[ModelBreaker]

The Vikings must not have been as good ship-builders as the English, if this boat is so fragile that vaccuuming it causes harm. One recalls a few years the English excavated a boat from the reign of Henry VIII, where it had laid in the bottom of the water for hundreds of years, and it was still reasonably intact.

Not really fair. A viking longboat would be MUCH older than the reign of Henry VIII.

[franksolich]

You are right, sir; the English ship would be only half as old, or even less than that--there was a cerebral gap while I typed the comments (sometimes the fingers type faster than the brain thinks).

So I apologetically take that part back.

[JimRed]

Not really fair. A viking longboat would be MUCH older than the reign of Henry VIII.

Not only that, but it is like comparing a DE to a BB (destroyer escort to a battleship). One light, built for speed and manuverability; the other heavy, built to take and deliver punishment.

[Marysecretary]

If you've ever seen them, they are so low to the water that it makes you wonder how they ever made it across the ocean. I saw the Hjemkomst (spelling?) when it traveled over from the US to Norway around 1982 or 3 and it was amazing. It was only about two feet high above the surface of the water.