woodrat

The earliest vessels which have yet been excavated in Scandinavia and Northern Europe are not the Viking sailing ships we all know but are rowed vessels without the capacity to sail. Apart from small paddled boats known from grave burials, the earliest major excavated vessel is the Hjortspring vessel which dates from the 4th century BCE and is a sewn vessel propelled by paddles and having a keel plank.

The use of sail is thought to have occurred late in this region and the reasons for this late adoption are far from clear. The earliest accepted archaeological evidence for sail in Scandinavia and northern Europe comes from picture stones dated to the 6th century CE at the earliest. The earliest excavated sailing ship is the well known and frequently modelled Oseberg vessel of the early 9th century CE.
Before the Viking era, large vessels for transport of men or goods seem to have been rowed vessels lacking a true keel and a mast. It is not till the Kvalsund boat, a rowed vessel of the late 8th century, was found do we see a true keel and it is from this vessel that the viking age is said to begin.

The famous longships of the viking age were often ship burials but in the pre-viking era the boat finds are sometimes found to be bog sacrifices. These vessels were deliberately sunk or broken up in bogs together with weapons and armour similarly broken, which suggests a deliberate sacrifice to a beneficent god to celebrate a victory or as part of religious rites. No human remains have been found with the vessels.
The most important bog finds were the Nydam boats. These were excavated in 1863 and, of the three vessels found, only one has been preserved. This is the Nydam B boat, a rowed vessel 23 metres in length with only a keel plank and no mast step. There were 15 thwarts and probably 28 or 30 rowers. A quarter rudder was found with the boat. The boat was constructed from oak and a large part of the vessel has been preserved.
There are similarities of Nydam B with the Sutton Hoo saxon ship burial and suggestion has been made that the Nydam B boat may have been the type of vessel that the Frisians, Saxons and Jutes used to reach southern England. However, the Nydam boat is built for coastal or riverine travel and would have had great difficulty with the open ocean so exactly how this crossing was made remains unclear.
The lack of a true keel and the construction of the hull make it likely that hogging of the hull would have been a problem. Found in association with Nydam B were many staves and wooden devices which have been interpreted (Akerlund 1963) as being remnant of the mechanism of a hogging truss. This has been questioned by other authorities and remains a possibility.
I plan to attempt a model of the Nydam B boat at 1:20 scale using the dimensions estimated by Akerlund who has allowed for 14% wood shrinkage over the century since excavation. I am still considering whether to include the hogging truss in the reconstruction.
 
I cannot start yet as I am awaiting receipt of a publication from Germany on the boat
Cheers
Dick
 

I have roughed out the keel plank as well as the stem and stern posts out of lacy she-oak.
The shaping of these members will be the most difficult part of the build because of the complex 3-D shape. I will endeavour to include some rocker to the keel plank.

Cheers
Dick

Thanks Siggi52 for the info and useful discussion by private message. He suggested that acquiring and using the most recent plans made by the National Museum in Copenhagen may produce a more upto date model.  A recent replica was made from these plans. An excellent model would be made from these plans were they available from the museum.
IHowever
However, I have proceeded too far along a particular line namely the Akerlund plans to go back to scratch. In addition, Akerlund is the only reconstruction to show a practicable solution to the problem of hogging and twisting of the hull and hopefully I can test his concept in a model. The Nydam Tveir replica shows no evidence of a hogging solution.
 
The next step, having started the building board, is to carve the keel plank , stem and stern post.
At the end of the day , if I finish it, the model will be my modification of Akerlund's concept. I do not pretend it will be a "replica" of the original boat as I don't think that can be done.
Cheers
Dick

Thanks, John. The Hjortspring vessel was reconstructed with and without a hogging truss and the crew said it handled much better with the truss.
Also this Nydam replca seems to have some sort of anti-hogging device rigged.

Cheers
Dick

I have now received the monograph of Harald Akerlund 1963

It is in swedish but does have a useful english abstract and the plans are well printed.  I have looked at the original reconstruction by the excavator Engelbrecht 1863 and by Shetelig and Johannesen 1929 and it is my opinion that Akerlund's reconstruction is the most likely to approximate the true shape of the hull. He also cogently argues that the present display of the hull is inaccurate as the stern has been displayed as the stem and vice versa. He concludes that the rudder was installed on the port side.  The retrieved rudder seems to support this as well as some holes in the sternpost (as he calls it) which may well be supports for the rudder. I am not convinced of this as I think he may have put the aerofoil rudder back to front. Nonetheless, the rudder side need not be starboard as in the later viking vessels. Indeed, there evidence from stone carving from Gotland of both a quarter rudder at the rear and another one at the fore quarter.
 
