Monitor wasn’t the first true ironclad ship

I just wanted to prevent an eventual misunderstanding from the August 4 article about the Civil War ship USS Monitor (“Skeleton found inside Civil War ironclad”). The article says that this ship’s battle with the Confederate ship CSS Virginia in 1862 was the first battle involving a ship covered with iron plates to repel cannon balls. That statement is true only when it comes to cannon balls.

In the sea-battle at Norefjord, Norway, on June 16, 1184, the iron-clad ship “Mariasuden”, carrying banks of stone-throwing catapults, sank King Magnus Erlingson’s fleet with the loss of more than 2,000 sailors.

William of Newburgh writes that it was the work of the devil himself that caused Magnus’ superior fleet and manpower to be sent to the bottom of the sea, and his opponent’s (Sverre Sigurdson) company with the devil’s daughter.

Everett