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CHAPTER V.
SHIPBUILDING AND SEAFARING.
THE almost complete absence of any allusion to Irish ships
1
during the eighth and ninth centuries shows that at this
time the Irish had no warships to drive back the powerful
naval forces of the Vikings. Meeting with no opposition
on sea the invaders were able to anchor their fleets in the
large harbours, and afterwards to occupy certain important
positions along the coasts. In this connection it is interesting
to note that the Irish word longphort (a
’
shipstead
’
; later,
’
a camp ’)
is used for the first time in the Annals of Ulster
with reference to the Norse encampments at Dublin and
Linn-Duachaill (840) ;
hence it has been concluded that
the early Norse long-phorts were not exactly fortified camps,
but
’
ships drawn up and protected on the landside, probably
by a stockaded earthwork.’ 8
The Annalists tell how, when the Vikings were expelled
from Dublin in 902, they fled across the sea to England,
leaving large numbers of their ships behind them. It was
probably the capture of these vessels that impressed upon
the Irish the advantages of this new method of warfare,
for they now began to build ships and to prepare to meet
1
Only one reference is to be found in the Annals. See Annals oj
the Four Masters, A.D. 728.
Eoin MacNeill :
"
The Norse Kingdom of the Hebrides
"
(Scottish
Review, Vol. XXXIX., pp. 254-276).
35
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