Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/151

 length of lever between their hands and the fulcrum at the gunwales on either side, to wield and work any length of oar that could be advantageous: but in the smaller class of vessels of ten or fifteen oars it is likely that one oar only was worked on each bank, as in our men-of-war's boats, the whole breadth of the vessel being required for the portion of the lever or oar within the fulcrum or gunwale. Under the feet of the rowers, in the waist of the vessel, the chests of arms, stones for casting, provisions, clothing, and goods, have been stowed, and protected by a deck of moveable hatches. Upon this lower deck the crew appear to have slept at night, sheltered from the weather by a tilt or awning, when not landed and under tents on the beach for the night. Ship-tents are mentioned in the outfit of vessels as being of prime necessity, as much as ship-sails. In the voyages in the sagas, we read of fleets collected in the north of Norway, from Drontheim, and even from Halogaland, sailing south along the coast every summer as far as the Sound, and thence into the Baltic, or along the coast of Jutland and Sleswig, and thence over to Britain, or to the other coasts. The major part of the vessels appear to have taken a harbour every night, or to have been laid, on the coast of Norway, close to the rocks, in some sheltered spot, with cables on the land, or with the fore-foot of the vessel touching the beach; and the people either landed and set up tents on shore, or made a tilt on board by striking the mast, and laying the tilt cloths or sails over it. The large open vessels which at present carry the dried fish from the Lofoden isles to Bergen, although open for the sake of stowage, are of a size to carry masts of 40 feet long which are struck by the crew when not under sail, there being no standing rigging, and only one large square-sail. This appears to have been the rig and description of all the ancient vessels, great