We marched into the former territory of Rheged with sixty hostages for most of whom this was their land of origin. From the coast of this erstwhile kingdom, we boarded our ships and sailed to the Isle of Man, which was also part of Northumbria. The spring weather, as usual, was uncertain and it changed so that we could not sail for three days since the Irish Sea, waves enraged by the gales that swept from the south-west, would have swamped our two vessels. Prudence caused us to relinquish the first day of calm water, but we embarked for Brega the following day.
As we entered the harbour, we saw armed men staring and pointing at our ships. Our mission was peaceful but they were not to know that. Slowly, we manoeuvred the vessels to the quay and disembarked the hostages. The Irish warriors
