Thorkell Farserk (''Þorkell Farserkur'') was a shipmate and relative of

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color o ...

. He settled

Hvalsey Hvalsey ("Whale Island"; Greenlandic ''Qaqortukulooq'') is located near Qaqortoq, Greenland and is the site of Greenland's largest, best-preserved Norse ruins in the area known as the Eastern Settlement (''Eystribyggð''). In 2017, it was inscri ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, where he started a farmstead. According to the medieval Icelandic ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...

'' (Book of Settlements), Farserk was very strong. He once swam to Hvalsey for an ox, bringing it back on his back to entertain Erik the Red. He was interred in Hvalsey which his ghost has haunted ever since.

References

Viking explorers Scandinavian explorers of North America Norse settlements in Greenland {{explorer-stub