Hedin's Cross Slab, c.1906 (ink on paper)

This drawing was made by the first Curator of the Manx Museum, P.M.C. Kermode and shows a Viking age stone cross from Maughold. Kermode's intricate copying of the designs on all of the crosses have preserved much of the detail that the carvers wanted people to see. This cross has a runic inscriptions on each side, but the important part of this cross is the depiction of a Viking ship. This is one of the few depictions of a Viking ship outside Scandinavia. The vessels were designed for different purposes – coastal trading, sea journeys and warships. Their ships enabled them to travel, trade, conquer/integrate and settle. Without their longships, Vikings could not have existed.