The salt spray washed over them all and made the grip on the oars cold and slippery, but they could not stop now. The waves were breaking over the bar and they were pulling on their oars to physically push the ship through the break and the foam. Every stroke must be matched to all others. One bad oar could scuttle the ship.
A loose grip would send a loose oar backwards and tangle the oars behind. Loss of oars on one side would turn them sideways into the swell and the ship could go over. Their muscles ached and strained. They were fighting exhaustion. And then, just like that, they were across the bar. A cheer went up from all hands and after a half-dozen more strokes, they all took a rest.
Young Raynar's chest hurt. At one point he had lost his grip and the oar had hit him full on the chest. It would solve nothing to look, but he wanted to see how much of his skin was black and blue. His fingers were too cold to pull his clothing loose. He gave up. He yelled up to the steersman, his friend Gerke, "If each crossing starts like that, it is a wonder that you ever go to sea at all."
The other men were relieved to be through it and were yelling insults at Gerke to calm themselves. Gerke took no offense. No one could expect that they would be hit by a tidal bore just as they reached the bar. They were in deep water now and the waves were long swells rather than breakers and surges.
Since winter began and everyone had moved to the dry village, Raynar had been accepted as one of Klaes's men. He had expected trouble from Gerke, considering he had been off and on bedding his wife and his sister, but there was no hard feelings. At the time, Gerke had pointed out this made them like brothers. Meanwhile Roas was still not with child.
"Look, our other ships did not even try!" The man at the next oar exclaimed. "They saw us do it and they fled back like cowards. "
"I would have beaten the steersmen if they had followed us," growled Klaes. "We were caught by surprise, and could do naught else but to row for our lives. There was no surprise for them. Ships are risky enough without tempting the Wyred sisters."
They had worked all winter, off and on during any good weather, to prepare the ships for the trading season. The ships were older style Frisian Cogs of about fifteen paces in length. They needed a mere two feet of water under them to float, when not loaded.
The winter work included pulling them from the water, drying the hulls, recaulking them with moss and pitch, and refitting lines and spars and oars. None of the work was difficult or urgent, and they had spent many pleasant hours singing and trading stories while they worked. They often had camped with the ships for days at a time. The longer they spent away from the village, the more welcome was the return to some of the most comely women anywhere on the North Sea.
Now the winter storms had moved north, and except for a rare spring blow, the weather was calm and warming, and most important of all, it was dry. Before they left the village to move the ships to the Wash, Klaes had issued orders to the women to move back from the dry village to the island village. The dry village was more comfortable living through the winter, but the island village was secure and defendable.
Still at the dry village were the lambs, the calves and the foals that were due or had already arrived. They could not move this livestock to more secure pastures until the birthing was finished and the young had their legs. This meant that some men had to stay in the dry village and mount a watch. Both cartways to the village had been set up for ambushes if the need be, and a pale of sharpened poles surrounded the house where the herders slept.
The peace with the Normans was holding. At least the peace here in Lincolnshire. And with peace came prosperity, so Klaes was expecting a good year for the sale of stock, a good year for running cargo across to Flanders, and a good year for healthy babies.
The worrying news was that the South was again in the flames of rebellion against the Normans. King William had cut short his courting in Flanders and France to clean up the mess that Regent Odo's greed had created here in England. All northern freemen hoped that William would stay in the South and leave the North to the northerners.
This trip was just a short sea trial. They had a cargo of barrels of live eels that they would sell in Spalding. They did not need to go to sea to deliver them, as Spalding was a river town between their village and the sea. However, they needed the weight of a cargo for the sea trials. They would sell the eels on their return to Spalding.
Klaes was well pleased with the sea trial so far. Even the rough water over the bar had not pushed water through the seams. Now that the ship was no longer waterlogged, she rode high even with the cargo. He gave orders to unlash the sail.
The sea and the sail were why Raynar had come along. He had been a boatman on the River Thames, but he had never been to sea and had never been under sail, and he wanted to experience both. He leaned with his back against the gunnels and carefully watched every move that the men made to get under sail. Being such a small cog there was no castle deck but its gunnels were high and the oars were rowed through ports. There were no rowing benches because the men sat on their sea chests. These chests were now being moved to be in sailing trim, and the oars were being shipped and the oar ports closed.
The high gunnels not only kept the waves out of the ship, they also allowed her to carry more cargo. These men were proud of the design and the build of the ship. It was shorter than a Viking Knarr, the cargo version of the longship, and therefore slower, but it could carry almost as much cargo and with half the crew. The risk of a faster longship catching them was lessened because the high gunnels gave them a height advantage in any ship to ship fight.
Klaes had sworn to Raynar that they were traders, not raiders. That they were well-armed and well- trained in their arms because there were so many other ships that would become raiders if given an opportunity. Raynar chose to believe him, despite Inka once telling him that all raiders always deny being raiders, and for the same reason did not leave witnesses.
