In 982 BCE, Erik decided to start fresh somewhere else and sailed away for the lands west of Iceland. These lands had first been sighted by sailor Gunnbjorn Ulfsson who had been blown off course during a voyage. This wasn’t as dangerous as it might have been because Viking ships of the time were marvels of technology and the Norsemen, like Erik, were couageous, hardy folk, strong enough to cross the North Atlantic in open boats. There were two different types of ship, the longship, which was used primarily for warfare, and the knorr, a ship used for trade and commerce. On vessels like these, the Vikings were able to navigate the waters of the North Atlantic 500 years before the first voyage of Christopher Columbus