642 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



feet, leaving' 48 feet in all, or .■^> feet for each room longitiuliually, tln^ 

 live-fold accoinmodatioiis had to be provided for the crew of Kniit 

 the Great's shij),' in which eight men were stationed in each half 

 division. Applying, then, a nniform scale thronghont, each division 

 shoidd have occupied at least 4^ feet longitndinal space against 3 feet 

 as in the sixteen-seater. Unsatisfactory and uncertain as this method 

 may be, in the absence of other data it aftbrds the only means of 

 approximately computing the length of the ships. 



The determination of width is still more difHcult, there being in the 

 sagas but one instance in which it is stated that a ship of thirty-two 

 oars on each side (probably the Mariasti^e owned ])y King Sverre) for 

 its passage required a channel of 7.."»3 meters (2o feet, 10 inches) to be 

 cut through the ice. 



A scale might be had in the length of oars, which for most effective 

 rowing require an internal leverage of 1 against 2 to -"> external lever- 

 age. An oar of 18 feet, therefore, would require for its handling at least 

 6 feet internal space, or 12 feet for the two corresponding oars, and at 

 least 5 feet should be added for the longitudinal central shaft in which 

 the mast is to be raised and lowered, thus giving a width of ship of 17 

 feet for an 18-foot oar. (It may here be stated that in the Gokstad 

 ship, fully described elsewhere, oars were found of lO and 18^ feet in 

 length, while the width of the shij) is 10 feet and 10 inches.) 



For the determination of height but one insufficient account exists 

 additional to the known ships, this being in the ship built by Ealing 

 Hteinvaeg, Kider the Messenger, and Earl Philippus of Tunberg, in 

 120(), which was so high that "a man must be one of the tallest who, 

 standing on the frames, could with his broadax touch the ceiling ot the 

 liooring.'" The Korsu^en being built by Gunner in 1253, at Kavnholt 

 in Bohusleu, was 4.23 meters (14 feet) above the water line,' and Bishop 

 Haakon of Bergen, ship built in 1330 was 1.88 meters (O^^ feet) higli.^ 



As explained in the preceding, actual linds have shown the longi- 

 tudinal distance between the oars to have been 3 feet for the smaller 

 vessels, gradually increasing to 4i feet for the largest vessel, of which 

 the saga has given an account; allowing them a constant of 10 feet for 

 each, the stem and stern cabins, we are enabled to give an approxima- 

 tion of the length of the various classes of vessels. 



The 13-seater w(mld thus have a length of 71 feet; 15-seater, 77 feet;^ 

 10-seater, 80 feet;*^ 20-seater, 92 feet; 22-seater, 98 feet; 23-seater, 101 

 feet; 25-seater, 119 feet; 27-seater, 120 feet; 30-seater, 137 feet;^ 



' Konungsognr (ed. Unger, cited by Nicolayseu, Laugskibet fra Gokstad, ji. 186). 



" Konuugs sogiir (ed Unger, cit. by Nicolayseu) p. 223. 



3 76(V?., p. 42.-), 426. 



^D.Norv. viii, No. 119. 



"Actual leugth of Nydam boat, wbicb is a lo-seater. 



'Actual leugtb of Ifi-scater Gokstad sliip. 



'Computed by X E, Tuxen : De Nordiske Laugskibet at 160. 



