The Capture of the La Minerve off Toulon, June 24, 1795

Capture of Minerve off Toulon - Thomas Whitcombe

This weekend I was back at the wargaming table as I had the pleasure of playtesting Scenario 21, one of a hundred single-ship, small squadron engagements I have been compiling principally for use with Kiss Me, Hardy (KMH) and To Covet Glory (TCG), with set-up arrangements, victory conditions, break off rules and a mixture of meeting engagements and chases, which produce different games and with the two closely linked where one can quickly change to the other as circumstances permit.

These scenarios are garnered from the work of the great naval historian, William James, and his colossal work that documented the great sea fights and small actions fought by the British Royal Navy between 1793 and 1815 that cover the principal wars against Revolutionary France and her allies, 1793 to 1801, Napoleonic France and her allies 1802-1815 and the United States of America from 1812-1815, in the Naval History of Great Britain Volumes 1 to 6 extending into the close of the age of sail era in 1827, that includes the Battle of Algiers 1816, Navarin 1827 and the Burmese War of 1824.

Scenario 21 recreates the action fought on the 24th June 1795 that resulted in the capture of the French 40-gun frigate La Minerve and is outlined below in James' account of the fight that ensued, and in the post I thought I would take a look at the historical fight and the ships involved with a link to the club blog below and an AAR of how the scenario we played turned out.

Lowestoffe & Dido vs Minerve & Artemise 24th June 1795, 0845, 41°8'N 5°30'E

In the month of June Admiral Hotham, while cruising with the British fleet off the Island of Minorca, received intelligence that the French fleet was at sea. To ascertain the fact, the admiral, on the evening of the 23rd, detached the 28-gun frigate Dido, Captain George Henry Towry, and 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Lowestoffe, Captain Robert Gambler Middleton, to reconnoitre the road of Toulon

Lowestoffe & Dido vs Minerve & Artemise 24th June 1795, 0845, 41°8'N 5°30'E

On the 24th, at 4 a.m., latitude 41° 8' north, longitude 5° 30' east, these frigates, standing close hauled on the larboard tack, with the wind at north-north-west, descried approaching them, nearly ahead, the French 40-gun frigate Minerve, Captain Perree, and 36-gun frigate Artemise, Captain Charbonnier, which frigates, by a singular coincidence, had been ordered by the French admiral to proceed off Minorca, and ascertain the truth of a rumour that the British fleet was at sea.

As soon as the private signal made by the Dido, who was ahead of her consort, discovered the relation of the parties to each other, the French frigates wore round on the other tack and stood away. The Dido and Lowestoffe immediately made sail in chase. At 7 a.m. it was evident that the French frigates were leaving their pursuers; but at 8 a.m. the Minerve and Artemise, as a proof that they were not disposed to decline a combat with two ships, whose inferior force must now have betrayed itself, again wore round, and, with French colours flying, stood on under easy sail to meet the Dido and Lowestoffe; who, with colours hoisted, and all clear for action, kept their course to hasten the junction.

On arriving within about a mile of the Dido's larboard and weather bow, the Minerve, who was at some distance ahead of her consort, wore round on the same tack as the Dido, and at 8 h. 30 m. a.m. opened her fire upon the latter. The Dido, however, reserved her fire until 8 h. 45 m.; when, having got close under the Minerve's starboard and lee beam, the British frigate commenced a steady and well-directed cannonade. In about five minutes the Minerve, suddenly bearing up, with yards square, attempted to decide the contest at once by running down the little ship that was presuming to contend with her.

The table plan for our game, with the two forces cleared for action.
'. . . at 8 a.m. the Minerve and Artemise, as a proof that they were not disposed to decline a combat with two ships, whose inferior force must now have betrayed itself, again wore round, and, with French colours flying, stood on under easy sail to meet the Dido and Lowestoffe; who, with colours hoisted, and all clear for action, kept their course to hasten the junction.'

