Longship

The longship is a class of Scandinavian vessel built and used by the Norse from roughly the eighth through the eleventh century, prized for a shallow draft that let it navigate open ocean, coastal waters, and rivers alike. Its hull was built in the clinker, or overlapping plank, style, fastened with iron rivets and made flexible enough to twist with the waves, and it carried a single square sail alongside oar positions along both sides for propulsion when the wind failed. Longships carried Norse raiding parties, traders, and settlers across the North Atlantic and along European river systems, and their light weight allowed crews to portage them overland between waterways. Surviving examples recovered from ship burials, such as those at Gokstad and Oseberg in Norway, have shaped modern understanding of Viking Age shipbuilding and seamanship.