SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING. 205 



for oars, and showed no trace of a mast. The oaken boat 

 was remarkable for the elegance anri the flexibility of its 

 outlines ; it measured 24 metres, 80 feet, between the high 

 points of the two stems ; the greatest breadth was 3'50 

 metres, nearly twelve feet. It was propelled by means of 

 14 pairs of oars, exactly like those of our own day, the 

 rudder was narrow, and had been attached to one of the 

 sides of the boat. 



A boat in most particulars resembling these, but which 

 belonged to the age of iron, was found at Tune, near 

 Frederikstad, in Norway. This had still preserved the 

 remains of a mast. 



A year or two ago an ancient Viking ship, which had 

 been deposited in a grave mound at Sandeherred, in Nor- 

 way, was discovered and disinterred for preservation in the 

 Museum of Antiquities connected with the University of 

 Christiania. Great importance was attached to it. While 

 the operation of disinterment was being prosecuted, a 

 correspondent of the Hamburgh Correspondent, writing 

 from Bergen, said: 'A measurement made on the 14th 

 May showed the length of the portion already excavated to 

 be 71 J feet, and it is estimated that the total length will 

 be about 75 feet. As regards the equipment of the ship, 

 it is evident that, when deposited in the grave mound, it 

 was as fully armed and equipped as when it lay ready to 

 sail on a Viking expedition. So far as can be judged at 

 the present stage of the process of excavation, all the 

 appliances in use at the time for evolutions at sea are 

 represented with quite remarkable completeness. The 

 greater part of a mast in good condition remains ; the 

 entire length of the mast seems to have been about 22 

 feet. Remnants of sails and tackle are frequent, as also 

 fragments or complete specimens of ships' utensils and 

 divisions, the place and application of which it will be the 

 difficult task of antiquarians to solve. Several wooden 

 articles of a peculiar form have been found in excellent 

 preservation, and executed with remarkable skill. That 

 these articles, which are about one and a-half feet in length, 



