The Amazing, Historic Watercraft of Norway
We open pages of another book on traditional boats of the world
I bought my much-loved copy of Inshore Craft of Norway seven years ago, paying what seemed like an outrageous price—$120—ten times what it cost when first published in 1979. Today, the same shortened English translation of an earlier volume by the Norwegian researcher and author, Berhard Faeroyvik (1886-1950), is selling for $256…and it’ll probably continue gaining in value.
Faeroyvik, who grew up during an age when sail and oars still dominated along the rugged coast of Norway, dedicated most of his life to studying and preserving lines of the pre-engine-era working boats of the western Norway coastal waterways and fjords.
Faeroyvik’s work began in earnest in 1917, living in Bergen, when he was appointed to a special curatorship in boat-building history established by the Norwegian Museums Association. He could see then, as new motor-driven vessels were being embraced by fishing fleets, that traditional boatbuilding and designs harkening back hundreds of years would soon fade into history. As an experienced fisherman, he had a passion for traditional designs, boatbuilding methods, and how hull designs evolved to suit the unique needs and sea conditions of different areas—with emphasis on the western coast north of Bergen, where he lived.
The research papers and manuscripts of Faeroyvik, all in Norwegian, were translated into English and a shortened version of his lifelong work was edited by Arne Emil Christensen, author of Inshore Craft of Norway.
Like the books we’ve recently sampled on traditional boats of Ireland and Denmark, today’s column covers historic designs uniquely suited to the fjords and outer coasts of Norway—boats that harken directly back to the Viking Age, with naturally grown knees, wide planks tree-nailed to ribs, thwarts loose and often amazingly efficient squaresails.
So, let’s take a look at traditional boats of the western Norway coast, generally starting at the south and working to the north.
Vest-Agder Boats
At the rugged southern tip of Norway’s coast, little pilot boats were often needed to help guide windjammers into small, protected harbors. This six-oared pilot boat is only 17’ 6” x 6,’ but was clearly fast and seaworthy with three strong rowers and a modest spritsail rig.
Hardanger Boats
This ten-oared boat from the Hardanger area of Hordaland was built in 1853 and until 1920 was mainly used for traveling the fjord to and from church. This particular hull was known informally as the “Girls’ Boat,” a nickname spawned from the rivalry between the coastal villages of Lote and Alsaker. (The Alsaker folks often maintained that girls from their village could out-row boys from Lote. So, on the occasion of a wedding at Alsaker, eleven young Lote men dressed in girls’ clothes, borrowed the boat from its shed and annoyed the Alsaker bridal boat by rowing round it in circles, shouting and generally making a nuisance of themselves.)
With five rowing stations and a squaresail, the church boat had five wide strakes, a classic Viking hull shape, and must have been fast with ten oars in the water. Length was 27’ with a beam of 7,’ so not a bad way to cross your local fjord enroute to church.
Four-Oared Oselver Type, Hardanger
This smaller, gorgeous four-oared hull from the Hardanger region closely resembles the Oselver type, with only three wide planks and a beautiful hull shape. It was used for carrying mail, and was a fast and seaworthy boat that carried a spritsail rig from about 1860 on. Because of their shallow draft and fairly small keel, this type sails better downwind than when tacking—but they row extremely well.
Barons’ Boats of Rosendal Manor
While the society of pre-industrial Norway was more egalitarian than the rest of Europe, there were still great social differences. Estates might have been few and far between, but the large Rosendal Manor house had a small fleet of “vengbat,” the stretch limos of the fjords—30’ x 8’ with ten oarsmen and a helmsman to quickly carry barons of the estate to…well, wherever they wished to go, and in a hurry. The “vengbat’ examples measured were built in 1835 or earlier, and they originally carried squaresails in addition to the ten rowing stations.
The aft cabins, or “vengs,” had space enough for foods and other necessities, along with padded benches for barons and their guests. Bishop Neumann of Bergen, who served in the role from 1822 to 1848, described his first trip in a “vengbat” this way: “One sits on a pillow-covered bench around a low table, pleasant enough, watching the shore rushing past at every stroke of the oars. There is no more carefree way of travel, almost too carefree, for in such a boat no exercise can be had if one does not take an oar.”
