Battle at Rifsker

At that time there came over Iceland a famine the like of which

had never been seen before. Nearly all the fisheries failed, and

also the drift wood. So it continued for many years.



One autumn some traders in a sea-going ship, who had been driven

out of their course, were wrecked at Vik. Flosi took in four or

five of them with their captain, named Steinn. They all found

shelter in the neighbourhood of Vik and tried to rig up a ship

out of the wreckage, but were not very successful. The ship was

too narrow in the bow and stern and too broad amidships. In the

spring a northerly gale set in which lasted nearly a week, after

which men began to look for drift.



There was a man living in Reykjanes named Thorsteinn. He found a

whale stranded on the south side of the promontory at the place

now called Rifsker. It was a large rorqual, and he at once sent

word by a messenger to Flosi in Vik and to the nearest farms.



At Gjogr lived a man named Einar, a tenant of the Kaldbak men

whom they employed to look after the drift on that side of the

fjord. He got to know of the whale having been stranded and at

once rowed across the fjord in his boat to Byrgisvik, whence he

sent a messenger to Kaldbak. When Thorgrim and his brother heard

the news they got ready to go with all speed to the spot. There

were twelve of them in a ten-oared boat, and six others, with

Ivar and Leif, sons of Kolbeinn. All the farmers who could get

away went to the whale.



In the meantime Flosi had sent word to his kinsmen in the North

at Ingolfsfjord and Ofeigsfjord and to Olaf the son of Eyvind who

lived at Drangar. The first to arrive were Flosi and the men of

Vik, who at once began to cut up the whale, carrying on shore the

flesh as it was cut. At first there were about twenty men, but

more came thronging in. Then there came the men of Kaldbak with

four ships. Thorgrim laid claim to the whale and forbade the men

of Vik to cut, distribute, or carry away any portion of it.

Flosi called upon him to show proof that Eirik had in express

words given over the drift to Onund; if not, he said he would

prevent them by force. Thorgrim saw that he was outnumbered and

would not venture on fighting. Then there came a ship across the

fjords, the men rowing with all their might. They came up; it

was Svan of Hol from Bjarnarfjord with his men, and he at once

told Thorgrim not to let himself be robbed. The two men had been

great friends, and Svan offered Thorgrim his aid, which the

brothers accepted, and they attacked valiantly. Thorgeir

Bottleback was the first to get on to the whale where Flosi's men

were. Thorfinn, who was spoken of before, was cutting it up,

standing near the head on the place where he had been carving.

"Here I bring you your axe," said Thorgeir. Then he struck at

Thorfinn's neck and cut off his head. Flosi was up on the beach

and saw it. He urged on his men to give it them back. They

fought for a long time and the Kaldbak people were getting the

best of it. Most of them had no weapons but the axes with which

they were cutting up the whale and short knives. The men of Vik

were driven from the whale on to the sandbanks. The men from the

East, however, were armed and able to deal wounds. Their captain

Steinn cut off the leg of Kolbeinn's son Ivar, and Ivar's brother

Leif beat one of Steinn's men to death with a rib of the whale.

Then they fought with anything they could get, and men were slain

on both sides. At last Olaf came up with a number of ships from

Drangar and joined Flosi; the men of Kaldbak were then

overpowered by numbers. They had already loaded their ships, and

Svan told them to get on board. They therefore retired towards

the ships, the men of Vik after them. Svan on reaching the sea

struck at Steinn their captain, wounding him badly, and then

sprang into his own ship. Thorgrim gave Flosi a severe wound and

escaped. Olaf wounded Ofeig Grettir fatally, but Thorgeir

carried him off and sprang on to his ship with him. The Kaldbak

men rowed into the fjord and the two parties separated.



The following verse was composed on these doings:



"Hard were the blows which were dealt at Rifsker;

no weapons they had but steaks of the whale.

They belaboured each other with rotten blubber.

Unseemly me thinks is such warfare for men."



After this they made peace, and the dispute was laid before the

All-Thing. On the side of the Kaldbak men were Thorodd the Godi,

Skeggi of Midfjord, and many others from the South. Flosi was

exiled, along with several others who had been with him. He was

put to great expense, for he insisted upon paying all the fines

himself. Thorgrim and his brothers were unable to show that they

had paid any money either for the land or for the drift which

Flosi claimed. The Lawman was Thorkell Mani, and the question

was referred to him. He declared that by law something must have

been paid, though not necessarily the full value.



"There was a case in point," he said, "between my grandfather

Ingolf and a woman named Steinvor the Old. He gave her the whole

of Rosmhvalanes and she gave him a dirty cloak for it; the

transfer was afterwards held to be valid. That was a much more

important affair than this. My advice is that the land be

divided in equal portions between the two; and henceforward it

shall be legally established that all drift shall be the property

of the owner of the land upon which it has been stranded."



This was agreed to. Thorgrim and his brothers were to give up

Reykjarfjord with all on that side, and were to keep Kamb. For

Ofeig a large sum of money was paid, and Thorfinn was assessed at

nothing at all; Thorgeir received compensation for the attack

made upon his life, and all the parties were reconciled. Flosi

went to Norway with Steinn the captain and sold his lands in Vik

to Geirmund Hvikatimbr, who lived there thenceforward.



The ship which Steinn's sailors had built was rather a tub. She

was called Trekyllir -- Tree-sack. Flosi went on his journey in

her, but was driven back to Oxarfjord; out of this arose the saga

of Bodmod the Champion and Grimolf.