It is also related in Gudmund Arason’s Saga that, some time before this, another ship was lost in the uninhabited regions of Greenland, with the priest Ingimund’s brother, Einar Thorgeirsson, on board; but the crew quarrelled over the food. Einar escaped with two others and made for the settlement (i.e., the Eastern Settlement) across the glaciers (i.e., the inland ice). There they lost their lives, when only a day’s journey from the settlement, and they were found one or two winters [i.e., years ?] later (Einar’s body was then whole and unhurt). The shipwreck may consequently be supposed to have taken place on the southernmost part of the east coast.
New Land
In the Icelandic Annals it is mentioned (in various MSS.) that a new land was discovered west of Iceland in 1285. A MS. of annals, of about 1306 (written, that is, about twenty years after the event), says that in 1285: “fandz land vestr undan Islande” (a land was found to the west of Iceland). A later MS. (of about 1360) says of the same discovery: “Funduz Duneyiar” (the Down Islands were found). In another old MS. of annals there is an addition by a later hand: “fundu Helga synir nyia land Adalbrandr ok Þorvalldr” (Helge’s sons Adalbrand and Thorvald found the new land). Finally we read in a late copy of an old MS. of annals: “Helga synir sigldu i Grœnlandz obygðir”[259] (Helge’s sons sailed to the uninhabited regions of Greenland). According to this last statement, this would refer to the discovery of land on the east coast of Greenland, west of Iceland.[260] It may have been at Angmagsalik or farther south on the east coast that Helge’s sons—two Icelandic priests—landed.[261] In the late summer this part is usually free from ice. From other Icelandic notices it may be concluded that they returned to Iceland the same autumn. We see that some years later the Norwegian king Eric attempted to get together an expedition to this new land under the so-called Landa-Rolf, who was sent to Iceland for the purpose in 1289. In 1290 Rolf went about Iceland, inviting people to join the Newland expedition; but it is uncertain whether it ever came to anything, and in 1295 Landa-Rolf died. All this points to the east coast of Greenland having been little known at that time, otherwise a landing there could not be spoken of as the discovery of a new land; and it is not easy to see why the king should send Rolf to Iceland to get up an expedition to a country which, as they must have been aware, was closed by ice for the greater part of the year. As to the situation on this coast of islands to which the name of Down Islands might be appropriate, I shall not venture to offer an opinion.
The southern glacier (Hvitserk) in 62° 10′ N. lat.; seen from the drift-ice in July 1888
The northern east coast
In the introduction to Hauk’s Landnámabók we read: “en dœgr sigling er til vbygda a Grœnalandi or Kolbeins ey i norðr” (it is a day’s sail to the uninhabited regions of Greenland northward from Kolbein’s island). Kolbein’s island is the little Mevenklint, out at sea to the north of Grim’s island and 56 nautical miles (100 kilometres) north of Iceland. The uninhabited regions here referred to are most probably East Greenland at about 69° N. lat. (Egede Land), which lies to the north-west (to the north there is no land, unless the magnetic north is meant). But it is scarcely credible that the Icelanders ever reached land on this part of the coast, which is nearly always closed by ice. It may be supposed that they often sailed along the edge of the ice when seal-hunting, as the bladder-nose is abundant there in summer; they may then have seen the land inside, and so knew of it, without having reached it. In this way the statement as to the distance may have originated, and the day’s sail may mean to the edge of the ice, whence the land is visible.
According to statements in the fourth part of the “Rymbegla” [1780, p. 482], a “dœgr’s” sail (dœgr == half a day of twenty-four hours) was equivalent to a distance of two degrees of latitude. But even if we accept this large estimate, it will not suffice for the distance between Mevenklint and the coast of Greenland to the north-west of it, which is about equal to three degrees of latitude (180 geographical miles).
It has been assumed that the Icelanders and Norwegians were acquainted with the east coast of Greenland north of 70° N. lat., and visited it for hunting seals, etc. But in order to reach it, it is nearly always necessary to sail through ice, and during the greater part of the summer one has to go as far north as Jan Mayen, or farther, to find the ice sufficiently open to allow one to reach the land. It is a somewhat tricky piece of sailing, which requires an intimate knowledge of the ice conditions; and it is not to be expected that any one should have acquired it without having frequently been among the ice with a definite purpose. That storm-driven vessels should have been accidentally cast ashore on this coast is unlikely; as a rule they would be stopped by the ice before they came so far. We may doubtless believe that the Norwegians and Icelanders sailed over the whole Arctic Ocean, along the edge of the ice, when hunting seals and the valuable walrus; but that on their sealing expeditions they should have made a practice of penetrating far into the ice is not credible, since their clinker-built craft were not adapted to sailing among ice; nor have we any information that would point to this. It is nevertheless not entirely impossible that they should have reached the northern east coast, since it may be comparatively free from ice in late summer and autumn. There would be plenty of seals, and especially of walrus, and on land there were reindeer and musk ox, which latter, however, is nowhere mentioned in Norse literature.
Glaciers on the east coast