When we learn it from Andenäs peak.”
We hear the first authentic Arctic story from England’s own king, Alfred—the most truly great, the wisest, and the best monarch that ever ruled over any country. Always working for the good of his people, he translated the geographical work of Orosius for their benefit, inserting his own priceless additions and comments. Among them is the narrative of an Arctic voyage obtained at first hand from a native of that Halgoland whence Udröst was sometimes visible on the horizon. The explorer, named Ohthere, came to Alfred’s court to tell his story, and so it was saved from oblivion by being inserted in the King’s edition of Orosius. King Alfred describes Ohthere as a very wealthy man, owning 600 reindeer, horned cattle, sheep, and swine; as having a small extent of tilled land, but deriving the chief part of his revenues from the tribute of the Finns (as the Lapps were called) in skins and feathers, whalebone, and hides for making ropes. Ohthere gave the length of a walrus as 15 feet, and of a whale as 96 feet. He told the King that the best whale-fishing was off the coast of Halgoland. Ohthere’s own home was at Gibostad on the mainland of Senjen in the province of Halgoland, “the land of fire,” or “of the northern lights.” It was well within the Arctic Circle.
Ohthere wished to discover the coast beyond his ken, so he undertook a most adventurous voyage to the north and east, keeping the wild rocky shore on his starboard hand, and the wide Arctic sea on what he called his boec bord. He explored the whole of the Finmarken coast, mentioning the business of fishing for walrus or “horse-whales” as he called them, and he also described the Lapps, who were met with up to the North Cape.
Ohthere reached the most northern point of Europe. This is Nordkyn or Kinnerodde, at the eastern entrance of the Laxe fjord; but on the island of Magerö the low projecting spit of Knivskjärodde reaches still further north to 71° 11′. The bold black headland of the North Cape, with its flat summit and nearly vertical strata of mica slate, has a height of 1005 feet, but a mile less northing. The adventurous Ohthere was thus the first to round the North Cape. He then shaped a course eastward and finally entered the White Sea, sailing round the Kola Peninsula as far as the mouth of the Karzuga river, and coming into touch with people called Terfinna and Beorma. The former were the Finns of Ter, the old name for the Kola Peninsula; the Beormas were the North Karelians. This was the extent of Ohthere’s discoveries as recorded by King Alfred.
In those far-off days, when Alfred the Great was devoting his life to the good of his people, England was in the course of being made, and the Norsemen were destined to have no small share in the making of it. But it is worthy of note that even then the work of polar exploration and the achievements of explorers were the subjects of investigation by Alfred, an interest which has been continued for a thousand years.
Viking Ship
The difficulty of communication by land, and the innumerable bays and fjords in the country of the Norsemen soon led to extensive ship-building, each district doubtless following its own designs, to some extent, in build and rig. Fortunately we know exactly the build of the Viking ships, for one dating from the 9th century was discovered in 1880, buried in the blue clay at Gokstad near Sandefjord[11]. This Viking ship is of oak, clinker-built, fastened and riveted with iron bolts. In those days conifers had by no means superseded oaks in southern Norway. The ship has the lines of an excellent sea boat, 78 feet long over all, with a 66 ft. length of keel and 16 feet beam, but only 4 feet in depth. There was a mast and a long yard with a square sail, as well as 64 rowlocks for oars in the third row of planks from the top. The steer oar was fitted on the starboard quarter of the vessel, which was sharp at both ends and drew very little water. Wooden shields were hung round the bulwarks and the vessel contained utensils for cooking, bedsteads, and various other articles. Hundreds of such ships carried the Norse warriors along the coasts or to distant shores, some of them, such as the “Ormen lange” of Olaf Tryggvason, being probably much larger than the interesting relic of Gokstad.
The time came—as well in Norway as in Denmark and Sweden, and as it appears to come sooner or later in all lands—when the most powerful of the numerous chiefs forced the rest to submit, and united all into one kingdom. “Harold of the fair hair” descended from the Ynglings of Upsala, children of the God Frey, was the chief of Ringerike and Vestfold in the south of Norway, a valiant and persistent warrior. He succeeded in subjugating the whole country, and founded a dynasty which lasted for five centuries. Harold reigned from 860 to 930 A.D. His reign was the period of adventurous expeditions and of colonisation. The population was increasing, and some of the chiefs could not brook the enforced allegiance to an overlord. The spirit of adventure and discovery was in the air. The northern Vikings loved the freedom of a roving life upon the ocean. Brave and fearless, they were controlled only by their code of honour, and the precepts of Odin’s rules contained in the Havamel or high song of Odin, and in the lay of the Valkyrie Sigfrida alone restrained them. Their fleets were the terror of all the coasts of western Europe, and no creek or haven was safe from the ravages of their leaders. Such a man was Rolf the Ganger, a chief in Nordmore, who finally established himself as Duke of Neustria. His commanding ability and statesmanship were shown by his great and enduring achievement. Other Vikings settled in the Faroes, Shetlands, Orkneys, Caithness, and the chief harbours of Ireland. Naddod seized the Faroes, and in 863 Gardar Svafarson reached the coast of Iceland. It is curious that both in the Faroes and in Iceland Irish monks were found, who had gone there to find lonely places as dwellings for anchorites. They went away on the arrival of the Norsemen, as they would not live with heathens.
The great event of the period of Harold Haarfager was the colonisation of Iceland. It was a forbidding home, yet the leading men of the Norwegian fjords settled there in numbers. Ingulf Ormsson, who came in 875, was the first. Two years afterwards Gunnbjörn Ulfson followed, sailing westward until he discovered islets (doubtless on the east coast of Greenland) which were afterwards called Gunnbjörn’s Skerries. He turned back, and shaped a course for Iceland, which he had passed without knowing it.