Secrets of the Viking Navigators: How the Vikings Used their Amazing Sunstones and other Techniques to Cross the Open Ocean - Softcover

Karlsen, Leif K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0972151508 ISBN 13: 9780972151504

Publisher: One Earth Press, 2003

Synopsis

How the Vikings used their amazing sunstones and other techniques to cross the open ocean.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Leif K. Karlsen has 45 years of experience at sea, including many years in the North Atlantic where he served as a professional navigator and radio eectronics officer with the U.S. Merchant Marine. His interest in Viking Navigation--how the Vikings did it--lead to his discover of the Icelandic sunstones. After years of research, Leif is considered a leading scholar on the subject of Viking navigation and the use of sunstones.

From the Author:

Over one thousand years ago, in open, hand-built wooden ships powered by massive, hand-loomed sails, the Vikings navigated the challenging waters of the North Atlantic. This was during the "Viking Age," approximately from the year 800 to the year 1050, when the Vikings of Norway were Europe’s most renowned sailors. How the Vikings managed to navigate vast distances, time and time again, without sextant, magnetic compass, charts, or even an accurate timepiece, is the subject of this book. I have used the original Viking sagas as a beginning reference guide. These sagas were ancient stories, first handed down orally from generation to generation, and not written down by scholars until the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. I am convinced that the Vikings also employed techniques and devices, born of necessity and their ingenuity, that did not get described in the sagas. I believe one of the unknown navigational aids used by the Viking navigators was the Solarsteinn or "sunstone." My research has convinced me that the Vikings used these naturally-occurring crystals to locate the position of the sun when the sun was completely obscured by the frequent fog and low clouds typical in the North Atlantic. The geometry of this unique crystal and how it is used as a navigational aid is examined in detail in this book.

About this edition

• Publisher: One Earth Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0972151508
• ISBN 13: 9780972151504
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220