What were the names of the Viking ships? Viking ships Viking warship

Drakkars are the name of ships that were used by the Vikings in combat. The Vikings also made knorrs - trading ships. An interesting fact is that already at that time ships could serve as housing - they could be pulled ashore thanks to a powerful keel and, secured, equipped as a temporary (and, sometimes, permanent) home. The answer to the question of what the bow of a ship is called is the stem.

Today, many, like the ancient Vikings, use yachts as temporary housing - on the road or during stops in port. This is possible thanks to the high level of shipbuilding in Croatia. The yacht has all the amenities and the layout of the premises is no different from an apartment - with the exception of the soothing sound of the waves overboard.

The answer to the question of what the Viking ships were called is: longship and knorr. The history of shipping says that initially the Vikings built oared ships, but then, due to the general development of the fleet, they began to use a sail. For a long time, brave warriors used both oars and sails, depending on the wind or other factors, changing the way the ship would be propelled. Over time, the Vikings completely switched to sails, abandoning oars. Depending on the name of the Viking ship, we can say for what purposes it was used.

Why the Vikings were considered the best shipbuilders of their time

Trading ships gave people access to other shores and, consequently, to the acquisition of new, previously inaccessible goods and the sale of their own. Of course, merchant ships are rarely not filled with valuables, food or jewelry, as a result of which piracy develops. To protect wealth from robbery, the construction of warships begins, which are designed to protect merchant ships. The answer to the question of what the front part of the ship is called is the tank.

At the same time, warships were used to conquer new territories, as well as in naval battles during the war. A powerful fleet was often the deciding factor in who would win a war. The Vikings had such a fleet. The left side of the ship is called the backside.

In addition to trading ships and warships, the Vikings also built ships for everyday use, such as:

• ferries - for transporting people and goods by sea from one part of the land to another;
• kayaks - for river crossings;
• fishing boats - for catching fish and other sea creatures.

The answer to the question of what the left side of the ship is called is the backboard.

For what reason was shipbuilding the most developed by the Vikings?

Due to the geographical location of Scandinavia, in these parts during Viking times it was very difficult to travel through impenetrable forests, mountains and deep snow. Thus, the most convenient way to travel was by sea. The answer to the question of what the rudder of a ship is called is, of course, the steering wheel.

Of course, it is not smart not to take advantage of one’s own advantage, which is why the Vikings actively built warships and used them to conquer new lands, resources and labor.

Currently, ships are mostly used for travel and transporting goods, but of course all countries that have access to the sea or ocean have a naval fleet of warships.

Interestingly, Viking warships were also called “dragon ships.”

They differed in the following characteristics:

• capacity;
• beauty;
• rapidity;
• small weight, allowing the vessel to be carried by hand;
• reliability.

Perhaps the main secret of the Vikings, which ensured the victory of this extremely intelligent people in most battles, is that their ships were designed in such a way as to make it possible to enter shallow rivers and berth on flat banks. So, the Vikings could attack unexpectedly, which is already a big advantage.

Viking ships

The Vikings were skilled shipbuilders who created the most advanced ships of their era. Warships and merchant ships allowed men to visit overseas countries, and settlers and explorers crossed the sea in search of new lands and riches. In their homeland, the Vikings used fishing boats, ferries and kayaks. In Viking times, travel through mountains, deep forests, swamps and deep snow was difficult. The numerous rivers, lakes and other waterways of Scandinavia provided the Vikings with an easy and convenient way to travel.

Rooks

The Vikings' most famous vessels were undoubtedly their efficient warships known as "dragonships". These were long, sleek vessels, fast, reliable and yet light enough to be rowed or carried by hand if necessary. Such ships were designed to enter shallow rivers and berth on gently sloping banks, which allowed the Vikings to take their enemies by surprise. Typically, longships were made primarily from ash and were about 18 m long and 2.6 m wide. The largest ship known to us reached 28 m in length and 4.5 m in width. The number of rowers ranged from 26 to 70 people. They were located in a row on both sides of the ship. The ancient masters considered it a special “chic” to build a ship in such a way that, while rowing, it could carry shields on its sides. The oars were not inserted into the oarlocks, but passed through special holes called “rowing hatches.” For battle, ships usually converged on oars; if it was possible to keep shields on board (that is, if the ship was built in such a way that the shields did not block the holes for the oars and did not interfere with rowing), they served as additional protection for the rowers until the very moment of hand-to-hand combat.

Merchant ships

The ships used by merchants and settlers were called knorr by the Vikings. These ships were wider than the drakars, deeper, and had lower speed. They accommodated from 30 to 40 people. In the middle of the ship there was a large free space where goods were placed.

Navigation

The Vikings were skilled sailors. They could sail for many days far from the coast, without deviating from the intended course, without the help of navigation instruments. They steered their course according to the sun, moon and stars. The Vikings studied the habits of sea animals and birds well, which also helped them. Many sagas tell how sailors determined their exact position in the ocean, taking into account the number of days they spent at sea, the speed of the ship, the ebb and flow of tides, currents and weather conditions.

