South London . river at either end, andhe would have to cut through the Causeway in the these cuttings he would perhaps have to take down twoor three houses, huts, or cabins, aH deserted, because thepeople all run across the Bridge for safety at the firstsight of the Danes, if there were any people at the timeliving in Southwark—which I doubt. We may, further, take it for granted that Cnut had officersof sense and experience on whom he could depend for carry-ing out his canal in a workmanlike manner. A people who 46 SOUTH LONDON could build such perfect ships would certainly not
South London . river at either end, andhe would have to cut through the Causeway in the these cuttings he would perhaps have to take down twoor three houses, huts, or cabins, aH deserted, because thepeople all run across the Bridge for safety at the firstsight of the Danes, if there were any people at the timeliving in Southwark—which I doubt. We may, further, take it for granted that Cnut had officersof sense and experience on whom he could depend for carry-ing out his canal in a workmanlike manner. A people who 46 SOUTH LONDON could build such perfect ships would certainly not wastetime and labour in constructing a trench which would beany longer or deeper or wider than was absolutely the shortest canal possible would be that in whichhe was just able to drag his vessels round without destroyingthe banks. In other words, if a circular canal began at C B,and if we drew an imaginary circle round the middle of thecanal, what was required was that the chord D F, forming a. tangent to the middle circle, should be at least as long as thelongest vessel. Now (see diagram)— AD2-AE2=DE2. If r is the radius, AD and 2a the breadth BC, and 2b thelength of the chord DF— r^ — {r—df=b^ .. r= 2a This represents the length of the radius in terms of thelength and breadth of the largest vessel in the fleet, and istherefore the smallest radius possible for getting the shipsthrough. Now, the ship of Gokstad, already described, wasundoubtedly one of the finest of the vessels used by Danesand Normans. The poets certamly speak of larger ships, EARLY HISTORY 41 but as a marvel. Nothing is said about Cnut bringing overships of very great size. Now, that vessel was 66 feet inlength, considering the keel, which is all we need consider;165 feet in breadth, and 4 feet in depth. She drew verylittle water ; therefore a breadth of canal less than the breadthof the vessel was enough. Let us make the chord 70 feet inlength, so that b = 2,S- Let us make the bread
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbesantwa, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
