Of the other Viking ships discovered we shall give to each for
convenience the name of the district where she was found. The Nydam
ship was discovered in October, 1863, in the Nydam Moss to the
north-east of Flensburg in the Duchy of Schleswig. Nydam is in a
dale and was once part of a bay of Als Sound, and in former times
was navigable. Systematic diggings were undertaken at the expense
of the Danish Government and afterwards the ship was placed in the
hands of an expert restorer. She is as usual built of oak, her
lines being very similar to the Scotch fishing boats that flourished
on our coasts up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and
resembling the boat well known as a whaler. The rudder was placed on
the starboard about 10 feet from the stern and was about 9½ feet in
length. She is sharp at both ends with high stem and stern posts;
77 feet long, as much as 10 feet 10 inches across her midships, she
was clinker-built of eleven oak planks. The keel is an inch deep
and eight inches thick, being broad at the middle but diminishing
gradually toward the sternpost. The planks were fastened with large
iron nails and caulked, as was the custom, with some woollen stuff
and pitch. She had twenty-eight oars, was flat-bottomed, and her
date has been estimated as about the middle of the third century of
our era. I admit she is not entitled to be called a sailing ship,
but as she will be found to belong so closely to the sailing class
we cannot afford to neglect her. With her was also found another
similar ship but of fir and armed with a ram low down at each end.
Remains of another boat were also discovered with her as well as
bronze brooches, silver clasps, wooden boxes, bone combs, many shield
boards or _pavisses_ (also seen in the Gogstad ship, Fig. 28), 106
iron swords, spear shafts and heads, 36 wooden bows, iron bits still
in the mouths of the skeleton horse-heads, pots, bowls, knives, axes,
clubs, and thirty-four Roman coins, belonging to dates between 69 and
217 A.D.[42] These composed the personal property, already alluded
to, that was always buried with the Viking. Professor Stephens (see
note) was of the opinion that one or more of these three boats had
been scuttled and sunk in order to avoid capture by the enemy, and
goes on to refer to the fact that in the twelfth century the Wends
and Slavs employed the same means when pursued. Their tactics
included dragging the ship ashore, scuttling her and then decamping
and seeking shelter.
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