Viking Ships

The Vikings' contribution to the development of science is best seen in the way of constructing ships. The Vikings were true masters of building ships and using them. They earned their reputation as leaders of the North Seas because of their excellent skills as sailors. The appearance of the ships with dragonheads spread terror between the inhabitants of the contiguous kingdoms as they knew that the Vikings were unstoppable.

The Vikings developed their craft as boatwrights and sailors over many centuries. Actually, even from the Stone Age, the Northsmen had special abilities for building boats. As the food on land was little, they had to find a way to catch the food from the seas, which was abundant. Thus, they built the first boats, a kind of canoes. Thoes were the first type of boats used in Scandinavia. Such canoes were found along the coast of Scandinavia and are thought to date from 5000 B.C. They are built by digging a hole in a tree trunk so that the remaining part is about 2-4 centimeters thick. The shell of the tree stands as a external skeleton which provides the boat with enough roughness to be able to sail. They could be up to 10 meters long and were used for fishing (especially cod and herring).

Then the Viking boatwrights discovered that they could attach some planks along the sides of the boat so that the sides would be higher. This meant that the boats could now carry a heavier load without sinking. The planks were added on the sides of the ship by making a row of holes in the blank that was to be added and on the sides of the boat. Planks were overlapped and tight with cords of sinew or fiber. The cords were tarred so that water won't penetrate them. This technique represents the starting point in building the real Viking ships.

The next step in boat building is represented by the Bronze Age (2000 to 500 B.C.) when the boats became more complex. More planks were added so the boat became quite high. The distinctive feature was the high post at each end. The beaks at the ends of the boat were decorated with metal spirals or animal heads. Now appeared the well-known dragon head. Also, for a short period of time, the crew wore the horned helmet which represents now the symbol of the Vikings. This helmet was soon abandoned and the real Vikings wore a normal helmet.

During the Iron Age (500 B.C. to A.D. 400), the boats were built in a symmetrical way, so they could change direction without turning the boat. This represented a huge advantage in battles as they could retreat rapidly. The beak decorated with different patterns had been preserved although it didn't have any functionality other than probably to stabilize the boat. This double-ended boats were so useful that even the few Roman writings about Scandinavia mention it. This ships looked much like the ships in the Viking Age. They weren't using a dugout trunk as the first canoes but a long plank curved at ends. To this plank were attached the next layers of planks. The elevated ends kept water out of the vessel when there were waves while the deeper midsection of the ship represented easier maneuverability.

The true Viking Age boats were built in a quite different way called clinker-built construction. They were a mixture of the canoe of the Stone Age and the double-end boat of the Iron Age. A log was used as the main strake stretching from stern to bow. It was cut using a special technique, using heat and some stretching tools for giving the log the form of a boat. Then planks were attached to it. Some times, the boats had more strakes connecting the two ends. The more complex the boats were, the more water leaked inside. This was inevitable so the crew had to empty the boat from time to time. A boat was considered unusable if it needed bailing more than three times in two days. The boat also had a T-shaped section on the bottom which gave it strength.

A real development in the building of the ship represented the appearance of the sails and the mast. It was about 800 when the first boats with sails appeared. A pole or spar was connected to the lower corner of the sail so that it could be angled to tack into the wind. The appearance of sails represented the beginning of the Vikings expansion. Due to this improvement, the Viking ships could venture at higher distances, thus reaching in far places like North America and Africa.