Among the numerous fragments of oars of the Gokstad ship, four were found in tolerable preservation, and only one well-preserved, measuring nearly sixteen feet. The oar tholes were protected inside by round oaken shutters to prevent the water from running in. The large ones found show that no single man could row with one for a long time together; and the oars which propelled the large dragon-ship must have been very heavy. Every large ship had its boats, sometimes two or more. “Sigurd took two _barkis_[131] and dragged them up on the rock above the door of the cave, and fastened thick ropes around the ribs of the ship under the stem and stern” (Sigurd Jorsalafari,[132] c. 6). [Illustration: Fig. 918. ] [Illustration: Fig. 919. ] [Illustration: Fig. 920. ] [Illustration: Fig. 921. ] [Illustration: Fig. 922. ] [Illustration: Fig. 923. ] [Illustration: Fig. 924.—Specimens of Rowlocks from Gokstad ship. Boats (see Nydam boat, Vol. I.). ] Fragments of three small boats made of oak were found on board the Gokstad ship, which apparently had been destroyed intentionally. They were clinker built, and had rowlocks, not two of which were alike, fastened to the gunwale instead of holes for the oars. These boats were so broken that no part could be put together again, except their keels, the longest of which measured over twenty-one feet, and the shortest twelve feet. Two had carried masts. “They drifted north off Ireland, and the ship was broken into fragments on an unsettled island; while they were there Thorodd the Icelander met them as he sailed from Dublin. The men of the jarl called on the traders to help them. Thorodd had a boat put out and went in it himself” (Eyrbyggja Saga, c. 29). The _rudder_, called _styri_, was on the right side, _stjórnbordi_ (starboard); the opposite side being called _bakbordi_ (larboard). The helmsman, who held the tiller, was generally commander of the ship, and his position at the helm seems sometimes to have been below the rudder head, with a view to being protected from the continual shower of missiles to which he was subjected; the great purpose of the enemy being to disable the ship’s commander. When Magnus Barefoot made warfare in Scotland and Ireland: “Then men went between him and Melkolm (Malcolm) Skota-king, and they made an agreement (treaty) between themselves. Magnus was to become owner of all the islands west of Scotland, between which and the mainland a ship with its rudder on could go. When King Magnus came from the south to Satiri (Cantire), he had a skuta dragged across the isthmus (Mull of Oantire) with its rudder placed in position. The king himself sat on the lypting and had hold of the tiller, and thus got the land lying on the larboard. Satiri is large and better than the best of the Hebrides except Mön. A narrow neck of land joins it with the mainland, and longships are often dragged across there” (Magnus Barefoot’s Saga, c. 11).[133]