Hasholme Logboat facts for kids

Hasholme Logboat
Quick facts for kids History
Completed	c. 750–390 BC
Status	Museum ship
General characteristics
Type	Oak logboat
Length	12.87 m (42 ft 3 in) o/a
Beam	1.4 m (4 ft 7 in)
Depth	1.25 m (4 ft 1 in)
Capacity	up to 9,000 kg (20,000 lb) cargo
Crew	up to 20

The Hasholme logboat is a very old boat from the late Iron Age, a time between 750 and 390 BC. It was found in a place called Hasholme, in the East Riding of England. Today, you can see this amazing boat on display at the Hull and East Riding Museum in Hull.

This ancient boat was discovered near the River Foulness. It was buried in wet clay, which helped keep its wooden parts safe for thousands of years. Besides the boat, archaeologists only found one small piece of pottery. To figure out how old the boat was, scientists used two special methods: tree-ring dating (looking at tree rings) and radiocarbon dating. Both methods showed the boat was made between 750 and 390 BC, which fits with the later European Iron Age. The area around where the boat was found used to be a mix of oak, birch, and alder forests, with some grassy fields and marshy areas, plus many small rivers and lakes.

How Big Was the Hasholme Logboat?

Side view of the boat

The Hasholme logboat is truly huge! In 2010, the University of Hull said it was the biggest logboat ever found in the UK that is still in one piece. It's about 12.87 m (42.2 ft) (over 42 feet) long, which is like four small cars lined up! It's also about 1.4 m (4.6 ft) (4.5 feet) wide and 1.25 m (4.1 ft) (4 feet) deep.

The Giant Tree It Came From

The Hasholme logboat was carved from a single, massive oak tree. Experts believe the tree was around 14 metres (46 ft) (46 feet) long and had a huge trunk, about 5.4 m (18 ft) (17.7 feet) around! A tree this size would normally weigh about 28.5 tons.

However, this particular oak tree had something called "heart rot." This is a natural process where the inside of the tree rots away. Because of this rot, the tree was much lighter than it would have been. Scientists think the tree was between 810 and 880 years old when it was cut down. Trees that old often get this "brittle heart" rot, which starts at the bottom and spreads up. For the Hasholme boat, the rot went almost to the very top of the trunk. This actually made it much easier to hollow out the boat! It saved a lot of time and effort for the ancient boat builders.

What Did the Boat Look Like?

The Hasholme boat was made from one whole log and generally kept its log shape. It has a flat bottom, both on the outside and inside. When the boat is sitting on land, its top edge (called the sheer line) slopes down towards the front. But when it's floating in water, the top edge becomes flat, and the bottom of the boat gently slopes upwards.

Near the front (the bow), the bottom becomes more rounded. At the back (the stern), the wood at the bottom gets thicker. This extra thickness was needed to support a special back wall called a transom. The front upper edges of the boat also had curved sections. These were made to hold extra pieces of wood called washstrakes, which made the sides of the boat taller.

The Front (Bow) of the Boat

The front part, or bow, of the Hasholme logboat has a very clever design. It's made of two separate pieces of wood, a lower and an upper part, which together formed the front closure of the boat. The lower piece is about 60 cm (24 in) (2 feet) long and 2 cm (0.79 in) (less than an inch) thick. It has special grooves that fit perfectly with the main hull.

There were also three strong wooden beams that went across the boat. These beams not only helped attach the lower bow piece to the hull but also made the whole front section much stronger. The upper bow piece is also about 60 cm (24 in) long and has a complex shape. It fits over the lower bow piece and also connects to the washstrakes (the taller side pieces) of the hull. These two bow pieces were held together by three wooden pegs, called tree-nails, which were about 35 cm (14 in) (14 inches) long.

The Back (Stern) of the Boat

The back part, or stern, of the boat is mostly at a right angle to the rest of the hull. About 25 cm (9.8 in) (10 inches) from the very back, a groove was cut into the bottom and sides. This groove was for a special piece of wood called a transom. The transom acts like a back wall, closing off the end of the boat.

Because the inside of the original log had rot, the builders couldn't just carve the bow and stern directly from the log. Instead, they had to make these sections separately and fit them very carefully to make sure they were watertight. The transom itself is about 1 meter (3.3 feet) high and 1.08 meters (3.5 feet) wide. It has a rounded bottom and its top corners are cut away. Its thickness varies quite a bit.

At the top of the transom, there are two horizontal holes. Since the transom was heavy (between 60 and 75 kg (132 and 165 lb)), these holes were probably used to help lift and place it into its grooves. Once in place, the grooves were sealed with a mix of mosses and twigs to keep water out. A long wooden peg, or tree-nail, was driven through the hull and the transom to hold it firmly. This peg also helped tie the two sides of the boat together, similar to the beams at the front. Using a fitted transom was common for ancient logboats because it was much easier than carving the entire end from a solid, healthy log.

