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Viking Transportation List of Categories
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How did the Vikings travel?
If a Viking was in his home village, he would probably not travel very far, as his main mode of transportation would be walking. However, the "high technology" of the Vikings’ day was their Longship! They used their ships like we use cars, and they had several varieties of them to suit the purpose that they intended to use them. For more information about the ships, please see the question below.
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Why did the Vikings travel so far?
They traveled because land was very scarce in their home countries, as all of the inheritance went to the oldest son at the time, and other siblings were left to struggle on their own.
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Can you describe different types of Viking ships?
The Knarr (or Knorr, in different countries) was the moving van of the day! Their "moving van" was called a "Knarr" (or Knorr) and was most likely 50-70' long, but was larger amidships and had two or three decks where they would stow their furniture, livestock, supplies. The upper deck was used for humans and their space, and the lower decks were used for livestock, furniture, and other goods that were being transported from place to place. As you might think, they were deeper in the water than the warships, and had rounded bilges so they would hold more goods. Generally, the crew spent their time on deck, perhaps under a deck tent for protection from weather or sun.
The Drakkar was a style of warship and it only had a single deck with a small area below the deck boards for carrying things. It was usually wider than the Knarr so more crew could be aboard for the battle ahead. These were rather shallow craft for their size, but allowed the Vikings to travel further up rivers to attack their enemies. These tended to be more "hour-glass" shaped. Our 40' "Norseman" is patterned after this style of ship.
For local travel with only one to six people, they would use a "Faering" built to their specifications which allowed them to explore even the smallest creeks and up to the heads of the rivers. They could either row or sail these small boats and would have a couple of these aboard their larger ships for exploring or finding safe channels to shore.
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How were the Viking ships built?
Most Viking ships were of a lapstrake construction which was devised by the Vikings as a strong, fast method of construction. In addition to this, they split the boards from the tree, instead of sawing them. In this manner, the strength of the grain of the wood made their boats more flexible and able to withstand the storms at sea.
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Did Vikings have beds on the ships?
On board a ship, the men would sleep near their rowing seat, as that is where all of their personal gear would be. They usually slept on the deck, probably on top of blankets or fur animal skins that they owned.
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How did the Vikings cook on a ship?
Cooking was tricky on board a wooden ship! Usually they used stones for ballast (to help balance the ship) and would have an area set aside for cooking for the whole ship. They used a tripod which had chains supporting a large, bowl-like pan (so it could swing as the ship moved in the water) in which they would have the fire going. Above the fire, supported by additional chains (so it could swing as well), they would have their pot with dinner cooking. Many times they would eat dried meat and fish rather than cook.
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How long were the Vikings on the ship?
Most of their voyages were 300- 500 miles long, taking 3-5 days at a time, island hopping across the North Atlantic from Norway or Denmark to the Shetland or Orkney Islands, then West to Iceland or South to Britain or Ireland, then to France or Spain and into the Mediterranian. Perhaps they would travel from Sweden or Finland down the rivers of Russia (the Swedes were known as the "Rus") to the Black Sea and on to the Mediterranean. Of course, if they were blown off course in a storm, they would be at sea much longer. Many times their ships caught fire (from cooking) or broke up in a storm and they perished at sea. Eric's Saga, the story of Eric the Red's trip to Greenland related that 27 ships started the voyage of colonization, but only 14 arrived at the destination. Those are not good odds.
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