Just as the Minerve's flying jib-boom was about to touch the Dido's main yard, the latter put her helm a port, to avoid receiving directly upon her beam, a shock which, with the weight and impetus of the French frigate, must have sent her to the bottom. Owing to this well-planned movement, the Dido received the blow obliquely, the luff of the Minerve's starboard bow taking her on the larboard quarter. But so heavy, notwithstanding Captain Towry's precaution, was the shock, that it drove the Dido nearly athwart the hawse of the Minerve; and, the latter's jib-boom being carried away by the former's main rigging, the bowsprit of the Minerve became locked in the mizen rigging of the Dido.

From the bowsprit, thus favourably placed, the Frenchmen, under cover of the Minerve's foremost guns and a heavy fire of musketry, attempted to board, but were prevented, as well by the pikemen on the Dido's quarter-deck, as by the violence with which the ships, owing to a great swell and hollow sea, were striking against each other. After about a quarter of an hour's contest in this situation, and when the Dido was literally hanging by her mizen rigging on the Minerve's bowsprit, the latter snapped short in two, carrying overboard with it, besides eight or ten of the French boarders, the Dido's badly wounded mizenmast.

Laid down in January 1792, and launched in 1794 in Toulon, Minerve had a brief initial career before her capture, taking the British collier Hannibal off the island of Ibiza on the 14th December of that year before herself being taken in this action.

The wreck was quickly cleared; and the colours of the Dido having fallen into the sea with the gaff, the signalman, Henry Barling, with characteristic bravery, nailed a union jack to the stump of the mast. As soon as she had thus cleared herself, the Minerve passed along the Dido's larboard beam, rubbing sides the whole way, and the mutual cannonade recommenced with vigour. Presently, however, the lower yards of the Minerve, hooking the leeches of the Dido's two remaining topsails, tore them out of the bolt-ropes; and the French frigate, continuing to range ahead, left the Dido almost a wreck upon her larboard quarter.

Having, owing to the Dido's position ahead of the Minerve, been prevented from firing into the latter's stern as she passed under it to assist her consort, the Lowestoffe now placed herself on the Minerve's larboard bow, about a ship's length from her; and at 9 a.m. opened her fire, which, in six or eight minutes, brought down by the board the French frigate's unsupported foremast, also her main and mizen topmasts. About this time the Artemise, who, in running past, had fired an ineffectual broadside into each of the British frigates, hauled her wind and made all sail.

Artémise was a 32-gun Magicienne-class frigate, and was under construction in Toulon when the Coalition seized the city in August 1793,  leaving her behind  when they evacuated the city in December 1793. At the action of 24 June 1795, she escaped while Minerve was captured, seeing her captain relieved of his command for leaving Minerve.

At 9 h. 15 m. a.m., the escape of the Minerve being rendered impossible, Captain Towry caused the signal to chase to be spread over the Dido's quarter. The Lowestoffe thereupon quitted the Minerve, and made all sail in pursuit of the Artemise; and the Dido, setting her only serviceable sail, the foresail, stretched ahead to repair her damages. The Artemise and Lowestoffe soon began exchanging their chase-guns; but the latter, having unfortunately received a shot through her mizenmast, could not carry her mizen topsail. In consequence of this, the Artemise gained upon the Lowestoffe so much, that Captain Towry, at 10 h. 30 m. a.m., made the latter s signal of recall.

At 11 h. 30 m. the Lowestoffe again closed with the Minerve on the starboard quarter, and soon opened upon her a heavy raking fire. In the meantime the Dido, having bent new fore and main topsails, and partially repaired her damaged rigging, had wore and made sail in the direction of the Minerve; who, at 11 h. 45 m., on her mizenmast being shot away by the board, and with it her colours, hailed the Lowestoffe to send a boat and take possession. At this time the Artemise was nearly hull down to windward; and the Minerve, certainly, if not in a defenceless, was in an utterly unmanageable state.

HMS Dido was one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates and was

commissioned in September 1787. Enjoying a long service career, not being broken up until 1817. 

The Dido, out of her complement of 193 men and boys, had her boatswain (Cuthbert Douglas) and five seamen killed, her first-lieutenant (Richard Buckoll, who, however, did not quit the deck), captain's clerk (Richard Willan), and 13 seamen wounded.