Beam-Ties: Holding the Boat Together

Beam-ties are strong wooden beams that go across the boat, usually near the back (stern). Their main job is to tie the two sides of the hull together. This was super important for boats like the Hasholme logboat, which had separate pieces for the front (bow) and back (transom) instead of being carved from one solid piece. At the front of the boat, other cross-beams also acted as beam-ties, keeping the sides from spreading apart.

Thickness Gauges: Checking the Walls

Along the bottom of the boat, at seven different spots, the builders cut small holes called thickness gauges. These holes were drilled from the outside of the log after the boat's outer shape was formed. The depth of these holes showed how thick the boat's bottom needed to be.

However, on the Hasholme logboat, these holes weren't at the very bottom. Instead, they were drilled at the "turn of the bilge," which is where the bottom curves up to become the sides. After the boat was finished, these holes were plugged with tight-fitting oak tree-nails to make sure no water could get in.

Mystery Holes Near the Top

There are eleven pairs of equally spaced holes near the top edge of the boat, each about 60 mm (2.4 in) (2.4 inches) wide. When experts looked closely at these holes, they didn't find any signs of heavy use or attachments inside them. So, their exact purpose is still a bit of a mystery!

Here are some ideas about what these holes might have been for:

• Carrying Handles: Long poles could have been put through these holes to carry the boat. But the boat is so heavy that it would need about 44 people to carry it! Also, it's not clear if such thin poles would be strong enough.
• Fastening Hides: The holes might have been used to tie down animal hides. These hides could have covered the cargo or kept the crew dry during long trips.
• Other Ideas: Some ideas, like expanding the hull or using them for cross-beams, have been ruled out because there's no evidence to support them.

Washstrakes: Making the Sides Taller

The front-upper parts of both sides of the hull had extra pieces of wood called washstrakes. These were attached to the main hull with wooden pegs (tree-nails) and special grooves. Because the original log had limits, the washstrakes were probably added to make the sides of the boat taller, especially near the front. They were directly connected to the hull and fit into special grooves in the upper bow timber.

Ancient Repairs

It looks like the Hasholme logboat had at least two repairs done to it. On the left side (portside) of the hull, a large section was cut away. Then, a new patch of wood, about 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) (4 feet) long, was made to fit perfectly into the space. Both the patch and the hull had matching holes, and wooden pegs were used to fasten them together from the outside.

Another repair was made on the right side (starboard) of the hull, near the back. A pre-shaped block of wood was inserted and held in place with a tree-nail. This repair was likely done to stop a crack from spreading. The builders would have drilled a hole at the end of the crack to stop it, then sealed the crack, removed some wood around the transom, inserted the repair block, and finished the transom.

How the Hasholme Logboat Was Built

Building a boat like this was a huge job! Experts believe that ancient people used simple stone or iron tools, and often controlled fire, to cut down the giant log. Once the log was cut, it would have been moved to the building site using wooden rollers.

The builders likely started by shaping the outside bottom of the hull, making it flat and slightly curving the front and back upwards. They would also drill the thickness gauge holes at this stage. Then, the log would be rolled over onto a timber frame so they could still reach the bottom. Next, they would work on the top part of the log to create the sheer line (the top edge) and then hollow out the inside. Because of the "heart rot" inside the log, hollowing it out was probably done mostly with tools, not fire. They might have checked the thickness of the sides by eye or by tapping the log to hear the sound.

Finally, the holes left by the thickness gauges were plugged with tightly fitted, dried oak tree-nails. These pegs would swell when wet, making the holes completely watertight. The inside of the boat was then finished, with all the grooves for the bow timbers, transom, and washstrakes cut. As the very last step, the separate bow and stern pieces were attached and sealed with moss to make the whole boat watertight.

The builders probably used natural measurements, like the length of a thumb, palm, or foot. For example, the thickness gauge holes were about one thumb wide, and the mystery holes near the top were about two thumbs wide.

Building the Hasholme logboat would have taken a lot of people. It's estimated that the whole process might have taken about one month. Even though building a logboat was usually a team effort, the complex design of the bow and stern suggests that a skilled master boat builder with special knowledge was in charge.

There's no sign that this boat ever had a mast or sail. It was likely moved using paddles or long poles. Steering was probably done with a large oar. Given its size, the boat could have had about nine pairs of paddlers (18 people in total) and two steersmen. The paddlers would likely stand up, and the steersmen would stand on a platform at the back.

This boat could have been used for important purposes, like showing the power and high status of a group to their neighbors. It also could have been used to transport heavy goods, such as iron ore, rocks, timber, grain, or meat. It could carry a huge amount of cargo, up to 9,000 kilograms (20,000 lb) (almost 20,000 pounds)! When carrying cargo, the number of paddlers might have been changed to fit the load.

See also

• Hanson Log Boat – a similar Bronze Age boat
• Poole Logboat