io6 : The Atlantic 



unearthed and preserved in Norway. They include the Gokstad ship, 

 the Osberg ship and other variant forms, and a number o£ them are 

 now assembled and displayed in the museum at Bygdoe near Oslo. 



Even the earliest o£ the Viking ships is already a highly developed 

 vessel. The sizes of the ships, their graceful lines and seaworthy 

 qualities; the skill and strength shown in their construction; the at- 

 tention devoted to mechanical detail such as the method of securing 

 the permanent steering oar and of closing the thole holes when the 

 vessel was under sail; all these imply a long history of seafaring and 

 shipbuilding experience. 



Not only the character of the Viking ships but also the ways in 

 which these ships were used by the Norwegians, the Swedes, the 

 Danes and the colonists during the great age of Viking expansion 

 suggest that they were already bold and experienced seamen. We shall 

 see in a moment how rapidly and how far they traveled. 



We know already that there was a background for this age of de- 

 velopment and that this background included not only the Norse 

 but also other people who dwelt about the North Sea and the Baltic. 

 From classic sources there are Caesar's references to the seafaring 

 people in Gaul and beyond Gaul to the north. There are classic ref- 

 erences to the trade that centered about the Cornish tin mines and 

 the traders that came from all points of the compass to carry away 

 the tin to their own countries. These include references to the 

 large skin boat known in ancient Ireland as the curragh, a shrunken 

 form of which has survived in Ireland but which seems in pre- 

 Christian times to have had a much wider distribution. 



Pythias, traveling in the last quarter of the fourth century before 

 Christ, gives a detailed description of the Cornish tin mines and of 

 the effect of widespread trade and travel on the character of the 

 miners and merchants. Pythias sailed around England and Scotland. 

 He also sailed to the island of Thule, which was apparently Iceland, 

 and left an observation on the character of the ice field. So far as the 

 classic records are concerned, Pythias discovered all these things for 

 himself and for the Mediterranean civilization of which he was a 

 part, but it is important to notice that these are not discoveries from 

 the point of view of the North Sea people. Pythias himself reported 

 that when he was along the Scottish coast, or in the islands beyond 

 it, he was told quite accurately the direction in which Thule lay and 

 the average length of time it took to get there in a sailing vessel. 



Back of Pythias, we are dependent largely on archaeological records, 

 and here we find that the interpretations of the archeologists help to 