Mast and sail

The sails were sewn from several pieces of fabric. The sail had the shape of a rectangle. The height of the mast usually did not exceed 12 meters, and the width 20. According to archaeologists who examined exact models of ancient ships, the rigging system on them was such that it made it possible to give the sail an optimal shape at any course relative to the wind. The side and especially the lower edges (in naval “luff”) were equipped with a whole web of gear that made it possible to stretch the sail as needed, and special poles could be attached to the lower (“clew”) corners, which held these corners in the required position, placed far beyond sides. An important feature of the hull design should also be mentioned: a powerful, protruding keel, which at the same time played the role of a false keel and prevented the wind from blowing the ship sideways. According to Danish experts, all this made it possible to walk at an angle of less than sixty degrees to the wind. The masts on Viking ships were removable. The crew could raise or lower it, if necessary, independently, without resorting to any lifting devices outside the ship. The mast was placed on a heavy wooden stop (this stop was called the “mast fish” due to its shape), moved with a reliable lock and stretched by three strong ropes: in front - with a forestay, and on the sides - with shrouds, slightly shifted back.

Ship construction

Viking drakar (modern copy)

Boards

After cutting down a tree, it was cut up immediately. This was done to prevent the wood from cracking. The prepared log was split lengthwise into two halves using wedges. Then - again and again in half. As experiments have shown, approximately twenty identical boards up to 30 cm wide came out of a trunk about a meter across.

Tools

The Vikings had a very wide choice of tools and were sufficient in capable hands, but the most important tool was the axe. Several types of axes were used, depending on the type of work. This passion for the ax is not accidental. The saw is shaggy and chews through the wood fibers, and the ax goes along them. A sawn part absorbs more moisture, which would be detrimental to ships.

Rivets and nails

According to archaeological data, in the western part of the Baltic Sea, the hull of a ship was fastened with rows of steel rivets. Residents of the Eastern Baltic preferred to use wooden nails, which, after inserting, were wedged with wooden wedges. Moss was used here for caulking, while on the western shores of the Baltic Sea, tarred cord was laid between the boards. As scientists write, both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. A wooden peg, unlike a steel rivet, does not rust, and once it swells, it will only hold on more firmly. However, to achieve the same strength, more of them are required, which means more holes are made, despite the fact that each is a potential leak.

Literature

• Firks, I. von. Viking ships = Jochen von Firks. Wikingerschiffe. Rostock, 1979 / Jochen von Firks / Trans. with him. A. A. Chebana; Reviewer: Dr. historian. Science M. A. Kogan; Scientific ed. Eng. G. E. Alexandrovsky. - L.: Shipbuilding, 1982. - 104 p. - 100,000 copies.(region)

Links

• Petkov S.V. Varangians: Viking States in North-Eastern Europe. – Zaporozhye: Communist Party of Ukraine, 2009. – 87 p.

Wikimedia Foundation.

2010.

See what “Viking ships” are in other dictionaries:

On the Bayeux Tapestry Drakkar (Norwegian Drakkar, from the Old Norse Drage “dragon” and Kar “ship”, literally ... Wikipedia Experimental research methods in the system of historical sciences - Addressing the topic of historical reconstruction* within the framework of this publication is not at all accidental. For several centuries now, historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, anthropologists and other scientists from different countries have successfully used in their research... ...

Encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World" Atlantic - (Atlantic) Definition of the Atlantic, history of discoveries and general description Information about the definition of the Atlantic, history of discoveries and general description Contents Contents Definition History of discoveries General description Baltic Sea North Sea Mediterranean ...

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The map shows the main trade routes of the Varangians: along the Volga (red) and the Path from the Varangians to the Greeks along the Dnieper (violet). Other trade routes VIII-XI centuries. shown in orange. The route “From the Varangians to the Greeks” is a water (sea and river) route from Scandinavia through ... Wikipedia Northern type boat - (longship), a term used to designate all Viking ships, and in the narrow sense, their warships. The ship, as a rule, was built from fir planks and, unlike the flat-bottomed ships of the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians, had a massive oak vertical keel and mast...

The ship drakkar became a kind of calling card of the Viking era. It was a long, roomy, shallow-draft, universal-class ship propelled by sail and oars. The word "drakkar" is of Norwegian origin and etymologically goes back to the Old Norse language, where "drage" literally meant "dragon" and the word "kar" can be translated as "ship". In Old Norse and a number of Germanic languages, the Viking longship is also called "langskip", which means "long ship". In European languages, there is a wide range of names for ships of this type - from “dreka” to “draka”.

Structurally, the Viking drakkar is a developed version of the snekkar (from the Old Norse “snekkar”, where “snekja” means “snake” and “kar”, respectively, “ship”). The snekkar was smaller and more maneuverable than the longship, and in turn was descended from the knorr (the etymology of the Norwegian word "knörr" is unclear), a small cargo ship that was notable for its low speed (up to 10 knots). However, Eric the Red discovered Greenland not on a longship, but on a knorr.