In any case, I will go with Akerlunds lines and orientation although I may put the rudder to starboard. He also justifies the presence of a sophisticated central strengtheing frame and hogging truss. Otherwise the extreme thinness of the hull planking would lead to failure of the hull, I think his reconstruction of this is good and explains the profusion of unexplained carved wood pieces found with the hull. I will include the hogging truss as I did with my mycenaean galley.

Dick

The earliest vessels which have yet been excavated in Scandinavia and Northern Europe are not the Viking sailing ships we all know but are rowed vessels without the capacity to sail. Apart from small paddled boats known from grave burials, the earliest major excavated vessel is the Hjortspring vessel which dates from the 4th century BCE and is a sewn vessel propelled by paddles and having a keel plank.

The use of sail is thought to have occurred late in this region and the reasons for this late adoption are far from clear. The earliest accepted archaeological evidence for sail in Scandinavia and northern Europe comes from picture stones dated to the 6th century CE at the earliest. The earliest excavated sailing ship is the well known and frequently modelled Oseberg vessel of the early 9th century CE.
Before the Viking era, large vessels for transport of men or goods seem to have been rowed vessels lacking a true keel and a mast. It is not till the Kvalsund boat, a rowed vessel of the late 8th century, was found do we see a true keel and it is from this vessel that the viking age is said to begin.

The famous longships of the viking age were often ship burials but in the pre-viking era the boat finds are sometimes found to be bog sacrifices. These vessels were deliberately sunk or broken up in bogs together with weapons and armour similarly broken, which suggests a deliberate sacrifice to a beneficent god to celebrate a victory or as part of religious rites. No human remains have been found with the vessels.
The most important bog finds were the Nydam boats. These were excavated in 1863 and, of the three vessels found, only one has been preserved. This is the Nydam B boat, a rowed vessel 23 metres in length with only a keel plank and no mast step. There were 15 thwarts and probably 28 or 30 rowers. A quarter rudder was found with the boat. The boat was constructed from oak and a large part of the vessel has been preserved.
There are similarities of Nydam B with the Sutton Hoo saxon ship burial and suggestion has been made that the Nydam B boat may have been the type of vessel that the Frisians, Saxons and Jutes used to reach southern England. However, the Nydam boat is built for coastal or riverine travel and would have had great difficulty with the open ocean so exactly how this crossing was made remains unclear.
The lack of a true keel and the construction of the hull make it likely that hogging of the hull would have been a problem. Found in association with Nydam B were many staves and wooden devices which have been interpreted (Akerlund 1963) as being remnant of the mechanism of a hogging truss. This has been questioned by other authorities and remains a possibility.
I plan to attempt a model of the Nydam B boat at 1:20 scale using the dimensions estimated by Akerlund who has allowed for 14% wood shrinkage over the century since excavation. I am still considering whether to include the hogging truss in the reconstruction.
 
I cannot start yet as I am awaiting receipt of a publication from Germany on the boat
Cheers
Dick
 

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

Hello,
I set in all the deck beams and most of the stantions. At the second picture you see, that the underwater ship has it's broadest pard one or two meters infront of the mast. The beams are at least 97-100 cm apart from each other.


Greatings also from the ships cat. He is getting old now (18) and enjoys the warm weather we have here the last days.

 

I have roughed out the keel plank as well as the stem and stern posts out of lacy she-oak.
The shaping of these members will be the most difficult part of the build because of the complex 3-D shape. I will endeavour to include some rocker to the keel plank.

Cheers
Dick

Thanks Siggi52 for the info and useful discussion by private message. He suggested that acquiring and using the most recent plans made by the National Museum in Copenhagen may produce a more upto date model.  A recent replica was made from these plans. An excellent model would be made from these plans were they available from the museum.
IHowever
However, I have proceeded too far along a particular line namely the Akerlund plans to go back to scratch. In addition, Akerlund is the only reconstruction to show a practicable solution to the problem of hogging and twisting of the hull and hopefully I can test his concept in a model. The Nydam Tveir replica shows no evidence of a hogging solution.
 
