Historical (specifically Viking/Dark Age) Ship Terms

[Martin Gill]

Anyone hot on historical ship terminology? I THINK I have things correct - but an expert would help.

Specifically - I have a number of times when I need to refer to the gunwale of the ship - but from what I can tell gunwale is a later term. I'm left with sheer strake (which is what Giles Kristian uses) or saxboard, which I think may be a more modern term.

They use gunwale here...
Vikings of Bjornstad - Viking Ship Terms

... but I think its to translate the Old Norse term into a modern term. I've got a couple of reference books specifically about Viking age ships, but none go into enough detail.

 

[The Judge]

Gunwale would be much later -- around the mid C15th -- since it was first used for the platform which carried the guns.

We actually looked at this very issue some time back Use of the term 'gunwale'

I can't help with an authentic term for that upper strake, and all I can suggest is you call it just that, with your characters abridging it perhaps to up'strake or somesuch.

 

[Brian G Turner]

While I truly appreciate the importance of trying to be historical with names, it's also worth remembering that the obsession to standardise everything is a modern one. I would realistically expect different terms for any part of a boat according to the local dialect and builder preferences. If you do that you get +1 historical realism from me.

Call it what you want, so long as you're consistent. And we should get the meaning by the context used - "gunwhale" only really explains anything to minority of people familiar with nautical terms.

You could even just call it a wale.

(I went for the term "railing" on the grounds that my POV characters know nothing about sailing terminology, so cannot be expected to know them. I apply this principle to historical detail in a mediaeval setting across all my characters - ie, a character with low social status might think of a horse as just a horse, but a lord almost certainly will note differences in breed and breeding condition, ie, destrier, palfrey, gelding, mare, etc).

 

[Martin Gill]

Which makes sense, apart from one of my characters is the ship's captain

But that does give me the thought that I could amp up the terminology during the captain's POV and be more vague for the non sailor's POV.

 

[Cory Swanson]

In my head, I see a saxophone nailed to a board. Which is appealing to me as a beginning band teacher.

I also see a whale with a gun strapped to its head. Not as satisfying as saxboard, but amusing nonetheless.