The North Star/Chapter 46
XLVI
THE “LONG SERPENT”
Queen Thyra had gained her point, for King Olaf began to prepare in earnest to battle with Sweyn of Denmark for the queen’s estates. The chieftains of all the shires received the notice of war and were apprised of their duty to help furnish vessels for the king’s fleet. Olaf’s own ship, which had been built at the Nidaros shipyard, was the famous “Long Serpent.” All over the Northern country had been spread the report of the beauty and speed of this vessel. Nothing like the “Long Serpent” had ever been seen on the waters of the North Sea or the Atlantic.
It measured fifty-six Norwegian ells, or one hundred and twenty feet from prow to stern. On each side fifty oarsmen could be seated, while over six hundred men composed the crew. Not a man over sixty or a youth under twenty was allowed on board, with the exception of Einar Thambsbarkelver, the skilful archer, who was but eighteen, but his skill seemed to atone for his lack of years.
All of the preceding summer, when the sun hung at midnight as high as it hung at noonday, and the children played games in the fields through the unfading sunshine, the carpenters had been busy building the ship, and the Irish painters had been decorating the posts and carving and gilding the dragon’s head and tail and painting the wooden shields. No other artists seemed to have learned the color secrets and could reveal them so wonderfully on wood and steel and iron as these Celts. The ship which Olaf had captured from Raud and which had been considered such a marvel of strength, size, and beauty, seemed quite a poor affair beside the “Long Serpent” as it stretched its wonderful length on the sands of Nidaros,—full forty feet longer, with the golden dragon head far higher at the prow and the upturned tail still higher at the stern. As the “Long Serpent” stood with its wing-like sails unfurled and the glittering, overlapping shields on the sides like scales, it seemed indeed a mighty dragon, just poised for a deadly spring through the air. It was truly the greatest ship Norway had ever seen, and crowds gathered to admire it and to praise the workmanship. No timber but the stoutest oak had been allowed to enter its construction. The planks had been placed over the strong framework, each plank, planed and smooth as glass, overlapping the one below it. The forges of Nidaros had glowed night and day to make the iron bolts that bound the planks together. These bolts were riveted upon the inside of the planks, making the strongest clinker work. The long roots of the tallest oaks that had given the timber for the ship, had been plaited into withes or cords that bound the planks to the framework. The seams of the flooring and sides of the ship were calked with the hair of cattle, that had been spun into a threefold cord and with every plank went in the calking. King Olaf’s “Long Serpent” was a work of iron and oak that was a stout expression of the iron age. The port-holes pierced in the sides were of varying size, the largest amidships and the smallest at either end. The oars were also of different sizes, and the larger ones had each two oarsmen, who were seated as they rowed. When the oars were at rest, the port-holes were covered with wooden shutters. For the oarsmen of higher rank, the oar-holes were richly carved; for the others they were plain. The “Long Serpent,” in spite of its great length, was so slenderly pointed at both ends that it could be very rapidly turned in time of danger.
King Olaf’s ship, in its speed and symmetrical beauty, set a fashion in yachts that is followed to this day. The wooden shields of the “Long Serpent,” according to the old Gula laws on nautical matters handed. down from Haakon the Good, were crossed with iron bands and were painted a white ground with red and blue crosses. The designs on other vikings’ shields had been a yellow half-moon on a black ground. Up from the deck of the ship rose the tilt-boards, a richly painted and carved framework, upon which an awning, embroidered in glowing colors, was stretched at night. King Olaf had declared that when the “Long Serpent” was built, it would be the “biggest dragon” ever seen; and so it proved to the wondering eyes of Norway. The favorite design of viking ships before Olaf’s day was the head of the visund or bison, because great herds of these animals were to be seen on the far northern plains in earlier times; and as they became scarcer, the Norsemen preserved their form in their war-ships.
The interior of the “Long Serpent” was divided into five compartments. In the prow were, first, the “Lokit,” where were established the king’s standard bearers; then the “Sax” or store-room; then the “wrap-room” where were kept the sail and tackle not in use; then the “chest-room” where stood the large chests of armor and weapons. Near this was the “fore-room,” where were quartered the highest officers of the ship, the warriors next in command to the chieftain. The “fore-room” took its name from its location just in front of the “lofting” or chief’s cabin in the stern. This sleeping-room of the commander was elevated above the other floors, so that from his cabin door King Olaf could command a view of the entire deck of the ship.
In the cabin stood the king’s small oaken bedstead, with its cushions and rich silken cover. Upon a small table rested a pile of parchment tablets, and some small parchment volumes of Latin psalms, and a vellum mass-book illuminated by the monks of St. Senanus while Olaf sojourned in Ireland.
Besides the “Long Serpent” the king had another ship, nearly as handsome as the one which he had captured from Raud, and this latter he called the “Short Serpent.” These two magnificent vessels, with over fifty others, commanded by the chieftains of the different shires, made a gallant fleet.
The galleys, headed by the “Long Serpent,” moved to the south and the fleet landed at Wendland. King Burislav, terrified at the sight of all these men of war upon his shore, feigned to forget that Olaf had taken the bride intended for himself, and seemed to remember only their former friendship, when Olaf’s marriage in his early youth to Burislav’s daughter, Geira, made him the son-in-law of the Wendic king. In spite of Burislav’s politic speeches, Olaf insisted upon the restitution of Queen Thyra’s estates, and in fear of the mighty viking and his formidable fleet, King Burislav gave back the queen’s possessions.
After feasting and renewed promises of friendship, Olaf left Wendland. As the “Long Serpent” and her attendant vessels were sailing away, they met, coming towards them, a small fleet. In the leading ship stood Earl Sigvalde; and when within hailing distance, he called out to Olaf:
“My King! I have ventured out to offer my poor help to thy noble ships. The coast of Wendland is is full of danger; and if thou wilt accept my escort, I will gladly be thy pilot. My wife, thy kinswoman, the Lady Aastrid, with the wife of thy faithful scald, Lord Thorgills, is following me, in my lady’s own galley.”
“I thank thee heartily, Lord Sigvalde,” answered Olaf; “and if thou wilt turn thy ships, we will gladly follow in thy wake.”