fastened with cords to the ship's side at a level with the deck. Beneath this the rowers may have slept.
The build of merchantmen was much like that of men-of-war, except that the latter had more length in proportion to beam. A saga tells how at Nidaros[1] in 1199, King Sverre Sigurdsson seized some trading ships, hewed them in two transversely, and lengthened out their keels and sides that they might be used as war vessels. But it may well be that Harold never possessed any ships as large as the Long Serpent, and that most of his vessels closely resembled the Gokstad relic.
There is absolutely no reason to doubt that Harold had a
NORMAN WAR VESSEL OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
(As restored by M. A. Jal, after the indications in the Bayeux Tapestry, the "Roman de Rou" and the "Roman de Brut.")
considerable fleet. Indeed, the Saxon Chronicle expressly says that in the spring of 1066 the largest fleet and army ever seen in England were assembled at Sandwich to resist the invasion threatened by William of Normandy. It is not clear that any squadron of importance was detached from Sandwich against Tostig and Harold Hardrada, and therefore it becomes interesting to inquire why William, when he came, was not opposed at sea.
The explanation in the Saxon Chronicle[2] is a little vague and unsatisfactory. It is to the effect that the crews refused to serve after September 8th, the feast of the nativity of the Virgin, and
