The Russellville Democrat., 1892-06-23
THE STORY OF A VIKING SHIP

New York who saw the incident.
 THE STORY OF A VIKING SHIP Built 1000 Years Ago by Norsemen- A Vessel Used for a Tomb.
 One of the most interesting ex- ] hibits at the National Museum is a
 miniature Viking ship-an exact re. production on a small scale of one
 of the vessels used by the Norsemen
 in a semi-heroic age, 1000 years
 ago. In such craft they were ac-
 customed to SCOUT the ocean, verita-
 ble terrors of the seas, pillaging
 communities along the shore and
 disporting themselves in a thor
 oughly freebooter-like style. Many
 of their national poems, called
 "sagas,' have been preserved to
 the present day, which give most
 interesting accounts of voyages in
 these great and stanch boats for war
 and other purposes.
 These classic verses, however, do
 not call up to the mind so vivid a
 picture of the lives that were led by
 those hardy people as is presented
 by discovery of their own personal
 relics and belongings, such as was
 made short time ago at Godstad,
 near the mouth of Christiania
 Fjord. There a burial mound of the Vikingslwas unearthed, and in the center of it was found one of
 their ships--an open boat of great size, which was constructed on such scientific principles and with such excellent workmanship as the art of ship building even now would hardly be able to improve upon. The craft was eighty feet in length by seventeen feet beam, "clinker built pointed at both ends--and made throughout with oak timbers and boards put together with iron nails, the seams being calked with oakum manufactured from cows hair.
 The ship lay on even keel, just as she had been placed originally in the burial mound, and on board of her were found the various equipments and articles of furniture which be- longed to a vessel of the Vikings. There was single mast, which was unshipped when there was a head xr,,,I 1r -Lo.. n Lo{+1, x.-ne ..~....s
 nent. The mast bore one large square sail. However, the craft de- pended chiefly for motive power upon great oars twenty feet long, of which there were sixteen on each side. They were piled notin rowlocks, but through holes in the sides. Wheth- CT the oarsmen stood up or were seated while rowing it is impossible to state with certainty, but it is probable that they did the former, inasmuch as no trace of thwarts or seats was found, and they could hardly have managed such big oars otherwise than standing erect. Whether more than one man worked at each oar cannot be told. At all events such ship must have had complement of at least forty sailors.
 As had been said, the vessel was built after the fasEion of an open boat--the bow and stern rising high in graceful lines. There was no deck, but boards were placed across, readily movable, so as to serve as sort of false deck, beneath which articles were slowed away. A tent cloth was stretched over some part of the craft, under which those on board could find shelter from sun or rain. In the ship described were discovered four wooden supports for the tent, together with portions of the tent cloth and of the cordage employed for fastening it. The supports were heavy boards twelve feet long. with heads of animals fantastically carved and painted at the. upper ends. They were in- tended to be placed obliquely, so as to form two crutches, one at each end of the tent, which were :con- nected by pole, thus forming a gable ended roof. Over this frame work the tent cloth was fastened.
 Among the interesting objects found on board of the ship were sleeping berths, very much broken, which were made exactly like the | low bedstead in common use today | among the Norwegian peasantry. | They were constructed so as to be | easily taken to pieces and stored away in small compass. Parts were discovered of superb wooden chair, which was probably the seat of the commander in chief. The arms of the chair were carved to represent grotesque heads of ami mals. There was a great variety of cooking utensils, including large and massive copper kettle with a gracefully wrought iron chain for suspending it over the fire. Like wise tubs and buckets of wood, wooden plates, and several small and finely carved drinking cups. The cooking apparatus was not com monly used on board the vessel, but on shore at landing places. the Vikings did sometimes make long voyages across the seas, they usually kept as near the coast as practicable. Another article of practical use was a landing stage, twenty-five feet long and twenty inches wide, for the crew and pas senpers to get ashore.