Learnings: The Coastal Trader
While the coastal trader is sometimes seen as the little sister of the cargo ship, the two were different in looks, load, and function.
As seen in this picture, the coastal trader had a rounder shape and higher freeboard than the cargo ship. She was also much lighter; so light that she could carry no more than four and a half tons at a time—too much weight and she might sink or capsize.
The coastal trader also relied much more on oars to navigate rivers than larger ships did. This meant that she needed a larger crew to man those oars, between ten to fifteen sailors.
Light as she was, the coastal trader was usually used to carry domestic cargo along the Scandinavian coast. Nevertheless, she was still able to cross great distances offshore, trasnporting goods, merchants, and sailors from Scandinavia to its colonies.