Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introductory Chapters By the late Professor York Powell - III. The Wicking Fleets
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characteristic rowlocks of the Nordland boat, a crutch
of tough wood [**symbol] seized with bast to the upper strake,
with a loop of bast to prevent the oar-loom from
slipping in getting forward.
We have in these beautiful vessels, and in the less
well-preserved relics which have been discovered by
Thames, or Lea, or Seine, or by Southampton Water,
the clearest proofs of the skill, originality, and success
of the Scandinavian shipwright, whose observation
and patience had been able to produce a boat able to
row or sail, ride out a gale or make way in a calm,
which should have "give" enough in her hull to stand
a shock that would stave in and sink a stiff-built boat,
but be stanch enough to carry a heavy mast and sail
without strain; which should be of such light draught
without being crank or unseaworthy, as to be able to
creep into any haven, but of burthen enough to
carry fifty men with stores and gear for a month or
more.
And this model, so carefully adapted to its conditions
of use, held its own till the twelfth century
when the heavy, slow, carvel-built mediæval cog took
its place as a vessel of burthen and war. The famous
Long Serpent of Anlaf Tryggwason, built in 996 by
his shipwright, Thorberg Shafting at Lathe-hammer,
with a 74 ell (148 feet) keel and 34 benches, was perhaps
the highest pitch of perfection to which any
vessel on these lines ever attained.
To handle such craft as the Gokstad boat so as to
get the most out of her and keep her out of danger
in a gale in the North Sea, or a squall off the
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