Front matter
Reading edition
Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
VIKING SHIP, USED FOR BURIAL (GOKSTAD, NORWAY). (Length of keel, 60 feet; total length, 75 feet; broadest part, 15½ feet; depth from the upper part of bulwark to bottom of keel, 3½ feet.) Judging from the number of holes seen, which were about 18 inches below the gunwale, it carried sixteen oars, and was consequently a sixteen-seater. Its preservation is due to the blue clay in which it was partly embedded, the upper part being eaten away owing to the clay being mixed with sand, thus allowing the rain and air to penetrate. It is entirely of oak, clinker built, calked with cows’ hair spun in a sort of cord.