All language subtitles for Combat.Ships.S02E01.Viking.Longships.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_eng

(solemn music)

Narrator: This time,
on "combat ships,"

The story of one of the world's
most effective war machines,

The viking longship.

Williams: The key to their
achievements was the ships,

Warships which
allowed them to raid,

Cargo ships that
allowed them to trade.

Narrator: They evolved
from swift war canoes

To become the preeminent
fighting machines of the age.

Rixson: Today, if we think of
what's in the forefront

Of technology, we think,
well, spacecraft and airliners

And nuclear
submarines and so on.

But go back 800
years, it's the boat.

Narrator: They were
elegant, versatile and feared.

Sorensen: If you knew that
when you saw a fleet

Of five, 10, 15 ships
coming around the headland

And that they were
sailing directly

For your little
coastal settlement,

I think you would pack your bags

And head for the hills
as quickly as you could.

Narrator: Longships
carried terrifying warriors.

Naess: They will have weapons.

They will bang that sword
against the shields.

They will be horrible
people to meet,

And they will approach fast.

Narrator: The vikings

And their ships changed
the course of history.

(solemn music)

(dramatic music)

Combat ships, fast, effective.

Lambert: The mission is pure
james bond espionage.

Narrator: Deadly.

Sinisi: Japan is willing
to throw the dice

To engage just about every
aspect of their military force

In a climactic, decisive battle
to stop the united states.

Narrator: They have
changed the world.

Grove: Warships have been key
factors in global history,

From the beginning of
civilization to the present day.

(gun bangs)

Narrator: Thanks to
clever design, raw firepower

And the heroism of their crews.

(plane whirs)
(dramatic music)

(missiles whoosh)

(explosion roars)

In the year 793, the
people of northumberland,

In the north of England,

Knew something terrible
was about to happen.

Storms and whirlwinds
filled the sky.

There were rumors of
dragons on the wing.

(thunder rumbles)

Then what they
feared came to pass.

(dramatic rock music)

From across the ocean, a force
of mighty warriors appeared,

In large warships.

Their target was the
wealthy monastery

On the holy island
of lindisfarne.

The invaders captured or
drowned lindisfarne's monks,

Stole their treasure and
desecrated their sanctuary.

The attackers were described
as heathens from a pagan race.

They were the infamous,
fearsome vikings.

Williams: The attack
on lindisfarne

Really shocked the
anglo saxons,

And it's described very
much as god's judgment

On the english for
their ungodly ways.

It's a really dramatic beginning

To what's known now
as the viking age.

Narrator: The english
historian alcuin wrote soon

After the attack--

Alcuin: Never before
has such terror appeared

In britain, nor was it
thought that such an inroad

From the sea could be made.

Narrator: So who
were the vikings,

These warriors whose name,
over 1,000 years later,

Is still synonymous with
violence, bloodshed and the sea?

Williams: Viking actually meant,
in old norse, pirate, raider,

Marauder, so it's more
of a job description,

But it's an easier label
than trying to give any sort

Of ethnic status
to these people.

Narrator: The vikings
came from scandinavia,

The three territories
that we know today

As denmark, norway and sweden.

It was the landscape
of that region

That shaped their culture.

Denmark and sweden
are made up of islands

And had dense,
inaccessible forests.

Williams: Norway literally
means the northern way,

The northern sailing route,

And it's one long coastline,
punctuated by fjords,

While the land itself is
broken up by mountains,

So it's much easier to get
around by boat than by land.

Narrator: Forced into ships,

They were quick to
realize the possibilities.

Sorensen: I think they were
very astute people,

That they could see
quite quickly, again,

Through this maritime
network that they had,

That there was a much
wider world out there.

And I think it's probably one

Of the most important
aspects of the viking age,

That they were very much the
people who looked outwards.

They are exceptionally
curious people

And exceptionally brave,
in terms of where they want

To go with their ships and why.

Narrator: The
vikings had dreams

Of exploration and conquest.

They needed a vessel
to match, the longship.

