1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn

Author:Morgan Llywelyn [Morgan Llywelyn]
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781847176554
Publisher: O'Brien Press
Published: 2014-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE DRAGONS ARE

COMING

True to his word, Sigurd the Stout recruited a number of Viking princes to join his invasion fleet. The Western Isles contributed a great number of warriors, as did Scandinavian colonies elsewhere. The Viking network was not cohesive but it was expansive, stretching from Iceland to the fringes of Russia. It also was, for its time, highly mobile. The longships which left the sheltered harbour at Scapa Flow sailed to almost every shore known to be occupied by Northmen, Vikings who would be eager to plunder Ireland.

Viking ships were a miracle of maritime design. The best were clinker-built of weathered oak planks, affixed with large iron nails and caulked with wool or animal hair and pitch. The vessels were wide through the body but swooped upwards at prow and stern to form an elegant curve. The deck was constructed of pine for lighter weight, fitted with rowing benches on either side and a gangway down the middle. Rollers to be used in beaching were stowed lengthwise under the seats. The warriors, who doubled as oarsmen, slept on their benches. All toilet facilities were over the side.

The bottom was flat amidships, where a tiny cabin offered what little protection was available from wind and wave. A leather cover could be pulled over the occupants, who would have been only the ranking officers or perhaps fragile cargo. Below the waterline the construction was strong yet flexible, in order to give with the force of the waves. A stepped mast held a large, square sail sewn of heavy linen, which could be raised or lowered by means of a tackle on the forestay. The deep keel was some twenty centimetres thick, broad in the centre but gradually diminishing towards the sternpost. This not only maintained stability in rough water but also permitted the use of the sail on open sea, greatly increasing range and speed.

The nearest equivalent may have belonged to the ancient Phoenicians. The remains of a Phoenician ship with what appears to be a seagoing keel were discovered off the Azores in the twentieth century. The Romans, for all their ingenuity, had nothing so clever; even their fabled triremes, with three rows of oars, were coaster boats.

For all its technical excellence, the Viking ship was most famous for the dragonheaded prow. This was the terrifying object the Christian monks first saw emerging from the sea mist. Not every seagoing vessel boasted such an emblem; it was reserved for the ‘Dragon’ class warships, which also had the dragon’s tail on the stern. But most Viking vessels were ornamented in some fashion. Like the Gael, even the lowest Northman had an innate love of beauty.

While he waited impatiently in his stronghold in the Orkneys, Sigurd the Stout was not thinking of beauty – or if he was, it was the beauty of the treasure he hoped to take from Ireland. He did not have long to wait; boats soon began arriving. The fierce fighting men of the Shetlands and the

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