Oct. 6, 1881] 



NATURE 



537 



planks arc evidently worked down from stout slabs, and 

 in doing so a ledge an inch high has been left on the 

 inner surface running along the middle of the plank. The 

 floors are not fayed down on the boards ; they have only 

 two points of contact with them, the upper edges and the 

 ledge above mentioned, in which are two holes bored 

 transversely, one on each side of the timber. Through 

 these holes and corresponding holes in a fore and aft 

 direction through the timbers are passed ties made of the 

 tough roots of trees. These ties are very slight, scarcely 

 J inch diameter ; they are crossed over the ledge on the 

 board, only passing once through each hole. The ledge 

 has been removed in the spaces between the timbers, so 

 that the remaining parts under the timbers look like cleats 

 fastened to the plank. With the exception of a nail 

 driven through the " shelf " and riveted on the extreme end 

 of the floors, these ties seem tobe the only fastenings used 

 at this part of the vessel. The floors are only about 4 

 inches diameter, a foot from the garboards, and taper, 

 siding as well as moulding, down to 3 inches or even less 

 at the shelf. They are not fastened to the keel. 



As already stated, the beams, which are sided 7 inches, 

 moulded 4 inches, rest on what Mr. Archer has called the 

 " shelves," which however only differ from the ordinary 

 planking by being j inch thicker, and of greater lengths, 

 the longest piece being about 4S feet. The beam-ends 

 also rest on the ends of the floor timbers. They are 

 secured by knees extending down the ship's side from the 

 upper edge of the "main wale'' with an arm on the 

 beam. These knees are fitted close to the planking at the 

 side, and fastened with oak trenails. Being a little nar- 

 rower than the beams, a ledge is formed on each side for 

 the bottom boards or flooring, which is made to fit into 

 these ledges from beam to beam, thus forming a con- 

 tinuous platform. A strip of wood is nailed on top of the 

 beams in continuation of the knees where these are too 

 short to welt from opposite sides. The beams are sup- 

 ported amidships by piflars resting on the throats of the 

 floors. The top sides, consisting of the two thin boards 

 already mentioned, are connected with the body of the 

 ship by independent timbers intervening between the 

 knees, and extending from the under side of the gunwale 

 some distance down the side, but not so far as the plat- 

 form. There are no timbers in the upper part of the 

 vessel, overlapping or making a shift with the floors.' 



It will be seen that by this system of constniction the 

 upper portion of the ship is altogether unconnected with 

 the bottom part, so far as framing is concerned, an 

 arrangement which would scarcely be safe where much 

 ballast or a heavy cargo is carried on the ship's bottom. 

 No doubt heavy weights when carried were placed above 

 the platform, in which case there would not be the same 

 tendency for the two sections to part company. 



Perhaps the most singular part of this singular ship is 

 the arrangement for stepping and supporting the mast. 

 The step is a solid log of oak 11 feet long and 19 inches 

 broad by 14 inches deep at the middle, tapering to the 

 ends. It is counter-sunk over the throats of the floors, 

 to which it is fastened by means of small knees on either 

 side. From this trunk a branch grows out vertically in 

 front of the mast and quite close to it. This branch, 

 which is nearly 12 inches thick, is fastened to what Mr. 

 Archer has called the " fish." 



The fish is a ponderous piece of oak lying along the 

 middle line of the vessel, on top of the beams, and ex- 

 tending over five spaces. It is 16 feet long, 38 inches 

 broad, and 14 inches deep at the middle. This block is 

 modelled so as to represent the tails of two fishes or 

 whales resting on a flat slab or sole piece about 4 inches 

 thick. The slab is counter-sunk over the teams and well 



* This mode of binding the two sides together by means of beams half- 

 way between gunwale and keel is still practised in the west and north of 

 Norway. Even small skiffs are tied together in this way, loose thwarts 

 being placed over the beams, only resting in a notch cut in the knees which 

 secure the beams, while the floor-tioshers merely butt up agains' the beams. 