Remarkably, some still survive.

(dramatic music)

This is the so-called
oseberg ship, uncovered

From a burial mound, south
of oslo, in norway, in 1904.

It's now in the capital's
viking ship museum.

It is the oldest
norwegian viking ship.

95% of its original
timbers survive.

Naess: This viking
ship was preserved

Like a tinned
viking ship, really.

No one had seen
anything like it.

It was even so
well-preserved that, one day,

The archeologists found a
bucket, like a huge bucket,

And in the bucket,
there were apples,

And they were still red.

That's amazing.

Narrator: The features

That made it such an effective
combat ship are also intact.

Most important is its shape.

The longship, a catchall term
for all large viking vessels,

Has a shallow draft,
meaning that very little

Of the hull was
below the waterline.

This helped them move
swiftly and in shallow water,

Deep into enemy territory.

Sorensen: In the beginning
of the viking era,

It's really the speed at which
they were able to attack,

That their ships just
gave them mobility

That was unheard
of, essentially,

That they can just round a
headland in a fleet of ships

And sail right up
onto the beach.

Williams: They can
also go right up rivers

And sail deep inland.

That meant that they could
attack targets inland,

In britain and ireland.

In France, they
sailed all the way up

To paris, up the seine.

In russia, again,
they're penetrating deep

Into the river systems.

Narrator: Soon, they
ventured even further,

To the mediterranean
and the middle east

And west, across
the north atlantic.

Their raiding ships had to
withstand longer voyages

And combat at sea.

From the eighth century,
they were equipped

With a large sail,
which was supported

By a massive block of
timber called the keelson.

It spread the weight of the mast

And the strain of the
sail when underway.

When their was no wind,
the crew would place oars

Through holes in the
upper strakes or planks.

Parts of the decking
were kept loose,

So weapons and plunder
could be stored underneath.

The vikings museum in oslo
has a second fine example

Of a viking shipwright's skill.

Excavated from
another burial mound,

This is the gokstad ship.

(dramatic music)

Williams: The gokstad ship is
probably fairly typical

Of the viking ships of
the late ninth century.

It's beautifully designed.

It's got enough
carrying capacity

That it can carry supplies.

It can carry loot.

It's got oars for rowing
when the wind's against you,

A single square sail
when the wind's with you.

So it's versatile in the
way it could be used.

Narrator: And it was designed

To strike terror upon arrival.

Soransen: I think it probably
would have been

An incredibly awe-inspiring
and terrifying sight,

That we know from the
historical depictions

That these ships were
highly decorated.

Quite a few of them
would have been painted.

And I think it probably would've
just struck absolute terror

Into the hearts of
people if you knew

That when you saw a fleet

Of five, 10, 15 ships
coming around the headland,

And you knew that they
were full of warriors

And that they were
sailing directly

For your little
coastal settlement,

I think you would pack your bags

And head for the hills
as quickly as you could.

(solemn music)

Narrator: An 11th
century account said--

Man: Such was the
decoration of the ships

That to those who were
looking from afar,

They seemed to be made
more of flame than of wood.

Here shone the gleam of weapons,

Here the flame of
hanging shields.

The ships alone would
have terrified the enemy,

Even before the warriors
could move to join battle.

Narrator: The vikings carried

With them their most
valuable possession,

Prized more than family,

A weapon that brought
death and destruction.

(solemn music)

(gentle music)

The viking ships helped
make them the dominant force

In europe for over 200 years.

Their shallow-draft shape was
perfect for storming beaches.

Their construction
made them strong

And versatile assault vessels.

The oseberg and gokstad ships,
now in a museum in oslo,

Like all viking longships
were clinker-built.

That means constructed using
overlapping planks or strakes.

It was a highly
successful technique.

The vikings laid the keel first.

It was often made of a
single piece of wood.

They built up overlapping planks
on either side of the keel

Then secured them
with iron nails.

The shipwrights
fastened floor timbers

Across the lower planks to
support the shape of the hull.

