Table of Contents
How did the Vikings shelter from bad weather?
Clothing is really the only barrier they had between themselves and the weather and spray of the sea. Accordingly heavy wool and sometimes seal skin clothing was used because wool keeps you warm even when it’s wet while seal skin is warm and relatively watertight, as you can see from the clothing of Inuit.
How did the Vikings survive at sea?
The ships were made watertight by filling the spaces between the planks with wool, moss or animal hair, mixed with tar or tallow. The ships were all the same long narrow shape, with shallow draughts. This meant that they could be used in shallow water. Vikings used longships to make raids and carry their warriors.
How did Vikings waterproof their boats?
To make the ship waterproof, the Vikings placed animal hair dipped in tar between all the planks. In other cases, they used moss. Viking ships were up to 36 m long and built with overlapping planks sealed with animal hair and tar.
Did Viking ships leak?
One of the defining features of Viking ships are their clinker-built construction, with overlapping side planks (or strakes) fixed together with iron clinker nails. The overlapping planks were caulked with a mix of wool fabric and tar, but some leaking is inevitable, and bailing out the bilge is an important job!
What was a Vikings favorite weapon?
The sword was the most prized weapon. A richly decorated one was a sign of the owner’s wealth. Axes with long wooden handles were the most common Viking weapon. A Viking’s weapons were usually buried with him when he died.
What did the Vikings do for a living?
The Vikings were great sailers and adventurers. Some Viking longboats were large enough to have 50 or 60 oarsmen, but most longships were smaller than that. There were no cabins for the sailors.
How did the Vikings keep their boats upright in bad weather?
In bad weather, the sail was lowered and used like a tent. The sail was secured so it would not blow away, and the men moved underneath it for protection. Their boats had flat bottoms, which kept the boat upright even when the waves were high. Boats were built of oak.
What kind of cabins did the Vikings live in?
There were no cabins for the sailors. They slept and ate on deck. They each had one chest for their belongings. They sat on their chest when rowing. The Vikings used sails and oarsmen to move quickly about on the water. Sails were made of woven wool, with a design of stripes or diamond shaped colors.
When did the Vikings leave their home country?
The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian seafaring warriors who left their homelands from around 800 A.D. to the 11th century, and raided coastal towns.