When rowing, the crew sat on sea chests (chests containing their personal possessions) that would otherwise take up space. The chests were made the same size and were the perfect height for a Viking to sit on and row. Longships had hooks for oars to fit into, but smaller oars were also used, with crooks or bends to be used as oarlocks. If there were no holes then a loop of rope kept the oars in place.

Legacy

The Vikings were major contributors to the shipbuilding technology of their day. Their shipbuilding methods spread through extensive contact with other cultures, and ships from the 11th and 12th centuries are known to borrow many of the longships’ design features, despite the passing of many centuries. The 'Lancha Poveira', a boat from Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal, originates from the longship, but without a long stern and bow, and with a Mediterranean sail. It was used until the 1950s. Today there is just one boat: Fé em Deus. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (356x617, 40 KB) Summary author: CÃ¢mara Municipal da PÃ³voa de Varzim (CMPV) Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Longship PÃ³voa de Varzim ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (356x617, 40 KB) Summary author: CÃ¢mara Municipal da PÃ³voa de Varzim (CMPV) Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Longship PÃ³voa de Varzim ... PÃ³voa de Varzim (pron. ... PÃ³voa de Varzim (pron. ... {{dablink|For other meanings, see Stern (disambiguation). ...

Many historians, archaeologists and adventurers have reconstructed longships in an attempt to understand how they worked.^[2] These re-creators have been able to identify many of the advances that the Vikings implemented in order to make the longship a superior vessel. One replica longship covered 223 nautical miles (413 km) in a single day, and another re-creator was able to go faster than 8 knots (15 km/h) in his longship.

The longship was a master of all trades: it was wide and stable, yet light, fast and nimble. With all these qualities combined in one ship, the longship was unrivaled for centuries, until the arrival of the great gunboats and galleons. A gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. ... For the fictional unit of money called a galleon, see Money in Harry Potter. ...

Famous longships

The Oseberg ship (Viking Ship Museum, Norway) Detail from the Oseberg ship View from the front - one of the most stunning expressions of Norse art and craftsmenship The Oseberg ship is a Viking ship which was found in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near TÃ¸nsberg in... The Gokstad ship is a late 9th century Viking ship found in a ship burial beneath a burial mound at Gokstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. ... Ormen Lange (Long Serpent) was one of the most famous of the Viking longships. ... Olav Tryggvason (969 - September 9, 1000) was a great-grandson of Harald Hairfair He began his meteoric career in exile as his ancestors fled from the executions of the royal family by Eric Bloodaxe. ... William I of England (c. ... Matilda of Flanders (c. ... The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) is the main museum in Ireland. ...

External links

Image File history File links Norwegian_20_kr_reverse. ... Image File history File links Norwegian_20_kr_reverse. ...

See also

Models of Viking ships at port, including a Knarr, Longship and Faering Viking ship is a collective term for ships used during the Viking Age (800â€“1100) in Northern Europe. ... In heraldry, birlinns are often known as lymphads A Birlinn comprised a class of small galleys with 12 to 18 oars, used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. ... Model of a Knaar A knaar (plural: knaarer) is a type of Norse merchant ship famously used by the Vikings from the 9th century. ...

