Their amazingly seaworthy yet shallow draft ships enabled the Vikings to sail far and near, up rivers to raid inland cities such as Paris, down the rivers of Asia to interact w. the Arabs, raid Constantinople (or was it Istanbul by that time?). I’ve read that they pacified the warring tribes of the Rus, thus establishing the Russian nation. Vikings liked to establish civic order, after having had their way by force of arms, so to speak.
Suggest reading “The Vikings,” by Rob’t Ferguson, 2009 Viking Penguin.
I saw a TV Show on a man who rebuilt one of their ships. It was based directly on an "original" that was found off the (Danish?) coast.
It was very unstable at low speeds. However, the faster it went, the more stable it became. Exactly the opposite of what you'd expect.
It was interesting enough to keep me up a couple of hours past my bedtime. :-)