Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.11.2015, Side 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. nóvember 2015 • 7
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Ísak. Guðmundur walked from
Svanur to Eiðið but Brynjólfur
was put in charge and went
with his ship to Hrófin. By that
time, the weather was so poor
that he didn’t trust himself
to row directly to Lækur, so
instead he went south along
Botni opposite Básasker and
hurried from there in the wind
east to Lækur. The current in
the harbor was so strong, that
the waters at Lækur dried up in
the undertow even though the
seas were great.
The third ship that had
gone west was near the rock
Latur when the storm broke
out. Símon Þorsteinsson from
Hólmar í Landeyjum was on
the six-oar Dúfa. He turned
east and searched for shelter
in Faxabót. He remained
there close by and held east of
Yztaklettur and made his way
to Bóndabót, where he stayed
for the night. He reached land
close to noon the next day.
The ships that went east
around Bjarnarey searched
for shelter in the bay or caves
around Haganef.
These twelve ships were
there:
1. The eight-oared Haffrúin. The
captain was Magnús Magnússon,
farmer at Vilborgarstaðir.
2. The eight-oared Æolus, which
belonged to Bjarni Einarsson,
farmer at Kirkjubær.
3. The eight-oared Gideon. The
captain was Árni Diðriksson,
farmer at Stakkagerði.
4. The eight-oared Neptúnus.
The captain was Símon, farmer
from Steinar under Eyjafjöll.
5. The eight-oared Langvinnur.
The captain was Árni Einarsson,
farmer at Búastaðir.
6. The six-oared Blíður. The
captain was sea pilot Jón Jónsson,
farmer at Vilborgarstaðir.
7. The eight-oared Mýrdælingur.
The captain was Þorsteinn
Jónsson, district administrative
officer in Nýjabær.
8. The eight-oared Najaden. The
captain was Ólafur Ketilsson
from Bólstaður in Mýrdal.
9. The eight-oared Enok. The
captain was Lárus Jónsson,
district administrative officer at
Búastaðir.
10. The eight-oared Eyfellingur.
The captain was Magnús
Þorsteinsson, farmer at
Rauðsbakki and the brother of
Bjarni in Gvendarhús.
11. Ægir or Farsæll, a four-
oared boat. The captain was Jón
Bjarnason, farmer at Oddsstaðir.
12. The six-oared Farsæll. The
captain was Oddur Pétursson,
the father of Sigurður at Skuld
in the Westman Islands, at that
time a farmer at Raufarfell under
the Eyjafjöll mountains, and it
was his first voyage as captain.
The weather remained the
same all night and there came
a sudden snowstorm. Men sat
at the oars and held the boats
in a small area a short distance
from the rock. The boats would
have crashed into each other
had there not been breaks of
moonlight between snowstorms.
The surf was so high that it
surged over Haganef into the
bay. The night was dreadful for
everyone, both at sea and on
land. It was unknown whether
all the ships had reached land
and it was uncertain whether the
men could survive the hardship
of exposure and lack of food. At
that time, it was not customary
for men to take food to sea with
them in the Westman Islands,
and this practice continued for a
long time.
In the night, the crew of
the Ægir abandoned ship and
boarded one of the large ships.
The Ægir could not withstand
the weather and was lost.
Three of the crewmen couldn’t
stand the harsh conditions,
since they would have already
been freezing cold and soaked
through by the time they finally
abandoned ship. They died late
that night. All these men were
middle-aged or older: Vigfús
Magnússon, who lived in the
fishermen’s quarters at Hólshús,
the father of Siggi Fúsason
at Fögruvellir; Jón Jónsson,
farmer at Vilborgarstaðir, the
father of Sigurður at Lönd and
grandfather of Kristinn at Lönd;
and Jón Guðmundsson, laborer
at Kirkjubær, whose family
came from the area around the
Eyjafjöll mountains. All were
married men.
The next day, February
26, the wind died down a bit
and turned to the southwest
as the day passed. It was five
degrees Celsius. Before noon,
Brynjólfur Halldórsson boarded
the Áróra with dry clothes, food
and drink for the fishermen.
Packages of food and clothes
were prepared at each home and
marked for each man. There was
also food and a bit of Brennivín
sent from the shops. Brynjólfur
had on board the best crew, men
who had already returned from
sea or hadn’t gone out. When
he had delivered everything,
he turned towards home again,
as the tide was beginning to
rise. Many of the ships set
off for home at the same time
as the Áróra, although the
Najaden and Neptúnus would
have stayed put. Six of them
reached land before midnight
after fighting all day against the
weather, which was still poor.
But three, Blíður, Mýrdælingur
and Langvinnur, had to turn
east around Bjarnarey again.
They had taken a course too far
north, so that the great rising tide
carried them in a strong current
further north of Heimaey.
Turning around, they sailed with
just a scrap of the sail east out
of the channel between Elliðaey
and Bjarnarey.
A short distance from
Bjarnarey is the skerry Breki.
The depth there is only about
seven fathoms. There was an
easterly current this time, and
Hannes only remembered that
happening once before; it only
happened in incredibly bad
weather. Right up by Brekaflá,
on the north side of Bjarnarey,
the sea was much deeper and
this was usually the preferred
route in stormy weather.
... continued on page 9
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