The dimensions of the drakkar are variable. The average length of such a ship was from 10 to 19 meters (35 to 60 feet, respectively), although ships of greater length could presumably exist. These were universal ships; they were used not only in military operations. They were often used for trade and transportation of goods; they traveled longer distances (not only on the open sea, but also along rivers). This is one of the main features of longship ships - the shallow draft made it possible to easily maneuver in shallow water.

Drakkars allowed the Scandinavians to discover the British Isles (including Iceland) and reach the shores of Greenland and North America. In particular, the American continent was discovered by the Viking Leif Eriksson, nicknamed “The Happy One.” The exact date of his arrival in Vinland (as Leif called probably modern Newfoundland) is unknown, but it certainly happened before the year 1000. Such an epic journey, crowned with success in every sense, speaks better than any characteristics that the drakkar model was an extremely successful engineering solution.

Drakkar design, its capabilities and symbolism

It is believed that the drakkar (you can see pictures of the reconstruction of the ship below), being a “dragon ship,” invariably had a carved head of the desired mythical creature on its keel. But this is a misconception. The design of the Viking longship actually implies a high keel and an equally high stern with a relatively low side height. However, it was not always the dragon that was placed on the keel; moreover, this element was mobile.

The wooden statue of a mythical creature on the keel of the ship indicated, first of all, the status of its owner. The larger and more spectacular the structure, the higher the social position of the ship's captain. At the same time, when the Viking longship sailed to its native shores or the lands of the allies, the “dragon head” was removed from the keel. The Scandinavians believed that in this way they could scare the “good spirits” and bring trouble to their lands. If the captain longed for peace, the place of the head was taken by a shield, turned towards the shore with the inner side on which was printed white cloth (a kind of analogue of the later “white flag” symbol).

The Viking drakkar (photos of reconstructions and archaeological finds are presented below) was equipped with two rows of oars (one row on each side) and a wide sail on a single mast, that is, the main thing was the oar stroke. The drakkar was steered by a traditional steering oar, to which a transverse tiller (special lever) was attached, located on the right side of the high stern. The ship could develop a speed of up to 12 knots, and in an era when an adequate sailing fleet did not yet exist, this figure rightly inspired respect. At the same time, the drakkar was quite maneuverable, which, combined with its shallow draft, allowed it to easily move along fjords, hide in gorges and enter even the shallowest rivers.

Another design feature of such models has already been mentioned - the low side. This engineering move, apparently, had a purely military application, because precisely because of the low side of the drakkar it was difficult to distinguish on the water, especially at dusk and even more so at night. This gave the Vikings the opportunity to get almost close to the shore before the ship was noticed. The dragon's head on the keel had a special function in this regard. It is known that during the landing in Northumbria (Lindisfarne Island, 793), wooden dragons on the keels of Viking longships made a truly indelible impression on the monks of the local monastery. The monks considered this “God’s punishment” and fled in fear. There are not isolated cases when even soldiers in forts left their posts at the sight of “sea monsters.”

Typically, such a ship had from 15 to 30 pairs of oars. However, the ship of Olaf Tryggvason (the famous Norwegian king), launched in 1000 and called the “Great Serpent,” supposedly had as many as three and a half dozen pairs of oars! Moreover, each oar had a length of up to 6 meters. During the journey, the crew of a Viking longship rarely consisted of more than 100 people, in the vast majority of cases - much less. Moreover, each warrior in the team had his own bench, where he rested and under which he stored personal belongings. But during military campaigns, the size of the drakkar allowed it to accommodate up to 150 soldiers without a significant loss in maneuver and speed.

The mast was 10-12 meters high and was removable, that is, if necessary, it could be quickly removed and laid along the side. This was usually done during a raid to increase the ship's mobility. And here the low sides and shallow draft of the ship came into play again. The drakkar could come close to the shore and the warriors very quickly went ashore, deploying positions. That is why the Scandinavian raids were always lightning fast. It is known that there were many models of longships with original accessories. In particular, the famous “Queen Matilda Carpet”, on which the fleet of William I the Conqueror was embroidered, as well as the “Bayenne Linen” depict longships with spectacular shiny tin weathervanes, brightly striped sails and decorated masts.

In the Scandinavian tradition, it is customary to give names to a wide variety of objects (from swords to chain mail), and ships were no exception in this regard. From the sagas we know the following names of ships: “Sea Serpent”, “Lion of the Waves”, “Horse of the Wind”. These epic “nicknames” show the influence of the traditional Scandinavian poetic device - kenning.

Typology and drawings of drakkars, archaeological finds

The classification of Viking ships is quite arbitrary, since, of course, no actual drawings of longships have survived. However, there is quite an extensive archeology, for example - the Gokstad ship (also known as the Gokstad longship). It was found in 1880 in Vestfold, in a mound near Sandefjord. The vessel dates back to the 9th century and presumably this type of Scandinavian vessel was most often used for funeral rites.

