The Gokstad ship is the largest and most powerful of Viking ships, and has newly been dated to 885-895 AD by dendrochronology (tree-ring dating). This ship was discovered in 1880, in a big burial mound at the farm Gokstad in Sandar of Vestfold County, Norway.
The ship is 23.24 meters (76 feet) long and 5.2 meters (17 feet) amidships, and maximum tonnage is about 31.78 register ton. Depth from gunnel to keel is 2.02 meters. The ship has 16 pairs of oars and needed at least 34 men, 32 oarsmen, a helmsman and a lookout, thus it probably could have carried as much as 70-80 men when needed.
A carved dragon's head often rose from the stem of a Viking longship as a warning to a coastal or island town that the visit was not friendly.
The Gokstad ship, when found, was fully equipped for a last journey. Except for the male skeletal the mound kept a collapsed burial chamber (dated 900-910 by dendrochronology), 12 horses, 6 dogs, rests of a peacock, rests of 64 shields, tent construction materials, and three minor vessels.
The male skeletal, probably a Viking chieftain, was buried within the ship. Some have suggested that this must have been the famous Olaf Geirstada-alv, or perhaps Olaf the White, who founded Dublin. The male skeletal was re-buried in the mound at Gokstad, but not before it had been dated to an approxima age of 60.
