PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE NORTH OF EUROPE. 



By CtEduge H. Bokhmek. 



A tale of the times of old, 



The deeds of the days of other years. (Ossian.) 



INTRODl'dTION. 



Ill studyiiii!: the art <»f sliipbuildiiig, a8 i»ei't'ormo(l in the North of 

 Europe and illustrated by both Saga accounts and actual remains, our 

 atteutiou is drawn toward numerous similarities witli the ships of 

 ancient Greece and Eonie, which su.ngest a common origin. Althougli 

 this is denied by many investigafors, on the supposition that the 

 ships of long-stretched build without sail, or only using it with favor- 

 able and constant wines, ui)on the com])aratively quiet waters of the 

 ^Egean, Ionian and Thyrrhenian seas, could not be an examj)le to the 

 people who navigated the northern seas, with their short, chopping 

 waves, sudden changes of wind, tremendous storms, slioal shores, and 

 sand bars, and that these people '' had to be their own teachers,'" yetthere 

 lingers something in the naval structures of Scandinavia which seems 

 to indicate that the maritime explorations of the peojile of the south, 

 the Plupuiciaus, did have a tendency to influence the ancient inhabit- 

 ants of the north in the construction of their vessels. It is true little 

 is known in a direct way of the shipbuilding of the Phuiuiciaus, yet the 

 art taught them by the Egyptians and illustrated in some of the ancient 

 relics of the seventeenth century e. (".- may be trac(Ml to the Greeks whose 

 naval structures, at the height of their achievements, in many points 

 show a remarkable resemblance to those one thousand years older,^ 

 and are reproduced in the Eoman ships. 



Of the luival structures of tliese two mitions contemporaries have 

 given accounts,'' and while often writtcji without technical knowledge 

 their writings are not without value. Considerable attention has been 

 given the subject during the last three and a half centuries, as shown by 



' Barthold : Geschichte der Deutschcu Seemacht. In Ranmer's Hist. Taschenlnich, 

 III Folge, Baud I, 1850, p. 228. 



- Baumcisfer : Deiilaiiiilcr des Klassischeii Altertliiuns, ]». 15ii;^, tijj. 1656. 



■' Graser : Flotti' oincr iigyptischen Konigin. 



" ,'Esc-hyliis, Apiiiaii, Ai'isto])liaii('S, CiPsar, Diodoi', l']iuii)idis, Hesycliiiis, Livius, 

 riutarcli. Pollux, 8ophofles, TlituididL'S, XenopUou. 



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