Dido's notable contribution to the taking of the Minerve was remarkable when it is remembered that

the weight of Minerve's broadside alone was greater than that of the two British frigates together, seeing the Admiralty duly award the two captains a Naval Gold Medal each, and in 1847 issuing to all surviving claimants from the action the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Dido 24 June 1795" and "Lowestoffe 24 June 1795".

The Lowestoffe, out of her complement of 212, had none killed and only three wounded. Each of these frigates carried the guns of her class, as described in the table below, with four 18-pounder carronades in addition; making the Lowestoffe's guns 36, and those of the Dido 32.

The Minerve mounted two carronades less than her establishment, see below, or 42 guns in all, with a complement on board of 318 men and boys, and is represented to have lost upwards of 20 in killed and wounded (among the latter her captain), exclusive of those that were drowned by the falling of the bowsprit.

Note: James rates Artémise as a 36-gunner rather than the 32-gunner with some sources suggesting her four extra guns weren't added until 1798, prior to her destruction at the Battle of the Nile.

The loss sustained by the Artemise, a regular 36, mounting 40 guns, out of a complement amounting at least to 300, could not of course be ascertained, but, from her small share in the action, was probably of very slight amount.

In every point of view, this was a gallantly-fought action on the part of the British. The Minerve alone was superior in broadside weight of shot to the Dido and Lowestoffe together, and the Artemise was rather more than a match for the Lowestoffe.

The conduct of Captain Towry was noble in the extreme. His senior rank gave him, although commanding the smaller ship, the right of choosing his antagonist, and he did not hesitate a moment in laying the Dido alongside a ship of nearly double her size and force. A ship of 1102 tons, and 318 men, coming stem-on upon a ship of 595 tons, and 193 men, was indeed a critical situation for the latter; and, had the Minerve's consort not behaved in a most dastardly manner, the Dido at least must have become the prize of the French commodore.

The 32-gun frigate HMS Lowestoffe - Derek Gardner
HMS Lowestoffe was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate built during the latter part of the Seven Years' War, she went on to see action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War, and served often in the Caribbean. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her shortly after passing his lieutenant's examination.

It was well for the Dido that the Lowestoffe's captain possessed none of the backwardness of the captain of the Artemise; and, indeed, so ready is Captain Towry to admit the benefit he derived from his consort's aid; so far is he from wishing to monopolize the credit of the victory, that in his official letter he says, "By Captain Middleton's good conduct the business of the day was, in a great measure, brought to a fortunate issue."

The Minerve was conducted in safety to Port Mahon, and afterwards to Ajaccio, and was added to the British navy, under the command of Captain Towry, as a 38-gun frigate; to which class, from her fine qualifications, the Minerve became a valuable acquisition. The Dido’s first-lieutenant, already named, was justly promoted to the rank of commander; as was also Mr. Joshua Sydney Horton, the first-lieutenant of the Lowestoffe.

The table set up at the DWG yesterday in readiness for our refight of this remarkable action.
Devon Wargames Group - Action off Toulon, June 1795, Kiss Me Hardy

As can be seen from James' account, the Minerve put up quite a fight as did her opponents Dido and Lowestoffe with Artémise not so much, perhaps typifying the mixed resolve of the officers serving the French Revolutionary Navy of that time, so much so that a British commander could never be certain of the fight he might get from one action to the next.

As will be seen from the account of our game, the events had some distinct similarities with encounters of the 'right up against the bulwarks kind' and a good old boarding action to follow, to some very different ones with regard to the fighting performance of the two French frigates compared to their historical counterparts; although an unfortunate morale test result didn't help, that eight times out of ten would normally have been passed with flying colours, if you'll excuse the pun of another historically based British expression from the glorious days of Royal Naval history.

You can follow the link above to read the account of this scenario, which proved to be the entertaining game that James' account promised.

More anon 

JJ

JJ's on Tour - Iceland, The Land of Fire & Ice, Part Four.