They then placed the keelson,

Which holds the
mast in position.

Crossbeams, known as bites,
lock the sides together.

The vikings cut oar holes
into the upper planks.

The mast and deck were fitted.

They then added a steering oar

To the right-hand
side of the stern.

The word starboard derives
from this, steering board.

(gentle string music)

In a workshop in the viking
ship museum, in roskilde,

In denmark, a team of
shipwrights still make

Clinker-built ships using

Traditional tools
and techniques.

They use the wood favored by
their viking ancestors, oak.

Dael: It has the quality
that it's strong,

But it's also
durable against rot,

So it lasts for a long time.

It has acid in it,
which is resistant

Towards fungus and rot, so
it's both strong and durable.

(dramatic music)

Narrator: The vikings didn't
use saws for boat-building.

They cleaved, that
is, split the trunks,

To keep the natural
strength of the wood.

It's possible to
obtain 25 planks

From this single
200-year-old tree.

Dael: You start out
with small wedges,

And then you slowly
change into bigger wedges.

You can see that most of the
wood is actually coming out.

There's already quite
a lot of pressure on.

This tree is 200 years, plus,
210 years, approximately.

And it's really wide pieces
of planking we get out here.

It's nearly 1 1/2 feet,
something like that,

So it's a really
big piece of oak.

The plan, with this oak, is
to split it into quarters,

Eighths and sixteenths, so
in the end, you come out

With approximately this
much piece of material,

And then you start
chopping it down

With your ax, from there.

Narrator: Then, as now,

The vikings knew their
way around an ax.

Dael: So I'm just shaping off.

So it's the fine tuning.

The viking shipbuilders
wasted nothing.

Naess: They would use really
every part of the tree,

Where the branches were bending,

They would use
exactly those bends

Where they needed this
shape in the ship.

Narrator: Working closely
with the viking shipwright

On the construction
of a longship

Would be the blacksmith.

He was an integral
part of viking society,

In peace and war.

Bigler: You need the blacksmith
to make the nails,

To make the tools.

So they were not going to war.

They will be home
and make the tools,

So other people can go to war.

There will be no viking
ship without the blacksmith.

Narrator: The planks
that made up the hulls

Of their combat ships
were fixed together

With thousands of nails.

As the hull would take
considerable punishment

From both the sea and the enemy,

It was vital they
were the right size.

Bigler: If the nails are too
big, it will break the wood,

And if it's too small, there
will come water inside.

Narrator: This process
is unchanged in 1,000 years.

(solemn music)

Bigler: So I break it

And heat it again.

I put the nail in linseed oil.

It will make a kind of coating,

So it not rust so easy.

I put it in the water,
just for cooling down.

(gentle music)

Narrator: In the viking
museum in oslo

Is another example

Of the blacksmith's art, a
weapon that was a key part

Of the equipment
on any longship.

Naess: It's a very
typical viking sword.

So I think that
when this was new,

It will be a very
beautiful sword.

And for a viking, a sword
was more than a weapon.

It was also a piece of jewelry,

The most valuable
possession that you had.

It was something
that made you a man.

And if you were rich, you
will have several weapons.

And it was actually forbidden

For a free man not
to have any weapon.

It's a society where
the strongest one wins.

I would say it's very
terrifying to live like that.

You will live in fear.

The sword, it's beautiful.

It's fascinating.

It's really a symbol
of the viking period.

But it is also a symbol of
a period based on violence.

Narrator: A viking
warrior was rarely separated

From his weapon, even at sea.

Naess: You wouldn't
leave your sword.

You will have it as close
at hand as possible.

However, when you were working
on a ship as a crew member,

You might need to put it away,

Because it's big, and
it's a bit clumsy.

So perhaps you will
have it in your chest.

You had a chest with
some belongings,

And you were also
sitting on that chest

When you were rowing.

I can see this man, and
he loved this thing,

Perhaps even as high
as his family members.

It was a part of
him, and he loved it,

And he carried with
him all the time.

