Some of these contained rich spoil, which had been gathered in France, for cruising in the seas off Dover Edmund intercepted many of the Danish vessels on their homeward way from raids up the Seine, Garonne, and other French rivers.
One day in the excitement of a long pursuit of a Danish galley, which finally succeeded in making her escape, Edmund had paid less attention than usual to the weather, and, on giving up the chase as hopeless, perceived that the sky had become greatly overcast, while the wind was rising rapidly.
"We are in for a storm from the north, Egbert," he said, "and we must make for the mouth of the Thames for shelter." The sails were lowered, and the Dragon's head turned west.

Before two hours had passed the sea had risen so greatly that it was no longer possible to row.
"What had we best do ?" Edmund asked the chief of the sailors.

"Think you that we can make Dover and shelter under the cliffs there ?" "I fear that we cannot do so," the sailor replied, "for there are terrible sands and shallows off the Kentish coast between the mouth of the Thames and Dover, and the wind blows so strongly that we can do nought but run before it." "Then let us do so," Edmund replied; "anything is better than being tossed at the mercy of the waves." A sail was hoisted, and the Dragon flew along before the wind.

The storm increased in fury, and for some hours the vessel ran before it.
She was but a short distance from the French coast, and as the wind veered round more to the west her danger became great.
"I fear we shall be cast ashore," Edmund said to the sailor.
"Fortunately," the man answered, "we are but a mile or two from the mouth of the Seine, and there we can run in and take shelter." It was an anxious time until they reached the mouth of the river, for they were continually drifting nearer and nearer to the coast.

However, they cleared the point in safety, and, turning her head, ran up the river and soon anchored under the walls of Havre.