Infopanel 15

Viking ships

Today, we refer to typical Viking ships as longships or dragon ships, whereby longships, or “langskip” in Old Norse, referred exclusively to warships, while the term dragon ship originally meant any ship with a dragon's head on its stem. This is likely to have given rise to the name for the largest class of warships, which were called “dreki.” These were usually the ships of the leader of a fleet or the king. As flagships, the dragon ships were often over 30 m long and equipped with more than 30 pairs of oars. The Danish wreck Skuldelev 2, built in Ireland, was a very impressive warship with a length of 30 m and a width of only 4.5 m. With 30-32 rowers, these large ships must have had a crew of at least 60 to 100 Vikings.

The ancient and famous ship finds in the Oslo Fjord, the Gokstad ship and the Oseberg ship, are likely to have belonged to the next smallest type of warship. However, due to its slender and almost filigree construction and lavish decorations, the Oseberg ship must rather be described as a royal yacht that was only suitable for coastal waters. Such warships, with a length of 21.5 and 23.5 meters respectively, were equipped with 15 and 16 pairs of oars.

One of the warships excavated in Roskilde Fjord on Zealand was even smaller: the Skuldelev 5 wreck, which was only 17.3 m long and 2.5 m wide and could carry a crew of about 30 warriors with 13 pairs of oars. 

There were also a number of different types of merchant and transport ships. The largest of these was the knorr or knarr, which was used for peaceful long-distance voyages, such as Atlantic crossings to Iceland and Greenland. The wrecks of such ocean-going ships found to date were between 16.5 (Roskilde) and 22 m long and 4.5 to 5.5 m wide. These ships were therefore capable of transporting entire families, including their goods and domestic animals.

Shipbuilding

The most significant advancement of the Viking Age was the development of a seaworthy and fast sailing ship. Although the clinker-built double-ended ship had been in use for more than 1,000 years, Viking shipbuilders developed it into a seagoing sailing ship by adding a narrow long keel. 

The plank ship was always built on a keel, with the shape being determined by the stem, which was made from a single piece of wood. The frames were only inserted afterwards. Because the planks were split rather than sawn from the logs, the wood fibers were less damaged, which gave the ships additional elasticity and durability. Despite the overlaps of the planks, which were joined with square iron rivets, the individual planking had to be sealed with wool threads and tar. The sails were made of local sheep's wool, mostly brown in color, but there were also ships with striped or colorful sails. The rigging ropes were made of durable braided sealskin ropes.

Scandinavian sailors valued their ships so much that they not only gave them individual names, but also painted the hulls in bright colors and sometimes decorated them with gilded sterns and colorful pennants. Painted shields also adorned the sides of the ships. The emotional significance of ships for Viking sailors is also evident in the poetic descriptions of ships in Viking-era poetry: names such as faxi byrjar, “wind horse,” valr svalheims, “falcon of the cool land,” and valr víka, “falcon of the bays,” combine references to elegance and speed. More martial names include vargr hafs, “wolf of the sea,” and elfar ulfr, “wolf of the rivers.” Much more poetic is the name öndurr svanvangs, “ski of the swan bank,” whereby the bank of swans refers to a wave.