Knarr

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This article is about the Norse merchant ship. For the modern yacht, see Knarr (type of yacht).
Model of a knarr in the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

A knarr /nɔːr/ is a type of Norse merchant ship famously used by the Vikings. Knarr (knǫrr singular or knerrir plural) is of the same clinker-built method used to construct longships, karves, and faerings.

History

The name knarr is the Old Norse term for a type of ship built for long sea voyages. The knarr was a cargo ship, the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews. They were built with a length of about 54 feet (16m), a beam of 15 feet (4.5m), and a hull capable of carrying up to 24 tons.[1] It was primarily used to transport trading goods like walrus ivory, wool, timber, wheat, furs and pelts, armour, slaves, honey, and weapons. It was also used to supply food, drink, weapons and armour to warriors and traders along their journeys across the Baltic, the Mediterranean and other seas. Knarrer routinely crossed the North Atlantic carrying livestock such as sheep and horses, and stores to Norse settlements in Iceland, Greenland and Vinland as well as trading goods to trading posts in the British Isles, Continental Europe and possibly the Middle East.

The only knarr found to be well preserved was in a shallow channel in Roskilde Fjord in Denmark in 1962 along with two warships, a Baltic trader, and a ferryboat. Archaeologists believe that the ships were placed there to block the channel against enemy raiders. Today, all five ships, known as the Skuldelev ships, are being restored at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.

The knarr might have been in use in colonizing Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland, although a similar small cargo vessel (the byrthing) is another possibility.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings by Peter Hayes Sawyer ISBN 0-19-820526-0 ISBN 978-0-19-820526-5

Other sources

  • Greenhill, Basil (1976) Archaeology of the Boat (London: Adam and Charles Black Publishers Ltd) ISBN 978-0-7136-1645-3
  • Harrison, Mark (2006) The Vikings, Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder (Osprey Publishing) ISBN 978-1-84603-340-7
  • Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole (1997) Viking-Age Ships and Shipbuilding in Hedeby (Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde) ISBN 978-87-85180-30-8

External links

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