A terror to the outside world, Viking longships were a source of great and understandable pride to Norsemen. At a time when the majority of men and women in the West lived and died within walking distance of their birthplaces, and travel was slow and dangerous, Vikings seemed to skitter over the globe like water birds over a pond, appearing when they were least expected, disappearing when they chose. Unlike the other peoples of Europe in the early Middle Ages, they understood and mastered the power of the sea. Here, in this short-form book, the story of how the Norsemen learned to build and sail their longships.