186 



MODE OF NAVAL WARFARE OF THE NORTHMEN. 



Three men were generally stationed in each half-room, one for 

 rowing, one for protecting the rower, and one for fighting. 



Erling Skakki said to King Ingi : " If we now attack them 

 and row against the current, and have three men in every 

 half-room, then one must row, the other protect him, and we 

 shall then have not more than one-third of our host in the 

 fight " (Hakoii Herdibreid's Saga, c. 6). 



" When the men on board the jarl's ships began to fall and 

 get wounded, and the line of men on their gunwales got thin. 

 King Olaf's men went on board. Their standard was carried 

 on board the ship next to the jarl's, and followed by the king 

 himself " (St. Olaf's Saga, ch. 48). 



Stones were extensively used in sea fights. 



Svein Ulfsson, 1 King of Denmark, fought a battle outside 

 Aros (Aarhus) against King Magnus of Norway, of which it is 

 said, 



" Svein's men armed themselves and tied together their 

 ships. There at once ensued a hard battle. . . . They fought 

 in the stems. Only those who stood there could reach to use 

 their swords ; those who stood in the fore-room used kesjas (a 

 kind of lance), and those still farther aft shorter javelins or 

 large arrows ; some threw stones with slings, while those who 

 were aft of the mast used bows " (Magnus the Good, c. 31). 



" A battle was fought at the mouth of the Gauta river 

 between the kings Ingi and Hakoii ; there were thrown down 

 on them kesjas (spears*, and stones so large, that they were 

 forced to retreat" (Hakon Herdibreid's Saga, c. 2). 



Cables were stretched across the mouths of rivers or har- 

 bours, in order to prevent the ships of the enemy from entering. 



" Olaf went to Saudungssund and lay there ; he stationed one 

 ship on each side of the Sound, and had a thick cable stretched 

 between them. Hakon jarl (son of Eirik who was son of the 

 famous Hakon jarl) rowed shortly after into the Sound with a 

 manned skeid. He thought that two trading vessels were in the 

 Sound, so rowed into it between them. Olaf's men drew the cable 

 under the middle of the keel of the skeid, and hauled it with 

 windlasses ; as soon as it touched the skeid its stern was lifted. 



1 Svein Ulfsson was the son of Ulf 

 jarl and Astrid, the sister of Knut the 

 Great. He carried on long war against 



King Magnus the Good, and at last was 

 acknowledged as King of Denmark. This 

 was about the middle of the llth century. 



