During the last three months, more than 150 of you have downloaded the working drawings for the Gislinge Boat. Perhaps many of you are experienced sailors but even those who are familiar with being at sea may find the idea of sailing a square-rig boat for the first time something of a challenge.
Here at Gislinge Boat HQ, we’ve gotten a number of requests for more information about how the square-rigged boats of the Viking and Early Middle Ages sailed. The museum has carried out many sailing trials with different ship and boat reconstructions over the years.
You can also see short film clips from the 2007-2008 voyage of the Sea Stallion from Glendalough, en route from Dublin to Roskilde and back again. The conditions in the North Channel and Celtic Sea are pretty much the polar opposite of the shallow waters of the Lammefjord where the Gislinge Boat sailed, but you get the general idea…
Below, I’ve put together a bibliography (with both English and Danish titles) for anyone looking to do some more research into the ships and boats of 1,000 years ago.
Finally, if you have any particular question about the Gislinge Boat that you’d like to see answered here the blog, just let us know in the comment box and we’ll do our best to help!
2015
Englert, Anton 2015: Sea Dragons: Viking-Age Ships and Seafaring. In Sindbæk, Søren M. (ed.), Dragons of the Northern Seas: The Viking Age of Denmark, 13-17. Ribe.
2014
Bischoff, Vibeke 2014: Rekonstruktion og reflektion. Kysten 2014 (2), 21-26.
Bischoff, Vibeke, Anton Englert, Søren Nielsen & Morten Ravn 2014: From Ship-Find to Sea-Going Reconstruction. Experimental Maritime Archeology at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. In Reeves Flores, Jodi & Roeland Paardekooper (eds), Experiments Past. Histories of Experimental Archaeology, 233-247. Leiden.
Bischoff, Vibeke, Anton Englert, Søren Nielsen & Morten Ravn 2014b: Post-excavation documentation, reconstruction and experimental archaeology applied to clinker-built ship-finds from Scandinavia. Archeologia Postmedievale 18, Archeologia dei relitti postmedievali, Archaeology of Post-Medieval Shipwrecks, 19-28.
Englert, Anton 2014: De nordlige have åbnes. In Sindbæk, Søren M. & Athena Trakadas (eds), Verden i Vikingetiden, 30-31. Roskilde.
Englert, Anton 2014: Opening up the Northern Seas: the Gokstad ship. In Sindbæk, Søren M. & Athena Trakadas (eds), The World in the Viking Age, 30-31. Roskilde.
Englert, Anton 2014: Scandinavian ships and seafaring. In Sindbæk, Søren M. & Athena Trakadas (eds), The World in the Viking Age, 26-29. Roskilde.
Englert, Anton 2014: Skandinaviske skibe og søfart. In Sindbæk, Søren M. & Athena Trakadas (eds), Verden i Vikingetiden, 26-29. Roskilde.
2013
Englert, Anton, Søren Nielsen & Morten Ravn 2013: Vikingetidens langskib og eksperimentel arkæologi. In Blom, Mads, Marie Broen et al. (eds), Vinkler på Vikingetiden, 44-58. København. Artiklen, der er redigeret af Marie Broen, findes også online:
Nielsen, Søren 2013: Hvor mange timer går der på et langskib? In Lyngstrøm, Henriette & Lone G. Thomsen (eds), Vikingetid i Danmark. Tekster skrevet til Jørgen Poulsen, 141-144. København.
Ravn, Morten 2013: Mellemråberen - kommunikation om bord på vikingetidens langskibe. In Lyngstrøm, Henriette & Lone G. Thomsen (eds), Vikingetid i Danmark. Tekster skrevet til Jørgen Poulsen, 157-160. København.
2012
Englert, Anton 2012: Travel Speed in the Viking Age: Results of Trial Voyages with Reconstructed Ship Finds. In Günsenin, Nergis (ed.), Between Continents. Proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Istanbul 2009, 269-277. Istanbul.
Nielsen, Søren 2012: Sea Stallion from Glendalough: Testing the Hypothesis. In Günsenin, Nergis (ed.), Between Continents. Proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Istanbul 2009, 261-268. Istanbul.
2011
Englert, Anton 2011: Rejsehastighed over Kattegat og Skagerrak i vikingetiden. In Appel, Liv & Kjartan Langsted (eds), Ressourcer og Kulturkontakter. Arkæologi rundt om Skagerrak og Kattegat. Kulturhistoriske skrifter fra Nordsjælland 1, 101-115. Gilleleje.
Nielsen, Søren 2011: The Sea Stallion from Glendalough: Reconstructing a Viking-Age longship. In Staubermann, Klaus (ed.), Reconstructions: Recreating Science and Technology of the Past, 59-82. Edinburgh.
