Room for Cargo

Imagine loading a ship one bundle at a time. The first question is where to put the weight. For the people who sailed cargo across the North Atlantic, the shape of the hull mattered as much as the sail above it.

Read the shape of the hold before you imagine its cargo.

Meet Skuldelev 1

One of the vessels preserved at Roskilde, Skuldelev 1, was an ocean-going cargo ship. Its rounded form made room for freight, and its builders used heavy pine planks. Look at the middle of its hull before looking at either end. The broad body tells the story of the work the vessel was built to do.

Trace a narrow warship and a deep cargo vessel at the same scale. Shade the space each offers amidships. That simple comparison helps explain why the Viking world needed several kinds of ship.