that we are indebted for the first great discoveries. Conquering and ravaging wherever they went, spreading not merely terror and ruin, but also population and some of the ruder forms of civilisation, these Scandinavian pirates were the only rulers of the main in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, during which they incessantly ravaged our coasts, penetrated the very heart of France, established settlements, and even levied tribute on the reigning monarch. These bold Northmen ventured in vessels which now-a-days would be regarded as unsuitable for the most trifling sea voyages. In the year 861, Naddodr, a Norwegian Viking, bent on a piratical trip to the Faroe Islands, was driven by an easterly gale so far to the north-westward that he reached an utterly unknown island.
Its mountains were snow-covered, and the first name suggested by this fact, and which he bestowed on the island, was Sneeland (Snowland).
Certain Swedes ventured there three years afterwards, and on their return gave such a very lively account of its vegetation and soil that an emigration followed. One of the first adventurers thither was Flokko. The secret of the magnetic power, as applied to the compa.s.s, although known apparently in the earliest ages to the Chinese, was entirely unknown to the Scandinavians; and Flokko had provided himself with a raven, or, as some accounts say, four ravens, which, Noah-like, he let loose, and which guided him to the land of which he was in quest. He pa.s.sed a winter there, and from the large quant.i.ty of drift-ice which enc.u.mbered the northern bays and coasts, changed its name to that which it at present bears-Iceland. In the year 874, Ingolf and other Norwegians, sick of the tyranny of their king, Harold, determined to settle in the new-found island. On approaching the coast, the leader, determining to be guided by chance in his selection of a locality, threw overboard a wooden door, which floated into a fiord on the southern side of the island, and the emigrants landed there. Others soon joined the little colony, bringing with them their cattle, implements, and household goods. From very early Icelandic records it is interesting to learn that these Norwegians found indications that others had preceded them, as on the sh.o.r.e were discovered crosses, bells, and books, and other relics of the Christian worship of those days. It is very generally believed that these were of Irish origin.
While the new colony was yet young, one Gunbiorn, a fisherman, was drifted in his boat far to the westward, and he may perhaps be regarded as the real discoverer of Greenland, but, although he sighted the land, he did not attempt to explore it. About the year 982, Eric Rauda, or Eric the Red Head, a man who had been convicted of manslaughter in Iceland, was banished from the island for a term of years. Sailing with some companions to the westward, he reached Greenland, and spent three years in its examination, returning at the end of that time to Iceland, where he spread a somewhat high-flown account of "its green and pleasant meadows" and of its extensive fisheries. No less than twenty-five vessels were despatched from Iceland for the newly-discovered land, a significant proof of the early progress of the former colony. One-half of these were lost; the others reached Greenland in safety.
By accident or design these Scandinavians were the great explorers of their day, and the colonisation of Greenland virtually led to the first European intercourse with North America. An Icelandic settler, one Bjarni, on a voyage by which he hoped to reach Greenland, encountered severe weather, and was driven on a part of the American coast, now believed to have been that of Nantucket Island, south of the State of Ma.s.sachusetts.
The account he gave on his return inflamed the ambition of Heif, or Heifr, the son of that Eric who had founded the colony on Greenland. He equipped a vessel, and set sail for the New World. On approaching the coast they observed a barren and rocky island, which they named _h.e.l.leland_, and to a low sandy sh.o.r.e beyond it, which was covered with wood, they gave the name _Markland_. "Two days after this they fell in with a new coast of land, to the northward of which they observed a large island. They ascended a river, the banks of which were covered with shrubs, bearing fruits of a most agreeable and delicious flavour. The temperature of the air felt soft and mild to the Greenland adventurers, the soil appeared to be fertile, and the river abounded with fish, and particularly with excellent salmon."(20) To the island they gave the name _Vinland_, because wild grapes, or berries resembling grapes, were found there. They had reached some part of the coast of Newfoundland, in all probability. The intercourse between Greenland and America was kept up to the fourteenth century, princ.i.p.ally for the purpose of obtaining wood, but no colony was formed. Meantime the Greenland colonies grew and flourished. Sixteen churches were erected, and nearly three hundred hamlets formed on the east and west sides. That on the west had increased till it numbered four parishes, containing one hundred villages, but being engaged in perpetual hostility with the native Esquimaux, then known as Skrlings, the colony was ultimately destroyed. In 1721, when the excellent missionary, Hans Egede, visited that country, on its being re-colonised by the Greenland Company, the ruins of their edifices were still to be found. The fate of the eastern colony was, if possible, still more deplorable. It had, for a time, a greater population than that of the western side. "A succession of sixteen bishops is recorded in the Iceland annals," says Barrow, "but when the seventeenth was proceeding from Norway, in 1406, to take possession of his see, a stream of ice had fixed itself to the coast, and rendered it completely inaccessible; and from that period to the present time no intercourse whatever has been had with the unfortunate colonists." It is related in the "History of Greenland" by Thormoder Torf.a.ger, that Amand, Bishop of Skalholt, in Iceland, in returning to Norway from that island, about the middle of the sixteenth century, was driven by a storm near to the east coast of Greenland, and got so close that the inhabitants could be seen driving their cattle, but they did not attempt to land. The fate of the East Greenland colony has been the cause of much discussion, some contending that it never was on the eastern side, but on the western; but that there were two distinct colonies cannot be doubted. A field of ice has apparently blocked the eastern coast for centuries, and all attempts made to penetrate it have failed, as we shall see in the progress of our narrative. Up to the end of the last century, the Esquimaux of the western side spoke of a foreign race, taller than themselves, and of whom they were greatly afraid, regarding them as cannibals and as their natural enemies. When they had met, the former had always fled, the latter shooting after them with arrows. Crantz, a great authority on Greenland, says:-"If this report can be depended upon, we might suppose that these men were descended from the old Norwegians, had sheltered themselves from the savages in the mountains, lived in enmity to them out of resentment for the destruction of their ancestors, pillaged them in the spring when sustenance failed them, and were looked upon by the savages as man-eaters, and fabulously represented through excess of fear."
