Stories aboard

The logbooks foretell

During the Sea Stallion's voyage to Dublin several people on board keep a diary.

The logbook is a diary in which various information is written down about the voyage. This could be information about course, speed, weather conditions, events on board and plans for the rest of the journey. On board the Sea Stallion the chief steward, the nurse, a boat builder and the PR officer also keep a diary. In this they write down information about the food on board, sickness and hygiene, repairs and their experiences during the voyage.

• Investigate the Skipper's logbook and the diaries of the boat builder, chief steward and skald and use them to tell the story of the voyage. You could perhaps select a small portion of the voyage, for example along the Irish coast. You can use the following questions for inspiration. How did the ship sail? It the ship keeping to schedule? What was the weather like? What is the mood of the crew? Has anything happened to the ship? What have the crew been given to eat?
• Investigate the nurse's diary and write a report on illness and injuries during the Sea Stallion's voyage to Dublin.

A dangerous voyage

Contemporary Scandinavian sources for the Viking Age are sparse and therefore history writing about Viking times has often been based on sources written down later, in the 13th-15th centuries; these result from accounts handed down by word of mouth. The sagas and skaldic epics belong to the more narrative end of these sources. They are characterised by being a "good story" about heroic deeds or praising a particularly good king. They are full of drama, events and great words and, at the same time, they could also be created to suit the views of the audience. On the website we have chosen to equWrite two stories about a dangerous voyage. One as a skald from Viking times, where the story praises the king or chieftain on board, and one as PR officer on the Sea Stallion, addressed to the media.ate the Viking skalds with modern PR officers or journalists.

• Write two stories about a dangerous voyage. One as a skald from Viking times, where the story praises the king or chieftain on board, and one as PR officer on the Sea Stallion, addressed to the media.

• The story from Viking times can be poems and contain kennings; he class can obtain inspiration from the saga texts. In the story from the Sea Stallion, the class can read the newsletters here on the website and also newspaper articles to discover the way in which a journalist writes.