Trakadas, Athena 2011: The Skuldelev Reconstruction Project: Progress and Perspectives. In Castro, Filipe & Lindsey Thomas (eds), ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings 2011, 41-48.
2010
Bischoff, Vibeke 2010: Hull Form of the Oseberg ship. Maritime Archaeology Newsletter from Denmark 25, 4-9.
Ravn, Morten 2010: Langskibsbygning i sen vikingetid - organisation og ressourcer. Marinarkeologisk tidskrift 2010 (3), 8-9.
Rohde, Halfdan 2010: Vikingeskibene og deres efterfølgere - en verdensarv fra Skandinavien. TS Træskibs Sammenslutningen 39 (5), 5-14.
2009
Andersen, Erik & Nørgaard, Anna 2009: Et uldsejl til Oselven. Arbejdsrapport om fremstillingen af et uldsejl til en traditionel vestnorsk båd.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2009: Boat and Boat House. The Conceptional Origins of Clinker Boats and Boat-Shaped Halls of the Fourth to Eleventh Centuries in Scandinavia. In Nowacki, Horst & Wolfgang Lefèvre (eds), Creating Shapes in Civil and Naval Architecture. A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison. History of Science and Medicine Library 11, 147-165. Leiden & Boston.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2009: Boats and ships of the Baltic Sea in the 9th and 10th centuries: the archaeological and iconographic evidence. In Englert, Anton & Athena Trakadas (eds), Wulfstan's Voyage. The Baltic Sea region in the early Viking Age as seen from shipboard. Maritime Culture of the North 2, 235-256. Roskilde.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2009: Plank Boat - a Problematic Term for Prehistoric Vessels? Archaeological Evidence for the Impact of Logboat Techniques on the Concepts of Early Built Boats. In Bockius, Ronald (ed.), Between the Seas. Transfer and Exchange in Nautical Technology. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Mainz 2006 ISBSA 11, 387-397. Mainz.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2009: Some critical remarks on the aims and outcome of 'replica' projects. In Moeyes et al. (eds), Met reconstructies bouwen aan kennis. Heft het bouwen van reconstructies onze kennis van historische scheepsbouw verrijkt? Berichten van het Willem Vos Fonds 2, 49-57. Lelystad.
Englert, Anton & Waldemar Ossowski 2009: Sailing in Wulfstan's wake: the 2004 trial voyage Hedeby-Gdansk with the Skuldelev 1 reconstruction, Ottar. In Englert, Anton & Athena Trakadas (eds), Wulfstan's Voyage. The Baltic Sea region in the early Viking Age as seen from shipboard. Maritime Culture of the North 2, 257-270. Roskilde.
Nicholl, Trìona 2009: From Roskilde to Dublin: the story of the Sea Stallion from Glendalough. In Duffy, Seán (ed.), Medieval Dublin IX. Proceedings of the Friends of Medieval Dublin Symposium 2007, 213-250. Dublin.
2008
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2008: Experimental archaeology as part of the research process - the Skuldelev case. In Springmann, Maik-Jens & Horst Wernicke (eds), Historical boat and ship replicas. Conference-proceedings on the scientific perspectives and the limits of boat and ship replicas, Torgelow 2007. Lagomar 2, 150-153. Friedland.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2008: Langschiffe und Frachtsegler - Entwicklung und Niedergang des wikingischen Schiffbaus. In Kaufmann, Sabine et al. (eds), Die Wikinger, 95-103. Speyer.
Larsen, Anne-Christine, Mette Kryger, Werner Karrasch, Rikke Johansen, Lis Dahl Christensen (eds) 2008: Havhingsten fra Glendalough/The Sea Stallion fra Glendalough Roskilde-Dublin 2007. En forsøgsrejse i billeder/Pictures of a trial voyage. Med fotos af/With photos by Werner Karrasch. Roskilde.
2007
Bill, Jan 2007: The 'Skuldelev' and 'Roskilde' Ships from excavation to the building of replicas - the price of perfection (also in Dutch, French and German). In Vanblaere, Sonja & Pierre Kerckaert (eds), Verdronken Verleden - Passé Submergé - Drowned Past - Ertrunkene Vergangenheit, 119. Brussel.
Bill, Jan 2007: Shipbuilding Materials. An Overview. In Hattendorf, John B. (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Maritime History 3, 584-588. Oxford.
Bill, Jan, Søren Nielsen, Erik Andersen & Tinna Damgård-Sørensen 2007: Velkommen ombord! Havhingsten fra Glendalough. Et genskabt langskib fra vikingetiden. Roskilde.
Bill, Jan, Søren Nielsen, Erik Andersen & Tinna Damgård-Sørensen 2007: Welcome on board! The Sea Stallion from Glendalough. A Viking longship recreated. Roskilde.
