CHAPTER III.

ANCIENT SHIPS IN THE SEAS OF NORTHERN EUROPE.

Outside the Mediterranean it is known that some of the northern nations had attained to very considerable skill in the arts of shipbuilding and navigation. Caesar gives a general description of the ships of the Veneti, who occupied the country now known as Brittany, and who had in their hands the carrying trade between Gaul and Britain.[12] As might be expected from the stormy nature of the Atlantic, the Veneti were not able to place any reliance on oars as a means for propulsion. According to Caesar's account, they trusted solely to sails. Their vessels were built entirely of oak of great thickness. He also mentions that the beams were as much as 12 in. in depth. The bottoms of these vessels were very flat, so as to enable them the better to be laid up on the beach. The hulls had considerable sheer, both at the stem and stern. The sails were of dressed hide, and the cables were iron chains. It is evident from this cursory description that the ships of the Veneti were not based upon Mediterranean models, and it is highly probable that they, rather than the oar-propelled galleys, may be regarded as the prototypes of the early sea-going vessels of Northern Europe.

Although the art of ship construction had attained to great importance amongst the Veneti, their neighbours, the Britons, were still very backward in this respect at the time of the first Roman invasion. Caesar states that their vessels were of very slight construction, the framework being made of light timber, over which was stretched a covering, or skin, of strong hides. Sometimes the framework was of wicker.

The ancient Saxons, who were notorious as pirates on the North Sea, made use of boats similar to those of the ancient Britons. At the time of their invasion of Britain, however, their vessels must have been larger and of more solid construction, though we must dismiss, as an obvious absurdity, the statement that the first invading army of 9,000 men was carried to this country in three ships only. It is much more probable that the expedition was embarked in three fleets.

The Saxon kings of England often maintained very considerable fleets for the purpose of protecting the coast from the Danes.

Alfred the Great is generally regarded as the founder of the English Navy. He designed ships which were of a better type and larger size than those of his enemies, the Danes. They were said to have been twice as long as the vessels which they superseded. The Saxon Chronicle says, "They were full twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars, and some had more; they were swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others; they were shaped neither like the Frisian, nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to him they would be most efficient." In 897 Alfred met and defeated a Danish squadron, in all probability with his new ships.

Edgar (959 to 975) is stated to have kept at sea no less than 3,600 vessels of various sizes, divided into three fleets, and the old historian William of Malmesbury tells us that this king took an active personal interest in his navy, and that in summer time he would, in turn, embark and cruise with each of the squadrons.

Fig. 21 is an illustration of an Anglo-Saxon ship taken from an old Saxon calendar, which is, or was, in the Cottonian Library, and which is supposed to have been written about half a century before the Norman Conquest. It is reproduced in Strutt's "Compleat View of the Manners, Customs, Arms, Habits, etc., of the Inhabitants of England, from the arrival of the Saxons till the reign of Henry VIII.," published in 1775. The proportions of the boat as represented are obviously impossible. The sketch is, however, interesting, as showing the general form and mode of planking of the vessel, and the nature of the decorations of the bow and stern. We see that the vessel was a warship, as the keel prolonged formed a formidable ram. We also may notice that the sail was relied on as a principal means of propulsion, for there are apparently no notches or rowlocks for oars. The steering was effected by two large oars, in a similar manner to that adopted by the ancient Egyptians and other Mediterranean peoples. The extraordinary character of the deck-house will be observed. It is, of course, purely symbolical, and may, at most, be interpreted as meaning that the vessel carried some sort of structure on deck.

