Viking Longboats
Dragon headed and awe inspiring
Using this superior technology the Vikings were world travelers in an age when most men never ventured more than a few miles from the place of their birth. Powered by both a square sail and oars, and usually filled with a war party of Norsemen with their shields arrayed along the sides, these serpent headed shallow draft ships could travel on both rivers and the open sea. Viking warriors traveled far and wide seeking plunder, trade, and a glorious death in battle to assure them a place in Valhalla.
Longboats were built on a long keel and rib design that was covered with planking using an overlapping technique which was called "klinker." Klinker hulls are not solidly nailed, but flexibly riveted with hand made iron rivets through drilled holes. They usually had a single central mast with a large square sail and about eighteen oars. They were strongly built with a high bow and stern, and were the most seaworthy craft of their day. They often traveled in fleets and their ability to arrive and escape by water before military resistance could be organized, coupled with their desire for plunder, made them greatly feared raiders throughout Dark Age Europe.
The Viking warlord Eric the Red, and his son Lief Ericson are famous for voyaging west to what would become America. In Europe Catholic Monasteries were a favorite target for raids, as well as river and coastal towns. Some Vikings settled permanently in what became known as Normandy, others attacked and established a Norman presence in Naples. The word Norman, of course, comes from Norsemen or North men. In the east Vikings settled Kiev and Novgorod, and both sacked and served Byzantium.
UPDATE: My continuing interest in longboats has led me to the fact that there were at least two different kinds of Viking longboats. A karv was a war/raiding/trading vessel. Karvs could be up to seventy feet long and carry up to 60 warriors. A knarr was a merchant vessel, and was somewhat wider and travelled more under sail than oars. It is likely that the ships that travelled to Iceland, Greenland, and America were knarrs. A full article on this subject will be forthcoming if I can find sufficient information.
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