Bischoff, Vibeke 2007: Gåden Osebergskibet. Kysten 2007 (3), 36-40.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2007: Boat and Boat House. The Conceptional Origins of Clinker Boats and Boat-Shaped Halls of the 4th-11th Centuries in Scandinavia. In Nowacki, Horst & Wolfgang Lefebre (eds), Creating Shapes in Civil and Naval Architecture. A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison. Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Preprint 338.2, 29-45. Berlin.
Englert, Anton 2007: Ohthere's voyages seen from a nautical angle. In Bately, Janet & Anton Englert (eds), Ohthere's Voyages. A late 9th-century account of voyages along the coasts of Norway and Denmark and its cultural context. Maritime Culture of the North 1, 117-129. Roskilde.
Englert, Anton & Ole Crumlin-Pedersen 2007: Seefahrt tut Not - die wikingerzeitlichen Schiffsfunde von Haithabu. In von Carnap-Bornheim, Claus & Martin Segschneider (eds), Die Schleiregion. Land - Wasser - Geschichte. Führer zu archäologischen Denkmälern in Deutschland 49, 82-85. Stuttgart.
2006
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2006: Den nordiske klinkbåds grundform - en totusindårig tradition og dens rødder. In Arisholm, Torstein et al. (eds), Klink og sejl - Festskrift til Arne Emil Christensen, 33-56. Oslo.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2006: Experimental archaeology and ships - principles, problems and examples. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds), Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 1-7. Oxford.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole & Seán McGrail 2006: Some Principles for the Reconstruction of Ancient Boat Structures. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 35, 53-57.
Englert, Anton 2006: Skibsbygning og søfart i vikingetid og tidlig middelalder - belyst gennem et nøglefund af vestnorsk oprindelse. In Førsund, Finn Borgen (ed.), Stein som handelsvare. Hyllestadseminaret [2005], 25-32. Hyllestad.
Englert, Anton 2006: Trial voyages as a method of experimental archaeology: The aspect of speed. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds), Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 35-42. Oxford.
Finderup, Thomas 2006: History written in tool marks. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds),Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 21-26. Oxford.
Finderup, Thomas 2006: Vikingernes klinkbygningsteknik. In Arisholm, Torstein et al. (eds), Klink og sejl - Festskrift til Arne Emil Christensen, 81-94. Oslo.
Gøthche, Morten 2006: The Roskilde ships. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds), Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 252-258. Oxford.
Gøthche, Morten & Jan Bill 2006: Renæssance i småskibsbyggeriet - arkæologisk set. In Gøbel, Erik & Christian Lemée (eds), Skibsbyggeri og søfart i Renæssancen. Maritim Kontakt 28, 43-68. København.
Magnus, Ole 2006: Reconstruction of rope for the copy of Skuldelev 2: Rope in the Viking Period. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds), Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 27-34. Oxford.
Nielsen, Søren 2006: Experimental archaeology at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. In Blue, Lucy et al. (eds), Connected by the Sea. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology Roskilde 2003, 16-20. Oxford.
2004
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 2004: Nordic Clinker Construction. In Hocker, Frederick M. & Cheryl A. Ward (eds), The Philosophy of Shipbuilding. Conceptual approaches to the study of wooden ships, 37-63. College Station.
Damgård-Sørensen, Tinna, Søren Nielsen & Erik Andersen 2004: Fuldblod på havet. In: Lund, Niels (ed.) Toogtyvende tværfaglige Vikingesymposium 2003. Højbjerg, 5-50.
2002
Damgård-Sørensen, Tinna 2002a: Les bateaux de Skuldelev (Roskilde) et leurs répliques modernes. In: Ridel, Élisabeth (ed.) L’Heritage Maritime des Vikings en Europe de l’Ouest. Colloque international de la Hague (30 septembre-3 octobre 1999). Caen, 199-227.
Nielsen, Søren 2002: Langskibet - status, september 2002. Marinarkæologisk Nyhedsbrev fra Roskilde 19, 28-32.
Vinner, Max 2002: Vikingeskibsmuseets både. Roskilde.
Vinner, Max 2002: Viking Ship Museum Boats. Roskilde.
1999
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 1999: Experimental Ship Archaeology in Denmark. In Harding, Anthony F. (ed.), Experiment and Design. Archaeological Studies in Honour of John Coles, 139-147. Oxford.
Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole 1999: The sporting element in Viking ships and other early boats. In Sjøgaard, Gisela (ed.), Sailing and Science - in an Interdisciplinary Perspective, 18-33. Copenhagen.
1995
Andersen, Erik 1995: Square sails of wool. In: Olsen, Olaf et al. (eds) Shipshape. Essays for Ole Crumlin-Pedersen on the occasion of his 60th anniversary February 24th 1995. Roskilde, 249-270.