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Bjorn said the shark’s behavior was an ill portent of things to come. When I joined him, I heard a muffled knocking against the hull, and we saw the dark silhouette of a shark that rammed itself repeatedly into the ship’s strakes. I saw him one night, peering over the gunwale into the ocean’s dark waters, illuminated by a bright crescent moon under a clear night sky. The other ship boy, Bjorn, also feared the monsters. I cannot say if the men truly believed the stories or if they intended merely to frighten the ship boys as a cruel amusement. As a child, I feared the monsters of myth, as most children do, and it did not help that the men told stories of ships devoured whole in the open ocean by giant serpents. We encountered no storms, held a favorable wind to our back, and praised the gods we did not encounter any beasts beneath the waves. My first few weeks at sea were uneventful. Years of braiding and exposure to the sea had made the beard hard as wood. So proud of his beard was he that he drunkenly dared me once to throw a dagger at it to prove to me it could stop the blade. He had long, curly brown hair and a coarse beard that he boasted could stop an arrow from piercing his chest. Although he shared half his blood with the Sami, he had the look of a Northman. At first, I did not believe Eilif, but I later learned to respect Egill’s abilities and magical powers. Eilif believed Egill had inherited his mother’s ability to see into the other realms and to interpret the will of the gods. To forge trade relations with the Sami, Egill’s father married one of their chieftain’s daughters. They gave him rich white furs, and in return, he gave them grains, iron tools, and mead. It is believed by the Northmen that the Sami possess magical powers-powers which have allowed them to survive in the harsh northern wastes since the creation of Midgard. His father lived in the far north, beyond the edges of what Danes considered to be the known world, and he traded with a mysterious people called the Sami. As our days in open water passed, the ingredients to make the stews dwindled, leaving us with nothing but raw fish to eat until we reached land.Įgill was no ordinary Northman.
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From the same stand, we hung a smaller iron pot and dipped it into the flames. The pot swayed with the ocean’s waves, so the coals did not spill out. On some days, when the wind blew favorably, we made a fire in a large iron pot suspended from a tripod that was bolted to the deck.
#A northman longphort how to
My first night aboard Eilif’s longship, the second in command, Egill, taught me and the other ship’s boy how to make the foods needed for a long sea voyage.įor most of the day the men ate dried, salted fish, but at night they preferred fresh cuts of herring or mackerel with bread if we had any in the hold. It was Eilif who taught me the power of respect in commanding fealty.Īs ship’s boy, it was my duty not only to learn the craft of sailing, roping, and cleaning, but also cooking. The men feared his wrath, but he did not have to threaten them with any violence to earn their loyalty. He could cut through men’s courage in a single glance. Eilif hardly had to lift a finger before his loyal followers put the challenger in his place. When a new recruit stood against him in protest or defiance, it always ended badly for him. What I admired most about him was his ability to command the respect of his men. He was strong-minded, intelligent, and he had exceptional skill in navigation. “His strength is his ship, not his sword or his ax.” “A true Viking is a seafarer first and a warrior second,” Eilif said. Instead, I found myself spending my first days aboard the longship fiddling with ropes to make one knot or another. That was how it was always described in Hagar’s hall. I thought to find a life of excitement at sea, perhaps filled with unbridled adventure. Sail Horse contained all manner of ropes, and each use required a different knot. Ours was a warship named Sail Horse of the Mountains of the Swans, or Sail Horse for short, and it was one of many kinds of boats sailed by those who roved.