A Tale of Thorr's Lady
Welcome to the berth of the good ship Thorr's Lady, owned and captained by Thorfinn Gunnarsson, late of Iceland.
Thorr's Lady, named for the goddess Sif is a knarr (a.k.a. 'knórr') of the type familiar to historians and archaeologists as Skuldelev 1.
She is not primarily a fighting ship, but that has never stopped her crew engaging in a little piracy when the opportunity presents itself...
But still, she was designed to carry heavy freight, and indeed took Thorfinn's entire family, all their possessions and livestock from Norway to Iceland when they settled there in 911. Thorfinn was born there in 912, but he soon grew to hate farming, and longed to go to sea. He persuaded his father to let him repair their ship and take her out, under the guidance of Ragnar Eiriksson, an old family friend, who had been sturaesman of the Fafnirsbane, a Norwegian pirate longship. Though now short of one eye, Ragnar taught him everything there was to know about navigation and seamanship, and so a bond was made that was to have great importance to the future both of Thorfinn and that of Dahrg de Belne!
Thorfinn inherited his father's land near Reykjavik plus the ship when Gunnar Thorvaldsson died in 930, not long after the Althing was founded in Iceland. The Norns wove their web of Wyrd, and decreed that in 931 Thorfinn Gunnarson was forced to leave Iceland in 'Thorr's Lady', following the settling of a family feud in which his wife was murdered and he in turn slew her murderer and burnt down his farmstead. The rest is history...
This fine old ship has often been repaired, and is showing her age now, but she is still a grand lady of the sea and has many years trading left in her, carrying the goods of Jarl Olaf's trading company Dahrg de Belne around Britain and Scandinavia and beyond...
Thorr's Lady was built of massive pine planks with frames and cross beams of oak, in Western Norway. She has high sides and short decks fore and aft with an open cargo compartment amidships. There is a permanent mast fitting slotted into a heavy keelson, unlike dragonships and snekkja where the masts are easily dis-mountable. The rig includes fittings for the beitass or reaching spar which can be used to sail closer to the wind. An arrow shot has left its mark in the uppermost plank fore. Her standard crew consists of 5-8 men.
Thorr's Lady has sailed all over the North Sea and the Baltic as well as on the North Atlantic. With a favourable wind, she makes an average speed of 5-6 knots and has achieved a speed twice as great as this in extreme conditions.
Material: pine, oak, lime
Length: 16.5 metres Breadth: 4.5 metres
Draught: without cargo 0.6 m, loaded 1.3 m
Displacement: 34 tons (incl. 24 t cargo)
Cargo carrying capacity: 20-25 tons.
No. of oars: 2 pairs
Crew: 5 - 8 men
Sail area: approx. 85 square metres.
Average speed: 5-6 knots Maximum speed: 13 knots
Place of building: Western Norway
Most links are not yet active from this page - but there will be much more added to this section soon on Viking trade routes, our trade goods and tales of the Gods, our voyages and the trouble we get into! Keep on coming back!
Meanwhile, may the Gods sail with you, and may the wind be always at your back!
Thorfinn Gunnarsson
Feedback - Email Thorfinn!
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