 

In my last post we were heading back out on the road after a wonderful two-day stop over in Húsavík that included a bit of whale watching and were now heading west on the final leg of our twenty day road-trip around Iceland, and there is a link below to the previous post and those that preceded it below.

JJ's on Tour, Iceland, Land of Fire & Ice Part Three

As the map of our route below reveals, we were now on a rather long leg of our trip to Blönduós, Point 11, via the capital of north Iceland, Akureyi accessing the town through the 4.6 mile long Vaðlaheiðargöng road tunnel.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Va%C3%B0lahei%C3%B0arg%C3%B6ng_(2019).jpg

The only toll road in Iceland, the tunnel's construction was delayed by two water ingress incidents, one being of geothermal hot water, and due to this, temperatures inside the tunnel rise up to 22-26 °C in the warmest sections, and one of the tunnel's emergency laybys has even been used for hot yoga.

Due to the mountainous nature of the terrain, Iceland has several of these long tunnels that have done wonders to shorten driving times between key towns around the island and brought back memories of similar constructions in Madeira, another volcanic, Atlantic island, though somewhat warmer, where we travelled to earlier in the year.

Emerging the other side we began a gradual descent from the tunnel exit getting our first views of Akureyi on the opposite bank of the Eyjafjörður, one of the longest fjords in Iceland.

The "Capital of North Iceland", Akureyri, pictured as we descended from the Vaðlaheiðargöng road tunnel.

Given the road conditions would likely cause our journey to take about three hours to our next stop over we decided to stop in Akureyi to get a few groceries and a pay quick visit to the town botanical gardens.

 

Open all year round, the Akureyri Botanical Garden is unique and significant in that it is one of the northernmost botanical gardens in the world, just 53 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

The garden has its origins in 1910 when women from Akureyri founded the Park Association with the goal of beautifying their city. The city had granted them a hectare of land the previous year, making the Akureyri Botanical Garden the first public park in Iceland.

The garden also contains several wooden houses, including Eyrarlandsstofa, one of the oldest houses in Akureyri, adding to the historical and cultural significance of the site.

Hosting a diverse range of plant species, with around 400 species of Icelandic plants featured in its southeastern corner, by the end of 2007, the garden boasted approximately 7,000 species, including plants from arctic regions as well as those from temperate zones and high mountain areas.

Carolyn and I really enjoy visiting botanical gardens around the world when on our travels, and this has to one of the most unique either of us had seen, given the conditions the plants and trees it contained were having to contend with and of course having our visit accompanied by flocks of chattering redwings feasting on the berries above our heads, a memory of Iceland I will definitely treasure.

Returning to the car and filling up with fuel in preparation for our long drive, we headed off across some remarkable terrain, and that's saying something for Iceland, demanding occasional stops in suitable pull in places to get some pictures along the way.

We were now heading into the land of the Sagas populated by folks such as Eiríkr Þorvaldsson better known as Erik the Red, Valthjof, and Valthjof's friend, Eyjolf the Foul, not to mention Hrafn the Dueller, but more about them later.

As we descended into the lower lying valleys, the conditions improved as did the visibility, and an opportunity to take a closer look at a creature very distinctively Icelandic.

The Icelandic horse, is a breed of horse developed in Iceland, which although the horses are smaller compared to other breeds, looking very similar to Dartmoor ponies back home another ancient and distinct breed of horse, most registries for the 'Icelandic' refer to it as a horse.

The Icelandic horse, not just another type of pony.

Developed from ponies brought to Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries, the breed is mentioned in various documents from throughout Icelandic history and centuries of selective breeding have developed the Icelandic horse into its modern physical form, together with natural selection having also played a role in overall hardiness and disease resistance; the harsh Icelandic climate likely eliminated many weaker horses early on due to exposure and malnourishment, with the strongest passing on their genes.

Genetic analyses have revealed links between the Mongolian horse and the Icelandic horse, and Mongolian horses are believed to have been originally imported from Russia by Swedish traders; this imported Mongol stock subsequently contributed to the Fjord, Exmoor, Scottish Highland, Shetland and Connemara breeds, all of which have been found to be genetically linked to the Icelandic horse.

