A SHIP BUILT A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2386, 25 November 1881, Page 3

A SHIP BUILT A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

A letter from the Hon. John L. Stevens, United States Minister to Sweden, dated at Stockholm, June 30th, gives the following interesting description of a recently exhumed Norse vessel:— Wo were much interested in seeing the well preserved remains of an old Norse vessel built a thousand years ego, fifteen month* since exhumed from its burial place. Some league distant, south-west from this city, on Christiania Ejord, there is a small village called Gogstand, near which there is a tumulus long known in the local traditions under the name of King's Hill. In the broad, fields and meadows stretching from the water’s edge of the fjord to the foot of the mountains, is situated this round bill, nearly ISO feet in diameter, which is covered with green turf. A proud and powerful Norse king, it was told from generation to generation, had found here bis last resting-place, surrounded by his horses and bis dogs, and with, precious treasures of coins and jewels placed near his body. For centuries ghosts were supposed here to beep watch and ward, and superstition and fear had kept ruthless hands and searching cupidity from making examination of the supposed grave. But at last the spirit of modern inquiry has disarmed fear and dared to penetrate the secrets of the King’s mound. The result has been the unearthing of a vessel of war of the ninth, century, a complete viking craft, in which some unknown chieftain at the close of his career of exploits north and south, on. fjord, river, and sea, had been entombed with the regal honors of his people and time. The sons of the farmer on whose land the tumulus is situated, in January, 1880, began an excavation, and digging down from the top were not long in striking timber. They suspended their work, and reported their discovery to the learned men of an antiquarian association at Christiania. The latter sent an antiquarian expert to take np the task where the sons of the farmer had left it, and successfully pushed the investigation. The digging continued some weeks, finally revealing the complete hull of an old viking craft, 74 feet in length, 16 feet broad amidships, drawing 5 feet, with 20 ribs. The little round hill from which it was dug is nearly a mile from the water-line of the fjord, and the character of the alluvial soil conclusively proves that in former centuries the water reached its base. The vessel evidently had been drawn frem the fjord on shore and plazed on a layer of bezel branches and moss, and the sides had been covered with clay, and the whole had been filled with earth and sand to form the funeral mound.

The vessel was placed with the stem toward the see, in accord with the opinion of the time, that when the Great Father of Gods and men should call the buried chieftain he might start from his burial tomb with hia fully-appointed craft on the foaming ocean. Within and at the bottom of the vessel were found the remains of several small finelyshaped oaken boats, placed over a consider, able number of oars, some of these for the small boats, others, full 20ft in length, tor aiding the propulsion of the larger craft. The form and finish of these oars scarcely admit of improvement, much like those in use at the present day at the boat races, ending in a small, fine-cut blade, some with ornamental carvings. In a pile of oak chips was found an elegantly shaped hatchet, of the shape peculiar to the ycur g iron age. All along the outer side of tho vessel, nearly from stem to stern, extended a row of circular shields, placed like scales of a fish, and these are partly painted in yellow and black. In the middle of the vessel a large cak block firmly secured to the bottom, with a square hole for the mast, and several contrivances, shows plainly that the mast could be laid down aft. In this part of tho vessel was constructed the funeral chamber, formed by strong planks and beams placed obliquely, and covering a room about 15 feet square. Here a keen disappointment met the explorers, Some ruthless hand nerved by avarice had preceded them. In some anterior time, when tho costly weapons and jewels of buried heroes made temptations too strong for tho superstitious veneration of tho surviving warriors, or at a later day when the greed for wealth was over-mastering with the eons of Northmen, the burial mound had been desecrated, its jewelled contents taken away, and what was left was duo to tho haste and fear under which tho robbers had dona their work —a few human bones, some shreds of a kind of brocade, some fragments of bridles, saddles, in brotza, silver, and lead, and some metal buttons, on one of which is a remarkable representation of a cavalier with a lowered lance. On each side of the chamber were discovered the bones of a horse and of two dogs. In the forward part of tho ship was found a largo copper vessel, supposed to be the kitchen cauldron of tho crew, hammered out of a single piece of copper, giving striking proof of the antique period of the handicraft. The whole of this remarkable specimen of tho viking’s ship and contents as found have been carefully excavated and removed to Christiania, and placed'erect on its keel in a building specially prepared to receive it. We were struck with its fine nautical proportions, which plainly indicate how little change has been made in the form and cunning of ocean craft in the centuries which have elapsed since this was launched on the wave.

As to the time which has passed since this piece of ancient Norse naval architecture has lain buried beneath the hillock which the chieftain’s followers reared, there is no doubt among the antiquarians that it dates from the period termed the younger iron age, distant from our day 1000 years. The antiquarian museums at Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Christiania show the training and the experience which Scandinavian experts have had on such subjects, A thousand years since this vessel was fashioned out of the solid oak ! We carefully examined its workmanship. On keel, stem, riba, and casings were to be seen marks of the builder's tool as plainly as though of yesterday, and the fibre of the oak it wonderfully preserved. The workmanship of iron bolt* and rivets was that of skilful hands. The Norwegian antiquarians and officials deserve credit for securing so carefully this splendid remain of the water craft of the olden time.