The ship from Gokstad is 23 meters long and 5.1 meters wide, with a rowing oar length of 5.5 meters. That is, objectively, the Gokstad ship is quite large, it clearly belonged to a headwing or a jarl, and perhaps even a king. The ship has one mast and a large sail made of several vertical stripes. The drakkar model has elegant outlines, the vessel is entirely made of oak and is equipped with rich ornaments. Today the ship is exhibited at the Viking Ship Museum (Oslo).

It is curious that the longship from Gokstad was reconstructed in 1893 (it was called “Viking”). 12 Norwegians built an exact copy of the Gokstad ship and even sailed across the ocean on it, reaching the shores of the United States and landing in Chicago. As a result, the ship was able to accelerate to 10 knots, which is actually an excellent indicator even for traditional ships of the “era of sailing fleet”.

In 1904, another Viking longship was discovered in the already mentioned Vestfold, near Tønsberg; today it is known as the Oseberg ship and is also exhibited in the Oslo Museum. Based on extensive research, archaeologists have concluded that the Oseberg ship was built in 820 and participated in cargo and military operations until 834, after which the ship was used in funeral rites. The drawing of the drakkar could look like this: 21.6 meters in length, 5.1 meters in width, the height of the mast is unknown (presumably ranging from 6 to 10 meters). The sail area of ​​the Oseberg ship could be up to 90 square meters, the probable speed was at least 10 knots. The bow and stern sections have magnificent carvings of animals. Based on the internal dimensions of the drakkar and its “decoration” (primarily referring to the presence of 15 barrels, which were often used by the Vikings as clothing chests), it is assumed that the ship had at least 30 oarsmen (but larger numbers are quite likely).

The Oseberg ship belongs to the auger class. An auger or simply an auger (the etymology of the word is unknown) is a type of Viking drakkar, which was made only from oak planks and was widely represented among Northern European peoples much later - from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Despite the fact that the ship received critical damage during a funeral rite, and the burial mound itself was plundered in the Middle Ages, archaeologists found on the burnt drakkar the remains of expensive (even now!) silk fabrics, as well as two skeletons (of a young and an elderly woman) with decorations that speak of their exceptional position in society. Also found on the ship was a traditionally shaped wooden cart and, most surprisingly, peacock bones. Another “uniqueness” of this archaeological artifact is that the remains of people on the Oseberg ship were initially associated with the Ynglings (dynasty of Scandinavian leaders), but later DNA analysis revealed that the skeletons belonged to haplogroup U7, which corresponds to people from the Middle East, in particular Iranians.

Another famous Viking longship was discovered in Østfold (Norway), in the village of Rolvsey near Tyn. This discovery was made by the famous 19th century archaeologist Olaf Ryugev. The “sea dragon” found in 1867 was called the Thun ship. The Thun ship dates back to the turn of the 10th century, around 900. Its cladding is made of oak boards laid overlapping. The Tyun ship was poorly preserved, but a comprehensive analysis revealed the dimensions of the drakkar: 22 meters long, 4.25 meters wide, with a keel length of 14 meters, and the number of oars could presumably vary from 12 to 19. The main feature of the Tyun ship is that the design was based on oak frames (ribs) made of straight rather than bent boards.

Drakkar construction technology, sail setting, crew selection

Viking drakkars were built from strong and reliable wood species - oak, ash and pine. Sometimes the drakkar model involved the use of only one breed, more often they were combined. It is curious that Old Scandinavian engineers sought to select tree trunks for their ships that already had natural bends; not only frames, but also keels were made from them. The cutting of wood for the ship was followed by splitting the trunk in half; the operation was repeated several times, with the elements of the trunk always split along the grain. All this was done before the wood dried, so the boards were very flexible; they were additionally moistened with water and bent over an open fire.

The main tool for building a Viking longship was an axe; additionally, drills and chisels were used. Interestingly, saws were known to the Scandinavians fromVIIIcenturies, but they were never used for building ships. Moreover, there are legends according to which famous shipbuilders created longships using only an axe.

To sheath the ships of the drakkars (pictures of the drawings are presented below), the so-called clinker laying of boards was used, that is, overlapping laying (overlapping). The fastening of the boards to the hull of the ship and to each other strongly depended on the area where the ship was made and, apparently, local beliefs had a great influence on this process. Most often, the planks in the skin of a Viking drakkar were fastened with wooden nails, less often with iron nails, and sometimes they were tied in a special way. Then the finished structure was tarred and caulked; this technology has not changed for centuries. This method created an “air cushion”, which added stability to the ship, while increasing the speed of movement led to improved buoyancy of the structure.