Gerke had used a sweep of the steering oar to push the ship around to be side onto the wind. The men hauled the sail boom up the mast and when tied off, they cinched the lines to taughten the sail. It filled with air and Raynar could feel the entire hull strain against wind and sea.
Gerke signaled him to come to the stern and when he got there, Gerke showed him how to use the steering oar. One of the highlights of his life so far was standing in the stern of that cog with the force of the sea against the oar. The balance of the ship and the sail were his to control with a twist or a sweep. A ship under oar was an efficient machine. A ship under sail was a living and writhing animal.
Under Gerke's tutorage, Raynar tried to feel the ship's way through the rolling sea. The steering oar could never be still. The steersman must adjust for each wave, and for each gust, in order to keep the course. Lose your watchfulness for a moment and you were off course, and losing time. Eventually Klaes was satisfied with the ship and told them to steer for home.
Gerke showed him the course and then showed him the landmarks to steer by. "Easy enough now," said Gerke, "but in a storm or in a fog, there is nothing to guide you and there are shifting sandbars everywhere in the Wash. There, that headland marks the entrance to the Haven that runs to Boston."
"Sail on the port," warned one of the men " A big one. She shouldn't be there. She is too big for that channel through the sands."
Gerke pointed to it and explained. "The center of the Wash is all sand islands that become sand bars in high tides. There are channels through them but they constantly shift with the storms. Where that ship is, was a channel last fall, but it may have been blocked since then."
"Make for her and warn her off," ordered Klaes. "Raynar, take a good look. That is a full Cog. That is the future of shipping. Cogs like that one are putting the Knarr and longships out of business for anything other than raiding."
"Another sail, same course!" yelled a man in the bow. "A Karvi by the look of it. The dragon's head is set."
"Good, the Cog has help then," said Klaes. The men all laughed, and started flipping open their sea chests. Out came their weapons and shields and helmets.
"What is happening, Gerke?" Raynar asked as he made a sweep of the steeroar to keep the sail full, as they rode down the back side of a swell.
"A Karvi is a mid sized longship. It may be there to help the Cog, or it may be there to raid it. We won't know until we are closer, but that she has put her dragon in place does not bode well. If they are raiders we may have to defend our eels."
"How can you be sure the big Cog is friendly? Maybe she is the raider."
"That size of a Cog carries cargo and passengers. It is too slow and dependent on sails to be a raider."
Raynar went to his own sea chest and pulled out his bow, arrows and sword. Then he lined up his sea chest with the others to re-form the rowing benches. They set up the oars but no one rowed. One of the oarsmen saw Raynar sitting ready to row and told him, "Relax and get some rest. We will close with our sail, and then drop the sail and start rowing when we are within hailing distance. This ship is a slug under sail, but she can dance on her toes under oar."
Raynar went back astern and Gerke gave him the steering oar, while he went to fetch his own weapons. On this course there was less to do as they were running in front of the wind.
Klaes came closer. "Aim to the sea side of the Cog. The tide is still coming in and it will drift us onto her. That Cog is bloody lucky with this wind and the high tide. She may still make it through that channel, and she may just stay in front of that Karvi."
"The Karvi is pushing out their oars," came the call from the bow.
"They have seen us then. They are going to close on the Cog before we get there."
"Why are you looking for trouble?" asked Raynar. "Why not just go home?"
"If we save them they may give us a prize fee. A Cog that size is worth much, and her cargo probably as much again. If we don't save them, there may still be profit in the wreckage."
Gerke left Raynar with the steering so that he could watch the other ships with Klaes. "The steersman on the Cog knows these waters, I'm sure. He has taken that channel on purpose to keep the Karvi from overhauling her. I'll wager that channel is too narrow for two ships abreast."
"Well the Cog is through the channel now, and the Karvi is rowing them down."
"So is that the end of the Cog, then?" asked Raynar.
"No, and it could just as easily be the end of the Karvi. That Cog has castles fore and aft and the high deck gives them a height advantage in a fight." They were close enough to make out the people in each ship. "Look, the Cog has a few archers. We will soon know the intentions of the Karvi."
They were closing on the other ships steadily. The Karvi had slowed within hailing distance and was matching the speed of the Cog. Then there was action on both ships. The archers loosed from the Cog and shields came up on the Karvi. The Karvi oars started moving quickly, and the ship swerved violently across the stern of the Cog.
"Did you see that?" was the cry from the bow, "the bloody Karvi just grappled the Cog's steering oar and broke it loose. They have no steering and they are bloody close to the sands."
"Watch and learn men. You are watching a master raider bring down an armoured ship!" barked Klaes. "How many men on the Karvi?"
"I'd say forty."
