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Faering

Type of boat

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated December 30, 2025
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

A faering is an open boat with two pairs of oars, commonly found in most boat-building traditions in western and northern Scandinavia.

01History

Faerings are clinker-built, with planks overlapped and riveted together to form the hull. This type of boat has a history dating back to Viking-era Scandinavia. The small boats found with the 9th century Gokstad ship resemble those still used in Western and Northern Norway, and testify to a long tradition of boat building. Faerings may carry a small sail, traditionally a square sail, in addition to oars. The only significant difference being a conversion from a side-mounted rudder to stern-mounted. They are used as small fishing vessels in areas of modern Norway, and occasionally raced.

02Etymology

The word faering comes from the Norwegian word færing (Old Norse feræringr), literally meaning "four-oaring".

03Other sources

  • Greenhill, Basil (1976) Archaeology of the Boat (London: Adam and Charles Black Publishers Ltd) ISBN 978-0-7136-1645-3
  • Leather, John (1990) Clinker Boatbuilding (Adlard Coles) ISBN 978-0-7136-3643-7
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Faering”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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