ABSTRACT
Thence we held on our course and passed close beneath the mountain called North Cape, which is a headland or crag to the north-west of Finmark or Hálogaland. And one morning early, as we were sailing by, five large vessels were sighted from the mast-head. These vessels were sailing eastwards towards Russia and would meet us, and we dreaded lest they came with hostile intent, which however proved not to be the case. All the hammocks slung under the deck were immediately cut down and, together with all bed-coverings, stowed in the hold with the greatest haste: the port-holes were opened, the cannon made ready, powder stored in bags; and half of the crew were ordered to attend to the sailing in the engagement, while the other half was to handle the muskets, those we call match-locks, in which task many of them were unpractised and awkward. Brandy was brought up in pint kegs and given to the crew, and flags were hoisted. An admiral has his standard or flag on the mainmast head 1 , a vice-admiral on the foremast head, a rear-admiral 2 on the mizen head, and the other ships have their flag forward on the bowsprit, on the sprit-mast, which they call gickmers; and no one may do contrary to this on pain of death. Afterwards the vessel Unicorn was sent to beat up into the wind to get past them, for that vessel sailed the best of our ships, and then it sailed back before the wind. Each of their ships sailed towards us, their admiral last, and on his ship were four trumpeters who blew merrily. We hailed the vessel that came first and asked who they were and whence they came. They said they were sailing from Hamburg eastwards to Russia, to the place called Archangel, with merchandise. The admiral ordered them to come on board and show their pass or letter of permission granting sailing-leave in Danish waters 1 , which they and the other vessels obstinately refused to do until their admiral should arrive. They would not lower their topsail, but ran up into the wind and let their sails flap. Now when their admiral arrived, our admiral spoke clearly and curtly to him, and bade him come on board to us at once with his letter of permission, which he loudly refused to do, bidding us launch our boat, and saying that they were as good as we. When our admiral heard that, standing by the mizen-mast with his battle-sword, he snatched off his hat and dashed it under his feet, and called out in a clear voice, saying in German 2 , “Wer bi sein,” which may be interpreted, “Each to his place.” And when they saw our crew separate each to his work and heard the alarm sounded on the drum, their admiral was quick to run aft with a white linen cloth, which he held aloft, calling out loudly: “Pes! Pes! Pes! 3 ” that is to be interpreted a cry for peace. Meanwhile, others of them cut loose their boat and launched it, and the officers of all five ships and their admiral came on board our vessel, bowing and demanding peace, and gave as compensation twelve tuns of good Hamburg ale, a barrel of butter, a barrel of cheese and two barrels of salted herrings. And in the evening a feast and entertainment was made for them, and the reindeer which we had on board from Finmark was handed over to them as a gift, and so we parted with farewells and firing of guns and to the sound of trumpets.
