Action along the coast of Vinland

Tracing the courses of Leifur Eiricksson

Now we come to tracing the courses of Leif Ericksson.  The fact that we can do this  and the following with a fair degree of plausibility yields credence to the program as a whole.  Were we to encounter difficulties in this a serious question would be raised and require explanation.  

The prominent North Pointing Cape so well established in most Vinland studies is, of course, Cape Cod.  Then, as now, it is such a dominant feature of coastal traffic that it always has been an overbearing consideration of the coastline.  Leif's courses are generally presumed to be reciprocals of that of Bjarni Herjolfsson's some 14 years before and these passages were said to consist of two day, three day, and four day blue water passages.  This coincides nicely with those openings of the coast from Cape Cod to Novas Scotia, from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and from Newfoundland to Greenland.  It should not be surprising that the ship might again find itself at this distance again, for it must be recalled that this is the same ship and most probably many of the same crew who had been here before..

Nantucket Island is not visible from anywhere on the cape - both being rather low lying terrain.  Therefore Leif's courses must have been, from here west, of a "coastal" nature.  The view West does not invite closer examination,  It appears as a receding coastline from inside the Sound .

Now, the "lubber" might be informed that coastal sailing is the most challenging of activities for the blue water seaman.  Proximity to a shoreline, especially at night, is the most dangerous of places to be.  Usually, if the navigator is familiar with the coast, he stays far enough offshore to travel from headland to headland.  However, if he is not familiar with the coast he will be encouraged to close in nearer so as to discover finer features for identification.  This is the role of an explorer which, of course, Leif Eiricksson was. All prudent skippers would insist on constant vigilance of the lookout at the masthead, probably having two there at all times and everyone else on board on the watch for hazards.  It is not what you see that is dangerous here, but what you don't see such as submerged rocks and shoals.  Masthead lookouts have an advantage - often being able to detect channels not observable from deck level.  What they might see in what is now Nantucket Sound if it were bright sunlight, would be wide expanses of green water with the blue of channels extending southward. around Marthas Vinyard.

Normally, the navigator hesitates to travel between an island and a mainland or larger island.  The space between is often "shoal" -  not called a "sound" for nothing.  Prudence hints at travel "outside" of any  island.

The distance between outer Cape Cod and Narragansett bay is about 75 miles and could well be sailed in a single day, but it is not necessary to insist that it always was and was in this instance.  At night the ship must travel well off shore and wait or land at some convenient spot.  It is possible that a landing might have been made on an island along here somewhere,; possibly "NoMansLand Island".

As I have remarked in texts elsewhere, a thousand years ago, islands were essentially uninhabited by reason of difficulty in access, limitation of resources, and re-supply.  Vikings, with their ships and warlike nature, were possibly the first of cultures to avail themselves of islands for residence and waystops.  Since landings on mainlands always entail risks of both navigational problems and possible overwhelming and hostile populaces, it was always a prudent action to land on islands rather than mainlands.  Hence, Leif's landing on the island I call "Island of Sweet Tasting Water", since they remarked on the purity of a spring found low in the grass.  Now the presence of this spring  indicates somewhat the size of the island, for it must have been large enough for a sizeable watershed to support the spring.  Block Island is large enough and, moreover, even today supports a number of pure water springs.

At this island landing, Leif would be well aware of a fiord on the mainland to his north, having passed it en route.  The Sagas stipulate that his course from this island was "--north to a fiord, across that sound that lay between the island and that cape that jutted northward", i.e. a course somewhat off north either West or East, but we can see here Cape Cod to the East to indicate which it was.

As it happens, no land is in sight from Block Island except the heights behind Point Judith, which happen to be those rising behind Pettaquamscutt as well.

Pursuing this course, which is a natural one - the most natural of any - the coastline appears featureless  on approach except for a wide and open passage to the East of Pont Judith.  Indeed, even upon entry to this passage (now locally called the "West Passage") one cannot see any land at all to the Northward, it appears as a broad  opening.

But as it appears here, there was no need for Leif to investigate this, for a few miles along that passage would appear a strand.  And at the North end of that strand a small river now named "Narrow River", so short that an inland lake can be perceived.  It is an attractive spot from both land and sea and for a seaman looking for a happy haven, it cannot be beaten for a safe anchorage so near to open surf.

It is an awkward approach.  The channel is so close to shore and so serpentine that it invites groundings, which the Sagas say was the experience of Leifur Eiricksson.  The grounding would not be necessarily dangerous as the bottom is sand and, indeed, perhaps the grounding was deliberate.

Once ashore on that remarkable sandbar, so close as to be walked in a mere ten minutes is that placid lake lying just below the steep hill of Pettaquamscutt   So sheltered is this lake by the surrounding hills that even in severe storms and hurricanes, damaging winds and high waves never enter.

By combining what limited information we have from the Sagas with what we know of seafaring principles, these courses of Leifs's appear both possible and plausible, offering no difficulties whatsoever.

The foreshortening of this oblique view shows the angle of approach to Narragansett Bay from Block Island as sharper than it is.  It is actually some 10 degrees off due North and I read the Sagas as that sound between Block Island as somewhat back toward Cape Cod. 

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