Knarr

History

This particularly large ship type under the trade ships was of course used in the war as a war ship. However, it never received the same meaning as the longships. Nevertheless, it was actually the most suitable for the open sea vessel type. After Iceland, Greenland to the Shetlands and the Hebrides or the Faroe Islands only drove this type of ship. That drove to the Orkney longships, had regular political- military reasons. With the Knorr Greenland and Vinland was discovered. Also within this type of ship, there were adjustments to the respective areas: Iceland trip, East voyage, etc. Compared to the nave and the crew was small; Iceland driver had a 15-30 men on board.

Corresponding findings have been made in Galtbäck and the port of Hedeby only in the 1960s and 1980s on the ship graveyard of Skuldelev ( near Roskilde ). Less than the nave, but wider, built hochbordiger and total burly, could Knorr enormous loads ( I Skuldelev up to 24 tons, Hedeby III mds. 40 tons ) wear. The central, open cargo space took almost half of the ship; fore and aft, there were raised platforms, so-called half decks. She drove almost exclusively under sail, two to four pairs of oars were used for maneuvering in narrow waters or harbor entrances.