Man, Machine, Moment

[Dreadnought]

An excellent series on the History channel.
This weekend past had the Dolittle Raid (Halseys decisions) and the Creator of the "Bouncing Bomb" used against the German dams during WWII. Excellent stories.

[The Chap]

?kfeet?

I think that I may have seen this on; and can also give a big thumbs up. Esp. if it includes a Fjiord, a BB (and a candidate for the longest sniper shot ever? The thread was a long time back ...) some Mossies with a big bloody bomb each. All Barns and no doors

[Dreadnought]

lmao, Yes it was an excellent series shame they dont have their own channel for it.

[RustyBattleship]

lmao, Yes it was an excellent series shame they dont have their own channel for it.

It's called The History Channel. Channel 120 if you have DISH. It also has lots of other interesting programs such as "Wild West Tech"(nology) hosted by David and Keith Carradine. Another series on that channel are "Modern Marvels" about the development of things of common usage, such as potato chips or computer chips. Yet another recently added is "Engineering Disastors" such where a large structure (such as the Big Blue crane that folded up while building Milwaukee's Miller Stadium) collapsed either from faulty engineering or improper usage.

One of my favorites is "Digging For the Truth". A young man dressed sort of like Indiana Jones travels around the world searching for "things" such as the Holy Ark of the Covenant, the history of Stonehenge and just recently tracing the voyages of Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson who landed in North America almost 500 years before Columbus.

Boy, would I love to have HIS job.

[Dreadnought]

Me too, I get it on channel 66 :)

[gunnut]

I saw Digging for the Truth lastnight talking about the Vikings and how they were able to migrate to Iceland from Norway in their longships, 1000 years ago. They were a facinating people.

[RustyBattleship]

I saw Digging for the Truth lastnight talking about the Vikings and how they were able to migrate to Iceland from Norway in their longships, 1000 years ago. They were a facinating people.

I studied Viking history and customs many years ago and being in the shipbuilding/ship repair trade was interested in their ships.

To begin with, the LONGSHIPS were not much more than giant surfboards with a shallow draft and low freeboard. They were the FIGHTING ships and were very manueverable but also very flexible. At most they were only 40 to 60 feet long. This was pointed out in the early part of the show.

The exploratory ships were much larger, wider and with a high freeboard and were normally cargo ships called KNORS. These ships were on an average of 80 to 120 feet long.

For replica Viking ships used in movies, "The Vikings" starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh show how long ships were used to speed out of hiding from a cove or inlet to attack other ships. In the movie "The Longships" starring Richard Widmark and Sydney Poitier, some real fancy oarwork is demonstrated. By the way, the book that "The Longships" was (very) loosely based upon is much better than the movie.

[gunnut]

That's right! I'm sorry. I saw that show lastnight at 1am after a game of hockey so my brain wasn't working correctly.

It did say the longships were not fit for voyages on the open sea. They were more of the "LCS" variety.

The cargo ships with deeper draft were used for long voyages. They were called Knors? I missed that part of the show

[sparten]

I was reasing the works of an Arab traveller to Scandanavia, forgot his name now. He had been a sailor himself, and he inspected one of the boats and said he would never ever set foot in one of them if he could help it.

[Amled]

I studied Viking history and customs many years ago and being in the shipbuilding/ship repair trade was interested in their ships.

To begin with, the LONGSHIPS were not much more than giant surfboards with a shallow draft and low freeboard. They were the FIGHTING ships and were very manueverable but also very flexible. At most they were only 40 to 60 feet long. This was pointed out in the early part of the show.

The exploratory ships were much larger, wider and with a high freeboard and were normally cargo ships called KNORS. These ships were on an average of 80 to 120 feet long.

For replica Viking ships used in movies, "The Vikings" starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh show how long ships were used to speed out of hiding from a cove or inlet to attack other ships. In the movie "The Longships" starring Richard Widmark and Sydney Poitier, some real fancy oarwork is demonstrated. By the way, the book that "The Longships" was (very) loosely based upon is much better than the movie.

If it is a subject that interest you there here is a link to a museum here in Denmark that specializes in the subject.
They have actual preserved remnants of Viking ships from the era, they also have full size copies of ships; which occasionally sail around Roskilde Fjord, which are produced at the museum, using techniques and tools from the Viking era.
http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/def...1EA743FE9&zcs=
If you need any translation, I’ll try to help.

[Amled]

I was reasing the works of an Arab traveller to Scandanavia, forgot his name now. He had been a sailor himself, and he inspected one of the boats and said he would never ever set foot in one of them if he could help it.

Was it: Ahmad ibn Fadlan?
He gives a good description of life among the Volga Vikings.
The author Michael Crichton, wrote a very entertaining piece of fiction, Eaters of The Dead which is loosely based on ibn Fadlan travels.

[Dreadnought]

I studied Viking history and customs many years ago and being in the shipbuilding/ship repair trade was interested in their ships.

To begin with, the LONGSHIPS were not much more than giant surfboards with a shallow draft and low freeboard. They were the FIGHTING ships and were very manueverable but also very flexible. At most they were only 40 to 60 feet long. This was pointed out in the early part of the show.

The exploratory ships were much larger, wider and with a high freeboard and were normally cargo ships called KNORS. These ships were on an average of 80 to 120 feet long.

For replica Viking ships used in movies, "The Vikings" starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh show how long ships were used to speed out of hiding from a cove or inlet to attack other ships. In the movie "The Longships" starring Richard Widmark and Sydney Poitier, some real fancy oarwork is demonstrated. By the way, the book that "The Longships" was (very) loosely based upon is much better than the movie.

The Kalmar Nykel shipyard here in Delaware has a Viking LongShip under build in a warehouse. Amazing how inticate the bow figure is on her (Dragon head). Come Spring when they roll it out I will try to get some pics of her to post.

[RustyBattleship]

If it is a subject that interest you there here is a link to a museum here in Denmark that specializes in the subject.
They have actual preserved remnants of Viking ships from the era, they also have full size copies of ships; which occasionally sail around Roskilde Fjord, which are produced at the museum, using techniques and tools from the Viking era.
http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/def...1EA743FE9&zcs=
If you need any translation, I’ll try to help.

Thank you very much for that link. It will be of great interest to me. Incidentally, the TV show "Digging for the Truth" we mentioned actually started off at that ship museum in Denmark and they showed the host the difference between a Longship and a Knor.

[RustyBattleship]

The Kalmar Nykel shipyard here in Delaware has a Viking LongShip under build in a warehouse. Amazing how inticate the bow figure is on her (Dragon head). Come Spring when they roll it out I will try to get some pics of her to post.

Very interesting. Just a few months ago a 21 foot version of a Viking ship was built up in the Puget Sound area. It was a full scale copy of the small boat Knors carried. They showed how they made the rivets, tools, etc. Amazingly, the lines of that boat are almost exactly that of the 26 foot motor whaleboats the US Navy used to use.

Oh, after the boat was finished and tested it was given to a local resident who has spent years studying Viking history and lecturing on it at special functions such as boy scouts, etc.

[sparten]

Was it: Ahmad ibn Fadlan?
He gives a good description of life among the Volga Vikings.
The author Michael Crichton, wrote a very entertaining piece of fiction, Eaters of The Dead which is loosely based on ibn Fadlan travels.

Ah yes! Thanks.
BTW you may be interested to know that the result of the Bin Fadlan's books the Vikings who had previously been seen as well....pirates and thieves became all the rage in the Arabic/Muslim world, even caused a great demand for blond wigs! Before that blond people were thought of as well slightly immature.