records, it had once prevailed among the Saxons, and, as other witnesses
add, among the Scandinavian people, the tradition is not clearly
preserved by Saxo.

"Sea and Sea Warfare."--As might be expected, there is much mention of
Wicking adventure and of maritime warfare in Saxo.

Saxo tells of Asmund's huge ship (Gnod), built high that he might shoot
down on the enemy's craft; he speaks of a ship (such as Godwin gave as
a gift to the king his master), and the monk of St. Bertin and the
court-poets have lovingly described a ship with gold-broidered sails,
gilt masts, and red-dyed rigging. One of his ships has, like the ships
in the Chansons de Geste, a carbuncle for a lantern at the masthead.
Hedin signals to Frode by a shield at the masthead. A red shield was a
peace signal, as noted above. The practice of "strand-hewing", a great
feature in Wicking-life (which, so far as the victualling of raw meat
by the fishing fleets, and its use raw, as Mr. P. H. Emerson informs
me, still survives), is spoken of. There was great fear of monsters
attacking them, a fear probably justified by such occasional attacks of
angry whales as Melville (founding his narrative on repeated facts) has
immortalised. The whales, like Moby Dick, were uncanny, and inspired by
troll-women or witches (cf. "Frithiof Saga" and the older "Lay of
Atle and Rimegerd"). The clever sailing of Hadding, by which he eludes
pursuit, is tantalising, for one gathers that, Saxo knows the details
that he for some reason omits. Big fleets of 150 and a monster armada of
3,000 vessels are recorded.

The ships were moved by oars and sails; they had rudders, no doubt such
as the Gokstad ship, for the hero Arrow-Odd used a rudder as a weapon.