How Leif Eriksson stored his food on the ship while on a viking voyage?

Answer 1

Lief Eriksson was a Greenlander. according to the archeological evidence the greenlanders subsited on a diet of cheese and fish augmented with some game animals.cheese is preserved already and fish would be caught fresh. the usual method of actual storage of food on a ship is in buckets and barrels

Answer 2

Leif Eriksson Ship

Answer 3

The Norse were fishermen, as well as sailors and traders. He probably only carried a limited amount of staples with him, and relied on fishing for the balance of his food. Keep in mind, that he sailed to and established a colony in Newfoundland, which lies right beside the Grand Banks - up until the last century THE richest fishing area on the planet.

In addition, remember that due to the curve of the earth, the North Atlantic is narrower than the mid-Atlantic. It is possible to sail from Norway, to the Faroes Islands, to Iceland, to Greenland, to Labrador and Newfoundland and never be out of sight of land for more than three days. Therefore, he wouldn't have had to carry as much in the way of provisions, as say, Christopher Columbus had to 500 years later. In fact, it's *concievable* he could have journeyed with fresh food.

However, from what we know of the Norse, they ate a lot pickled food in their diet, as well as cheese, and dried meat or fish (think of beef jerky), along with cereal grains and fresh food. So he probably took some picked items, dried meat (which is light, and easy to store on a ship), cheese and ale, all stored in water-tight wooden casks. The Norse did not use much pottery, and the soapstone pots they used on land would add significant weight to a boat.

Cereral grains are difficult to take on ocean voyage, because even a little moisture will cause them to swell and possibly to rot. However, they probably took some variation of the "hardtack" or "sea biscuit" that seems to be known to sailors everywhere. Typically in the middle ages, bread for a journey was stored in cloth bags called "paniers" (from the Latin "pane" which means "bread"). Norse sailors probably used a variation on this, either oiled cloth (to protect the contents from the damp), or the "fisherman's bags" still made in Scandinavia today from woven birch bark.

Additionally, the Oseberg ship (a viking ship unearthed a century ago in Oseberg, Norway) contained several bentwood boxes that were probably intended as food storage containers.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

His food was either salted, pickled, dried, or preserved in honey. These were the only technologies available to him.