In 982 AD the Icelandic Althing (parliament) passed laws prohibiting the importation of horses into Iceland, thus ending crossbreeding. The breed has now been bred pure in Iceland for more than 1,000 years.

As the daylight started to draw in, a feature we noted was starting earlier with each day seeing us lose an hour of daylight in the morning and evening by the end of our tour, we arrived at Brekkukot Cottages, our accommodation, just eight miles south of Blönduós, and we got ourselves settled in for the night with me making best use of the groceries bought in Akureyi by cooking dinner.

That night we were treated to the most amazing display of the Northern Lights we would see during our holiday with the most clearest of nights providing a stunning starlight sky as a backdrop to this spectacular show.

That night, staying in our little cabin and staring up into the night sky, was another one of those 'Wow!' moments that I will never forget from this trip, and Iceland's ability to cause a massive wow-fatigue was well and truly demonstrated throughout our journey.

The next morning we were off on our travels again, this time heading for Búðardalur, but not before backtracking to Skagafjörður and the Glaumbær Farm & Heritage Museum, a living history museum founded in 1948, displaying exhibits from 18th and 19th century rural life together with historic buildings from the region.

Glaumbær Farm & Heritage Museum.
https://www.glaumbaer.is/is/en

Occupation of the Glaumbær site goes back to the eleventh century, with recent work in a levelled field 160 yards east of the old farmhouse located on the original farm mound seen in the picture above, revealing a 90 foot long longhouse or 'Skáli', and associated midden, dating to that early period.

The levelled field beyond the sign on the raised farm mound revealed a 90 foot long longhouse following remote sensing and excavation of the site. 

At Glaumbær, there are two 19th-century timber houses, Áshús and Gilsstofa, and are good examples of the first timber houses built in the region. 

The yellow building is Áshús, while the gray one is Gilsstofa.

Áshús was built at Ás at Hegranes, Skagafjörður in 1884-86

Áshús was built at Ás at Hegranes, Skagafjörður in 1884-86, and was moved to the Glaumbær Museum site in 1991. 

The house, in its new location near to the old turf farmhouse, represents the type of buildings that supplanted turf houses in the 19th century, and also serves as a reminder of the hard lives lived by Icelandic rural people, telling the story of an influential home that played an important role in improving agricultural methods and techniques in the region in the period around 1900.

Gilsstofa seen below dates from 1849, with buildings of this kind constructed in many places adjacent to turf farmhouses, and were the precursors to the wooden houses that were built in the years leading up to 1900. Gilsstofa has an interesting history as it was repeatedly moved from place to place in the years from 1862 to 1891.

Gilsstofa built circa 1849

The house was built at Espihóll in Eyjafjörður as a reception room and residence. In 1862 its owner became district administrator of Skagafjörður, so he took the house with him. In those days, timber for construction was transported over ice, pulled by horses. 

The first leg of the journey was over the ice from Espihóll to Akureyri, where the timber was loaded onto a ship which transported it to Skagafjörður. From there the timber was then towed to Hjaltastaðir, where the regional administrator lived until 1872.

 

'Gilsstofa has an interesting history as it was repeatedly moved from place to place in the years from 1862 to 1891.'

The house was dismantled once more, and the timber was dragged over the frozen waters of Héraðsvötn to Reynistaður, where it remained until 1884. From 1873 to 1892, the building housed the Skagafjörður regional administration, and was also used as a location for social gatherings. It served as a theatre for the first local drama productions, and a variety of entertainments were held there.

In 1884, a new regional administrator took over. He lived at Gil, not far from Reynistaður, the house was moved there, where it remained until 1891, when it was transferred to Sauðárkrókur. In its sixth incarnation, it was assigned a new function. It was now known as Gilsstofa (the house from Gil).

In 1985 it was taken on yet another journey by road to a farm, finishing up almost where it began its tour of Skagafjörður in the mid-19th century. 

Gilsstofa was reconstructed at the Glaumbær museum in 1996-97.

