Their Settlements On The Shetland, Orkney, And Western
Islands Of Scotland, Are Only Mentioned, Because In These Last The
Scandinavians
Seem to have established and encouraged manufactures, the
forerunner and support of commerce; for towards the end of the ninth
Century, the drapery of the Suderyans, (for so the inhabitants were called,
as their country lay to the south of Shetland and Orkney,) was much
celebrated and sought after.
About this period the Scandinavian nations began to mingle commerce and
discovery with their piratical expeditions. Alfred, king of England,
obliged to attend to maritime affairs, to defend his territories from the
Danes, turned his ardent and penetrating mind to every thing connected with
this important subject. He began by improving the structure of his vessels;
"the form of the Saxon ships (observes Mr. Strutt, who derives his
description from contemporary drawings) at the end of the eighth century,
or beginning of the ninth, is happily preserved in some of the ancient MSS.
of that date, they were scarcely more than a very large boat, and seem to
be built of stout planks, laid one over the other, in the manner as is done
in the present time; their heads and sterns are very erect, and rise high
out of the water, ornamented at top with some uncouth head of an animal,
rudely cut; they have but one mast, the top of which is also decorated with
a bird, or some such device; to this mast is made fast a large sail, which,
from its nature and construction, could only be useful when the vessel went
before the wind. The ship was steered with a large oar, with a flat end,
very broad, passing by the side of the stern; and this was managed by the
pilot, who sat in the stern, and thence issued his orders to the mariners."
The bird on the mast head, mentioned in this description, appears, from the
account of Canute's fleet, given in Du Cange, to have been for the purpose
of shewing the wind.
The same energy and comprehension of mind which induced and enabled Alfred
to improve his navy so much, led him to favour geographical pursuits and
commere. In his Anglo-Saxon translation of Orosius, he has inserted the
information he had obtained from two Scandinavians, Ohter and Wulfstan. In
this we have the most ancient description, that is clear and precise, of
the countries in the north of Europe. Ohter sailed from Helgoland in
Norway, along the coast of Lapland, and doubling the North Cape, reached
the White Sea. This cape had not before been doubled; nor was it again,
till in the middle of the 16th century, by Chancellor, the English
navigator, who was supposed at that time to be the original discoverer.
Ohter also made a voyage up the Baltic, as far as Sleswig. Wulfstan,
however, penetrated further into this sea than Ohter; for he reached Truse,
a city in Prussia, which he represents as a place of considerable trade.
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