The next step, having started the building board, is to carve the keel plank , stem and stern post.
At the end of the day , if I finish it, the model will be my modification of Akerlund's concept. I do not pretend it will be a "replica" of the original boat as I don't think that can be done.
Cheers
Dick

Thanks, John. The Hjortspring vessel was reconstructed with and without a hogging truss and the crew said it handled much better with the truss.
Also this Nydam replca seems to have some sort of anti-hogging device rigged.

Cheers
Dick

I have now received the monograph of Harald Akerlund 1963

It is in swedish but does have a useful english abstract and the plans are well printed.  I have looked at the original reconstruction by the excavator Engelbrecht 1863 and by Shetelig and Johannesen 1929 and it is my opinion that Akerlund's reconstruction is the most likely to approximate the true shape of the hull. He also cogently argues that the present display of the hull is inaccurate as the stern has been displayed as the stem and vice versa. He concludes that the rudder was installed on the port side.  The retrieved rudder seems to support this as well as some holes in the sternpost (as he calls it) which may well be supports for the rudder. I am not convinced of this as I think he may have put the aerofoil rudder back to front. Nonetheless, the rudder side need not be starboard as in the later viking vessels. Indeed, there evidence from stone carving from Gotland of both a quarter rudder at the rear and another one at the fore quarter.
 
In any case, I will go with Akerlunds lines and orientation although I may put the rudder to starboard. He also justifies the presence of a sophisticated central strengtheing frame and hogging truss. Otherwise the extreme thinness of the hull planking would lead to failure of the hull, I think his reconstruction of this is good and explains the profusion of unexplained carved wood pieces found with the hull. I will include the hogging truss as I did with my mycenaean galley.

Dick

Too cruel! But true🐙
Dick

The Mycenaean Pottery Shards
 
The Kynos Ships.
There are some common elements seen in the depiction of Mycenaean vessels on pottery bits. The most striking is the ladder-like appearance. In some cases, the vessels have been simplified to the point that all is seen is a ladder.http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/ships.htmFrom S. Wachsmann : Seagoing Ships etc
 
At Pyrgos Livonaton in Central Greece a site has been excavated and identified as Kynos, mentioned in the Iliad. Quite a number of pottery fragments showing ships, parts of ships, warriors and clay ship models has been found. The most complete of the depictions is the Kynos Ship A.
 From S. Wachsmann : Seagoing Ships etc
 
http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/ships.htm
 
This lacks only the figurehead and sternpost decoration. The hull is subtly crescentic but with a sturdy vertical stem post and a curved stern. The steersman is depicted on his stern platform holding the loom of a steering oar. Betwixt the stem and stern is a band with the appearance of bubble-wrap. This has been interpreted as a bulwark faced with cow hide (seen in other depictions commonly e.g. on shields). Nineteen vertical partitions are seen between the bulwark and the hull with half-moon shaped silhouettes attached. These latter have been interpreted as the chests of the oarsmen at the end of their stroke. The partitions are likely to be stanchions supporting the deck superstructure. The heads of the oarsmen are thought to be hidden behind the cow-hide bulwark. Atop a lightly built forecastle postures a feather helmeted warrior and a further warrior aft of the very sketchily indicated mast. This depiction may represent what Homer referred to as a pentikontoros (25 oars a side) in his epic. It could equally be a triakontoros (15 oars a side). The similarities to the Medinet Habu ships are evident
. Kynos Ship C'
 
http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/ships.htm
Kynos Ship C shows well the bird shaped figurehead with a sharply up turned beak commonly seen on these ships. The oars in this case are unmanned, presumably they grabbed their weapons and were in the process of smiting. Interestingly, the oars are seen extending above the bulwark. Does this mean the vessels could be rowed from two stations, above or below the bulwark according to need? This is seen on later shards from the eight century BCE.
 
 
A painting on a sarcophagus from Gazi in Crete (in Iraklion Museum now) shows a roughly drawn ship of this era. The ladder effect is prominent.
 
 
 
From Tragana near Pylos in the Peloponnese comes a largely complete ship with 24 stanchions presumably a pentikontoros. It shows a bellying square sail and an interesting steering oar. The bird-shaped figurehead is again seen and this time has an additional figure ( half missing) behind the figurehead which may be another bird. Note also the small projection of the ?keel and another sharp projection halfway up the stempost
 
The rear bird is speculative, it might be a fish?

