1. Aims
•To investigate the design of the Viking long ship
•Study what materials were used and who built what…
•The study of decoration on the long ships
•Usefulness in battle
•Design your own long ship!!!

2. The Vikings
Longships

3. Scandinavia
Vikings came from the north.
Now we call their land Scandinavia.
Norway,
Sweden
and Denmark Scandinavia
are countries Atlantic Ocean
in Scandinavia.
British Isles

4. Scandinavia
There are many
mountains in Norway
and Sweden.
There are many fiords
where the water is deep.
Ships sail in the deep water in the fiords.

5. Longships
Viking settlers sailed huge
distances in their longships

6. Vikings are most famous for their LONGSHIPS
– known as DRAGON SHIPS to their enemies
The Prow – front of
the ship carved with ???Question???
a dragon like figure Why do you think
the Vikings carved
The Stern – back of dragon like figures
the ship with a onto the front and
carving similar to the the back of their
one on the front ships?

7. The prow of the Longship often determined
Dragon head
prow to scare
The sail was large and
made by wives,
the name of the ship.
enemies and
see the way!
daughters and servant
girls.
Some of the names of Viking longships were
Usually made from
sheep wool covered
things like "Long Serpent", "Snake of the and tar
with animal fat
Sea" and "Horse of the Home of to strengthen it. long
Ice".
Often made from
strips of brightly
coloured cloth (blue,
green or red) sewn
together
CLINKER BUILT hull
allowed for great speed
and strength in stormy
seas.
Also allowed the ship to Shields were
be rowed up narrow brightly
channels and rivers. coloured and
What advantages would were hung over
this give the Vikings? the sides of the
ship as it
entered port

8. Question!!! Question!!!
What do you Does the
think of the Longship look
like any kind of
design of the boat or ship
Viking that you might
Longship??? see today???

9. Viking Ships
The Vikings were brilliant ship builders. Their
ships were strong, lightweight and beautifully
shaped to skim quickly through the water.
Warships and raiding ships were designed to
come right up on the beach so that men could
jump out and start fighting straight away.
The ships were built of wood and made
waterproof with tar from pine trees. The
square sails were made of woven wool and were
often brightly coloured. When the wind was
wrong for sailing, they were rowed by teams of
oarsmen.

10. Viking longships were among the first ever ships to have a
keel. The keel is extremely important as it provides the
ship with support in rough weather.
The keel also enabled the ships to travel smoothly and
quickly across the sea.
A LARGE OAR at the stern steered the ship.

11. Size matters!
• The smallest longships had 26 oars (13
on either side), some had as many as 70
oars (35 on either side!!!)
• Longships were expensive to build and
to crew. Only the rich Viking Kings
could afford to have such vessels.

12. Design your own Viking Ship!
Sail, usually red, green, blue
Prow, fierce animal head.
Remember to name your
Ship – for example, LONG
Stern, fierce animal head SERPENT or SNAKE OF
THE SEA
Shields, brightly coloured and
hung on side of ship when
entering port Remember how
strongly built
the ships were.
Overlapping
wood with tar
and animal fat
stuffed in to
seal any gaps
Oars would be used as well as the sail for speed, or without the sail when no wind
Or when they had to be taken up narrow channels

14. Now have a go at designing your
own Viking longboat.
Find more information at:
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/ship
s.html