And now I'm touching this.

It gives us a link between
me and this unknown man.

Narrator: An old
norse saga reveals just

How important weapons
were to the vikings.

It tells the story
of a warrior's wife

Who steals his sword,
nicknamed footbiter,

And leaves their
baby in its place.

Furious, the warrior
chooses his weapon

Over his child and says--

Warrior: Take your daughter.

I would give a
great deal of money

Before I should care
to let my sword go.

Narrator: Vikings
valued their weapons

And their ships so
highly they never wanted

To be separated from
them, even in death.

(gentle music)

For the vikings, their ships
were a means of transport,

Both in life and in death.

Sorensen: I think we can
be pretty confident

That ships had a major symbolic
meaning for the vikings.

People are quite literally using
a ship as a means of burial

To take them into the next life.

Narrator: Some were
buried surrounded by stones

In the shape of a ship.

The more elite vikings
were placed on a vessel,

Which was then
covered with earth.

The oseberg ship
was a ship burial

With two surprising
bodies on board.

Williams: Now what's remarkable
about oseberg in particular is

That it's not, as you
might expect, the grave

Of a warrior king or
great male war leader

But the two skeletons buried
within it were both women.

It's very likely to be
the grave of a queen

And perhaps her handmaid,
sacrificed alongside her,

In the way that we
sometimes associate

With male burials of the period.

Naess: They were buried in
this ship with a lot

Of belongings and a lot of
animals that were offered

To follow the two
ladies in their grave,

On the journey to the afterlife.

Narrator: Ships were more
than just wood and nails.

Naess: They were the soul of
the vikings, I would say.

A viking without a boat
is not a viking (laughs).

I think that it was
impossible for the vikings

To separate that real
life and the practical use

Of a ship and their
dreams and the mythology

And the way of living.

So a teenager in the
viking period would dream

About a wonderful
ship and a voyage,

Just like a teenager today
would dream of a nice car.

Narrator: Their ships
were given nicknames,

Like oarsteed, surf dragon,

And great serpent.

Where did this
tradition come from?

It turns out the vikings were
not the first scandinavians

To go raiding at sea.

(dramatic music)

(gentle music)

A museum in denmark has
proof that 1,000 years

Before the vikings,
ships played a major role

In the lives of bronze and
iron age scandinavians,

Often at war with each other.

These carvings show
a community ritual

With a vessel being pulled
off the shore into the sea.

Further evidence of
the importance of ships

In the bronze age are
these tiny, gold boats,

Found buried in a
grave in denmark.

The bows of ships even
decorated the helmets

Of bronze age warriors.

(solemn music)

(gentle music)

They may not have
been called vikings,

But these warriors were
formidable sea raiders.

And they had a combat
ship of their own,

An ancestor of the longship.

This vessel is almost
2,500 years old

And was found in a peat
bog near hjortspring,

In denmark, in 1921.

This was no shipwreck.

The hjortspring boat was
captured by a danish tribe,

Who then filled it with the
vanquished enemy's weapons

And shields then
deliberately sank it

As an offering to the gods.

(solemn music)

Kaul: This boat is designed
as a swift war canoe,

Or we could actually call it
a efficient landing craft.

It could swift go
in, on the shore,

And since this boat
is symmetrical,

It can actually leave
the coast very quickly.

Narrator: The boat
was clinker-built,

Out of overlapping
planks, like the longship,

And sewn together
with plant fiber.

Kaul: There's no metal
parts in this boat.

There are just sewn together
with 1,500 small holes.

But still, a little bit
of water could penetrate

Alongside those plant
fibers in the hole,

But that was no problem,
because in each hole,

Around the plant fiber, we
could see that some sort

Of organic fat
material has been used

To make the build watertight.

But of course, during
paddling, during sailing,

You always had to put more of
this animal fat in the holes.

Narrator: This organic
construction gave this boat

An ability to bend but not break

When moving through rough water.

It maintained its overall
shape and strength,

Thanks to 10 frames fixed
across the width of the boat.