 
Clay models next
Cheers
Dick
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Thanks Ian, Chuck and Steven for your comments and support. I will of course discuss some of the antecedents of mycenaean craft as follows
1.     The Iconography
 
 
Most of the images I will use will come from pottery shards which are confidently dated to the Late Bronze age. Some pottery from the Geometric period will be cautiously referenced. I will not refer to evidence from the Middle Bronze Age as the nature of shipping was markedly different then as evidenced by the remarkable wall frescoes from the minoan island of Thera.
These vessels were crescentic and symmetrical in hull shape and propelled either by paddles or oars and with a mast with a square, boom-footed sail very much as seen in Egyptian and syro-canaanite ships of the era.

There are similarities with the Dahshur boats and the Royal Ship of Khufu but the mycenaean war galley had little in common with these vessels of an earlier era
While I am on the subject, I intend to use the Egyptian evidence sparingly. Also, some will note my lack of reference to Landstrom’s books (which I Iove looking at) because I think his reconstructions may influence me too much.
Many of you will be aware of the Late Bronze Age bas-reliefs carved and painted onto the walls of the mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu. These depict in graphic detail a battle between the maritime war vessels of Ramses III and a fleet of foreign peoples known as the Sea-Peoples. Much has been made of the Sea-Peoples as a possible cause of the Late Bronze Age Collapse but there is only peripheral evidence for this and the present consensus is that they were an indication of major population shifts in the Mediterranean basin and were one of a number of factors such as climate change, famine, earthquakes and war which created a “perfect storm” and led to the demise of the Myceneans, the Kassites, the Hittites, Mitanni and nearly the Egyptian civilisations of the early twelfth century. For a very readable and logical account of our knowledge of this collapse, may I recommend Eric Cline’s book 1177: The Year Civilization Collapsed. There are also some YouTube clips by him which are useful.
 
 
The ships represented at Medinet Habu have similarities to the mycenaean war-galley and indeed some have included the Mycenaeans in the Sea-Peoples but this is controversial (the list of Sea-Peoples includes the denyen = ?the Danaans of the Iliad).
 
(stop press: the discovery has been announced of the worlds largest ancient shipyard in 2023 on the island of Dana, located off the coast of Mersin province in the Mediterranean region by turkish archaeologists from Selçuk University . This has led to the possibility that the Denyen (danaans) of Sea-peoples fame may originate from this area.)
https://arkeonews.net/underwater-archaeologists-discovered-worlds-largest-and-oldest-ancient-shipyard-on-dana-island-turkiye/
 
The Sea-Peoples ships are rowed, have a crescentic hull, fore and stern-castles and bird heads on both the prow and stern facing outward
 

 
Some speculative reconstructions have been made of the Sea-Peoples ships based on these bas-reliefs but caution is required. The carvings were done by royal Egyptian artists and have doubtless been influenced by the artistic conventions required of them and inevitably some inaccuracies in scale, number of rowers and structure may have occurred. Nonetheless, these images are a very useful first step in resurrecting the mycenaean war galley to which they have some resemblance. Please see Shelley Wachsmann’s excellent monograph for a full discussion of the Medinet Habu reliefs.
The distribution of corpses about the overturned ships give some indication of the nature of the ships’ superstructure

 
 
The next section will discuss the Late Helladic pottery shards and clay models
 
Here is a limited bibliography:
Shelley Wachsman: Seagoing Ships &Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant. Texas A&M. 1998
Lionel Casson: Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press. 1971
Paul Johnstone: The Seacraft of Prehistory. Routledge Kegan and Paul. 1980
J R Steffy: Wooden Ship-building and the Interpretation of Shipwrecks. College Station. 1994
John Morrison (ed.): The Age of the Galley. Conway’s History of the Ship. 1995
Basil Greenhill: Archaeology of the Boat. London. 1976
 
Dick

Perhaps the most important event to shape the Middle Bronze Age was the demise of the so-called minoan civilization of Crete. Minoan is a term pulled from the rather creative brain of Sir Arthur Evans, the excavator and popularizer of the Palace of Knossos which he, on the basis of no evidence, called the Palace of Minos. The people he named the minoans were an expert sea people who were known to have traded extensively, especially with Egypt (who record the cretans as the keftiu). The demise of the minoan palace-based civilisation is poorly understood and probably was not sudden. The eruption of the volcanic island of Thera in about 1600 bce may have played a part in this. Certainly, the palaces of Crete were not destroyed by a monster tsunami, as is popularly depicted, but it may have destroyed the minoan war fleet and left the palace-based civilization open to opportunistic takeover by their erstwhile trading friends the mycenaeans. The Late Bronze Age (Late Helladic when applied to Greece) is regarded as that period between the fall of the minoans (1600 bce) and the catastrophic collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations in the early 12th century bce. 
 