A farmhouse is said to have stood on the hill at Glaumbær since the Age of the Settlements (900 AD). The present buildings, seen below vary in age; the most recent addition having been built in 1876-79, while the oldest – the kitchen, "long pantry," and middle baðstofa – are believed to have been preserved much as they were in the mid-18th century. The passages connecting the individual units have also remained unchanged for many centuries.

Glaumbær Old Turf Farm

The form of the farmhouse as it is today is similar to that of many large farmhouses in Skagafjördur from the 18th and 19th centuries, and between 1879 and 1939, the farmhouse at Glaumbær remained unchanged; it was repaired and declared a conserved site in 1947, the year the last inhabitants moved out. An English benefactor, Sir Mark Watson, contributed a gift of £200 for the renovation of the farmhouse, which was crucial to its preservation.

The farmhouse is built of turf, stones, and timber. The walls are built of stones and of pieces of turf laid up in a herringbone pattern, with long turf strips between the layers. 

The Glaumbær estate provided little rock suitable for building purposes, but it has plenty of good turf, so the walls of the farmhouse contain relatively little rock; it was used only at the base of the walls to prevent damp from rising up into them. Imported timber and driftwood were used in the interior frame and panelling.

The farmhouse consists of a total of 13 buildings (houses), each of which had its own function.

The main unit is the baðstofa, a communal eating/sleeping room, where people sat to do their handiwork. Food was stored and prepared in the pantry and kitchen. The front hall, passages, and south entrance (Brandahús) provided access throughout the farmhouse. One house provided accommodation for the elders and other members of the household. There are two guest rooms, two storerooms, and a smithy (blacksmith’s workshop). Many of the pastors of Glaumbær were skilled in metalwork.

This collection of buildings and the farm in particular were quite unlike anything to be seen back home and I would guess pretty unique to Iceland, but I have to admit as I made my way into the front hall and passage way into the farmhouse living space seeing the dried turf walls gradually replaced by carefully constructed timber panels, and snug living spaces, I found myself recounting Tolkien's description of Bilbo's hobbit hole and I'm sure he would have found great inspiration from a building like this;

'Bilbo's hobbit hole has a round green door with a shiny brass knob. The tunnel inside is like a hall with panelled walls, tiled floors, carpet, polished chairs, and lots of pegs for hats and coats.'

Having soaked up the social history of Skagafjörður it was soon time to be back on the road, especially when the first coach party of tourists turned up, piling into the toilets prior to exploring the buildings we had just looked at.

Eiríkr Þorvaldsson better known as Erik the Red, for obvious reasons as the depiction illustrates.

We were now heading to Búðardalur, or more precisely Eiríksstaðir in Haukadalur (Hawksdale), a place I was much looking forward to seeing, it being the former homestead of no less an historical personage, Eiríkr Þorvaldsson better known as Erik the Red, and father of  Leif Eiríksson, or Leif the Lucky, the first known European discoverer of the Americas. 

On the 586 grit road, illustrated on the map below, that runs alongside Haukadalsvatn, the two mile long lake that runs through Haukadalur on our way to the Eiríksstaðir Open Air Museum.

Eiríksstaðir can be seen at the centre of this map of the local
area and we stayed at Stóra-Vatnshorn farm, shown close by.

Indeed our accommodation for the night would be practically next door to his original tenth century homestead and the reconstruction of it that had been built close by.

The slight indentation in the surrounding turf marks the remains of Eiríksstaðir, Erik the Red's former home with the turf roof beyond being the remarkable reconstruction of this special house and further beyond a view up the valley of Haukadalur (Hawksdale) .

According to Landnámabók and the Saga of Erik the Red, after first settling in Vestfirðir, Eiríkr married Þjóðhildur Jǫrundardóttir and established the farm of Eiríksstaðir near the Vatnshorn in Haukadalur,  and his son Leifr was born there, but Eiríkr had to leave the area after killing two men in revenge for the deaths of two of his thralls.

