Later References
In a letter to Christian III of Denmark in 1551, the mayor of Kiel, Carsten Griep, sent the king two maps of the north Atlantic made during the expeditions of Pining and Pothorst, "who were sent out by your majesty's royal grandfather King Christian the First, at the request of his majesty of Portugal, with certain ships to explore new countries and islands in the north, have raised on the rock Wydthszerck, lying off Greenland and towards Sniefeldsiekel in Iceland on the sea, a great sea-mark on account of the Greenland pirates (presumably Inuit)."
Olaus Magnus wrote in 1555 that Pining and Pothorst, due to their piracy, had "by the Nordic kings been excluded from all human contact and declared outlaws, as a result of their extremely violent robberies and numerous cruel acts against all sailors that they could catch, whether close or distant." They then took refuge at a cliff called Hvidserken, which apparently was located between Iceland and Greenland. Magnus added that in "1494", the pirates created a giant compass out of a considerable circular space at the top of the cliff, with rings and lines formed of lead, to make it easier for them to know in which direction they could seek a great plunder. Modern historians have suggested that they may in fact have set up some mark at the coast of Greenland to reclaim it for the Danish king.
In 1625, a report from London talks about Pining and Pothorst (Punnus and Potharse) and states that Pining "gave the Islanders their Lawes," referred to later as Pining's Law, the written Icelandic law.
Read more about this topic: Didrik Pining