Each frame provided a seat for
two men propelling the ship

With wooden paddles.

Kaul: It's quite interesting
to see that the paddles,

As they were found,
together with the ship,

That they have a little
bit different size,

So one could actually say
that the paddles were tailored

For each man of the crew.

Narrator: The men were
a well-armed invading army.

Found with the boat were
shields with a raised center

To protect the warrior's
hand as he went into battle,

Spearheads and arrows,
some bent by impact,

Others worn down by sharpening.

These warriors and
their fast ships

Would have been a
formidable invasion force.

Kaul: If you are in a fleet of,
should we say, four or six

Of those boats, with
up to 100 men or more,

You could make a surprise attack

By moving 100
kilometers per day.

Narrator: The captured
hjortspring canoe is evidence

Of the bitter warfare

Between the ancient
peoples of denmark.

1,000 years later,

Their viking descendants
were still threatened

By their neighbors, and
they had an effective

And ingenious method
of deterring attackers.

(gentle music)
(birds twittering)

The vikings used their
impressive longships

To fight enemies
overseas and each other.

This is the roskilde
fjord in denmark.

By the year 1000,
the nearby town

Of roskilde was the capital
of the danish kings,

But it was vulnerable
to raids from the fjord

By hostile norwegian fleets

And rival claimants
to the danish throne.

Sorensen: To protect the town
from attack from the sea,

They took five worn-out ships

And essentially towed
them out onto the fjord

And then intentionally
scuttled them,

So they were sunk
intentionally to block one

Of the sailing channels,
to create a barrier

To stop attack from the sea.

Narrator: In the 1960s,

The ships that formed the
blockade were recovered

And placed in a museum.

Sorensen: And we can
see from the way

That they were deposited,

That three of the ships
were deposited first,

And as they kind of fell apart,

The further two were
deposited on top of them.

Narrator: The ships found
in the fjord were a mixture

Of types, warships,
but also cargo vessels.

These were essential
for any fleet intent

On plunder or invasion.

Sorensen: So they would,
more than likely,

Have been sailing
in a combined fleet,

Where you would have had
these long, narrow warships

And then also the
ocean-going merchant ships,

Where you have much more room
for supplies and equipment.

Narrator: The vikings called
these cargo ships knarrs.

The museum at roskilde took
the dimensions of a knarr sunk

In the fjord and made a full
-size replica, christened ottar.

(gentle music)

(dramatic music)

Sorensen: It's got a completely
different shape to the warship.

It's much sturdier, much
broader across the beam,

So you can essentially fill
it up with a lot more cargo

Than you could with a longship,

And it requires a much
smaller crew to sail it, too,

So a much better alternative
for a trader or a merchant.

Narrator: The viking
cargo ships carried a variety

Of goods to trade or
to supply an army.

Jessen: It can be
either anything

From pottery to grain
to sheep and cattle.

It has been all kinds
of different cargo,

Anything from barrels
of beer and meat

To salted pickled herring,

And you name it, they
probably carried it.

Narrator: Ottar was built
using authentic materials.

The hull is made of oak,
secured with iron nails.

And the ropes in the rigging
are made of hemp and horsehair.

(dramatic music)

Jessen: You could compare it to

Driving a very old
vintage truck.

It's nice.

It's not fast.

Everything is a
little more primitive.

Of course, all the materials
are natural fibers and wood.

So you need to know
a little more of how

To handle everything
on the boat.

On the other hand, if
you compare this ship,

Which is from around 1030
with a sailing cargo ship

From the 1850s, for example,
we handle quite similar.

So of a time span
of almost 800 years,

Cargo sailing didn't
really change much.

What we found out, apart
from boat handling,

There's also that it's
a very seaworthy ship.

We can cross oceans
with this one.

And we've been
across the north sea,

So we've been to scotland
and norway, germany,

Poland, sweden,
and I have no doubt

That they have been doing
the same, back then,

With the same type of ship.