Icelandic voyages of exploration in the 10th and 11th centuries

Medieval Icelandic tradition relates that Erik and his wife Þjódhild had four children: a daughter, Freydís, and three sons, the explorer Leif Erikson, Thorvald and Thorstein. 

Nordic settlements established in Greenland after Erik the Red's discovery of the land and his return to Iceland, allegedly persuading a quarter of the then population of Iceland to follow him back to populate the new land.

Unlike his son Leif and Leif's wife, who became Christians, Erik remained a follower of Norse paganism, and while Erik's wife took heartily to Christianity, even commissioning Greenland's first church, Erik greatly disliked it and stuck to his Norse gods—which, the sagas relate, led Þjódhild to withhold intercourse from her husband, and that probably didn't help his anger management issues and his habit of leaving lots of people dead who he fell out with.

In 1894 a plan was made of the visible signs of old buildings and they were excavated the following year , followed by a further investigation in 1896. An excavation in 1938 uncovered a building of the longhouse type with a long central firepit.

As the sagas relate, similar to his father before him, Erik also found himself exiled for a time, with the initial confrontation occurring when Erik's thralls (slaves) caused a landslide on a neighbouring farm belonging to a man named Valthjof, and Valthjof's friend, Eyjolf the Foul, (what a great name!) killed the thralls. 

In retaliation, Erik killed Eyjolf as well as Hrafn the Dueller (Holmgang-Hrafn), and then kinsmen of Eyjolf sought legal prosecution and Erik was later banished from Haukadalur for killing Eyjolf the Foul around the year 982.

After finding himself a new piece of land on Öxney (Eyxney) island, Erik asked a man named Thorgest to keep his setstokkr—inherited ornamented pillars of significant mystical value—which his father had brought from Norway and indeed the valuable timbers used in the construction of his house, a rare commodity in Iceland. 

An example of ornamented pillars in the Saga Museum, Reykjavik.
  JJ's on Tour, Iceland, Land of Fire and Ice

When Erik had finished building his new home, he went back to retrieve his pillars and timbers from Thorgest; however, Thorgest refused to return them to Erik, and so Erik then went to Breidabolstadr and took the pillars back. As a result, Thorgest and his men gave chase, and in the ensuing fight Erik slew both of Thorgest's sons as well as "some other men".

The daylight is starting to draw in and we are walking up to the entrance to Eiríksstaðir to be regaled of the legend that was Erik the Red, sat around the embers of his hearth in the glow of his turf lodge.  

The dispute between Erik and Thorgest was later resolved at the Thorsnes Thing, a local community council where Erik and the men that sided with him were outlawed from Iceland for three years; many of these men would then join Erik on his expedition to Greenland.

Erik's son Leif Erikson became the first Norseman to explore the land of Vinland–part of North America, presumably near modern-day Newfoundland–and invited his father on the voyage. However, according to the sagas, Erik fell off his horse on the way to the ship and took this as a bad sign, leaving his son to continue without him.

Leif Erikson as portrayed in the Saga Museum, Reykjavik.
  JJ's on Tour, Iceland, Land of Fire and Ice

Erik later died in an epidemic that killed many of the colonists in the winter after his son's departure.

I love, as I think many of us do in the hobby, exploring history through the land, the buildings, and relics that link back to the characters that walk the stage of events in the past, and often the tabletops we create, and nothing quite links you up with people from the dimmer more distant parts of history than being able to see replica buildings based on reconstructed originals; and I had a similar experience to this visit as when Carolyn and I visited Butser Ancient Farm back in 2018, link below.

JJ's Wargames - Butser Ancient Farm and Experimental Archaeology

However this particular visit took the experience to another level with the day drawing in and our guide dressed in period costume taking Carolyn and I and another couple into this marvellous reconstruction of what the original house, literally situated tens of yards away from where we were sat around a mock, gas fire surrounded with the day to day items and furnishings that would have likely be seen in that same building back in 982 when Erik prepared to leave Haukadalur for good.

The adventure back to the tenth century begins!

As we made ourselves comfortable around the gas fire in the centre of the lodge, it being explained that the beds we were sat on were designed for three occupants at a time, with all occupants sat upright when sleeping so as not to have their heads horizontal and thus in direct level with the fire that would have been kept alight during the long cold nights.

