with iron bolts, and to the frames by lashings of cord made from the roots of trees. The seams are caulked with hair made into three-strand cord; but this, instead of being driven in, was laid in during the process of construction. The decorations of the prow, gunwale, and sternpost seem to suggest early Irish influence. On each side are sixteen strakes of planking, and, in the third strake from the top, are holes, sixteen on each beam, or thirty-two in all, for the reception of oars. The planks thus pierced are nearly twice as thick as the rest; and at the sides of the apertures there are slits to admit of the passage of the blades of the oars. The oars varied in size, the larger ones being amidships, and the smaller at the
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| SECTION OF THE GOKSTAD SHIP. | THE GOKSTAD SHIP. (Details of Supporters for the Awning.) |
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extremities. When not in use, the rowlocks or ports could be stopped by means of ingeniously constructed wooden shutters. The vessel is double-ended, with great sharpness of build and fine sheer: and amidships the bottom is flattened. The rudder is in effect a fixed paddle, pivoted near the stern on the starboard side. The ship carried at least three small boats, was fitted with a single mast, and, as she must have needed two men at each of the oars, which are heavy, had sixty-four rowers, besides officers and, probably, fighting men. The shields ranged round the ship are circular, and are painted alternately black and yellow. There is a wooden framework, over which an awning seems to have been stretched at night,
