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"Two are hosts against one, the tongue is the head's bane, 'neath a rough hide a hand may be hid; he is glad at nightfall who knows of his lodging, short is the ship's berth, and changeful the autumn night, much veers the wind ere the fifth day and blows round yet more in a month." Håvamål Table of offsets for the Oseberg Ship |
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Viking ships and replicasStill popular after all these years... There are many replicas in use today and they all succeed in getting attention and interest from the general public. As an example of the public appeal of these crafts, a recent Swedish Viking ship project (Sigrid Storråda) drew some 60,000 visitors while the ship was being built. We know of some replicas built in the 19th century, but the majority have been built from about the 1950's and onwards. Denmark has probably built more replicas than anyone else, but the competition is increasing. Norway, Sweden and the US both have a number of ships sailing today and there are many more projects underway around the world, some as far away as Australia. One traditional ship builder in Norway actually specializes in these types of vessels. Finland has a particularly active group that has built two replicas, Rus and Hemløsa Rus, of the Lapuri boat and they are now working on a third. It is common for the builders to sail their ships and some have made amazing voyages attesting to the functionality of the Viking ship design (and sometimes lack thereof). Some of the groups are made up of professional marine archaeologists, others are simply interested lay persons. All of this work is slowly re-creating a body of field tested and verified technical information about building and sailing Viking ships of different designs. Replicas on the InternetSo far I have identified almost 40 replicas with at least some information available on the Internet. The table below contains links and some basic information about those I have managed to locate so far. I am aware that there were quite a few more built about which there is scant public information available. The most popular designsThe most frequently copied ships are the Gokstad ship from Norway and the Skuldelev ships from the Roskilde find in Denmark. However, as you can see from the table below, many other ship finds have been copied over the years. The Oseberg Ship has been copied a couple of times to my knowledge, but not as often as the Gokstad Ship. Plans for Viking Ships are hard to come by. I have a table of offsets for the Oseberg Ship that I have posted here. The Gokstad replicasThe Gokstad ship is the largest find to date - about 80 feet - and was a war ship. It was recovered from a burial mound. It is sleek and fast. Replicas have made ocean passages and weathered hurricanes at sea, so this was a fairly capable vessel. It is clear, though, that the war ship is not a good general trading ship with its relatively low freeboard and limited cargo carrying capacity.The Gokstad ship is probably the most commonly copied either in full size or as a scaled down version. The typical scale version is about 40 feet to make it trailerable. The first full size copy I know of, Viking, was built in 1893, and sailed from Bergen, Norway via New Foundland, Canada to New York and Chicago for the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus' discovery of America. (The insinuation that Vikings discovered America some 500 years before Columbus didn't sit particluarly well with overall theme of the celebrations.) A more recent replica, GAIA of Sandefjord, Norway made an Atlantic crossing a few years ago. Sigrid Storråda of Sweden is also making extended voyages. The Skuldelev replicasThe Skuldelev ships were sunk in Roskilde Fjord in Denmark to make a submerged barricade to protect the harbour. The ships vary in size and appear to have been working vessels rather than war ships. The largest, the Skuldelev 1, was actually built in Sognefjord, Norway around AD 1030 where this boat type is known as a "knarr". The knarr is a merchant vessel with a large cargo carrying capacity. The replica Saga Siglar of Norway made a circumnavigation of the globe, but was lost in a hurricane in the Mediterranean Sea. Snorri of USA voyaged from Greenland to New Foundland. Viking ship constructionThe original ships from the Viking era were clinker built with planking hand split from green logs and fastened with either leather for small boats or wooden plugs - later iron rivets - for larger ships. The wood varied, but typically the ribs, knees and keels were of hardwood like oak. The planking was sometimes oak, other times pine or spruce. The hulls were coated with tar, linseed oil or even animal fat. The masts were pine or spruce. The sails were hand woven from wool and later linen. Reproducing sails in woven wool or linen is prohibitively expensive and most replicas use canvas as the closest substitute. Besides the sails, oars were used in calms and to move the ships in close quarters. Don't make too much of the rowing business. In war ships, rowing makes some tactical sense: lots of people, lots of oars, light cargo, kill or be killed. In the cargo ships, there were lot fewer crew, much heavier cargos and much less fun rowing. No sailor worth his salt would row if he could sail. Here are some general links to sites about viking ships and ship building. A good starting point is this great story about Viking Longships in the Scientific American. Here is a very comprehensive list compiled by Ove Långe of findings and replicas of old Scandinavian ships. The Skuldelev ships in Denmark are one of the most exiting finds in recent times. Follow this link to see a nice collection of pictures of the Danish Skuldelev ships. These pictures should give you a good idea of the structural details of a Viking ship. Replicas don't have to be full size. You can build your own scale model of the Norwegian Oseberg Ship with a kit. The link has a nice picture of the model. The University of Wales Bangor has a great site for information about ship building in historic times. Contains a series of lectures tracing the evolution of ship building. You may also want to try this comprehensive Swedish site on replicas and shipbuilding. Foteviken Museum in Sweden has a great site with, among other things, a handbook in Viking ship construction (in Swedish, though). Ever wonder what treasures the Vikings carried in their ships? For a quick peek, try this link to a vendor of replicas of Viking age ornaments, jewellery etc. Or cruise by Bahadur Design for a view of some really marvelous replicas and recreations of historic Viking jewellery and artifacts. For a more in-depth view of what goes on the world of the Vikings, why don't you check the news? The Viking Times keeps you up-to-date. The adventurous armchair sailor or true salt can enlist in the Viking Navy and see the world. Finally, for the research minded, here is a bibliography of Viking ship related sources from the University of Wales Bangor. Milennium celebrations are all the rage. Iceland 2000 is an interesting Icelandic site dedicated to millenium celebrations with a Viking theme which also contains an itinerary of the voyage of Islendingur from Iceland to Greenland to Canada.
Viking ship replicas by countryThe list of links to replicas provided here is arguably incomplete, but covers most of the better known ships. Some of the sites have great pictures and a lot of information about all aspects of building and sailing these great ships. Some sites are in local languages only and some of the links are unreliable (sorry, not my servers...). For example, the frequently cited link to Helge Ask isn't working at all lately, so I have included an indirect link to the pictures and the museum site itself.
You can also find more Viking resources in the links collection. Have fun!
The opinions expressed here are those of the author only. For comments or queries about this page or site: Contact me here. © Copyright 1999-2003 Preben Ormen. All rights reserved. |
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