Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

ALEXANDER III. 69
One party swept across the fertile plains of Stirling, whilst others were
harrying the Lennox.
Upon the evening of Monday, October 1st, a violent tempest arose. Ten
vessels foundered in Loch Long, five were driven ashore on the Ayrshire coast,
and many more were disabled. The royal ship dragged her anchors, and a
transport driving against her during the storm, she was in great danger. It
required eight anchors to keep her fast to her moorings ; and Haco, betaking
himself to the long-boat, rowed to the Cumbraes, and ordered a mass to be
celebrated, believing, with his followers, the tempest to be the work of Satan ;
whilst the Scots believed it to be an interposition in their favour by St Margaret.
The peasants plundered the ships that were driven on shore, but met a stub-
born resistance from the hardy Norsemen. ■ As morning dawned, Haco rowed in
from the Cumbraes to bring off his men from the shore.
A body of troops now became visible, drawn up near the village of Largs,
about 1 500 of whom were horsemen mounted on Spanish chargers, sheathed in
complete armour, but of little real use in a struggle on the sea-shore. The
infantry were merely the peasantry of the country, armed with spears and bows.
The whole force was under the command of "the Steward of Scotland."
The Norwegians, all tried and well-armed soldiers, mustered about 900 men
upon the beach, whilst 200 more were posted on a hill under a leader named
" Ogmund," to cover the. intended embarkation ; but the courage of these
Norsemen began to fail as the horsemen approached the hill, and a retreat upon
the main body on the beach, begun in good order, soon became a rapid flight.
A panic seized the main body as the others hurried over the side of the hill, and
wheeling round in the utmost confusion, they rushed towards the sea, swamping
many of the boats in the surf, in their desperate efforts to push off from the land.
Haco had been with difficulty prevailed upon to retire to the Cumbraes
before these difficulties arose. The leaders succeeded in rallying a few of the
main body, and with them resisted the onset of the Scots, when a knight, Sir
Piers Currie by name, with incautious gallantry, rode along their line, animating
the courage of the Scottish infantry by his noble bearing. Andrew Nicolson,
next in command to Ogmund, stepping forward, with one blow aimed at the
thigh, shore through armour and bone, and buried his sword in the saddle. Sir
Piers fell a corpse on the ground, and his glittering armour and richly-jewelled
belt became the prize of the enemy.
Amidst the struggle that ensued, two gallant Norwegians, Ranald and Olave,
attempted to land their followers through a tremendous surf, and though Ranald
was beaten back, Olave succeeded in bringing up reinforcements ; and this, toge-
ther with the death of Currie, turned the fortune of the day. The Scots contented