The
Nordland boat (or ), is a type of fishing boat that has been used for centuries in northern counties of
Nordlandis a county in Norway, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic...
,
Tromsor Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
and
FinmarkFinmark may refer to:* Finmark, Ontario, a community in the Thunder Bay District of Ontario* the Sápmi * a misspelling of Finnmark, a county in Norway....
of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
and derives its name from Nordland county where it has a long history. It has dominated the
LofotenLofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
and
VesterålenVesterålen is a district in the county Nordland in Norway, just north of Lofoten.- Geography :Vesterålen consists of the municipalities Andøy, Bø, Hadsel, Sortland and Øksnes. Vesterålen is made up of several islands: Langøya, Andøya, Hadseløya, the western part of Hinnøya, the northern part of...
islands fishing industry for centuries and is closely related to the old
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
longshipLong-ships were ships made and used by the Vikings to raid coastal and inland settlements during the Viking Age. The vessels were also used for long distance trade and commerce, and for exploratory voyages to Iceland, Greenland, throughout the mediterranean etc. Longship design evolved over several...
s.
The Nordland boat has a clinker, or lapstrake
hullA hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull comes the superstructure and deckhouse. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
design and has its rudder on the
sternpostA sternpost is the upright structural member or post at the stern of a ship or a boat, to which is attached the transoms and the rearmost left corner part of the stern. The Stern is traditionally the rear left corner of the ship however in mordern nautical terms the stern is considered the rear...
.
The
Nordland boat (or ), is a type of fishing boat that has been used for centuries in northern counties of
Nordlandis a county in Norway, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic...
,
Tromsor Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
and
FinmarkFinmark may refer to:* Finmark, Ontario, a community in the Thunder Bay District of Ontario* the Sápmi * a misspelling of Finnmark, a county in Norway....
of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
and derives its name from Nordland county where it has a long history. It has dominated the
LofotenLofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
and
VesterålenVesterålen is a district in the county Nordland in Norway, just north of Lofoten.- Geography :Vesterålen consists of the municipalities Andøy, Bø, Hadsel, Sortland and Øksnes. Vesterålen is made up of several islands: Langøya, Andøya, Hadseløya, the western part of Hinnøya, the northern part of...
islands fishing industry for centuries and is closely related to the old
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
longshipLong-ships were ships made and used by the Vikings to raid coastal and inland settlements during the Viking Age. The vessels were also used for long distance trade and commerce, and for exploratory voyages to Iceland, Greenland, throughout the mediterranean etc. Longship design evolved over several...
s.
Construction
The Nordland boat has a clinker, or lapstrake
hullA hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull comes the superstructure and deckhouse. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
design and has its rudder on the
sternpostA sternpost is the upright structural member or post at the stern of a ship or a boat, to which is attached the transoms and the rearmost left corner part of the stern. The Stern is traditionally the rear left corner of the ship however in mordern nautical terms the stern is considered the rear...
. Its length varies from the smallest of fourteen feet to well over forty and usually has a length-
beamThe beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
ratio of 3-1 to 4-1. It has a high
prowthumb|right|295pxThe prow is the forward most part of a ship's bow that cuts through the water. It is often depicted in movies with a carved figurehead in the form of a mermaid, a woman in 19th-century dress or other similar figure. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline...
,
sternThe stern is the rear or aft part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail...
, shallow
keelIn boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, the construction is dated from this event, with only the ship's launching considered more...
,
v-hullA V-hull, is a shape of a boat or ship which the shape of the hull comes to a straight line to the keel. V-hull designs are usually used in smaller boats and are useful in providing space for ballast inside the boat....
and has an inboard
gunwaleThe gunwale is a nautical term describing the top edge of the side of a boat.Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a weal, which, too, forms a ridge. Originally the gunwale was the "Gun ridge" on a sailing warship...
, which can be used to drain off the fishing nets when they are drawn onboard. Some of the larger Nordlanders have a detachable cabin that is used for shelter, often having a wood burning stove inside.
The Nordlander normally carries a large single square sail with the largest boats carrying a
topsailA topsail is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails.- Square rig :On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a square sail rigged above the course sail and below the topgallant sail where carried...
. It one of the few types of boats that still carries such a sail to the present day.
OakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 400 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
had been a favorite wood for ship builders for centuries for its resistance to rot, strength, and durability. However, oak is not native to Norway north of the county of Trondelag and is also a heavy wood which would make such boats difficult to pull up on shore, which was done on a daily basis. For these reasons, the materials used for the Nordland is almost exclusively made of
pinePines are coniferous trees in the genus Pinus , in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Distribution:...
, and in the northern regions,
firFirs are a genus of between 48-55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. All are trees, reaching heights of 10-80 m tall and trunk diameters of 0.5-4 m when mature...
. Pine and fir are lighter woods which would make it easier to be drawn up on shore, but at the expense of durability.
Possible Sami origins
The Nordlandbot has a very long history in the north Norwegian coastline, with the Coastal
SamiSami may refer to:* Sami people of the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia and Finland* Sami languages of the Sami people* Sami, Burkina Faso, one of the six districts of the Banwa Province* Sami District of Gambia...
first sailing such boats from about 950 onwards. Around 1000 AD the Sami were described as producing Nordlandbots for their Norwegian customers along the northern coastal farming communities, which the Norwegians soon started to build for themselves. The origins of the distinctive 'Nordland' boat can be found in the boatbuilding traditions of the Coastal Sami.
One of the biggest differences between the Norwegian and Sami built Nordlands is that the Sami 'sewed' the lapstrakes together using reindeer intestines, while the Norwegians used iron rivets. Nordland boats continued to be built for over 1000 years, and in the early 20th century it was still used for fishing and coastal transport.
Unique feature
One of the unique features of the Nordland is its
ballastBallast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. Insufficiently ballasted boats will tend to tip, or heel, excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the boat capsizing. When sailing vessels carried cargo, it was at times necessary to sail to a...
system. Dozens of fist size round rocks are placed at the bottom of the boat to keep the boat weighted down. In the event that the boat is either swamped or capsizes, the rocks are designed to roll out of the boat which would lighten the boat and thus keep it afloat.
The Nordland Boat today
Nordland boats today are no longer used as primarily fishing boats but as pleasure craft and have annual races. The coat-of-arms of Nordland County shows the traditional boat -
the Nordlandsbåt.
Sources
- Christensen, Arne; Boats of the North (1968) Oslo: Samlaget.
- Olsen, Mel (2005), http://home.earthlink.net/~arran2/archive/sami-boat.htm
- Wooden Boat Magazine, A Nordlandsbat for Maine: An American Sailor Orders a Norwegian Icon, March/April 2003
Further reading
- Bjorklund, Jarle; The Boat Hall, Norwegian Maritime Museum, Manual, ND.
- Fjellheim, Rune Sverre; Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, Case Study from Sápmi, 1999.
- Nielssen, Alf Rgnar; Indigenous and Early Fisheries in North Norway, University of Tromsø.
- Paine, R.; Coastal Lapp Society I, A Study of a Neighborhood in Revsbotn Fjord, 1957.
- Smyth, H. Warington, Mast and Sail in Europe, 1906, London: John Murray
- Westerdahl, Christer, Sewn Boats of the North, The International Journal of Nautical Archeology, 1985, 14.1:33-62
External links