450 NORSK NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 



to Dr. Charles Kau, of the U. S. National Museum, for the loan (prob- 

 ably the only copy in Washington) of the work for this purpose. 



''When first discovered the boat, of course, was do longer in its-orig- 

 iual state. In course of time the washers of the bolts by which the 

 planks were fastened together had corroded ; the ropes joining the outer 

 parts of the boat to the inner frame- work had been destroyed; the planks, 

 in consequence, had separated and reassumed their original shape ; the 

 rowlocks had fallen from the gunwale; the ribs had sunk out of their 

 proper places, and lay in ditferent directions, while the stem and stern- 

 posts had detached themselves from the bottom plank. By degrees, as 

 the boat fell to pieces, these sank to the bottom to about the same 

 depth, whilst the peat, at the same time, grew up around them, cover- 

 ing and protecting them from destruction. The shape of the boat could 

 not, therefore, be directly ascertained from the pieces found, and the 

 sketch was made after it had been restored to its original form in the 

 JMusenm of Northern Antiquities at Flensburg.^ No drawing, however, 

 can iiilly convey the striking impression produced by the large, sharp, 

 and well-built boat itself. 



"The boat is 77 feet long, measured from stem to stern, and propor- 

 tionally rather broad in the middle, viz, 10 feet 10 inches at the bottom, 

 but higher and sharper at each end ; it consists of eleven oak planks, 

 five on either side, besides the bottom plank, of which the keel forms 

 part, the latter being only a little more than 1 inch deep and fully 8 

 inches broad at the middle of the boat, gradually diminishing and at 

 last disappearing entirely towards the stern posts. 



"On all the planks there are perforated clamps of one and the same 

 piece with the planks themselves, having been left projecting when the 

 plaijks were cut out of the solid timber— a most surprising fact, con- 

 sidering the high development to which the smith's art had been carried 

 by the people of the early iron period ; a fact, too, which proves that 

 they must have possessed a great abundance of timber, as they would 

 not otherwise have wasted it to that degree, only in order to save a few 

 nails, or to secure the clamps so much better. 



" The boat is clinker-built, the planks held together by large iron nails, 

 at intervals of 5^ inches,^ with large rounded heads outside and square 

 burs or washers inside. The spaces between the planks where they 

 overlap each other were filled up — caulked — with woolen stuff and 

 pitchy, sticky substance. The planks are cut from very fine pieces of 

 timber, the bottom plank being 46 feet 8 inches long, and all of one 

 piece. On both sterns, which are fixed to the bottom plank by means 

 of wooden pegs, there are ornamental grooves, and each of them shows 

 two large holes, which, to judge from the marks of wear, most likely 



' The restored boat is now in the Mnsonm at Kiel, Pi'ussia. • 



^lu the boat found at Snape, Suffolk, England, seven nails occupy a space of 3 feet, 

 which corresponds with the Nydam boat as stated by Engelhard. 