Naess: They were incredible
skilled people.

They knew how to live
in their environment.

So when you started on a voyage,

You would know that next
point will be this landmark,

And they felt the nature,
the wind, the waves,

And they learned
those things by heart.

Narrator: The existence
of cargo ships is evidence

Of a change in viking strategy

That occurred in
the ninth century,

About 70 years after
the raid on lindisfarne.

The vikings wanted a
more permanent foothold

On the countries they plundered.

They wanted colonies, which
the cargo ships supplied.

Principal among these
territories was the rich

And fertile land of britain.

In 865, an intimidating
force of vikings landed

On the east coast of England.

An ancient anglo-saxon
chronicle said--

Man 2: And the same year
came a large heathen army

Into England and fixed
their winter quarters

In east anglia, where
they were soon horsed,

And the inhabitants
made peace with them.

Narrator: The vikings
weren't peaceful for long.

They swept through the
anglo-saxon kingdoms

Of northumbria and mercia.

The kingdom of wessex,

Named after the west
saxons, stood defiant.

Its king was one of the most
famous in british history,

Alfred the great.

Williams: What makes alfred
stand out are two things,

His success as a
military leader,

But he's also a cultural
figure, so he's a learned man

Who appreciates the
value of education.

And in that respect,
he's way ahead

Of most kings of his time.

Narrator: In 897, viking
ships from east anglia

And northumbria
attacked the saxons,

All along the south
coast of wessex.

Alfred needed to do something
drastic to stop them.

He decided to build his
own fleet of warships,

To take on the invaders.

That decision would
earn him the nickname

The father of the english navy.

So what did alfred's anglo-saxon
combat ships look like?

Clues lie in this
seventh-century burial mound

At sutton hoo, in
the east of England.

It was built for the remains
of an anglo-saxon leader,

200 years before alfred.

When archeologists excavated
the mound, in 1939,

They found the remains of a
large clinker-built vessel.

Gareth williams is an expert
on the sutton hoo find.

Williams: The ship
that was buried

In the mound survived
really only

As an impression in the soil.

The individual rivets survived

And then the marks where
the planks had been.

So the wood itself is lost.

Narrator: This metal
sculpture, near the burial site,

Shows the size of
the sutton hoo ship.

Williams: A vessel like
this would have been

Primarily a troop transporter.

The crew that rode it would
also have been warriors on land.

And the chieftain or king

Who was buried there would
have been their captain,

Both on the boat, almost
certainly, and in war.

Narrator: The sutton hoo
vessel shows the saxons knew

How to make combat ships.

But to stop the vikings, they'd
have to make them bigger.

An anglo-saxon historian wrote--

Historian: Then
king alfred gave orders

For building longships
against the danish vessels,

Which were full-nigh twice
as long as the others.

Some had 60 oars, some more,

And they were both
swifter and steadier

And also higher than the others.

Narrator: The ships
were probably constructed

From oak trees in
the wessex forests.

Once they were completed,

Alfred took the
fight to the vikings.

In the ninth century,

Naval strategy was
almost non-existent.

(dramatic music)

Battles at sea were more
like battles on land.

Naess: They will start a battle
with throwing missiles,

Throwing stones, and then
they will be closer and closer

And so close that
they could jump

Into the ship of the enemy.

Williams: Height gave an
advantage for

Things like archery,

Use of spears and stones
and other missiles,

And it also meant that striking
down with swords and axes,

You've got that advantage.

So the taller ships would
offer an advantage there.

Narrator: It worked.

Alfred's navy won victories
against the vikings foe.

And in the last
years of his reign,

There were no major
vikings attacks.

For the first time, an
english ruler had recognized

That a permanent
fleet was necessary

For the defense of the realm.

That permanent fleet still
exists, although over the years,

The ships have looked
very different.

King alfred's saxon
descendants continued

To use longships
to great effect,

Taking the fight to the vikings.