The sails of the “sea dragons” were made exclusively from sheep wool. It is worth noting that the natural fatty coating on sheep’s wool (“scientifically” it is called lanolin) gave the sailing fabric excellent protection from moisture, and even in heavy rain such a fabric got wet very slowly. It is interesting to note that this technology for making sails for longships is clearly reminiscent of modern linoleum production techniques. The shapes of the sails were universal - either rectangular or square, this ensured controllability and high-quality acceleration in a tailwind.

Icelandic Scandinavian experts calculated that the average sail for a drakkar ship (photos of reconstructions can be seen below) required about 2 tons of wool (the resulting canvas had an area of ​​up to 90 square meters). Taking into account medieval technologies, this is approximately 144 man-months, that is, to create such a sail, 4 people had to work every day for 3 years. It is not surprising that large and high-quality sails were literally worth their weight in gold.

As for the selection of a crew for a Viking drakkar, the captain (most often it was a hersir, chief or jarl, less often - a king) always took with him only the most reliable and trusted people, because the sea, as we know, does not forgive mistakes. Each warrior was “attached” to his oar, the bench next to which literally became home for the Viking during the campaign. He kept his property under a bench or in a special barrel, slept on a bench, covered with a woolen cloak. On long campaigns, whenever possible, Viking longships always stopped near the shore so that the warriors could spend the night on solid ground.

A camp on the shore was also necessary during large-scale military operations, when the ship took two to three times more soldiers than usual, and there was not enough space for everyone. At the same time, the captain of the ship and several of his associates did not normally participate in the rowing, and the helmsman (helmsman) did not touch the oar. And here it’s worth remembering one of the key features of “sea dragons,” which can be considered textbook. The warriors laid their weapons on the deck, while their shields were hung overboard on special mounts. The drakkar with shields on both sides looked very impressive and really struck fear into the hearts of enemies with its very appearance. On the other hand, by the number of shields overboard it was possible to determine in advance the approximate size of the ship's crew.

Modern reconstructions of longships - the experience of centuries

Medieval Scandinavian ships were repeatedly recreated in the 20th century by reconstructors from different countries, and in many cases a specific historical analogue was taken as a basis. For example, the famous longship "Seahorse of Glendalough" is actually a clear replica of the Irish ship "Skuldelev II", which was released in 1042. This ship was wrecked in Denmark near the Rosklilde fjord. The name of the ship is not original; archaeologists named it that way in honor of the town of Skuldelev, near which the remains of 5 ships were found in 1962.

The dimensions of the drakkar “Seahorse from Glendalough” are amazing: it is 30 in length, 300 trunks of first-class oak were used to build this masterpiece, seven thousand nails and six hundred liters of high-quality resin were used in the process of assembling the drakkar model, as well as 2 kilometers of hemp rope.

Another famous reconstruction is called "Harald Fairhair" in honor of the first king of Norway, Harald Fairhair. This ship was built from 2010 to 2015, it is 35 meters long and 8 meters wide, it has 25 pairs of oars, and the sail has an area of ​​300 square meters. The recreated Viking ship can easily accommodate up to 130 people on board, and the reenactors used it to travel across the ocean to the shores of North America. The unique longship (photo above) regularly travels along the coast of Great Britain; anyone can join the team of 32 people, but only after careful selection and lengthy preparation.

In 1984, a small longship was reconstructed based on the Gokstad ship. It was created by professional shipbuilders at the Petrozavodsk shipyard to participate in the filming of the wonderful film “And Trees Grow on Stones.” In 2009, several Scandinavian ships were created at the Vyborg shipyard, where they are moored to this day, periodically used as original props for historical films.

Thus, the legendary ships of the ancient Scandinavians still excite the imagination of historians, travelers and adventurers. Drakkar embodies the spirit of the Viking Age. These squat, nimble ships quickly and quietly approached the enemy and made it possible to implement the tactics of a quick stunning attack (the notorious blitzkrieg). It was on longships that the Vikings plied the Atlantic; on these ships the legendary northern warriors sailed along the rivers of Europe, reaching all the way to Sicily! The legendary Viking ship is a true triumph of the engineering genius of a distant era.

P.S. Today, the drakkar tattoo is a fairly popular option for “artistic body carving.” In some cases it looks quite impressive, but you need to understand that we do not have a single historical evidence that the Drakkar tattoo could exist. Despite the fact that we know quite a lot about tattoos in Scandinavian culture. Such a significant moment suggests that the Drakkar tattoo is not at all a way to honor the memory of ancestors, but rather a stupid whim.

VIKING SHIPS

Since all northern countries have access to the sea and even oceans, it is not surprising that they were excellent sailors.

The ancestors of the Vikings are first mentioned by Tacitus in Germania, where the curious shape of their longships is noted, the main features of which remained unchanged over the centuries. But until 1862, Viking ships were known only from descriptions by Tacitus, the Arab Ibn Fadlan, and images on the Bayeux tapestry of Queen Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror.

The ships of that era amazed both contemporaries and current visitors to the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo with their beauty and elegance.

They usually built ships, pointed at both ends, which were given the appearance of dragons, snakes or other animals: the front part of the ship resembled the head of an animal, and the back part resembled its tail.