secured to them by knees. A large slice is taken off the 

 back of the fish, the upper surface thus forming two planes 

 inclining to either end. The extreme ends of the tails 

 are only about 3 inches thick above the slab. A slot 5 

 feet 9 inches long and 12.1 inches wide (the diameter of 

 the mast) is cut in the fish from a point a little in front of 

 the middle towards the stern. The mast is stepped 

 through the forward end of this slot, and when erect kept 

 in its place by a heavy slab fitted into the slot. In the 

 end view this slab is shown with the after end raised level 

 with the forward end. By removing the slab and slacking 

 off the fore-stay the mast would be free to fall aft in the 

 slot, and could thus easily be lowered. In order that the 

 beam nearest the mast should not interfere with this 

 manoeuvre there is a depression in it which enables the 

 mast to fall back the whole length of the slot.^ There is 

 a stanchion about 8 feet high, with a cross-beam at top 

 in which are semicircular depressions for the spars to rest 

 in when not in use. There have been three such 

 stanchions. 



The mast, which is \2\ inches diameter, has been cut 

 about 10 feet from the foot. The extreme top of one of 

 the spars found in the ship, corresponding in size to the 

 part which remains, has rotted away; but if this spar, a=; 

 seems probable, is the upper portion of the mast, the 

 whole length may have been 40 feet. There is another 

 spar which looks as if it might have been the yard. It is 

 broken off near the middle, but Mr. Archer estimates its 

 full length at 35 feet, diameter at slings 8i inches, at 

 arms 3^ inches. Abreast of the forward end of the fish, 

 strong pieces of wood, one on either side, each with two 

 circular sockets, are fitted down between the timbers just 

 above the platform. Possibly one of these sockets may 

 have served as a step for a squaresail boom. The other 

 may have received a pair of shears to give elevation to 

 the fore stay when raising or lowering the mast. 



With regard to the rudder, a conical piece of wood 

 sufficiently long to keep the rudder clear of the ship's 

 side is fitted with its baee to the outside planking; 

 through a hole bored through the centre of the cone, and 

 a corresponding hole in the rudder, a stout rope is rove, 

 provided with a knot at the outer end and made fast in- 

 board. This rope acts as a pivot, allowing the rudder to 

 be twisted by means of the tiller fitted athwartships. .An 

 iron staple near the lower extremity of the rudder, and a 

 small ring bolt at the upper end may have been fitted 

 with guys leading aft to steady the rudder and keep it 

 immersed when the ship was under way. The rudder- 

 head or stem is round, 6 inches diameter. At the pivot 

 it is 7 inches thick, thence decreasing in thickness down- 

 wards. The breadth is 15 inches at pivot, increasing to 

 22 inches at foot. Both edges are bevelled off, particu- 

 larly the front one, which is reduced nearly to a feather 

 edge. The rudder is all of one piece of wood. 



The extreme ends of the vessel are unfortunately gone, 

 so that it is not easy to see how she has been finished off 

 here. The lower planking takes a very decided turn 

 upwards as it approaches the ends, running in fact almost 

 parallel with the posts. If therefore all the wood ends 

 have joined the posts, these must have been very high. 

 It seems not improbable that part of the planking has 

 been received into a rabbet in the gunwale, or in a breast- 

 hook connecting the gunwale with the stem or sternpost. 

 This however is merely a conjecture. 



If the old ship can be looked upon as a fair sample of 

 the ships of her time, it is evident that shipbuilding a 

 thousand years ago was something very different from 

 what we now understand by that term. What strikes one 

 most forcibly on seeing this vessel as she now stands is 

 the extreme lightness of her scantling and the total 

 absence of anything in the shape of lining, longitudinal 

 stringers, or similar contrivances for giving what we 



^ In the Scandinavian languages the technical term for the framing which 

 now takes the place of this colossal structure in our modem ships — the mast 

 partners — is still Fiskcn, the fish. 



