Footnote 158: _Svein Ulfsson_ was the son of Ulf jarl and Astrid, the sister of Knut the Great. He carried on long war against King Magnus the Good, and at last was acknowledged as King of Denmark. This was about the middle of the 11th century. CHAPTER XII. SEA BATTLES. The battle of Svold—The battle of the Jomsvikings. The two most famous sea-fights which are related in the Sagas are those of _Svold_ and _Jomsvikings_; the former of which took place between Olaf Tryggvason against King Svein of Denmark, Olaf of Sweden, and Eirik jarl of Norway. When Olaf Tryggvason had left _Vindland_ (the land of the Wends), and was returning to Norway, his enemies were waiting in ambush in order to attack him, and thus was fought the battle of Svold. “Svein King of Denmark, Olaf King of Sweden, and Eirik jarl lay under the island with all their host. The weather was fine and the sunshine was bright. All the chiefs went up on the island, and many of the host with them. When they saw that very many of the ships of the Northmen sailed out to sea they were very glad, for their host grumbled at lying there so long, and some had lost all hope of the King of Norway’s coming. Now they saw a large and splendid ship sailing, and both the kings said: ‘This is a large and exceedingly fine ship; it must be the Long Serpent.’ Eirik jarl answered: ‘This is not the Long Serpent, which must look larger and grander, though this is a large and fine ship.’ It was as the jarl said. Styrkár of Gimsar owned the ship. Shortly after they saw another much larger ship, which had a head on its prow. King Svein said: ‘This must be the Long Serpent; let us now go to our ships and not be too slow in attack.’ Eirik jarl replied: ‘This cannot be the Long Serpent, though it is finely fitted out.’ It was as he said, for it belonged to Thorkel Nefja, King Olaf’s brother; but he was not on board himself. And now they saw another large and fine ship. King Svein said: ‘There you can see the king’s ship.’ The jarl replied: ‘Certainly this is a large and splendid ship, but the Serpent must be much grander.’ Close upon it came a fourth large ship. The two last were owned by two men of Vikin, Thorgeir and Hyrning, the king’s brothers-in-law; but they did not steer the ships, for they were on the Long Serpent with King Olaf. A little while after appeared a fifth, much larger than any of the preceding. King Svein said, laughing: ‘Now is Olaf Tryggvason afraid, for he dares not sail with the head on his dragon.’[159] Eirik jarl replied: ‘This is not the king’s ship; this one I know well, as well as the sail which is striped; it belongs to Erling Skjalgsson of Jadar; let them sail on, for I tell you truly that there are warriors on board, whom, if we go into battle with Olaf Tryggvason, it is better not to have, but to miss in his fleet, than to have it manned as it is, for I