Editing Longship (section)

==Types of longships==
Longships can be classified into a number of different types, depending on size, construction details, and prestige. The most common way to classify longships is by the number of rowing positions on board.

===Karvi===
The [[Karve (ship)|Karvi]] (or ''Karve'') is the smallest vessel that is considered a longship. According to the tenth-century [[Gulating|Gulating Law]], a ship with 13 rowing benches is the smallest ship suitable for military use. A ship with 6 to 16 benches would be classified as a Karvi. These ships were considered to be "general purpose" ships, mainly used for fishing and trade, but occasionally commissioned for military use. While most longships held a length to width ratio of 7:1, the Karvi ships were closer to 9:2. {{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
The Gokstad ship is a famous Karvi ship, built around the end of the ninth century, excavated in 1880 by Nicolay Nicolaysen. It was approximately {{convert|23|m|ft|abbr=in}} long with 16 rowing positions.

===Snekkja===
[[Image:Moragsoorm.jpg|thumb|Full-scale replica of a Viking snekkja based in [[Morąg]], Poland]]
The ''{{lang|non|snekkja}}'' (or ''snekke'') was typically the smallest longship used in warfare and was classified as a ship with at least 20 rowing benches. A typical snekkja might have a length of {{convert|17|m|ft|abbr=in}}, a width of {{convert|2.5|m|ft|abbr=in}}, and a draught of only {{convert|0.5|m|ft|abbr=in}}. It would carry a crew of around 41 men (40 oarsmen and one cox).

The snekkja was one of the most common types of ships. According to Viking lore, [[Cnut|Canute the Great]] used 1,200 in Norway in 1028.<ref name="Nyerup1803">{{cite book|author=Rasmus Nyerup|title=Historisk-statistisk Skildring af Tilstanden i Danmark og Norge, i ældre og nyere tider|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdNAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA71|access-date=2 July 2013|year=1803|publisher=Soldin|pages=71–}}</ref>

The Norwegian type snekkja typically had more draught than the Danish ships designed for low coasts and beaches. A snekkja was so light that it had no need of ports{{snd}} it could simply be beached, and even carried across a portage.

The snekkja continued to evolve after the end of the Viking age, with later Norwegian examples becoming larger and heavier than Viking age ships. A modern version is still being used in Scandinavia, and is now called ''[[:sv:snipa|snipa]]'' in Swedish and ''[[:no:snekke|snekke]]'' in Norwegian.

[[File:DRAKEN HARALD HÅRFAGRE. 9. BORDGANG SNART PÅ PLASS.jpg|thumb|upright|Construction of the 35&nbsp;m long Skeid longship ''[[Draken Harald Hårfagre]]'']]

===Skeid===

''Skeid'' (''skeið''), meaning 'slider' (referring to a sley, a weavers reed, or to a sheath that a knife slides into) and probably connoting 'speeder' (referring to a running race) (Zoega, Old Icelandic Dictionary). These ships were larger warships, consisting of more than 30 rowing benches. Ships of this classification are some of the largest (see Busse) longships ever discovered. A group of these ships were discovered by Danish archaeologists in [[Roskilde]] during development in the harbour-area in 1962 and 1996–97. The ship discovered in 1962, ''[[Skuldelev ships#Skuldelev 2|Skuldelev 2]]'' is an oak-built Skeid longship. It is believed to have been built in the [[Dublin]] area around 1042. ''Skuldelev 2'' could carry a crew of some 70–80 and measures just less than {{convert|30|m|ft|abbr=in|sigfig=1}} in length. They had around 30 rowing chairs. In 1996–97 archaeologists discovered the remains of another ship in the harbour. This ship, called the ''Roskilde 6'', at {{convert|37|m|ft|abbr=in}} is the longest Viking ship ever discovered and has been dated to around 1025.<ref name="Jensen2001">{{cite book|author=Jørgen Jensen|title=Danmarks oldtid: Yngre Jernalder og Vikingetid 400–1050 e. Kr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0MjAQAAMAAJ|access-date=2 July 2013|year=2001|publisher=Gyldendal|isbn=978-87-02-00333-8|page=413}}</ref> ''Skuldelev 2'' was replicated as ''[[Seastallion from glendalough|Seastallion from Glendalough]]'' at the [[Viking Ship Museum (Roskilde)|Viking Ship Museum]] in Roskilde and launched in 2004. In 2012, a {{convert|35|m|adj=on}} long skeid longship named ''[[Draken Harald Hårfagre]]'' was launched in Norway. It was built from scratch by experts, using original Viking and [[experimental archaeology|experimental archaeological]] methods.

===Dreki===
[[File:Bergens Byvåpen 1299.jpg|thumb|The city seal of [[Bergen]] depicts a Viking longship — possibly a dreki.]]

''Dreki'' (singular, meaning 'dragon'),<ref name="Jesch2001">{{cite book |last1=Jesch |first1=Judith |title=Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse |year=2001 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-85115-826-6 |pages=127–128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8ZK3v0hrk4C&pg=PA127}}</ref> was used for ships with thirty rowing benches and upwards<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=RODGER|first=N. A. M.|date=1995|title=Cnut's Geld and the Size of Danish Ships|journal=The English Historical Review|volume=CX|issue=436|pages=392–403|doi=10.1093/ehr/cx.436.392|issn=0013-8266}}</ref> that are only known from historical sources, such as the 13th-century ''[[Göngu-Hrólfs saga]]''. Here, the ships are described as most unusual, elegant, ornately decorated, and used by those who went raiding and plundering. These ships were likely skeids that differed only in the carvings of menacing beasts, such as dragons and snakes, carried on the prow of the ship.<ref name="Magnússon1906">{{cite book|author=E. Magnússon|title=Notes on shipbuilding & nautical terms of old in the North |year=1906|publisher=Magnússon|page=45}}</ref> [[Judith Jesch]], an expert in runic inscriptions, says, "The word ''dreki'' for a ship derives from this practice of placing carved dragonheads on ships... but there is no evidence that it was a technical term for any particular kind of ship."<ref name="Jesch2001"/>

The earliest mentioned dreki was the ship of unstated size owned by Harald Fairhair in the tenth century. The first dreki ship whose size was mentioned in the source was Olav Tryggvason's thirty-room Tranin, built at Nidaros circa 995.{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2024}} By far the most famous in this period was his later ship the Ormrinn Langi ('Long Serpent') of thirty-four rooms, built over the winter of 999 to 1000.<ref name=":0" /> No true dragon ship, as described in the sagas, has been found by archaeological excavation.

The city seal of [[Bergen|Bergen, Norway]], created in 1299,<ref name="Jesch2001"/> depicts a ship with a dragon's head at either end, which might<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sciencenorway.no/forskningno-history-norway/norwegian-viking-treasures-tour-europe/1397825|title=Norwegian Viking treasures tour Europe|first=Ida|last=Kvittingen|date=6 March 2014|website=Sciencenorway.no|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=3 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203080322/https://sciencenorway.no/forskningno-history-norway/norwegian-viking-treasures-tour-europe/1397825|url-status=live}}</ref> be intended to represent a dreki ship.