Star Ship - Poul William Anderson

The strangest space-castaways of all! The Terrans left their great interstellar ship unmanned in a tight orbit around Khazak—descended, all of them, in a lifeboat to investigate that weird, Iron Age world—and the lifeboat cracked up! This story is Poul Anderson at his best, ride along through the galaxy and see what adventure awaits. - Summary by Paul Harvey