Longboats - The Vikings for Kids and Teachers Illustration

The Vikings
Longboats

The Vikings were great sailors and adventurers. Viking longships (also called longboats) were long, narrow, and fast. 

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. 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 the sails were in use, oar holes were plugged so that water would not splash in.  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. There was only one sail on each boat. Boats were moved with oars and manpower.

Their boats had flat bottoms, which kept the boat upright even when the waves were high. Boats were built of oak. Boards overlapped, which helped keep their boats very strong. One end of each boat was always built very high, with a carving of a dragon or a snake. This was done to scare any sea monsters lurking about. Viking sailors kept their shields hanging over the side of their boat. It kept the shields out of their way, yet handy in case they were needed, and also helped to protect the sides of the boat from damage from rocks or waves or anything floating in the water. Viking boats were built for speed as well as safety. When they were raiding, they hauled their boat up on shore. That helped them make a quick getaway.

Warships were called drakkars (dragons). Drakkars were very fast and narrow with lots of oarsmen. They also had wider ships called knorrs that carried goods for trading. Knorrs had fewer oars to make room for more goods.

Viking boats had figureheads, carvings attached to the front of their boats. These were used to identify the boat, like a name. They were also used to scare away evil spirits. Dragon heads and other monsters were common on Viking ships, although sometimes it was a carving of a person.

It was the Vikings who started giving a name to each side of their boats. The right side, near the back of the ship, they believed was the strong side because most oarsmen were right handed. That side was called the "steerboard". Over time, that was changed to starboard. The left side was called the port because that is the side that always parked up against the dock (since the right side was doing the steering.) Thus, even today, we call the right side of any boat the "starboard", and the left side of any boat the "port".

Vikings, both boys and girls, learned as children how to sail and use ships for fishing and traveling. Their homes and villages were built close to water, both fresh water and sea water. A lot of their food was harvested from rivers and the sea. It's no wonder their boats were important to them. In fact, their boats were so important that when a chief died, his longship was buried or burned with him.

Design a longship figurehead (download, bbc)

Design a Viking longship (download, bbc)

Viking Ships and Seafaring

What was life like for Viking sailors?

Secret of the Norse Ships (pbs)

Vikings (longboats, raiders, learning module)