In the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era the scene of maritime activity was transferred from the Mediterranean to the North of Europe. The Norsemen, who overran the whole of the European seaboard at one time or another, were the most famous navigators of the period immediately preceding the Middle Ages. Any record connected with their system of ship-construction is necessarily of great interest. The fleets of the Norsemen penetrated into the Mediterranean as far as the imperial city of the Eastern emperors. In the north they discovered and colonized Iceland, and even Greenland; and there are good grounds for believing that an expedition, equipped in Iceland, founded a colony in what are now the New England States five centuries before Columbus discovered the West Indies. Unfortunately, the written descriptions extant of the Norse ships are extremely meagre, and if it had not been for the curious custom of the Norsemen of burying their great chiefs in one of their ships and heaping earth over the entire mass, we should now know nothing for certain of the character of their vessels. Many of these ship-tombs have been discovered in modern times, but it happened in the majority of instances that the character of the earth used was unsuited to their preservation, and most of the woodwork was found to be decayed when the mounds were explored. Fortunately, however, in two instances the vessels were buried in blue clay, which is an excellent preserver of timber, and, thanks to the discovery of these, we have now a tolerably complete knowledge of the smaller classes of vessels used by the Vikings. One of them was discovered, in 1867, at Haugen, but by far the most important was found in 1880, at Gogstad, near Sandefjord, at the entrance of the Fjord of Christiania. Though this vessel is comparatively small, she is, probably, a correct representative of the larger type of ships made use of by the renowned adventurers of the North in their distant expeditions.

In view of the great interest attaching to this find, a detailed description of the vessel is given. The illustrations (Figs. 22 to 26), showing an end elevation, longitudinal and cross-sections, and the half-plan with her lines, are taken from the "Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects."[13] The boat was clinker-built and wholly of oak. Her principal dimensions are: length, 77 ft. 11 in.; extreme breadth, 16 ft. 7 in.; and depth, from top of keel to gunwale, 5 ft. 9 in. The keel is 14 in. deep, the part below the rabbet of the garboard or lowest strakes of the planking, being 11 in. deep, and 4-1/2 in. thick at the bottom. The width across the rabbet is 3 in., while the portion above the rabbet and inboard is 7 in. wide. The keel and stem and stern-posts run into each other with very gentle curves. The keel itself is 57 ft. long, and to it are connected, by vertical scarves and a double row of iron rivets, the forefoot and heel-pieces, which latter are fastened in a similar manner to the stem and stern-post. These posts are 15 in. deep at the scarf, gradually tapering upwards. The framing of the bottom is formed of grown floors resting on the top of the keel, and extending in one piece, from shelf to shelf, as shown on the transverse section (Fig. 23). There are nineteen of these floors in all, spaced in the body of the boat, on the average 3 ft. 3 in. apart. They are 4 in. in diameter at the garboard strake, and taper in both dimensions, so that they are less than 3 in. at the shelf. They are not fastened to the keel. The planking is put on clinker fashion. There are sixteen strakes a side, the breadth of each, amidships, being on the average 9-1/2 in., including the land of 1 in., and the length of planks varies from 8 ft. to 24 ft. The thickness is generally 1 in. The tenth plank from the keel is, however, 1-3/4 in. thick, and forms a kind of shelf for the beam-ends. The third plank from the top is 1-1/4 in. thick, and is pierced with 4-in. holes for the oars, of which there are sixteen on each side. The two upper strakes are only 3/4 in. thick, and inside the top one is placed the gunwale, which is 3 x 4-1/2. The planks are fastened together by iron rivets spaced from 6 in. to 8 in. apart. The heads of the rivets are 1 in. in diameter, and the riveting plates 1/2 in. square. The planks are worked down from thicker slabs, and a ledge 1 in. in height is left on the inboard surface of the middle of each plank. The planks bear against each floor at two points, viz. the upper edge and the projecting ledge. Fig. 24 shows a section of a floor and of the plank, with its projecting ledge. The fastenings of the planking to the floors are very peculiar. Two holes are bored transversely in the ledge, one on either side of each floor. There is a corresponding hole running fore and aft through the floor, and through these holes are passed ties made of the tough roots of trees barely 1/4 in. in diameter, crossed on the ledge and passing once through each hole. The only iron fastening between the planking and the floors is at the extreme ends of the latter, where a single nail is driven through each, and riveted at the ends of the floors. The beams rest on the shelf strake and on the tops of the floor-ends. They are 7 in. deep and 4 in. wide. They are connected with the planking by knees (see the section, Fig. 23), fastened to their upper faces and to the side of the ship as far up as the oar-strake, or "mainwale," by means of oak trenails. The knees are not so wide as the beams, and consequently a ledge, or landing, is left on each side of the latter which supports the flooring, or bottom boards. The top strakes are connected to the body of the vessel by short timbers, shown in the section, Fig. 23. These are placed in the spaces between the knees. The beams are supported in the middle by short pillars resting on the throats of the floors.

