““it is the sea itself who fashions the boats, choosing those which function and destroying the others." "If it comes home … copy it! That’s natural selection"
The original quote is an observation about Polynesian boats: “Every boat is copied from another boat…it is the sea herself who fashions the boats, choosing those which function and destroying the others” (Alain 1908)
That is probably how the various ship types used by the vikings evolved over the centuries.
The Longships was probably the ultimate for speed and fighting capabilities:
While the Knarr was the trading ship, used for cargo and long ocean crossings.
To prove the ability of the Knarr Ragnar Thorseth sailed a replica Knarr across the Atlantic in 1984. Here from the arrival in New York City:
The Viking long ship was of its time and place. Beautiful lines, light and flexible but it couldn’t support those who ventured into other oceans like the caravels and latter still the Barque Endeavour of Captain Cook with its approximately 250 tonnes of stores and munitions to sustain its crew for 2 or more years.
The Longship were fighting ships, able to carry large number of people on short voyages around the North Sea. They were sleek, fast and flexible, thus able to handle the weather in the area.
For long voyages across oceans the shorter, wider and more seaworthy Knarr was used.
Making the crossings to Iceland, Greenland and eventually to North America, stopping for resupplies in Shetland and Faeroe Islands on the way.
The Swedes used smaller and lighter boats to travel on the rivers in Russia, pulling the boats between river system to reach as far as the Black Sea and even Miklagard (today’s Istanbul).
I agree with this statement but stuck on the dilemma of the bulbous bow. Humans have been shipbuilding & going to sea for over ten thousand years. For the first 9,900 years boats & ships had conventional bows just like all ships & boats before. All those boat/shipbuilders seen raindrops, wax drippings & later metal slags in water but still made pointy bows even though they didn’t offer the path of least resistance through water. Yes, the ships we have now were created by natural selection but considering our very late discovery of the bulbous bow, it makes me wonder what else can we be missing that should be obvious.
As I was told as a kid in history class, studying the great explorers - for every Magellan/Da Gama/Columbus etc, there were dozens who simply disappeared without note.
… and some were copied much later e.g “Brendan Voyage” and the like.