The Battle of Largs 295 



hopes of help from another quarter. The summer had 

 passed ; the equinox was near. They may have seen 

 signs that it was likely to be a stormy equinox. So 

 they prolonged the negotiations; and suddenly, as 

 Hakon's fleet was riding at anchor, the storm broke 

 upon it. 



Many vessels dragged their anchors and drifted to 

 the north. A certain number of crews were obliged to 

 land at Largs. They were attacked by the Scots. 

 Hakon sent more boats' crews to their assistance. But 

 a larger and larger hosting assembled on the hills above 

 the beach. At length it came to something of a pitched 

 battle, which in the Scottish chronicles is known as the 

 Battle of Largs. We have, for any details, only the 

 Norse account of this battle. According to this the 

 Norsemen were victorious ; but over what ? Only over 

 a local hosting, which the government of Scotland, 

 properly so called, had no share in organising. And 

 half of Hakon's fleet had been destroyed by the storm, 

 which still continued to blow. The Norse king had no 

 choice but to sail away to safer waters. At last he got 

 to. the Orkneys with the residue of his fleet. His expe- 

 dition had failed miserably, and he, an old man, had 

 been worn out by the fatigues of it. He died in the 

 Orkneys, and was buried in St. Magnus Cathedral 

 there. 



Hakon's son, Magnus, formally renounced all the 

 claims which his father had sought to make good. He 

 retained only the supremacy over the earldom of 

 Orkney, to which, as yet, the Scottish kings had made 

 no claim. 



This expedition of Hakon's is always considered 



