Skuldelev 3
This wreck was the best preserved of all five in the blockage
in Roskilde Fjord in eastern Denmark. Only the sternpost and the
aftermost 3.5 m of planking was missing. Thorough research has
been put into this ship, which was the first Skuldelev ship to
be reconstructed in detail. Several full-scale replicas of it
have been built, most notably the Viking Ship Museum's own, the
"Roar Ege". It was a
small cargo ship, probably built locally for plying the waters
of the Danish sounds and straits.
The keel was like almost all of this ship built of oak. It was
unrabbeted but was flanged amidships for riveting the garboard
strakes. Closer to the preserved stem these were fastened with
nails. As preserved it was 8.6 m long, but has originally been
a little longer. It was connected to the stem with a vertical
diagonal scarf and fastened with both trenails and iron nails.
Beautifully preserved in its entirety the stempost had steps
for seven strakes. It was V-shaped in section and the plank runs
were continued on its sides. The hood ends of the planks had been
riveted to the steps.
The planking consisted of eight strakes where the fifth to port was a drop strake and fitted into strake four. To starboard the fourth and fifth shared the same step on the stem post. The strakes were made up by two or three individual planks and the scarves were distinctively distributed so that no strake was scarved close to another. In this way plank lengths from 1.8 to 8.85 m were found. The scarves were as usual for the Skuldelev ships of the smooth diagonal type, with the exemption of a long scarf in seventh strake amidships. The planks are all very thin 2.5-3.5 cm. Plank widths vary according to their position in the hull. The first four strakes were 27-30 cm wide, strake 5 (the dropstrake) was only 25 cm wide and then strake 6 is 36 cm wide amidships. Seventh and eighth (the gunwale) were both 42 cm wide.
The longitudinal reinforcement was very regular in that stringers
of almost equal dimensions were fitted on the four upper strakes.
These ran in single pieces on the inside top edge
of the planks where they were fastened with trenails. The keelson though did not provide much longitudinal
reinforcement. The notches cut for the floortimbers were so deep
that only 5-7 cm remained over these.
It was 3.7 m long and covered the three midship frames while its
ends rested on frames 2 A and 2 F. Immediately forward of the
mast step the mast support rose 56 cm - cut from a natural grown
branch of the log
The framing system was very regular and as reconstructed the
ship had 11 frames. In addition
to these the stem area had a small bulkhead and within all probability
the stern had the rudder frame cut from a single piece of wood.
The individual frame stations were made up by a floor timber of
the characteristic Nordic shape. Seen
from above they were narrow over the keel and widened as they
continued over the planking. Seen towards stem or stern they were
tall over the keel and flattened as they continued upwards - this
tall thin design were more marked towards the stem and stern areas
while the floors amidships were more flat. As in all the Skuldelev
ships the frame elements were trenailed through the planking and
wedged on the inside.
The floor timbers covered the first four strakes and ended halfway
up the fifth, where they supported the first stringer, the upper
edge of which lay flush with the edge of strake five. This stringer supported the bites,
the lower cross beams. Standing knees on the bites in turn
supported the second stringer on the inside upper edge of strake
6 on which the upper cross beams rested. This beam amidships was
the mast beam and thus of bigger dimensions. Large lodging knees
connected it to the planking, and the mast support from the keelson
was mortised into it.
Apart from the mast supporting arrangements the Skuldelev 3 ship
features quite a few clues to its rigging, and this wreck in particular,
combined with ethnographical evidence from Norway, formed the
basis of the present knowledge of Viking age and early medieval
square sail rigging. These features
are mostly found in the eighth strake - the gunwale- in that several
holes were cut to accommodate the running and standing rigging.
A number of cleats were also found here. Similar arrangements
could be found on traditional Norwegian boats, and in this way
it was possible to suggest a rig for the replica "Roar Ege"
that could be tested by means of sailing trials. "Roar Ege"
performs well under the 46 square m sail; with a course 66 degrees
to the wind it has made 4.8 knots through water and 2 knots made
good (VMG) in a windspeed of 9 m pr. second. This is about the
performance of small sailing ships right up to the introduction
of engines.
The ship could also be rowed as the presence of seven
oarports demonstrates, but these have probably only been used
over short distances in case of sudden calm or harbour manoeuvres.
In fair weather the "Roar Ege" has been rowed at a speed
of only 2 knots over some distance.
Dating and interpretation of the Skuldelev 3 ship
Skuldelev 3 has not yet been dated by dendro-chronology, which makes the dating of the first phase of the blockage the best clue as to the date of the ship. This was constructed in the interval 1070-1090 AD, but by this time the ship was old and had seen a bit of repair.
Having stated that the ship was a small cargo ship that sailed
well in the Danish waters, it is still uncertain who owned it.
Did the late Viking age farmer produce enough to bring to market
? - and if he did would he be in a position to build a ship and
freely sail where he wished ? Recent research has shown that in
the 13th century more feudal structures prevailed in
Denmark, obliging peasants to transport the Kings goods according
to law. Anyway a small community would be able to build, load
and sail this vessel with a crew of 4-5 men and a cargo of 4-5
tons.