Knarr

A knarr is a type of Norse merchant ship famously used by the Vikings. The knarr (also known as knorr or knörr) is of the same clinker-built method used to construct longships, karves, and faerings.

The knarr was primarily used to transport trading goods like walrus ivory, wool, timber, wheat, furs and pelts, armour, slaves, honey, and weapons. It was also used to supply food, drink, and weapons and armour to warriors and traders along their journeys across the Baltic, the Mediterranean and other seas. Knarrer routinely crossed the North Atlantic carrying livestock and stores to Norse settlements in Iceland and Greenland as well as trading goods to trading posts in the British Isles, Continental Europe and possibly the Middle East.

History of the Knarr

The only knarr found to be well preserved was in a shallow channel in Roskilde Fjord in Denmark of 1962 along with two warships, a Baltic trader, and a ferryboat. Archaeologists believe that the ships were placed there to block the channel against enemy raiders. Today, all five ships, known as the Skuldelev ships, are being restored at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.

The knarr might have been in use in colonizing Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. It was possibly the same kind of sailing vessel that the first European colonists used to sail to North America.

External links

* [http://www.maritimewood.com/building-a-viking-ship-01.html The historical journey from Norway to Greenland in a replica Viking ship]
* [http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/ Roskilde Viking Ship Museum]