The vessel was propelled by sails as well as oars. It was fitted with a single mast; the arrangements for stepping and raising and lowering the latter were peculiar. A beam of oak, 11 ft. long, 19 in. wide, and 14 in. deep, formed the step. A side elevation of this is shown at _s_, in the longitudinal section, Fig. 25, and a cross-section in Fig. 23. The step, as may be seen, is countersunk over the throats of the floors; it is tapered towards the ends, and a piece (_c_) nearly 12 in. thick, immediately forward of the mast, rises vertically out of it. This piece is fastened to a huge log of oak, 16 ft. long, 38 in. broad, and 14 in. deep in the middle, marked _f_ (Figs. 25 and 26), which rests on a sole-piece about 4 in. thick. The sole-piece is countersunk over the beams. The large log is called by Mr. Colin Archer the "fish," partly because its ends are fashioned to represent the tails of two whales, and partly because the mast partners of modern ships, which take the place of this heavy piece, are to this day called _Fisken_ in Norway. The fish contains a slot (_h_) nearly 6 ft. long, and the same width as the mast, 12-1/2 in. The mast goes through the forward end of the slot, and when it is in use the slot is filled up with a heavy slab. When the mast is lowered for going into action, or when going against a head-wind, the slab is removed, and the fore-stay slacked off, thus permitting the mast to fall aft. The sail used was a solitary square one. The rudder resembles a short oar. It is hung by a rope passing through a perforated conical chock on the starboard side of the ship. There is an iron eyebolt near the bottom edge, through which a rope probably passed for the purpose of raising the rudder when not in use. The rudder was worked by means of a tiller fitted into the socket at the upper end.

Unfortunately, the two extreme ends of the ship have decayed away, so that it is not possible to determine with accuracy what was the appearance of the bow and stern. It is, however, probable, from the direction taken by the planking towards the ends, that the vessel possessed very considerable sheer. As may be seen from the plan, the character of the lines was extremely fine, and it is probable that the boat was capable of high speed. The remains of the ropes which have been discovered prove that they were made from the bark of trees.

This vessel may be considered as a connecting link between the ancient and mediaeval types of ships. Her proportions and scantlings prove that her builders had a large experience of shipbuilding, that they fully understood how to work their material and to adapt it properly to the duty it had to fulfil, and also that they understood the art, which was subsequently lost, to be revived only in modern times, of shaping the underwater portion of the hull so as to reduce the resistance to the passage of the vessel through the water. The only part of the structural design to which any serious exception can be taken is the very slight character of the connection between the top sides and the body of the boat, and even this defect was probably not very serious when we take into account the lightness of the loading, and the fact that it probably consisted chiefly of live cargo, so that there was little dead weight to cause serious straining.

Vessels of the type of the Viking ships were built in Denmark at a very early date. In 1865 three boats were discovered buried in a peat bog in Jutland. Danish antiquaries consider that they were built about the fifth century of our era. The largest is 70 ft. in length and of such an excellent type that boats of somewhat similar form and construction are in universal use to this day all round the coasts of Norway. Such an instance of persistency in type is without parallel in the history of shipbuilding, and is a wonderful proof of the skill of the Norsemen in designing and building vessels. The boat in question is clinker-built, the planks having the same peculiarities as those of the Viking ship just described. It is of the same shape at both ends, and has great sheer at both stem and stern. The rowlocks, of which there are thirty, prove that the vessel was intended to be rowed in either direction. This also is a peculiarity of the modern Norwegian rowboat. The steering was effected by means of a large oar, or paddle. There is no trace of a mast, nor of any fitting to receive one; nor was the vessel decked. The internal framing was admirably contrived. In fact, it would be difficult, even at the present time, to find a vessel in which lightness and strength were better combined than in this fifteen-hundred-year-old specimen of the shipbuilder's art.