Ormrinn Langi in Old Norse (English: The Long Serpent ; Norwegian : Ormen Lange ; Faroese : Ormurin Langi ) was one of the most famous of the Viking longships . It was built for the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason , and was the largest and most powerful longship of its day. In the late 990s, King Olaf was on a "Crusade" around the country to bring Christianity to Norway. When he was traveling north to Hålogaland , he ended up in battle with forces of Raud the Strong , who refused to convert to Christianity. Olaf eventually captured Raud, and gave him two choices: convert or die. The Sagas say that Olaf tried to convert him but Raud cursed the name of Jesus, and the King became so enraged that he, using either the hollow stalk of an angelica or his horn and a red-hot iron, forced a snake down Raud's throat, which ate its way out of the side of the torso of Raud and killed him. Thereafter, Olaf confiscated Raud's riches, not least of which was Raud's ship, which he rechristened Ormen (modern Norwegian version of the name, meaning The Serpent). He took it to Trondheim and used it as a design for his own new ship, which he made a couple of "rooms" longer than Ormen and named Ormen Lange (modern Norwegian translation, meaning The Long Serpent).
24-515: The ship reportedly had 34 rooms , i.e., was built with 34 pairs of oars, for a crew of 68 rowers (and additional crew members). Extrapolating from archeological evidence (e.g., the Gokstad ship ), this would make Ormen Lange nearly 45 metres (148 ft) long. The ship's sides were unusually high, "as high as that of a Knarr ". Ormen Lange was the last ship to be taken in the Battle of Svolder , where Olaf
48-664: A boat while digging in the still frozen ground. As word of the find got out, Nicolay Nicolaysen , then President of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments , reached the site during February 1880. Having ascertained that the find was indeed that of an ancient artifact, he liaised for the digging to be stopped. Nicolaysen later returned and established that the mound still measured 50 metres by 43 metres, although its height had been diminished down to 5 metres by constant years of ploughing. With his team, he began excavating
72-806: A half-scale replica in Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada, the Íslendingur in the Viking World museum in Iceland, the Hugin , in Ramsgate , England, and a replica at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, Minnesota . Withy A withy or withe (also willow and osier ) is a strong flexible willow stem, typically used in thatching , basketmaking , gardening and for constructing woven wattle hurdles . The term
96-608: A specific military ship or boat of Norway is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gokstad ship The Gokstad ship is a 9th-century Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad in Sandar , Sandefjord , Vestfold , Norway . It is displayed at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway . It is the largest preserved Viking ship in Norway. The site where the boat
120-568: Is also used to refer to any type of flexible rod of natural wood used in rural crafts such as hazel or ash created through coppicing or pollarding . Several species and hybrid cultivars of willows (often known as osiers) are grown for withy production; typical species include Salix acutifolia , Salix daphnoides , Salix × mollissima , Salix purpurea , Salix triandra , and Salix viminalis . Places such as Wythenshawe and Withy Grove (both in Manchester ) take their names from
144-604: Is an exact replica of the Gokstad ship. Gaia was constructed during the winter of 1989–1990 in Bjørkedal in Volda . On May 17, 1991, it was sailed by Ragnar Thorseth to North America to mark the 1000th anniversary of Leiv Eriksson ’s founding of Vinland . It was named Gaia on June 19, 1991, by Vigdis Finnbogadottir , the President of Iceland , during this voyage. In May 1993, the vessel
168-429: Is to make the bottom of the ship lighter and more flexible. The 1893 'Viking' replica of the Gokstad ship reproduced this form of construction. The Viking's captain, Magnus Andersen, reported that the lightness and flexibility allowed the bottom to rise and fall up to 18 mm in heavy seas without leaking and the gunwale could twist up to 15 cm out of line. Speeds of around 10 or 11 knots were recorded. The ship
192-469: The University of Oslo asserted that the man was King Olaf Gudrodson , gout-ridden son of the elderly king Gudrod of Vestfold. But this has not been sufficiently proven. The grave was furnished with grave goods in addition to the ship itself: three small boats, a tent, a sledge, and riding equipment. Other grave goods were probably plundered in ancient times: the excavation in 1880 found no gold or silver. In
216-460: The Viking period, weapons were considered an important part of a man's grave goods, but again, none were found in the Gokstad ship. The ship, the reconstructed burial chamber, two of the small boats and two tent boards from the burial chamber are displayed in the Viking Ship Museum located on Bygdøy peninsula in Oslo, Norway . Some other artifacts that survived the plundering are also on display in
240-412: The decking to use when rowing. Most likely on longer voyages sea chests were secured below decks to act as ballast when sailing. The centre section of the keel has little rocker and together with flat midships transverse section the hull shape is suited to medium to flat water sailing. When sailing downwind in strong winds and waves, directional control would be poor, so it is likely that some reefing system
264-408: The excavations, a human skeleton was found in a bed inside a timber-built burial chamber. The skeleton was that of a man aged approximately forty to fifty years old, of powerful build and between 181 and 183 cm (5’11" to 6') tall; his identity is unknown. The bones of twelve horses, six dogs, and one peacock were found laid out around the man's body. In the 1920s Professor Anton Willem Brogger of
