Decking Out Wave
Crossers
The Viking Ships Museum's shipyard at Roskilde is
one of the most exciting ports of call for the
Beowulf
pilgrim, or for anyone who likes wooden ships or viking stuff.
Five 1,000-year-old ships were salvaged from Roskilde Fjord, and their
replicas now sail out of Roskilde Harbour.
When
Beowulf heard about Hrothgar's trouble with Grendel, he
be decked out for him,
declared he'd go seekover
the swan's road the strife-worn king,the famous chieftain,
for
he needed men" (
Beowulf, lines
198-200).
At Roskilde you
can see what "decking out a wave-crosser" entails.
Pile of Lumber
To
the left you see an early stage in the life of any wooden vessel: a
pile of lumber. The planks are stacked with "stickers" between the
layers so they'll dry evenly. The weight of the lumber on top controls
twisting of the lower planks as they season.
Behind
the stack is an almost-completed boat.
Below
right, is a demonstration of the principle of selecting lumber for
specific parts of the ship, so the piece can be shaped with the minimum
of cross-grain cutting.
Beside the roughed-out timber you see
two
steerboards. A
steerboard was always attached to the right-hand side of the ship. The
ship was docked with the left side toward the wharf, to avoid
damage to the steerboard.
Sailors still say "port" for left, and "starboard" for right.
As you'll see on the model of the
Sutton Hoo ship,
the 7th-century Anglo-Saxons used the same steering device on their
ships.
Below are two close-ups of a trim
little craft built the traditional way. I noticed that the
Vikingeskibs Museet offers
to build vessels to order. Perhaps this is one of them. (If only ...!)
Up close, you can see how rivets fasten the
strakes to each
other and to the frame.
Lapstrake Boatbuilding
The
lapstrake
method of boatbuilding
is still widely used, and produces vessels which can be very seaworthy
and long-lived. Bending planks around a frame gives strength
with
flexibility, which allows the vessel to take a pounding from waves or
solid objects like rocks and docks without breaking.
Below
right, you see the interior of the boat, showing the carefully shaped
ribs, strakes (planks), and seats (acting as cross beams) with
reinforcing angled pieces called
knees.
Below
centre, is a pretty lapstrake craft,
Christina. Beyond it you see
some of the many activities taking place around the yard; a man working
on a boat part to the left, and people setting up a viking-style
fairground. Activities at the
Vikingeskibs
Museet include sailing
trips, guided tours, films, viking craft workshops and archaeological
workshops. You can find out more about these at
the
Museum's web site.Glendalough
Sea Stallion
Below the Christina picture is the magnificent
Havhingsten fra Glendalough
(the Glendalough Sea Stallion). This is the world's largest viking ship
reproduction, at about 30 meters (98 feet) total length. It was due to
set
sail for Dublin, Ireland on July 1, a couple of days after
this picture was taken. The original vessel, a warship known as
Skuldelev 2,
was salvaged from the bottom of Roskilde harbour where it had been
scuttled in about 1072 CE after about 30 years of service. It was built
by vikings in Dublin about 1042, as ascertained by analysis of the
salvaged timber.
In
the close-up above you'll see that the ship's steerboard is missing. It
had been removed for repairs, and there it is (below to the left) on a
couple of sawhorses.
The
salvaged pieces of the original ship can be viewed in the
Vikingeskibs
Museet's hall, supported on an iron frame in the shape of the
ship.
Below
is a
knarr,
a reproduction of a viking-age cargo ship.
There
were plenty of photogenic old-fashioned vessels in the yard and
harbour, and clearly the people working with them were enjoying what
they were doing.
A younger person who likes boats
and
woodworking could do worse than come to Roskilde and try to serve as an
apprentice to the shipwrights here.
But whatever
your age, if you're into
Beowulf
and vikings, don't miss the Viking Ships Museum!
raises intriguing possibilities. For
instance you
might get the shipyard to build you a viking-style vessel of your own.
There are more affordable
possibilities, such as boat trips.
