Vikings had a mean streak? Yes, but they weren't all bad

winnipegfreepress.com ^ | March 19 2011 | Kevin Rollason

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

These ships were truly technological breakthroughs of the age.

Even more amazing is that the Norse lacked saws, compasses, rulers, nails, screws, etc.
Every ship was built using only eyesight and experience to measure and cut the pieces that would fit together to make a watertight, seaworthy vessel. The knowledge was passed from generation to generation through long apprenticeship. They had no manuals on "How to build a Viking long boat".

The very shallow draft of the Viking ships was useful also in France, where the Norsemen navigated far up the Rhone river into the heart of the country; whereas most ships would have been stopped by the many bridges they encountered, the Viking ships just sailed beneath them.

When necessary, the ships could be partially dismantled and carried from one shallow body of water to the next navigable river, as they did in Russia in order to reach the Volga and the Black Sea.

[SunkenCiv]

Costco has never missed an opportunity to stock this author's paperbacks, so he's gotta be a lefty. I was looking at this tonight, almost bought it, it's a little too perky and the history of (for example) the Basques and Vikings and their search for cod leading them to the Americas was not found during my cursory examination. Seems to be recipes all through it.

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Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky Kindle Edition Hardcover CD Audiobook Unabridged Audible Audio Edition

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[SunkenCiv]

http://www.markkurlansky.com/books/other_non-fiction.aspx
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
Hardback, Walker, 1997
Paperback, Penguin, 1998

A history of the 1000 years in which cod was the most important catch in the Atlantic, how wars were fought over it, how it spurred revolutions, the important role it played in American, Caribbean, African, and European history.  Winner of the James Beard Award, the Glenfiddich food writing award, the New York Public Library Best Books of the Year award.  A New York Times and International best seller, translated into more than twenty languages. Historian David McCullough wrote, “Every once in a while a writer of particular skill takes afresh, seemingly improbable idea and turns out a book of pure delight. Such is the case of Mark Kurlansky and the codfish.”

[dfwgator]

[ZULU]

One of the nicer prospects of being a Viking is its unlikely you would have died of old age or a prolonged illness!

[LadyDoc]

funny....I added it to my blog

[SunkenCiv]

Shetland’s past comes to life amid the ruins
The Scotsman | Tuesday, 18th April 2006 | Caroline Wickham-Jones
Posted on 04/17/2006 10:29:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1616897/posts?page=8#8