The ship taken by Olav Tryggvason from Raud the Mighty, a pagan Norwegian bond who did not want to accept Christianity, looked like a dragon. This is how it is described in the “Earthly Circle”: “In front of him was a dragon’s head, and behind it a bend that ended like a tail, and both sides of the dragon’s neck and the entire stem were gilded. The king named this ship the Serpent, because when the sails were raised, it looked like a winged dragon. It was the most beautiful ship in all of Norway."

The warship of King Olav the Tolstoy was called the Bison. “It was a huge ship. On his nose was a gilded bison head. Sigvat skald says:

Asp of the field, heat

The gill is blazing,

carried Tryggvi's offspring

Scold the barms, ardent.

Another - next to the Bison

The wave rumbled -

Plow, horned, army of water

Another ship, on which the same king fought at the Battle of Nesjar, was called the Man's Head, because the king's head was carved on its bow. Olav carved it himself. “Such heads,” the saga adds, “for a long time afterwards were placed on the ships of the kings in Norway.” They could be removed and reinstalled at will: according to the instructions of ancient Icelandic laws, no one could swim so close to the shore that one could see the open mouth on the stem from the land. This could frighten the country's patron spirits.

All large ships had names. The Scandinavians considered their ships to be alive; they were real helpers in battles.

In 1862, during excavations in the swamps near Schleswig, a Viking boat was first found. The bow and stern were the same, which made it possible to row in any direction without turning around. The sheathing was done overlapping.

Later, several more ships were discovered, of which the most significant finds are the Norwegian longships from Tune (1867), Gokstad (1880) and Oseberg (1904).

Only after these discoveries was it possible to establish that the ships that carried the Vikings to the shores of Europe, North America and Africa were real works of art and represented a wonderful combination of harmony and technology.

The found boats were reconstructed and all the details were accurately reproduced. This painstaking work of scientists took several years, but it is thanks to it that modern Viking ships exist today.

The first such Viking ship of our time appeared in 1893, when the Norwegian Magnus Andersen built an exact copy of the Gokstad longship and sailed from the city of Bergen in Norway and 27 days later reached the shores of Newfunland in America.

98 years later, on May 17, 1991, other descendants of the Normans set off on a new copy of the Gokstad ship, albeit with some modern gadgets like a diesel engine and a cozy cabin - they decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean. And they actually crossed - on August 2 of the same year, the brave Norwegians landed on the shore in the place where it is believed that Leif the Happy once landed in North America. After some time, the first longship off the coast of Canada was joined by two more, and all three ships made a triumphant raid along the east coast of North America. The next year, two of the three ships were very unlucky - they were caught in a strong storm and sank, but their crew was saved.

The sea is a harsh ruler, and competing with it is a dangerous business. The Normans knew this well, and therefore they built their ships with special attention.

The wood for ships was very carefully selected - after all, it was important to select the one whose grain direction would correspond to the configuration of the finished boat. Therefore, the frames were cut from twisted wood, and the side boards were cut from the tree trunk parallel to its length.

The sides of the ships were surrounded by high wooden parapets, as if to prevent the enemy from engaging in hand-to-hand combat , and from the pressure of waves during a strong storm, for which reason the side edges of sea merchant ships were usually higher than those of military ships. Wooden parapets, or wide fringes, ran around the entire ship. The parapet itself had a gate on each side through which one could go out to the edges of the ship.

In the middle of the ship stood a single mast, arranged in such a way that it could be removed and put back up. The mast was held in a vertical position with the help of a special heavy plate, into the hole of which the mast was inserted, and it could be tilted back, towards the stern, using a support. In addition, many ships had a bowsprit, which could be retracted and exposed at will.

It has been established that Viking ships had a keel, to which frames made of one piece of wood were attached. The sheathing was attached to the frames using pins, and the boards were connected to each other with iron nails. To seal the seams, a cord twisted into three threads of pig bristles or cow hair, impregnated with resin, was laid between the boards. Oarlocks were made in the upper part of the casing.

Viking ships had only one sail, usually made of wool, red and white, striped or with a diagonal checkered pattern, perhaps sewn together from two pieces of cloth. It was square. The sail was tensioned using a large horizontal yard and a diamond-shaped network of cables. Ropes were sewn into the lower part of the sail, which were held by crew members, thus controlling how the sail stood in the wind.

The steering wheel was a large oar. Viking boats reached 30 - 40 meters in length and had from 30 to 60 pairs of oars.

Sagas rarely measure the size of ancient ships in meters. Usually he is measured by rooms - spaces - and benches for rowers. Norway's "Gulathing Law" required long ships to have between 20 and 25 shops. But if, when preparing for a voyage, the law says, a ship cannot be equipped with a sufficient number of people, then the ship’s rudder had to be cut off and the length of the ship reduced in accordance with the number of crew ready for it. However, no ship could have less than 13 shops. The sagas mention ships of 30 and even 60 rooms. On the Long Serpent , the largest ship built in the North had 34 rooms.

