Please /tg/, tell me all you know about Viking sailing and ships!
What were their ranks called? What did they carry to eat? What was the mark of a good ship? What was ship-to-ship combat like? Anything you can tell me would be appreciated!
I'm writing a Early Middle Age/Viking Age style setting, though with magical flying ships. The flying ships obviously feature heavily, so I want as much inspiration material as possible!
Thanks, /tg/!
(Any information about other ships of the age, if they differed, would also be appreciated!)
>>48042084
Viking ranks in society was decided by bloodlines, but as far as I know they didn't have any particular ranks on their individual ships except Rower and perhaps a captain of sorts.
If possible they would eat salted pork or usually fish. They could also dry and salt their fish or smoke it to make it last.
A good ship was any ship that was light enough to be put on a cart, does not stick too deep into the water and that can easily be pulled up onto a beach. Part of what made the vikings effective was that they didn't rely on harbours and could easily show up on some random beach or through some river without warning and disappearing before any army could be gathered to fight them.
Ship-to-ship combat was rare. I imagine they would fire a couple of arrows at eachother, but the ships are too light to be effective rams and there is no loot to be had from fighting people at sea.
>>48042504
Actually your suppositions on viking naval warfare are untrue, the way they did it was no where near that logical. The core of their naval fighting method was not bows and arrows. Unable to properly use their ships as rams, the vikings would lash several together and THEN ram the other guy, not as an attempted ram, but to get close enough to turn it into a melee. Viking naval warfare consisted of attempting to make it into just plain warfare.
I'm not shitting you, or memeing vikings as warrior race guys, they seriously did that.
>>48042544
I do remember hearing something like that. It makes sense as the thing of value here is the enemy ship and equipment, and they wouldn't want to sink that.
>>48042084
>what were their ranks called
In both raiding and trading expeditions, there were two 'ranks' of people, the ship owner, and the passengers.
Merchants all paid equally for the right to use the owners ship, and so were given equal allotment for goods, the captain had a larger space for cargo, labor, like rowing, was always equally divided, unless someone paid a pee for passage.
>what did they bring to eat?
As the other anon says, salted fish/pork
>What was the mark of a good ship?
A warship (langship or dragonship) was narrow, long, and shallow, powered by oars and supplemented by a sail. Knorr, merchant ships, had larger sails and focused more on cargo space.
>what was ship to ship combat like?
The ships would maneuver for the best starting positions, arrows would be fired, sometimes ships allied together would tie themselves to each other so that they could help the other ship. After this, they would start the process of boarding, using hooks to get a hold of the other ship and then pulling them in.
The objective was to clear the ship of enemies, without damaging the ship. The main goal would be to capture the ship, such ships were very valuable.
Sources:
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/ship_types.htm
If you've got time, give the Sagas of the Icelanders and their related stories a read. Some of them deal directly with ship-to-ship combat, but they also give us a great look at how society looked and such.
Also, give me a couple of minutes, I'll give you the write up on ship to ship combat from a great book I have.
>>48042746
>unless someone paid a pee for passage
>>48042893
Fugg
>>48042746
>Knorr, merchant ships, had larger sails and focused more on cargo space.
Did the vikings use those? I've always seen them as a post-Viking medieval thing.
>>48042941
They used them.
>>48042084
Check out the GURPS Viking book. Lots of well-researched info there
>>48042941
If you're thinking of cogs, those were based on knorr ships, but were different in how they had only one prow, and built the back end differently.
>>48042084
All i can provide to this thread is that vikings usually particular things called sun stones to sail.
Such stones where made of a yellow-ish quartz-like mineral and supposedly they used them to determine the position of the sun during the day, even on a cloudy day, using it to navigate and help with orientation.
During the night, they used the stars, and knew the existence of the North Star.
Nobody knows how they used it exactly or what kind of other equipment they used with the sunstone, but it's worth making assumptions
>>48042084
Check out this book http://www.casematepublishing.co.uk/index.php/vikings-at-war.html
It is the premium source of information regarding the way Vikings made war, and by extension, their ships. It is written by two Norwegians, an Archeologist and an Historian, and it is pretty much the greatest book on Vikings around.
Can't seem to find a torrent on the English version though...
>>48042941
North Sea trading networks had been established long before the Vikings started vikinging. Trading continued because the Vikings liked trading better than fighting. Read, Edge of the World
>>48042084
>What was the mark of a good ship?
shallow in the water and light enough to pull on shore. Their construction also allowed them to bend to a degree, so they sdhere to waves.
Thanks guys! This is good information and I'll certainly be looking into the sources you've linked!
Any cool or obscure facts about Vikings would also be appreciated!
Vikings basically fought land-warfare on sea like the romans.
Also Vikings ate sausages filled with fat and various pickled meats and fish of course.
all of those nordic "traditional" dishes are preserved food useful for long winters and thus last well at sea.
on a ship there is always a steersman who is in charge of stearing as well as the captain/chieftain.
