Maritime History

Hjortspring boat

The Hjortspring boat (Danish: Hjortspringbåden) is a vessel designed as a large canoe, from the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. The boat has been carbon dated to between 381 and 161 BC. The hull and remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1921–1922 from the bog of Hjortspring Mose on the island of Als in Sønderjylland, southern Denmark. The boat is the oldest find of a wooden plank ship in Scandinavia and it closely resembles the thousands of petroglyph images of Nordic Bronze Age ships found throughout Scandinavia. The vessel is a planked wooden boat of more than 19 metres (62 feet) length overall, 13.6 metres (45 feet) long inside, and 2 metres (6.6 feet) wide. The planking is joined by sewing, using a bevelled lap joint similar to clinker construction. Ten thwarts that could have served as seats, span the boat with room for two persons each; this suggests space for a crew of at least 20 who propelled the boat with paddles. The boat would have weighed an estimated 530 kilograms (1,170 pounds), making it easily portable by its crew.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Bradleys Head Light
• ▸Gordon House (Silverton, Oregon)
• ▸Disney Experiences

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.