Scientists believe thatrum meant the space between the oarsmen's benches, which is why they think that the ship of Cnut the Great, the Dragon, had sixty such benches.

The ships, depending on their size, had from 20 to 200 crew members.

The front and rear parts of the ship were covered. In the first there was a messenger , in the latter - the helmsman; the place for rowers was called rowing place. The middle part of the ship was intended for the squad and a tent made of thick cloth or canvas was installed above it at night and in bad weather. Usually, striped or black tents were preferred: before the battle they were removed for fear that they would not fall down. In front and back ships were scoops: pumps were not known at that time, and several members of the crew were always busy pouring water out with buckets if it was stormy.

The main advantages of Viking ships were that light and obedient ships with a shallow draft could go out to the open sea and cover enormous distances, as well as climb up rivers. They could be pulled ashore and moved through rapids, for example, the Dnieper, on rollers.

The ships of the northerners can be divided into two groups: some were intended for raids and campaigns, others - for transporting goods.

Let us say right away that merchant ships were protected by laws, which, however, did not always save them from attacks by the Vikings. However, the ancient Scandinavian laws said that on his merchant ship a man has “the same peace, whether the ship is large or small, as in his own home. It was strictly forbidden to board the ship without the owner's invitation. If there was a fight on the ship or someone was thrown off the bridge, the perpetrators were severely fined.

The warships were named drakkars, or dragons, based on carved figureheads. These dragons were supposed to intimidate opponents in battle. Some researchers believe that the word “drakkar” is not the actual name of the ship, which should more correctly be called snecchia, or augers.

Was a warship langskip- literally "long ship".

For long sea voyages they used the so-called karfi.

Askey differed from others in size: each could accommodate up to a hundred people. On such asks the Normans carried out attacks on Saxony and Friesland and therefore were called askemans.

Based on the construction material, narrow ships made of hollowed out pine or fir were called hey. They were just as light and, moreover, fast on the move. chutes, sent for reconnaissance ahead of large ships. These, albeit small, ships could accommodate up to 30 people.

They were strong and convenient for the Vikings ellidy of various sizes and usually upholstered with iron.

There were also merchant ships with round hulls - coggy. This type of ship appeared among the Frisians. At low tide, the boat sank and sat tightly on the bottom, which made it easy to unload it, while the tide raised it and allowed it to continue sailing.

During the Viking Age, large seagoing ships were also built, wide and “deep” - knarrs, or knorrs. They were used by both merchants and Vikings.

Ragnar Lothbrok ordered the construction of two knorrs of unheard-of size for his trip to England, but his wife Aslaug advised him not to sail on them, because it was better to go to sea on long ships. Medium-sized knorrs are light and fast on the move. Such knorrs were not used for military enterprises.

However, the forecastle and quarterdeck of even merchant ships were used as fighting platforms, where warriors were stationed behind shields during attacks by sea robbers. As a result, the differences between merchant and warships were very slight.

The Viking ship was not very comfortable; there were no cabins in which one could hide from a storm or simply sea spray.

Below we present the parameters of some of the ships found:

The very fate and life of the Vikings depended on the ships. It was the ships that could safely deliver brave warriors and no less brave merchants to distant shores. It is therefore not surprising that throughout the world the ship is a symbol of the Viking Age.

It is well known that the Normans were the most skilled sailors of the Middle Ages, and their ships were well adapted to both sailing and oaring. Entering the rivers, they skillfully used the ebb and flow of the tides.

Researchers note that the Vikings could cover distances very quickly on their longships. So, for example, they traveled from England to Iceland (1200 km) in 9 days, and from Kaupang to Hedeby (685 km) in 10 days with overnight stops.

During their voyages, the Scandinavians were guided by the coastline, the visibility of the moon, sun and stars, the nature of the clouds, the direction of flight of birds and the shape of the waves. On the coast there were often signs that sailors remembered, and if they were not there, then the likes of lighthouses were often built, which Adam of Bremen called “the mountain of a volcano.”

Like the “volcano forge” in Wolin, a fire was lit on the Roman tower in Boulogne in modern France, even under Charlemagne at the beginning of the 9th century, to make it easier for ships to cross the English Channel from London to Quentowic.

Until recently, it was believed that the Vikings did not have any navigational instruments, but during excavations in Henland in 1948, a fragment of an instrument was found, which is considered a primitive direction finder. It was possible to reconstruct it. The direction finder was a wooden disk with 32 divisions located along the edge at equal distances from each other, and rotated on a handle that was threaded through a hole in the center of the disk. A needle walked along the disk, indicating the course.

There are also references in the sagas to certain “sun stones”, which may have been a primitive compass.

In winter, the ships were stored in special sheds, which we would now call boathouses. There were also places for ship repairs - a kind of shipping yards. Traces of similar workshops were found in Hedeby and Gotland.