Williams: His
grandson athelstan,

Who is the first ruler

Of the whole of England,
building on the success

Of his father and grandfather,
raided as far as scotland

With a fleet sailing up the
east coast and projecting

That military power right
round the british isles.

He even called himself king

Of all britain, rex
totius bratanniae.

Narrator: Just over
100 years after athelstan,

An english king faced
a new longship threat,

Not from scandinavia
but much closer to home.

This invasion fleet would
change history forever.

By the 11th century,

The viking longship had been
the most feared combat ship

In europe, for over 200 years.

King alfred of wessex had
been one of the few kings

Who had successfully
halted the viking advance.

180 years after his death,

Another fleet of enemy
longships appeared

Off the south coast of England.

The fleet was larger

Than anything alfred
could have imagined.

Once more, longships would
change the course of history.

The year was 1066.

(dramatic music)

(helmet thuds)

(dramatic music)

Sailing towards England

From France was a
norman invasion fleet,

Under the command of
duke william of normandy.

His ships would have been
familiar to any viking,

With good reason.

Morris: The word norman is
just another variant

On norseman or northman.

They were vikings who
came from scandinavia

In the late ninth century,

And rather than attacking
northwestern France,

They started to settle in an
area of northwestern France

That by the early
10th century was known

As normania, or normandy,
the land of the norsemen.

(dramatic music)

Narrator: William of
normandy believed he had a claim

To the english throne.

Standing in his way
was harold godwinson,

Who had been crowned
king in london,

On the 6th of January, 1066.

Morris: He's gonna have
to depose harold,

And that means this

Astonishingly reckless
undertaking,

Which is to invade England,
to assemble an armada

And pull off the kind of feat

That they know
hasn't been achieved

Since the time of julius
caesar, 1,000 years before.

(solemn music)

Narrator: William had
to put a force together,

Very quickly, before harold
could consolidate his power.

A record of the norman
invasion commissioned

By william's family, known
as the bayeux tapestry,

Depicts the norman shipwrights
chopping down trees

And building boats from scratch.

Sorensen: If you look at
the kind of ships

That are depicted on
the bayeux tapestry,

They look exactly like the
kind of ships that you have

As a classical viking age ship,
and also the kind of tools

That are used in the
boat-building sequences,

At the beginning of the
tapestry, they're the same kind

Of tools that you find
in viking age excavation.

(solemn music)

Narrator: William's fleet
included troop carriers

For about 8,000 men.

The tapestry shows his longships
were loaded with horses.

William's cavalry was
key to his battle plan.

This is the era of
the mounted knight.

The ships were custom
fitted for the job.

Morris: They must have
led those horses

On to specially constructed
stalls on those boats,

To stop them from panicking.

But I think, however
many they had,

Whether it was 1,000
or 2,000 horses,

It gave them that critical edge

In the conflict that followed.

Narrator: William's
fleet would have consisted

Of many ships, like the
sturdy knarr trading vessel,

Found at roskilde.

(dramatic music)

On the 28th of September, 1066,

The norman longships
appeared on the horizon,

Off the coast of pevensey,

In sussex in the
south of England.

Morris: To anyone stood here
on the beach at pevensey,

You imagine 700
sails, hostile sails,

Suddenly on the horizon,

You are gonna be
running for the hills.

Narrator: Three days
after william landed here,

Harold, who had been fighting
another rival claimant

To the throne, 200
miles to the north,

Headed south, to face him.

They met at hastings, on
the 14th of October, 1066.

During the daylong battle,

The longships' cargo of
horses proved decisive.

Morris: It was undoubtedly
worth the effort

And the difficulty of
trying to get those horses

Across the channel,
'cause this is something

That was very seldom done.

Narrator: Harold
is killed at hastings.

Some believe by an
arrow in the eye,

Paving the way for william
to achieve something

That none of his
viking ancestors could,

The conquest of England.

Yet 1066 marks
the end of an era.

William saw himself not
as a vikings warrior,

But as a norman knight.

Sorensen: Generally, it's
accepted that

The battle of hastings

And the norman invasion marks
the end of the viking age.