 
The mycenaeans, also known as achaeans (and likely corresponding to the ahhiyawa of the Hittite records), traded extensively throughout the Aegean Sea and the Levant. They were also likely involved in piracy and freebooting including the famous siege of Troy which may have occurred in the Late Bronze Age and was later celebrated in oral performance by whoever Homer was (or were). In any case, the mycenaeans were based in the Peloponnese and what later became Greece during the Iron Age. By fair means or foul, they became the heirs to the palace civilization of Crete and together with the syro-canaanites of the Levant took over the minoan trade networks. The mycenaeans were known as deep-sea traders but they also were more war-like.  It is likely to the mycenaeans that the next revolution in sea-warfare is owed, namely the large, rowed war-galley which became the raiding longship of the age. This is not to say that the mycenaeans invented the concept but they certainly popularized it and brought it to a level of prominence and sophistication which led to its evolution into what became the most feared weapon of war of the Age of Bronze. These in turn were to further evolve during the Iron Age into the battleships of the Geometric and later Attic periods of Greece, the biremes and triremes.
 
 
It is my intention to build as convincing a reconstruction model of a Late Helladic war-galley as I can with the very limited and confusing contemporary evidence available from paintings on pottery, graffiti, carvings on seals and small clay or lead ship models which have survived the ages.
It is not my intention to use other reconstructions or modern artistic representations of these vessels but to sail unescorted into uncharted waters.
I will, of course, be greatly guided by the archaeologists and historians whose knowledge of the period is vast but all the while recognizing the controversies which abound in their literature.
 
Where possible I will try to use construction methods which were known to be extant at the period we are discussing. I may come up with the occasional idea of my own When I carried out my “reconstruction” of the mediaeval hulc vessel, I found that the method of construction greatly influenced the final shape of the hull and it is likely that the same will occur with this build.
I have no academic axe to grind and really it is immaterial to me whether this model meets with academic approval. I claim all my mistakes as my own but welcome them being pointed out.
 
 
No wrecks of any of these war-galleys or similar vessels from the period have survived. The only wrecks of relevance are a couple of trading vessels such as the Uluburun ship found off the coast of Turkey which give some clues to keel and plank configuration. But all the rest relies on the surviving imagery on fragments of pottery and crude models.
I hope you will bear with me as I blunder through this putative reconstruction and, of course, I would like to encourage any MSW members to contribute. There is a vast body of knowledge in MSW which I hope will protect me from the more egregious errors. So, please help me if you can.
 
 
 
Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

You're entirely welcome, Bill. Here is the forepart of the ship prior to insertion of beakhead bulkhead

The beakhead bulkhead is framed and the stanchions with holes for sheaves applied. The extra planking for the anchor lining extends to the stempost according to plans which brings it up to the thickness of the main wale.

 

Cheers
Dick
 

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete.
central thicker planking
outer planking awaiting waterways


 
forecastle deck removed
Cheers
Dick

Hello, and many thanks for your likes and comments
 
Ian, I would be lucky if there where no sanding or glue marks  But at least, now the last are gone
Marc, with the symmetry it's such a thing. Because I had no real experience with this way to build a model, I chose a too thin plywood. So the starboard side is some millimetres broader then the port side of the ship. But you would't notice it without a ruler.  
 
Here a picture with all 12 pounders in place, but now not permanently. Notice also my efforts to make the walls of the QD symmetrical. 

As long as the oil has to dry, I'm looking how to set up the cabins. At the sheer plan the first bulwark begins 1m behind the wheels. At the floor plan directly behind them. That may also be a mistake in the sheer plan, or there where some cabins like at the model of the Centurion? The wheels here are behind the mizzen mast. And is there a cabin for at least the master? I looked at the pictures of models and plans from that period. They are all different. Even from plan to model  I prefer the way they did it at the Medway. That correspondent with the way they did it at the 60 gunner model I saw at Chatham. And I think that it will work, when the bed place for the captain is at least 2 m broad. 

Hello,
the carpenters finished the great cabin for the captain. It took some time, because the oil has to dry, some days of because of eastern and the good weather we had. But now it is raining again, so we are busy at the yard.




Here the carpenters have the first bulwark allready finished in the raw.