They were rowing rapidly, having ten oars on either side, and at their mast-heads floated the Danish Raven.

The anchor was got up, and as the Danes approached, the Golden Dragon, the standard of Wessex, was run up to the mast-head, the sails were hoisted, the oars got out, and the vessel advanced to meet the approaching Danes.
These for a moment stopped rowing in astonishment at seeing so large a ship bearing the Saxon flag.

Then they at once began to scatter in different directions; but the Dragon, impelled both by the wind and her sixty oars, rapidly overtook them.

When close alongside the galley nearest to them the men on the upper deck, at an order from Edmund, ran in their oars, and seizing their bows poured a volley of arrows into the galley, killing most of the rowers.

Then the Dragon was steered alongside, and the Saxons, sword in hand, leaped down into the galley.
Most of the Danes were cut down at once; the rest plunged into the water and swam for their lives.