Viking ships were called longboats, and were made of wood. They were probably up to 30m long and 6m wide, and had a crew of about 100 men. They were sailing ships, catching the wind in one large, square sail. The sail would have been made of wool, and strengthened with strips of leather. With a strong wind, the ships could travel up to 200km in a day.

The ships were also rowed in calm weather or on rivers, and had about 32 oars, 16 on each side. The Vikings would use one oar each, and could row the ships very fast. The oars meant that they could row up rivers against the current. This would have been very hard work, but allowed them to get to inland towns very quickly to raid or trade with the people there.

The ships were also light enough to be dragged ashore and carried over land. This meant that they could be put somewhere safe from storms and waves, or hidden from enemies in countries they were raiding.

The thickest and strongest part of the ship was the middle, and this is where the cargo would have been carried. We think that the ships could carry up to 20 tonnes of cargo - strong enough for plenty of coins, gold, jewels or whatever else they could get their hands on!
When the Vikings were fighting, they would put a large, carved dragons head on the front of the ships to frighten people. Sounds scary doesn't it?!