FMR 100 Knobskib from Ry Marina

This is an almost complete "knobskib" made from a hollowed-out oak trunk. The boat is made from oak in contrast with newer ones that were made from beech. It was most probably used for transport and fishing on the lake Birksø.

The boat has a crude shape with sides of even height and a short pointed bow. It is 2.60 metres long and 70 centimetres wide. An approximately 12 centimetre thick bulkhead divides the boat into two sections. The rower has sat in the rear section, the front section being used for wet nets and other equipment. The boat-builder had bored a hole in the bottom, most probably to assist him in measuring the wood-thickness (scantling) while working on the boat.

The dendrochronological tests show that the tree was more than 175 years old when it was felled. The last of the preserved growth rings grew in 1588. None of the outer growth rings (wood chips) remain. It is impossible to estimate how many growth rings were lost when the "knobskib" was shaped. To make optimal use of the trunk it is unlikely that more was hewn off the tree than was necessary. It is therefore reasonable to give the date 1611 (+/- 10 years) as the time the tree was felled and then hollowed-out.

During the extension of Ry Marina in 1978 the "knobskib" was found in Birksø. It has been donated to the Freshwater Museum by Ry District Council.

Copy af FMR 100

In the summer 2000 the archaeologist Esben Kaannegaard built a copy of the boat with hand tools. The boat is now on exhibit at Dørup Hestestald near Mossø.

FMR 112   A stretched dug-out from Mossø
      
This boat is built from a single oak trunk, which was originally about 5 metres long. While being hollowed-out to a wood thickness (scantling) of a few centimetres, blocks of wood were kept on the inner side. Holes were drilled in the blocks, called chocks. The boat builder has hollowed-out the boat by following the sequence of the growth rings and through a narrow groove along the trunk. The bow and stern were kept very solid.

Today only 3.60 metres of the elegant boat remain. The upper part of the boat sides have crumbled away.

Drawing and measurements by Lars Vig Jensen.

From ethnographical examples it is known that the sides of this kind of hollowed-out trunk can be bent away from each other with the help of a fire, while the wood is still fresh. In this manner, the round trunk becomes a broader, more boat-like, shape. To stabilize this shape it is necessary to stiffen and stretch with ribs. The ribs are attached to the previously mentioned chocks.

Similar chocks are known from the Hjortespring Find (about 350-300 BC) and the boats from Nydam (around the 3rd. and 4th. Centuries AD). The chocks are also found in some of the earlier Viking–ships.

The Freshwater Museum’s example of a stretched dug-out dates back to 440-520 A.D. 

The type of boat is known from several archaelogical finds from the Iron-age to c 1000 AD in an area stretching from Great Britain, Scandinavia to western Russia. The method of construction forms a connecting link in the development of building design from the time of the dug-outs to the Viking-ships.

The boat was found at Mossø in 1928 and presented to the Freshwater Museum in 1999.
 
Reconstruction of FMR 112

In the summer 2002, students at Ry Højskole built a reconstruction of the stretched dug-out from Mossø on the cale of 2:3. This reconstruction is now placed beside the exhibition building of the Freshwater Museum. 






About barge navigation

Barge navigation has been extensive on the river Gudenå, not least on the lower stretches between Randers and Silkeborg. From the time Silkeborg Paper-Mill was built in 1845 until the railway was completed in 1871 one talked in plain words about Gudenå’s "merchant fleet". When the traffic was at its peak over 100 large freight barges plied the river. Barges were also used as ferries and by the locals for fishing.

On Mossø the steam barge, S/S Lulu, transported wood pulp from Klostermølle to Alken from where the cargo was transported on by train to, among other destinations, Silkeborg Paper-Mill. The use for a steam barge was simply due to the depth of Mossø, which made the use of a pole impossible, and the reef off Emborg Odde prevented the use of sail boats. The barges carried up to 30 tons of cargo. S/S Juliane replaced S/S Lulu in 1917. The traffic ceased in 1932.      
 

FMR 104 Boat with a curved bottom, spring and fixed keel. Used for hunting and fishing between Emborg and Mossø.

FMR109   A sharp-sterned duck-punt that was used for hunting and fishing on Gudenå and Mossø. The punt was built by the blacksmith, Berthelsen in Gl. Rye.

FMR 106  Fishing vessel The fishing vessel was used for fishing on Mossø.    It is a clinker-frame built boat equipped with an inboard well, where the fish could stay alive.