Brustu báðir hálsar
í báru hafs stórri;
sukku sveinar fjórir
í sæ ógrunnan.
Báðir hálsar brustu í stórri báru hafs; fjórir sveinar sukku í ógrunnan sæ.
Both sides of the bow broke apart in the enormous wave of the ocean; four men sank into the deep sea.
[1] hálsar ‘sides of the bow’: The prose text of the B redaction explains (Frið 1901, 24): Þá kom áfall svá mikit, at frá laust vígin ok hálsana báða ‘Then came such a heavy sea that the gunwale and both sides of the bow broke apart’. The noun háls, lit. ‘neck’, can refer to several different parts of a ship (cf. Þul Skipa 7/5III and Note), but here seems most likely to denote the ends of the curved strakes running up to the prow.