“Björn: ‘We must take this, foster-brother, as it is.’ Then came a wave dashing so strongly that it carried away the gunwales and part of the bows, and flung four men overboard who were all lost. Fridthjof sang:
Both the bows were smashed
In the great wave of the sea;
Four warriors sank
Down into the deep”
(Fridthjof’s Saga, c. 6).
CHAPTER X.
THE FLEETS OF THE NORTHMEN.
Maritime power of the North—Their huge fleets—Good harbours—Strategical skill—Size of some of their fleets—Fleets accompanied by provision ships.
Nothing can give us a greater insight into the maritime power of the North than the accounts we read, here and there in the Sagas, of the fleets gathered together for the purpose of war and invasion. The number of the vessels is quite remarkable, but seeing that the finds corroborate so much that is told us in the Sagas, there is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of their statements as regards the magnitude of the fleets, and the vessels were far from being as small as have been imagined.