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Vikings At Sea
Back then, one of the things that the Vikings never had before were compasses. They learned other ways to navigate without tools. They were also brave sailors and explorers, ready to risk their lives on long, dangerous journeys to find new lands to farm.
I was interested in this topic because I thought that the ancient Vikings were creative and were great navigators. I think that this should be important to other people so that they know that Vikings were pretty intelligent.
They built longships that were also called "dragonships" by enemies such as the English. They were used for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare. It could sail in shallow water which allowed them to easily jump out of the ship, fight right away then make a quick getaway as well.
Vikings navigated by depending on seabirds, the sun, stars, fish and wave patterns to find their way over the sea. They also lookied for landmarks, such as islands and distant mountains. When they couldn't see any land, they looked for the sun. Towards the sunset meant they were headed for England, towards the sunrise meant home to Denmark or Norway. Sometimes they took birds on board and released them when they got lost. They then followed the direction the birds headed.
Did you know?? A Viking named Bjarni Herjolfsson 'discovered' America by accident after his ship was blown off course. Another Viking named Leif Ericsson then sailed to find this new land and he and his men were the first known to have landed in America.
