Their settlements on the Shetland, Orkney, and western
islands of Scotland, are only mentioned, because in these last the
Scandinavians seem to have established and encouraged manufactures, the
forerunner and support of commerce; for towards the end of the ninth
century, the drapery of the Suderyans, (for so the inhabitants were called,
as their country lay to the south of Shetland and Orkney,) was much
celebrated and sought after.
About this period the Scandinavian nations began to mingle commerce and
discovery with their piratical expeditions. Alfred, king of England,
obliged to attend to maritime affairs, to defend his territories from the
Danes, turned his ardent and penetrating mind to every thing connected with
this important subject. He began by improving the structure of his vessels;
"the form of the Saxon ships (observes Mr. Strutt, who derives his
description from contemporary drawings) at the end of the eighth century,
or beginning of the ninth, is happily preserved in some of the ancient MSS.
of that date, they were scarcely more than a very large boat, and seem to
be built of stout planks, laid one over the other, in the manner as is done
in the present time; their heads and sterns are very erect, and rise high
out of the water, ornamented at top with some uncouth head of an animal,
rudely cut; they have but one mast, the top of which is also decorated with
a bird, or some such device; to this mast is made fast a large sail, which,
from its nature and construction, could only be useful when the vessel went
before the wind.
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