42 ALL AFLOAT 



of the four — Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova 

 Scotia, or New England — are to be included 

 in the Vikings' three. In any case, the only 

 inevitable two are Newfoundland and Nova 

 Scotia, with which the subsequent history of 

 Canada also begins. 



But even if the Vikings never came to Canada 

 at all, their ships could not be refused a place 

 in any history of sailing craft ; for it is the 

 unique distinction of these famous freelances 

 of the sea to have developed the only type of 

 ancient and mediaeval hull which is the admira- 

 tion of the naval world to-day. The kind of 

 vessel they used in the tenth century is the 

 craft of most peculiar interest to Canadian 

 history, though it has never been noticed 

 there except by the merest landsman's refer- 

 ence. The special type to which this vessel 

 belonged was already the result of long 

 development. The Vikings had a way of 

 burying a chief in his ship, over which they 

 heaped a funeral mound. Very fortunately 

 two of these vessels were buried in blue clay, 

 which is an excellent preserver of timber ; so 

 we are able to see them to-day in an almost 

 perfect state. The one found in 1880 at the 

 mouth of the Christiania fjord is apparently 

 a typical specimen, though smaller than many 



