Recently, during our visit to the Jorvik Viking Festival, I was lucky enough to talk to a real expert on the coble, Mr. Dave Carrick, who was kind enough to put me on the right track on a few points I was unsure about.

What struck me, even before I began to look into the technical similarities between the coble and Viking age boats, is the practice of bringing cobles directly ashore, straight up onto the beach where no natural harbour exists. This was a tactic often used by Viking raiding parties, as their boat's shallow draft meant that they could navigate shallow waters and be beached safely, giving them a considerable advantage of surprise in a quick attack.

Like Viking age boats, the coble is clinker built, that is to say the planks used in the hull are riveted together, overlapping slightly. Cobles are still built in a traditional manner, i.e. seldom to a drawn plan, but rather by the eye of a skilled and experienced boat builder as was the practice in the Viking age. A Viking boat builder would also recognise the way the coble is built hull first, with the ribbing added later.

The shape of the stem is characteristically Norse, and although most cobles have a squared off stern, symmetrical "double enders" do exist, and then the similarities in shape are even more striking. This was beautifully illustrated in some of the photos of Dave's coble "Ambler" when seen stem-on. The neat, sleek lines of the coble mirror those of the Oseberg or Gokstad ships.

Other similarities can be found, too, such as the sail used by the coble - a single square-ish sail similar to the ones used around Shetland or the Norwegian Fjords. The line used to raise the sail, known as the halyard, and the pins it is secured to can all be described as characteristically Norse. The shape of the oars and the way they are used also point to a Nordic origin.

As we know only too well, such tangible links to Yorkshire's Viking heritage are rare indeed, but thankfully the members of the Coble and Keelboat Society are keen to ensure that the unique qualities of the Yorkshire coble can be appreciated for many years to come.

To find out more about the Coble and Keelboat Society, visit Trad Boat - "The UK site for traditional boats and classic boats worldwide".