A GREAT VIKING SEA FIGHT.--SVEIN KING OF DENMARK, OLAF KING OF SWEDEN,
ERIK JARL OF NORWAY, AGAINST KING OLAF TRYGGVASSON OF NORWAY.--THEY
LIE IN AMBUSH.--MAGNIFICENT SHIPS.--THE _LONG SERPENT_.--READY FOR
THE FIGHT.--THE ATTACK.--THE _JARN BARDI_.--DEFEAT OF OLAF
TRYGGVASSON.
After we had clustered round Captain Larsen, he gave three or four big
puffs of his pipe and began:
The battle of Svold took place in the year one thousand. Olaf
Tryggvasson, King of Norway, had left Vindland in the Baltic and was on
his way back to Norway with his fleet. He was on his ship the _Ormrinn
Lange_ (the "Long Serpent"). Svein, the King of Denmark, Olaf King of
Sweden, and Erik Jarl of Norway, his enemies, lay in ambush for him
under the island of Svold with all their ships. The three chiefs landed
on the island. After a while they espied some ships of the fleet of
Olaf. Among them was a particularly large and splendid one. Both kings
said: "This is an exceedingly fine ship; it must be the _Long Serpent_."
Erik Jarl, who knew the _Long Serpent_, answered: "This is not the _Long
Serpent_, which is much larger and grander, though this is a fine
ship."
Ship after ship passed by and the two kings took each of them to be the
_Long Serpent_, but they received invariably the same answer from Erik
Jarl.
The three chiefs drew lots to know who should first attack Olaf
Tryggvasson's ship. Svein, King of Denmark, drew the lot to attack
first; then Olaf, King of Sweden, and Erik Jarl last, if it should be
found necessary. It was agreed between the three chiefs that each should
own the ships which he himself cleared of men and captured.
Erik Jarl's ship was called the _Jarn Bardi_, an iron-clad ram which had
the reputation of cleaving through every ship it attacked; there were
beaks on the top of both stem and stern, and below these were thick iron
plates which covered the whole of the stem and stern all the way down to
the water.
When the chiefs had arranged their plan, they saw three very large
ships, and following them a fourth; they all saw a dragon-head on the
stem, ornamented so that it seemed of pure gold, and it gleamed far and
wide over the sea as the sun shone on it. As they looked at the ship,
they wondered greatly at its length, for the stern did not appear till
long after they had seen the prow, as the ship glided past the point of
the island slowly; then all knew that this was the _Long Serpent_--a
ship about three hundred and sixty feet long, with a crew of over seven
hundred and fifty men.
At this sight many a man grew silent.
Sigvaldi Jarl, one of Olaf Tryggvasson's commanders, let down the sails
on his ship and rowed up towards the island. Thorkel Dydril on the
_Tranan_ (the "Crane"), and the other ship-steerers (for the commanders
were so called), lowered their sails also and followed him. All waited
for Olaf Tryggvasson. When King Olaf saw that his men had lowered their
sails and were waiting for him, he steered towards them and asked them
why they did not go on. They told him that a host of foes was before
them and that the fleets of the allied kings lay around the point.
Advancing further the King Olaf Tryggvasson and his men saw that the sea
was covered far and wide with the warships of his foes. Thorkel Dydril,
a wise and valiant man, said: "Lord, here is an overwhelming force to
fight against: let us hoist our sails and follow our men out to sea. We
can still do so while our foes prepare themselves for battle, for it is
not looked upon as cowardice by any one for a man to use forethought for
himself and his men." King Olaf Tryggvasson's men now missed the ships
that had sailed ahead.
King Olaf replied loudly: "Tie together the ships and let the men
prepare for battle!" for in those days it was the custom to tie the
ships together. Then the commanders arranged the host.
The _Long Serpent_ was in the middle, with the _Short Serpent_ on one
side and the _Crane_ on the other, and four other ships on each side of
them; but this fleet was but a small one compared with the overwhelming
fleet which their enemies had.
When Olaf saw that they began to tie together the stern of the _Long
Serpent_ and of the _Short Serpent_, he called out loudly, "Bring the
_Long Serpent_ forward; I will not be the hindmost of all my men in this
fleet when the battle begins!"
Then Ulf ("Wolf") the Red, the king's standard bearer, and who was also
his prow-defender, said: "If the _Long Serpent_ shall be put as much
forward as it is larger and longer than other ships, the men in the bows
will have a hard time of it!"
The king cried: "I had the _Serpent_ made longer than other ships so
that it should be put forward more boldly in battle, but I did not know
I had a prow-defender who was faint-hearted!"
Ulf replied: "Turn thou, King, no more back in defending the high deck
than I will in defending the prow!"
Olaf Tryggvasson stood aloft on the high deck of the _Long Serpent_. He
had a shield, and gilt helmet, and was easily recognized. He wore a red
silk kirtle over his ring-armor.
