Thorkill did not refuse the task, and advised that, to meet the extraordinary fury of the sea they had to cross, strongly-made vessels should be built, fitted with many knotted cords and close-set nails, filled with great store of provision, and covered above with ox-hides to protect the inner spaces of the ships from the spray of the waves breaking in.

Then they sailed off in only three galleys, each containing a hundred chosen men.
Now when they had come to Halogaland (Helgeland), they lost their favouring breezes, and were driven and tossed divers ways over the seas in perilous voyage.

At last, in extreme want of food, and lacking even bread, they staved off hunger with a little pottage.

Some days passed, and they heard the thunder of a storm brawling in the distance, as if it were deluging the rocks.

By this perceiving that land was near, they bade a youth of great nimbleness climb to the masthead and look out; and he reported that a precipitous island was in sight.