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#1732845204162288-498: The fastening. Dendrochronological dating suggests that the ship was built of timber that was felled around 890 AD. This period is the height of Norse expansion in Dublin, Ireland and York, England . The Gokstad ship was commissioned at the end of the 9th century during the reign of King Harald Fairhair . The ship could carry a crew of between forty and seventy men. The ship's design has been demonstrated to be very seaworthy. During
312-412: The frames by the archaic method of tying using withies . These nine bottom planks are also thinner than elsewhere being about 2.5 cm in thickness compared with a thickness of about 3 to 4 cm for the upper planks. The thinner bottom planks are formed with cleats projecting from their inner face to allow the planks and frames to be tied together using withies. The overall effect of this construction
336-401: The keel. The garboard planks are narrow and remain only slightly wider to take the turn of the bilge. The topside planks are progressively wider. Each oak plank is slightly tapered in cross section to allow it to overlap about 30mm the plank above and below in normal clinker ( lapstrake ) style. Iron rivets are about 180 mm apart where the planks lie straight and about 125 mm apart where
360-413: The mound from the side rather than from the top down, and on the second day of digging found the bow of the ship. The Gokstad ship is clinker-built and constructed largely of oak . The ship was intended for warfare, trade, transportation of people and cargo. The ship is 23.80 metres (78.1 ft) long and 5.10 m (16.7 ft) wide. It is the largest in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo . The ship
384-622: The museum. After thirteen years of debate regarding a possible relocation, Education Minister Kristin Halvorsen stated on May 3, 2012, that the ship would not be moved from Bygdøy . Viking , an exact replica of the Gokstad ship, crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Bergen, Norway to be exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; it remains on exhibit near Chicago. The Gaia ship
408-442: The planks turn. At the bow, all of the planks taper to butt the stem. The stem is carved from a single curved oak log to form the cutwater and has one land for each plank. The inside of the stem is hollowed into a v shape so the inside of the rivets can be reached during construction or repair. Each of the crossbeams has a ledge cut about 25 mm wide and deep to take a removable section of decking. Sea chests were placed on top of
432-449: The willow woods and groves that grew there in earlier times. The Somerset Levels remain the only area in the UK growing basket willow commercially. Withies were used to mark minor tidal channels in UK harbours and estuaries. In many places they remain in use as of 2015 and are often marked on navigation charts. At high tide the tops of a line of withies stuck in the mud on one or both sides of
456-414: Was built to carry 32 oarsmen, and the oar holes could be hatched down when the ship was under sail. It utilized a square sail of approximately 110 square metres (1,200 sq ft), which, it is estimated, could propel the ship to over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The mast could be raised and lowered. While the ship was traveling in shallow water, the rudder could be raised very quickly by undoing
480-458: Was discovered, situated on arable land, had long been named Gokstadhaugen or Kongshaugen (from the Old Norse words konungr meaning king and haugr meaning mound ), although the relevance of its name had been discounted as folklore, as other sites in Norway bear similar names. In 1880, sons of the owner of Gokstad farm, having heard of the legends surrounding the site, uncovered the bow of
504-682: Was donated to the city of Sandefjord by Knut Utstein Kloster of the Gaia Ship Foundation and this remains its home port. The ship's oak mast is constructed in one piece and stone provides ballast. Gaia can reach ten knots under its full canvas, which is 120 sq. m., and it has sixteen pairs of oars. Gaia also sailed to the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit via the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , and North America . Other replicas include Munin ,
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#1732845204162528-499: Was killed (although his body was never found—some stories tell of the king jumping into the water either sinking due to the weight of his armour or escaping in the confusion) by a coalition of his enemies in the year 1000. Its story is told in a traditional style Faroese ballad, or Kvæði , called " Ormurin Langi ", albeit written around 1830 during a resurge in interest of this otherwise medieval-origin type of ballad. This article about
552-407: Was steered by a quarter rudder fastened to a large block of wood attached to the outside of the hull and supported by an extra stout rib. The block is known as the wart, and is fastened by osiers, bent willow shoots on the outside passed through both the rudder and wart to be firmly anchored in the ship. There are 16 tapered planks per side. The garboard planks are near vertical where they attach to
576-406: Was used to reduce sail area. In such conditions the ship would take water aboard at an alarming rate if sailed at high speed. The method of fastening the planking to the frames above the waterline is by iron rivets in the form of iron nails driven from outside and then turned over a cinch plate on the inside. The lowest nine planks on each side of the keel up to the around the waterline are held to
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