When he saw that the ships of his foes began to separate, and that the
standards were raised in front of each chief, he asked: "Who is the
chief of that standard which is opposite us?" He was told that it was
King Svein of Denmark with the Danish ships.
"What chief follows the standard which is to the right?" He was told
that it was Olaf of Sweden.
"Who owns those large ships to the left of King Olaf of Sweden?"
"It is Erik Jarl Hakonson," they replied.
Then Svein of Denmark, Olaf of Sweden, and Erik Jarl rowed towards the
_Long Serpent_.
The battle horns were blown and both sides shouted a war-cry, and soon
the combat raged fiercely,--at first with arrows from crossbows and long
bows, then with spears and javelins and slings--and King Olaf
Tryggvasson fought most manfully. King Svein's men turned the prows of
many of their ships towards both sides of the _Long Serpent_. The Danes
also attacked the _Short Serpent_ and the _Crane_. The carnage was
great.
King Svein made the stoutest onset. King Olaf Tryggvasson made the
bravest defence with his men, but they fell one after another. King Olaf
fought almost too boldly, shooting arrows and hurling spears; he went
forward in hand-to-hand fight, and cleft many a man's skull with his
sword.
The attack proved difficult for the Danes, for the stern-defenders of
the _Long Serpent_ and of the _Short Serpent_ hooked anchors and
grappling hooks to King Svein's ships, and as they could strike down
upon the enemy with their weapons, for they had much larger and higher
boarded ships, they cleared of men all the Danish ships which they had
laid hold of. King Svein had to retreat.
In the mean time Erik Jarl had come first with the _Jarn Bardi_
alongside the farthest ship of Olaf Tryggvasson on one wing, cleared it,
and cut it from the fastenings; he then boarded the next one, and fought
until it was cleared of men; and as the men fell on his ship, other
Danes and Swedes took their places. At last all of Olaf Tryggvasson's
ships had been cleared of men and captured except the _Long Serpent_,
which carried all the men who were now able to fight.
Erik Jarl then attacked the _Long Serpent_ with five large ships; he
laid the _Jarn Bardi_ alongside, and then ensued the fiercest fight and
the most terrible hand-to-hand struggle of the day, and such a shower of
weapons was poured upon the _Long Serpent_ that the men could hardly
protect themselves.
King Olaf Tryggvasson's men became so furious that they jumped upon the
gunwales in order to reach their foes with their swords and kill them,
and many went straight overboard; for out of eagerness and daring they
forgot that they were not fighting on dry ground, and sank down with
their weapons between the ships.
When only a few men were left on the _Long Serpent_ around the mast
amidships, Erik Jarl boarded it with fourteen men. Then came against him
King Olaf's brother-in-law, Hyrning, with his followers, and between
them ensued a hard fight. It was ended by Erik Jarl's retreating onto
the _Bardi_, which took away the dead and the wounded, and in their
stead brought fresh and rested men.
When Erik had prepared his men, he said to Thorkel the High, a wise and
powerful chief: "Often have I been in battles, and never have I before
found men equally brave and so skilled in fighting as those on the _Long
Serpent_, nor have I seen a ship so hard to conquer. Now, as thou art
one of the wisest of men, give me the best advice thou knowest as to how
the _Long Serpent_ may be won!"
Thorkel replied: "I cannot give thee sure advice, but I can say what
seems to me best to do. Thou must take large timbers, and let them fall
from thy ship upon the gunwales of the _Long Serpent_, so that it will
careen; then thou wilt find it the easier to board the ship."
Erik Jarl did as Thorkel had told him.
King Olaf and his men defended themselves with the utmost bravery and
manliness; they slew many of their foes, both on the _Jarn Bardi_ and on
other ships which lay near theirs.
When the defenders of the _Long Serpent_ began to thin out, Erik Jarl
boarded it and met with a warm reception.
Olaf Tryggvasson shot at him with spears. The first flew past his right
side, the second his left, and the third struck the fore part of the
ship above his head.
Then King Olaf said: "Never before did I thus miss a man; great is the
Jarl's luck."
In a short time most of King Olaf's champions fell, though they were
both strong and valiant. Among them Hyrning, Thorgier, Vikar, and Ulf
the Red, and many other brave men who left a famous name behind. The
_Long Serpent_ was now cleared of men and captured, but Olaf Tryggvasson
was never seen or heard of more. He probably threw himself into the sea
not to survive his defeat.
"It was a grand fight, Captain Larsen!" I exclaimed, as the narrator
concluded his story. I thanked the captain, and after this we all went
to our bunks to sleep.
The following day was Sunday. There was no buying or selling of fish.
Every man was shaved and wore clean linen; the church was crowded with
fishermen, and the afternoon was spent in making social visits.
I had fished with the four boats of our house, and now I made my
preparations for sailing northward. Our catch of fish and that in
several neighboring fishing settlements during the fishing season had
amounted to over twenty-two millions of cod.