The lady in period costume was our guide to our surroundings stood next to a replica log fire, this one fuelled by gas to avoid us all succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning in this poorly ventilated but superbly evocative reconstructed Norse turf lodge.

The hazard they wished to avoid by sleeping upright was to them an unknown cause, but related to dying in the night from carbon monoxide poisoning due to the build up of the gas from and around the fire in a turf lodge only ventilated by an opening in the roof directly above it.

We were then entertained with a summary of the events of Erik the Red's life outlined above and taken from the sagas with an introduction to the items that reflected the life that people from that time lived.

The weaponry, the cloth weaving, the food and day to day life in a home like this during Erik's time were described in wonderful detail, that had me recalling our visit to York, or Viking 'Jorvik' in 2017, where many of the items shown and discussed were instantly familiar.

The drift wood rafters covered in turf complete the roof with a square skylight opening over the hearth the only ventilation within. 

After the presentation we had the opportunity to explore the building and take photographs which I think captures the attention to detail that has been created in this reconstruction; and thus coupled with where we were and the atmosphere created the whole effect was magnified to the point where you could almost expect the man himself to have come stomping in demanding to know who it was sitting around his hearth.

A long central firepit was discovered in the 1938 excavation and captured here in the reconstruction with the gas lit fire making a more comfortable place to sit whilst enjoying our historical presentation.

Following the identification of this site and initial excavations, in 2000 a pit-house was excavated next to the main building. Among other finds in the floor were carved stone spindles of Norwegian manufacture, which have been interpreted as having been a dyngja, a "bower" or women's work-room, having previously been viewed as a bath-house or sauna and a kitchen or smokery.

The "bower" or women's work-room can be seen in the pictures below.

Entrance to the "bower" or women's work-room.

An interesting point about the identification of this site as being that of Erik's homestead was highlighted, in that one aspect that formed a critical identifier for this area as opposed to others in Iceland with similar sounding names as those mentioned in Erik's saga, was the place names in this valley matched those in the account linking families back to those times still farming in this area today.

  

A number of archaeological investigations were carried out between 1894 to 1938 when Matthías Þórðarson uncovered a building of the longhouse type with a long central firepit, and in 1997–2002, at the request of the Eiríksstaðanefnd (Eirísstaðir committee), Guðmundur Ólafsson conducted a further investigation for the National Museum of Iceland.

 

The main building was of a longhouse type, and was measured in the 1997 dig at approximately 540 square feet in area and 13 feet long, with a central fire-pit; this and rows of stones indicate that people sat along the walls. The walls were turf set on a base of rocks, and were about 3.3–4.9 feet thick, and stones in the south wall indicate that it had been repaired. 

The building was simple in construction and indications are that it had not been occupied for long, with carbon 14 dating of charcoal from an undisturbed area of human habitation deposits in front of the ruins yielding a date of the 9th–10th century.

The Eiríksstaðanefnd created an open-air museum based on the 1997 archaeological investigation, aiming to reproduce Erik the Red's home as accurately as possible, and the longhouse was built in imitation of the excavated building, using driftwood and replica tools.

The museum was created in 1999 and formally opened in 2000 in association with the celebration of the thousand-year anniversary of the discovery of Vinland and is close to the actual ruins, which are a protected archaeological site.

With our visit over ending yet another busy day and dinner calling we made the short drive back up the valley to our lodgings at Stóra-Vatnshorn farm, and Carolyn took a few more pictures the next morning of this wonderful valley and the memories created with our visit that previous evening.

That next morning the lake was so still creating these perfect mirror conditions that Carolyn captured with the camera, before we were back in the car heading for the Snaefellsnes peninsula, Point 13 before our return to Reykjavik in preparation for catching a flight home.

Back on the road and heading for our next destination,
the Snaefellsnes peninsula.

In the next post I'll pick up the final leg of our journey as we take a look at the magical West of Iceland before heading south to Reykjavik.

More anon 

JJ