Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1964, Page 65

GRÆNLENZKI LaNdMeMaPLOTINN
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be moved efficiently by oars, least of all in head wind, and once in the ice it could
only with the greatest difficulty be manoeuvred at all.
Obviously these reflections do not solve the whole problem. They are an attempt
to imagine what might have happened to the Greenland-farers and how they
would have reacted in any given situation.
Our question as to the kind of craft used by the settlers of Greenland must of
course be answered conjecturally. The present writer points out in this paper
the possibilities which to him seem most likely.
Langskip (longships or war galleys) need not be considered since the Icelanders
had none, and seagoing byrðingar, which were not used in Iceland during the
Saga period, may also be dismissed from consideration.
Ferjur (ferries) were not fit for sailing on the high sea by reason of their shape.
They are always referred to in the Icelandic sagas as transport vessels, mostly
for use in sheltered waters during the summer.
Skútur (smacks) might have been used for the Greenland expedition, but vessels
of this kind seem to have been rare in the Saga period, since only two are mentioned
in Breiðafjörður, and none in Borgarfjörður.
Knerrir (merchant ships) were very possibly in the fleet, but almost certainly not
in majority. It is very unlikely that there were so many knerrir in Breiðafjörður
and Borgarfjörður that as many as twenty-five were available for the Greenland
voyage. The possibility that in Eirik’s fleet there were a few seaworthy knerrir
left over from the time of the settlements (870—930), however, cannot be dis-
missed altogether.
Cargo boats and fishing boats are the craft which, in the author’s opinion, must
have made up the greater part of the Greenland fleet. It was comparatively easy
to obtain such boats. The ancient sources indicate that there was a considerable
number of them in Breiðafjörður and the same was very probably true of the West
Firths and even of Mýrar, where driftwood was abundant. Twelve-oarings, too,
were in all probability well known in these areas during the Saga period; the
author of Eyrbyggja Saga, for instance, is well acquainted with the type.
Although it is nowhere expressly mentioned in tlie sagas that tenoarings and
twelve-oarings were sailed between the two countries, the present author
finds all other circumstances in favour of his theory. The ancient sources allow
us to conclude that the tenoaring was a fairly big boat, with a carrying capa-
city of hardly less than 8—10 tons. It is worth mentioning also that in the Nor-
wegian laws boats of over 10 tons were called ships; the Icelandic tenoaring was
obviously not far, therefore, from deserving that name.
The records of Sturlunga, which mostly deal with happenings of the 13th century,
are so rich and explicit concerning the sea voyages of the West Firth people and
their tenoaring boats, that it is reasonable to conclude that such boats might
easily have been sailed to Greenland. It is well to remember in this connection
the well documented voyages of the inhabitants of the West Firths in the 19th
century, in boats of the same kind and even smaller ones.
A seagoing vessel should not be judged from its size alone. The shape is no
less important. The knörr was considerably bigger, of course, than the Breiða-
fjörður tenoaring, but this was its only superior quality. If the tenoaring of the
Saga time was not too different from the one we know from the 19th century,
there is good reason to believe that it was through the fault of the knerrir, rather
than of the tenoarings, that 44% of Eirik’s fleet was either lost or forced to
turn back.
We are mistaken if we think that it was more perilous to sail on the high