"And we are a dozen. It is your say, men. Do we help the Cog or save ourselves?" shouted Klaes. There was no clear answer. "Well, how about we even the fight a bit?" The men were all listening. "Raynar, how close do you need to be to pick off the steersman on the Karvi?"
"Two paces in these waves." Raynar said as he handed the steering oar back to Gerke. The men laughed. "Both this ship and the other will be moving. I will only have one chance before they shield him. Fifty paces. Closer if you can."
"Tell me when you have your range," yelled Gerke, "and I will turn the ships bow to swells. Loose at the top of the wave!"
Raynar took a position in the center of the ship. He hid his bow. The other men had their shields ready in case archers shot back. "To the oars. Drop the sail!" order Klaes. "Pull hard."
The small cog leaped forward on the strength of the men’s arms.
Raynar waited, and waited, and waited. Then he yelled, "Now!" to Gerke. The ship swung up onto the next wave and then was almost still for a breath. Raynar drew the heavy arrow, felt the aim, and loosed. The steersman on the Karvi went over the side. Another man replaced him, but another arrow hit his arm. There were orders being yelled on the Karvi and then as one, the near bank of oars lifted and the Karvi spun around towards them.
"Now they are coming for us. Was this your plan Klaes?" yelled a man as he pulled on his oar.
"String your longbows, men. Let us see what Raynar taught you over the winter." He gauged the speed with which the Karvi was closing on them. "Raynar, lead them."
Raynar watched the men string their bows. He had trained many types of men in longbows over the last two years, and had quickly learned to not bother with a man who did not already have enough strength in his back and shoulders. Nobles never had the strength and nor did slaves, but freemen did.
Especially freemen who worked with their backs and arms every day, such as loggers and porters, and miners. The island men were oarsmen with massive strength in their backs and shoulders. They were not even straining to arch their bows.
Raynar was watching the swells. If they shot at the top of the swell, while the Karvi was at the bottom, the men of the Karvi would be easy targets. He told his plan to the men. He would call out the shot. Everyone would choose an oarsman on the port side, the side away from them.
They waited, the swell was wrong. They waited, both ships topped their swells. They waited, their ship topped a swell, while the Karvi was mid wave. "Loose!" yelled Raynar. The effect was deadly. Three men slumped over their oars in the port bank of the Karvi. Two others were grasping at arrows in their bodies, and had let go their oars. The other oars on the port side tangled, though the starboard bank rowed normally, and this cause the Karvi to turned sharply to port away from the Cog.
The bowmen waited again. "Target the starboard side this time, as she comes about." Waited. Waited. Waited. "Loose!” This time the men on the other ship raised their shields but it was still not enough to protect all.
There was panic in the crowded Karvi. Men were trying to guard themselves while pulling the injured men away from fouling the oars. All the ships were now almost stopped in the water. The next salvo of arrows hit those at the stern trying to steer. Now everyone on board was crowding to the close side and ducking down beneath the low gunnels.
Someone from the Karvi was hailing them. "Let us use the oars, and we will leave."
Klaes yelled to Raynar just in time to stop the next salvo, then "Be gone then!" he hailed the Karvi, "turn and take the channel, back the way you came!” With the wind behind them in the channel, the Karvi would be gone, and harmless on the other side of the sands in no time.
The Karvi did as it was instructed, so Klaes yelled at the bowmen to get back to their oars, and Gerke did a long sweep of his steeroar and made for the giant Cog.
"Throw us a tow line before you are on the sands!" Klaes hailed. And they did. When the tow line was tied off, they put their backs into the oars and inched the big ship away from the sands. Once the big Cog was out of immediate danger, the steersman on the other ship hailed over and asked if they could use fresh men on the oars. The answer was an obvious yes. They came alongside the big Cog and exchanged tired men for fresh. Raynar and most of his bowmen went aboard the big ship.
The Karvi, meanwhile, had come about and was watching them like a raven watching an injured rabbit. Once the Frisian bowmen showed their longbows on the castle of the larger ship, however, the Karvi turned to catch the wind and moved away quickly.
With more than twice the number of men now on the oars in the Frisian cog, they made much better headway against the wind, as they towed the big rig away from the sands and towards the mouth of the River Welland that led to Spalding. Meanwhile, other men on the big ship were working frantically to re-rig the steering.
Raynar had never seen such a big ship, never mind stood on one. The mid deck stood a man height above the water. The castles almost a man's height higher still. He was greeted by the ships' archers. They made friendly noises but their bows were still strung and they kept a watch on them.
A man looked down from the stern castle and uttered words of surprise. "By the gods, Raynar of the Peaks, what are you doing on a ship in the North Sea?"
Raynar looked around and up, and saw the man. He squinted against the brightness of the sea glint. "Earl Edwin, is that you?"
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The Hoodsman - Frisians of the Fens by Skye Smith Copyright
2010-13