For ships, the Vikings not only built shipyards and boathouses, but also dug special canals. So. and the Kanhave Canal still exists on the island of Samsø. Its length is 500 meters and its width is 11. Through this canal, ships with a draft of less than 1.25 meters could pass from Stavnsfjord directly into the sea to the west of the island.

Natalia Budur - VIKING SHIPS

Natalia Budur - VIKING SHIPS

As soon as they were not called - Vikings, Varangians, people of the sea, pagan monsters. Detachments of these extremely brave, hardy and cruel warriors on small fast ships made rapid raids on the coastal cities of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, causing death and destruction everywhere.

Later Vikings crossed the Caspian Sea and reached Baghdad, and the pirate and navigator Eric the Red in 1000 - almost 500 years earlier - reached the shores of North America and founded a settlement in the north of Newfoundland. The Normans inspired terror - all of Europe and Asia trembled before them.

viking age

Vikings appeared in Scandinavia in the mid-8th century AD. e. in villages and hamlets located on the seashore and along rivers. They were mostly fair-haired Scandinavians. But the word “Viking” is a non-ethnic term and does not indicate nationality. Were Vikings Slavic and Irish. In those days in northern Europe, Vikings were all people who led a certain way of life. It is impossible to name the place and time of the emergence of the Viking community. There were quite a few places suitable for settlement in Scandinavia, but there were differences between them. This is evidenced by the language, construction method and rituals.

viking village

People inhabited the coast for a thousand kilometers, so navigation was familiar to them long before the Viking Age. The abundance of fish contributed to the emergence of numerous settlements. Women played an important role in society. While their husbands went to sea, they were entrusted with running the household. Peasant farms fully provided themselves with everything they needed, so families had many children. The boys had to help with the housework, but each of them dreamed that he, too, could soon go to work. Viking adventures.

viking expedition

Since the summer in Norway was short, the Vikings had to store quite a lot of food to survive the long winter. Fish and seal meat were dried, salted and stored in wooden barrels. Despite the workload, the Vikings were not alien to the sense of beauty. For example, beads made of multi-colored glass were very much valued by the Scandinavians and they were ready to go to the ends of the earth for them. It was a very expensive decoration. The beads were passed down from generation to generation. They were hunted during raids. By the number of gold clasps one could judge the rank of their owner. Beads were a symbol of social status.

Worship Viking gods implied regular sacrifices. One of the rituals was infanticide. If a woman's first child was a girl, she was taken from her mother and taken out of viking villages and left to die. A lot of men died in military campaigns, and in this way the demographic situation was regulated, maintaining the proportions of the male population.

They turned to other gods for strength and well-being. The ritual ceremonies were led by the elder. Once every 9 years, the bloodiest ritual was performed, which was called “fornication.” Nine different creatures, including humans, were sacrificed, and the headless bodies were hung in the forest on one tree. IN Viking ship the chosen ones were buried. Along with the body they put everything that they might need in the afterlife.

viking ships

Almost all Viking villages there were shipyards. The art of shipbuilding has been perfected over the centuries. The Vikings managed to create a ship that changed the course of history. Throughout northern Europe, Viking ships were built according to a single model - from planks fastened with rivets. Thanks to these rivets, the Viking ship was strong and flexible.

Viking ship construction

viking ships

Viking world concealed many secrets of mastery that are now forgotten. The main tool for building a ship was an axe, and the material was wood. During the Viking Age, shipbuilding was a real profession. The shipbuilders searched the forests for trees with natural curves that would fit the contours of the hull of the ship they were going to build. Detail Viking ships hewn out so that the wood fibers running along the part follow all the curves. The boards were hewn from a tree trunk, and the frames were made from crooked branches. Oak was considered the best material, but often one had to be content with pine. Not a dozen people had to do construction for several years.

Viking ship built from special boards. To make them, the tree trunk was split lengthwise using a wedge-shaped wooden beam. Only one board 3 cm thick was cut from each trunk. The boards had much greater strength and flexibility than modern ones. Viking shipbuilders did not have drawings; they built based on their own memory. The secrets of mastery were passed on from father to son. To ensure water resistance, the cracks between the boards were treated with tarred wool and tow. Frame viking ship from boards fixed with overlap, the so-called “ clinker» technology provided greater flexibility of the longitudinal axis. This technology has become the main achievement of the Vikings, it has been used for thousands of years and is preserved in the traditions of other peoples of northern Europe and America.

viking warship

The Vikings were proud of their ships. There were 15-20 pairs of oars along the sides; a mast with a single rectangular sail was installed in the center. The Vikings invented reef-seasons; with the help of such devices, in stormy weather, the area of ​​​​the sails can be reduced.

types of Viking ships

There were several, each of them corresponded to its purpose. The Vikings most often went on long voyages on drakars - an elongated shallow-draft vessel with one limb symmetrically curved upward, one of which was decorated with a carved dragon's head, designed to cause terror in the enemy.

viking ship drakar