Four-Oared Workboat from Sogn
It might be hard to tell from this old photo, but this 18’ Sogn workboat was beamier and had greater load-carrying capacity than some of the narrower, faster pulling boats. This one, alongside boatsheds, would have carried heavy loads, and in less favorable weather than some others in its size range. Boats like this would have been used when crews wanted to avoid the extra work of launching a heavy six- or eight-oared workboat for a particular trip.
Iceboat from Aurland, Sogn
This little 14’ x 5’ lapstrake pram came into play when inner Sogn fjords froze solid and, especially in autumn and spring when the ice might include open strips of water mid-fjord. At those times you needed a boat that could ride across the ice on runners but also carry passengers across the fjord in watery sections. (The little ice boats were especially used when a doctor, midwife or vicar needed to urgently but safely get to the other side of the fjord during the soft-ice conditions; the worst part of the journey being moving the boat through thin ice along the edge of open water.)
Storebat from Skasheim, Sogn
These weren’t the largest freighters in early Norwegian trade, but they had the same hull shape as larger “jekt” hulls. (Storebat literally means “big boat.”) This one measured 34’ x 11,’ with a relatively shallow and beamy hull shape to carry cargo, mainly from farms to markets in Bergen.
Under favorable conditions and with a crew of only two, this boat, built around 1840, could have reportedly made up to 8-9 knots under squaresail, carrying 36 barrels of goods.
Eight-Oared Fishing Boats, Flora, Sunnfjord
Well cared-for by many owners, these 22’ x 6’ craft were built as early as 1780, and some were still in decent shape with documented by Faeroyvik in the mid-1920’s.
These boats were typically used for winter and spring herring fishing, and they were probably originally rigged with squaresails…but during their long working life they were re-rigged with dipping lugsails after 1850 on this part of the coast. In Sunnfjord, boats of this size were also used to fish for large, slow basking sharks which could be caught with primitive gear despite their substantial size. (The huge fish, sometimes much larger than the boat, had inedible flesh but were caught for their livers, used for lamp oil. Once killed, they were sometimes lashed between two of the fairly light boats, then cut open for removal of the liver. A large specimen could yield several barrels of liver.)
Four-Oared Boats from Nordfjord
Built in Gloppen in the late 1800’s, this 18’ x 5’ boat carried stone ballast amidships on the way out to the fishing grounds, and the catch as ballast on the way back home. (Usually, they had a small plank bulkhead fitted under the thwarts to keep the fish from sliding around in heavy seas.) The sail for this boat was made in about 1900 and was still in use in 1946, when the boat was measured.
Ten-Oared Boats from Nordfjord
These larger boats, built in Gloppen, came in different lengths but the one measured was 28’ x 7,’ carrying a squaresail, up to five rowers and usually five planks per side. The boats were multi-purpose, used for herring and cod fishing, freighting hay, lightering firewood for a larger cargo carrier, or sometimes serving as church boats.
The Huge Nordfjord “Jekti” Freighter
The massive cargo carrier shown below was built in Bergen for the firewood trade from Nordfjord back to Bergen in about 1881, and was in service until 1910 when competition from steamers made the old sailing freighters obsolete. Since 1910 she has been stored in a boatshed.
The freighter is 65’ x 32,’ and was rated to carry 750 barrels, corresponding to 125 “measures” of firewood. Loading and unloading the open, shallow hold of a jekt was fairly easy, but the skipper had a hard job keeping the goods of his various customers apart. A typical cargo consisted mainly of firewood and other forestry products. The first of the firewood was stacked between floor timbers, directly on the strakes, and the rest was added until it reached up to the sheerstrake. Ropes with labels kept the wood of various owners apart…but identifying each order was sometimes tricky. (If new, smaller boats were to be sold during a trip, they were placed on top of the firewood cargo.)
And a Dinghy for the Cargo Ship…
Every big boat needs a dinghy, so here’s the 17’ x 5’ skiff that was carried aboard the cargo ship pictured above—usually stacked atop the load of firewood being transported to buyers between Nordfjord and Bergen.
And Finally, a Break From Fishing and Freighting…
Thanks, as always, for reading. - Marty
Thanks for an interesting and informative article. I was amazed by how similar the old Block Island Cowhorn boats, of my native Rhode Island, were to the Hardanger boats.
Outstanding article Marty. Thanks for sharing. The vessel history of that part of the world is generally unfamiliar to me and this clearly opened my eyes to its history.