THE SCENE: Outnumbered and outmatched by a superior ship, Sigmundur nevertheless manages to score a victory over his enemies with some quick thinking and decisive action.
THE TEXT: Later that summer, Sigmundur was going among the Islands with Thorir and Einar to check up on the farms they had rented out. They were rowing through a narrow channel between two small islands, and as they emerged from the narrows, a ship came bearing down on them and it was very nearly upon them. They recognized the Gotuskeggjars at once: Thrandur, accompanied by twelve men.
Thorir said, “They’re almost on top of us. What should we do, Sigmundur?”
“There’s little we can do,” replied Sigmundur. “The only chance is to row straight at them and get them to drop their sail, and as our ship comes alongside theirs, you both draw your swords and try to cut the rope-lines on their gunnels so they can’t raise the sail again, and I’ll try to do what I can.”
So they rowed directly towards Thrandur’s ship, and as they drifted alongside, Thorir and Einar severed all the rope-lines on the opposite gunnel so the sail couldn’t be raised. Sigumundur snatched up a gaffingpole which was laying on his deck, and drove it into the hull of the other ship so hard that the keel nearly emerged from the water. He rammed the pole into the hull where the sail had come down and pushed the ship over still further. With Sigmundur rocking it with all his might, all of a sudden the ship capsized. In the aftermath, five of Thrandur’s men drowned.
– The Faroe-Island (Færeyinga) Saga, 13th Century AD
