Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1964, Page 62

64
ÁHBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Að lokum þetta:
Ég fæ ekki betur séð en í grænlenzka landnámsflotanum hafi
getað verið skip á borð við teinæringa Snorra goða, og Barkar bróð-
ur hans, á borð við teinæringana í Flóabardaga, á borð við mið-
aldateinæringana breiðfirzku, sem Fornbréfasafnið varðveitir heim-
ildir um, á borð við Skeiðina í Vogi á Mýrum og á borð við tíróna
áttæringinn Ófeig. — Yfir þessum skipakosti er ekki ljómi vík-
ingaskipa né víkingaaldar, en hann ber í gerð sinni og notkun
vitni um góð atvinnutæki eyþjóðar og hæfileika hennar til að
stjórna þessum skipum, jafnt um innfjörðu sem úthaf.
SUMMARY
The colonization of Greenland and the Breiðafjörður boat.
Of all the Icelandic sagas the ones dealing with happenings in the Western part
of the country are richest in naval terms and phrases and yield the fullest
information on boats and ships, navigation and fishing, and seamanship in general.
Among them are Eirik the Red’s Saga and the Saga of the Greenlanders, both
of which are concerned with the activities of Icelanders of the late Viking Age
in a distant part of the world. They have therefore enjoyed a livelier interest
and are more written about by scholars than all other mediaeval Icelandic writings.
In these sagas, however, there are a good many points of controversy.
In 982 Eirik the Red, who had been banished from Iceland for manslaughter,
tried to rediscover the socalled Gunnbjarnarsker (Gunnbjörn’s Skerries); instead
he discovered Greenland, and explored this country for three years before return-
ing to Iceland in 985. The following year he left for Greenland as the leader of
a fleet of 25 vessels from Breiðafjörður and Borgarfjörður. We do not know
how many people the crews of these vessels counted, but only 14 of the ships
arrived safely in Greenland: the rest were either forced to turn back or were
lost.
The tradition about the number of vessels used by the Greenland-farers can be
traced back with reasonable certainty to Ari the Wise, but the ancient sources
are silent as to the kind of craft used. In the numerous modern writings on the
discovery of Greenland and its early history authors frequently refer to this
matter, but opinions on it seem to differ widely. Some scholars speak of langskip,
others knerrir, and even byrðingar and skútur. Nobody seems to have raised the
question as to whether fishing boats or cargo boats of the Breiðafjörður type
could have been used on this voyage. To the present author this question, far
from being absurd, deserves full attention and should be answered with due regard
to Icelandic historical sources and all available knowledge of local conditions and
folk life in Western Iceland.
Is it probable that in the summer of 986 as many as 25 knerrir were obtainable
in Breiðafjörður and Borgarfjörður for the Greenland expedition? And that if so,
were the Greenland-farers wealthy enough to be able to buy them?