PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 



615 



altliougli fastened to eaeli otlier by bolts of iron, riveted together, have 

 been tied to tlie frames by means of apertnres placed at regnlar inter- 

 vals, piirtly in ledges on the frame timbers and partly in cleats pro- 

 jecting from the planks themselves; or, in other words, on the inside 

 of the boards, at every rib, a long clamp had been carved ont of the 

 wood; two holes had been made in the clamps and in the under side 

 of the rib a similar one, through Avhich the ro])e had been run. 



It seems surprising that a people so far advanced in the ap])lication 

 of the useful arts should have bestowed so much labor on the shaping 

 of the plank without some definite purpose; it would appear to us that 

 this peculiar method of joining had rendered the ship rather weak, 

 although it may, at the same time, have given it more elasticity and 

 increase in speed. 



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lU'ILDIXf: OK A Sun- 

 , -Tlie liayeux Tul.H-liy," 



M.igaiiiiP, Mari'h, lS>ir. ) 



As previously stated, the ancient Guhi law specified two classes of 

 woikmen engaged in the construction of war vessels which the district 

 had to furnish — the carpenters who prepared and framed the skeleton, 

 and the Avorkers on thin boards, who whittled the boards and i)ut them 

 on, and the latter class appears to have ])een charged with the lab<n'ious 

 task of prei)aring the planks, which, in addition to the cleats, were pro- 

 vided with beaded edges within and without. Figure 132, taken from 

 h^dward J. Lowell's j^aper on Tlie Bayeux Tapestry,' illustrates the 

 method emi)loyed in shaping the planks. 



The tightening of the joints was effected by means of a thin layer of 

 oakum made of cow's hair. 



The gunwale being entirely destroyed, the form of tholes can not be 

 ascertained; it may, however, be assumed that they have been of the 

 same pattern as is still in use in the boats on the north and west coast 

 of Norway. The rowlocks of all the jSTorthland boats, from the most 

 ancient to the present I^^orwegian fishing craft, exhibit the same gen- 

 eral model, although they differ from one another in size and details of 



In Scribiicr's ila.naziiie, Marrli, 1887. 