References

For either of the songs named Sailing, see Sailing (song). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The barca longa was a two or three-masted lugger found on the coasts of Spain and Portugal as well as more widely in the Mediterranean Sea. ... A barc is a type of sailing vessel. ... This article is about the ship. ... In sailing, a bermuda rig is: A rig of mainsail or course that consists of a triangular sail set aft of the mast, with its head raised to the top of the mast, its luff running down the mast and normally attached to it for all its length, its tack... A Bilander, also spelled billander or belandre, was a small European merchant ship with two masts, used in the Netherlands for coast and canal traffic and occasionally seen in the North Sea but more frequently to be seen in the Mediterranean Sea. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Brigantine. ... Description In sailing, a brigantine is a vessel with two masts, at least one of which is square rigged. ... Caravela Latina / Latin Caravel Caravela Redonda / Square-rigged Caravel A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable, two or three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for long voyages of exploration beginning in the 15th century. ... The Santa Maria at anchor by Andries van Eertvelt, painted c. ... It has been suggested that Catamaran History be merged into this article or section. ... The occupied boats are catboats, but with a mast and boom rig A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat), or a cat-rigged sailboat, is a sailing vessel characterized by a single mast carried well forward (, near the front of the boat). ... A model of a vessel of the clipper type, the four-masted barque named Belle Ã‰toile A clipper was a very fast multiple-masted sailing ship of the 19th century. ... While the majority of the clipper ships sailed under British and American flags, more then a hundred clippers were built in the Netherlands. ... Excavated cog from 1380 Cogs or rather cog-built vessels came into existence around 12th century AD. They were cheracterized by flush-laid flat bottom at midships but gradually shifted to overlapped strakes near the posts. ... French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887) Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft. ... For other uses see cutter (disambiguation) An American-looking gaff cutter with a genoa jib set This French yawl has a gaff topsail set. ... A Dhow near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. ... Dinghy of the schooner Adventuress A dinghy is a small utility boat attached to a larger boat. ... For the fictional moon, see Felucca (Ultima). ... A postcard showing the St. ... Dutch fluyts of 17th Century A fluyt or a flute (IPA: ) is a type of sailing vessel originally designed as a dedicated cargo vessel. ... A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing rig consisting mainly of sails that are set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. ... For the bird, see Frigatebird. ... A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a square rigged sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. ... Gaff rig is a sailing rig in which the mainsail is a four-cornered fore-and-aft rigged sail controlled at its head by a spar called the gaff. ... The galeas is a small type of trade ship, which was common in the Baltic Sea and North Sea during the 17th to the early 20th centuries. ... Galiot in Willaumezs Dictionnaire de la Marine Galiots (or galliots) were types of ships from the Age of Sail. ... A Spanish galleon. ... In sailing, a gunter is a wire that leads from one end of a gaff to the other. ... A hermaphrodite brig, or brig-schooner, is a type of two-masted sailing ship which has square sails on the foremast combined with a schooner rig on the mainmast (triangular topsail over a gaff mainsail). ... A hoy was a small sloop-rigged coasting ship or a heavy barge used for freight. ... A jackass-barque, sometimes spelled jackass bark, is a sailing ship with 3 (or more masts), of which the foremast is square-rigged and the main is partially square-rigged (topsail, topgallant, etc. ... A junk is a Chinese sailing vessel. ... Square Topsl Gaff Ketch Hawaiian Chieftain on San Francisco Bay A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: A main mast, and a mizzen mast abaft the main mast. ... // For the bird of prey, see Laggar Falcon. ... A mast aft rig is a sailboat sail-plan that uses a single mast set in the aft half of the hull to support a jib or multiple staysails, with either a small or completely absent mainsail. ... A Mersey flat is a two masted, doubled-ended barge with rounded bilges, carvel build and fully decked. ... A multihull is a ship or boat with more than one hull. ... The Santa Maria at anchor by Andries van Eertvelt, painted c. ... The Norfolk wherry is a black-sailed trader, type of boat on the Norfolk Broads and Suffolk Broads, now part of The Broads National Park, in Norfolk, England. ... There are two classifications of Pink. ... A pinnace is a light boat, propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a tender for guiding merchant and war vessels. ... A pocket cruiser, microcruiser or pocket yacht is a small, often lightweight sailboat with a cabin, which is intended for recreational cruising (either overnight or for extended periods) of the owners chosen waterways. ... A polacca is a type of seventeenth-century sailing vessel, similar to the xebec. ... A pram or pramm was a type of shallow-draught flat-bottomed ship used in Europe during the 18th century, particularly in the Baltic Sea during the Great Northern War and Napoleonic Wars, as the prams shallow draught allowed it to approach the shore. ... R. M. Munroes 1898 proa A Proa is a multihull vessel consisting of two (usually) unequal parallel hulls, superficially similar to an outrigger canoe. ... Punting while dressed for Cambridge graduation This article concentrates on the history and development of punts and punting in England, for other usages see the disambiguation pages at punt and punter. ... A sailing hydrofoil or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. ... Two-masted fishing schooner A schooner (IPA: ) is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. ... Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... The sixareen or Sixern (Norwegian: Seksring meaning six-oared), is a clinker built boat, evolved as a larger version of the Yoal, when the need arose for crews to fish further from shore. ... For the military definition of sloop see: Sloop-of-war. ... USS Constellation, a United States Navy sloop-of-war. ... The Smack was a English sailing vessel that was used to bring the fish to Market for most of the 19th Century and even in small numbers up to the Second World War. ... This article is about snow, the merchant vessel. ... Main-mast of a square-rigged ship, with all square sails set except the course. ... The USCGC Eagle. ... The distinctive sailing barges that were once a common sight on Londons River Thames, were commercial craft relying on sail power alone. ... Photograph of an Orma 60 trimaran in Sandhamn before the Round Gotland Race 2005 A trimaran is a multihull boat consisting of a main hull (vaka) and two smaller outrigger hulls (amas), attached to the main hull with lateral struts (akas). ... A traditional boat found in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao characterized by a colorful sail of assorted vertical colors. ... A wherry (meaning boat) is a boat used for carrying cargo on rivers and canals in England. ... A windjammer is a type of sailing ship with a large iron hull, usually used for cargo in the nineteenth century. ... A windsurfer with modern gear tilts the rig and carves the board to perform a planing jibe (downwind turn) close to shore in Maui, Hawaii. ... XEBEC is a subsidiary of the anime studio Production I.G. that specialises in the production of television anime. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Yawl sailing vessel. ... The Yoal, often referred to as the Ness Yoal, is a clinker built craft used traditionally in the Shetland Islands. ...

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