It's here where they lose
their political dominance

And their political influence,
and society kind of begins

To evolve again into a
feudal anglo-norman society.

Narrator: The viking
era may have ended,

But their superb combat
shipbuilding skills

Were not lost.

In the ninth century,

The vikings had settled
in the scottish islands

Of the hebrides,
orkney and shetland.

Over the years,

As they assimilated with
the native scots,

A new type of clinker
-built boat emerged

That would outlast the
longship by 500 years.

It would prove to be a small
but effective combat ship.

This is a replica of a scottish
vessel known as a birlinn.

(solemn music)

For 800 years, the birlinn
was the predominant vessel

In the west of scotland.

Any viking would have recognized

Its design and construction.

Clinker-built ships were
ideal for the scottish seas.

Rixson: I think we have to say

That clinker-built technology
arrived with the norse

And was tremendously popular,
because the flexible,

Supple boats, which
allowed to create,

Were perfectly suited to
the rough west coast waters.

Murray: The basic
principle is that

When the wind was
behind you,

You could use the sail,
but when the wind was

Against you, you really
needed to use the oar,

So the oars were
very, very handy

For maneuvering the
ship at close quarters

And up rivers and onto
beaches for beaching it.

Narrator: There
was one key difference

Between the viking longship
and the scottish vessels.

By the 12th century,

The viking longship's
steering oar had been replaced

By a rudder fixed to
the back of the ship.

It made steering simpler
and sharp turns much easier.

Right up until the 17th century,

The birlinn was the boat
of choice for the chiefs

Of the scottish network of
families known as the clans,

From the gaelic
word for children.

Clans such as the macdonalds
and the macruaris were often

At war as they battled
for regional supremacy.

Rixson: The clan chief, as
the norwegian chiefs,

In the days and the sagas,
was always keen to impress.

And a lot of this
is about bling.

It's about making sure
people see your status.

Look at the woodwork on my boat.

Look at the lines of my ship.

Narrator: Viking and anglo
-saxon naval tactics also lived

On in the birlinns
and their crews.

Murray: The commonest way they
were used for combat would be

To get close to the
ships of the opposition,

Lash the two vessels together,

Or more than two
vessels together,

And then get engaged in
close, hand-to-hand combat

With swords and axes.

Narrator: From the
early 13th century onwards,

When the scottish clans
weren't fighting each other,

They were happy to take
the money of irish chiefs,

As mercenaries in their wars

Against each other
or the english.

Fleets of birlinns
took the scots

Across the ocean to ireland.

Their ships were far superior

To anything the irish possessed.

Murray: It must have been
an amazing sight,

To see 100 or more
of these vessels,

Often quite big boats.

Some of them could be
60 and 70 feet long,

With 100 men on board.

(energetic rock music)

Narrator: Although
birlinns disappeared

In the 17th century, this legacy

Of the viking longship
lives on into the 21st.

Every year in shetland,
in the north of scotland,

Islanders celebrate their
viking heritage and burn a ship.

The burning vessel is
a powerful reminder

Of the significance of one

Of the most influential
combat ships of all.

The longship is the iconic
symbol of the viking age.

It took warriors across the
oceans to trade and raid.

Longships helped
bring about a victory

That changed the
face of history.

The story of these
vessels reveals a people

Who were often
violent and bloody,

But also expert craftsmen.

Naess: People ask me,

What do you think is the
most fascinating thing

About the vikings?

And I think it was their
willingness to take risks

To see what was
on the other side.

They were curious.

Sorensen: I think the biggest
misunderstanding is

That they were just these
kind of mindless brutes

Who just hopped in their ships

And sailed off and caused chaos.

They were incredibly adaptable

And that they had an
incredibly global perspective

That when you think about a time

When most people probably
never left their own village

Or traveled much more than
five miles down the road,

That kind of sense of adventure

And that very open
approach they had to life

And to what they
could get out of it,

I think that's kind of an
eternally fascinating thing.

(dramatic music)