[22]
In 1148, Ragnvald decided to visit King Ingi in Norway, taking
Harold Maddadson, then a boy of fifteen, with him.[23] There he meets
Eindridi, who had been long in Micklegarth, as Constantinople was then
called by the Norse, probably in the Emperor's service as one of the
Varangian Guard; and ships are built for a voyage to the East. But
both he and Harold are wrecked in "The Help" and "The Arrow," at
Gulberwick, south of Lerwick, on the Shetland coast, all on board,
however, being saved, and Ragnvald, as usual, making verses and fun of
it all, and of many other things.
At last in 1150 Ragnvald's and Eindridi's ships are "boun"[24] for
their eastern cruise, Eindridi, however, being wrecked off Shetland.
But he gets another ship, and, in 1151, they set sail for the East,
William, the bishop of Orkney, commanding one vessel. Passing down the
east coast of England and through the Channel to France, they reach
Bilbao[25] in Spain, where Ragnvald lands, and refuses to marry Queen
Ermengarde. Afterwards he rounds Galicia, where Eindridi's treachery
robs them of spoil in taking Godfrey's castle, beats through Niorfa
Sound (the Straits of Gibraltar); is deserted by Eindridi, sails along
Sarkland (Barbary), captures the Saracen ship Dromund, and burns her,
sells the prisoners in Barbary, but releases their prince, coasts
along Crete, lands at Acre, and bathes in Jordan on St.
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