The above introduction to our subject will pave the way for the period when the history of Arctic and northern voyages becomes more and more definite. We begin with those of the Zeni brothers, from which the mists of obscurity and error have only recently been cleared, through the patient researches of a most careful student and geographer.
The voyages of the Zeni have generally been either ignored or considered worse than mythical. For some three centuries these n.o.ble Venetian adventurers have indeed been subjected to an amount of contumely and abuse sufficient to have made them turn in their graves. But a champion has arisen in the person of R. H. Major, Esq., F.S.A., one of the secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society, who, clearing their narratives from subsequent interpolations, has shown that their own voyages, and those of others recorded by them were both genuine and important. Their history, in brief, is as follows:-Towards the close of the fourteenth century, Nicolo Zeno, a member of a distinguished Venetian family, sailed on a voyage of discovery in the northern seas. Wrecked on the Faroe Islands, Sinclair, the Earl of Orkney and Caithness, a n.o.ble pirate, ambitious as any sovereign for conquest, took him into his service as pilot, and, later, Nicolo was joined by his brother Antonio. Many of the journals and doc.u.ments of the Zeni were subsequently lost, and their narrations were edited by a descendant, who mixed with them much of the false geography of the day and conjectures of his own. This was the point of trouble. The narrative cleared of a ma.s.s of error by Mr. Major"s investigations, there can now be no doubt that Nicolo visited Greenland, where he found a monastery of friars, preachers, and a church of St. Thomas close by a volcanic hill. There was also a hot-water spring, which the monks used for heating the church and the entire monastery, and by which they cooked their meat and baked their bread. By a judicious use of this hot water they raised in their small covered gardens the flowers, fruits, and herbs of more temperate climates, thereby gaining much respect from their neighbours, who brought them presents of meat, chickens, &c. They were indebted, the narrative says, to the volcano for the very materials of their buildings, for by throwing water on the burning stones while still hot they converted them into a tenacious and indestructible substance, which they used as mortar. They had not much rain, as there was a settled frost all through their nine months" winter. They lived on wild fowl and fish, which were attracted by the warmth of that part of the sea into which the hot water fell, and which formed a commodious harbour. The houses were built all round the hill, and were circular in form and tapering to the top, where was a little hole for light and air, the ground below supplying all necessary heat. In summer time they were visited by ships from the neighbouring islands and from Trondheim, which brought them corn, cloths, and other necessaries in exchange for fish and skins. The narrative goes on to speak of the fishermen"s boats, in shape like a weaver"s shuttle, and made of the skins and bones of fishes, and other points indicating a confirmation of the facts already mentioned concerning the early history of Greenland. On the death of Nicolo Zeno, his brother Antonio succeeded to his property, dignities, and honours, with which latter, it seems, he would have gladly dispensed, wishing to return to his own country, but the earl would not hear of it. Antonio therefore remained in his service, and has recorded the accounts of some fishermen who had undoubtedly reached North America; as also a voyage made by the Earl Sinclair and himself, wherein the former at least appears to have reached Newfoundland and Labrador. A part of these voyages may with more propriety be considered when we come to the discoveries in regard to the New World made by Columbus and the Cabots. And here a fact little known may be briefly recorded, on account of the absence of almost any history, that Cristoforo Colon (Columbus), prior to those great voyages which have made his name immortal, did undoubtedly make a northern voyage, visiting both Greenland and Iceland. The object of this voyage is unknown; but, judging from the ruling ambition of the navigators of those days, it was to attempt a north-west or north-east pa.s.sage to the Indies. As our next voyage will show, it is a question to whom belongs the honour of having first made this attempt.
Giovanni Cabota, or Cabot, a Venetian, had settled in Bristol during the reign of Henry VII., and being a skilful pilot and navigator, the king encouraged him to attempt discoveries by granting him a patent, in virtue whereof he had leave to go in search of strange lands, and to conquer and settle them. One-fifth of the profits was to be the king"s. The patent bears date March 5th, 1496, and is granted to Cabot and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastian, and Sancio. There is some little difficulty in collating the various accounts collected by Hakluyt, but the voyage reported by Sebastian to the Pope"s legate in Spain is distinct enough. He says in effect that the discoveries of Columbus had inflamed his desire to attempt to reach India by the north-west. By studying the globe-"understanding by reason of the sphere," he terms it-he thought that he must, theoretically at least, reach India that way, if no land intervened. He, of course, knew nothing of the icy barriers that stopped Franklin and M"Clure from actually taking a vessel that way. The king favoured his ideas, "and immediately commanded two caravels to bee furnished with all things appertayning to the voyage," which was made, as far as he could remember, in 1496. Sailing to the north-west, he encountered land in lat.i.tude 56. Then, despairing to find the pa.s.sage, he turned back, sailing down the coast of America as far as Florida, when, his provisions failing, he returned to England. The Cabots brought home three natives of Newfoundland, who "were clothed in beasts" skins, and did eate raw flesh, and, spake such speach that no man could understand them; and in their demeanour like to bruite beastes." The attempt of Cabot furnishes a clue to the object of many subsequent voyages, which were intended to have been made _via_ the Arctic Seas to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It must be remembered that it was not till 1498 that the route to the Indies _via_ the Cape of Good Hope was discovered. That _via_ Cape Horn, as we shall see, was discovered still later.
In Hakluyt"s collection of voyages a very curious poem is reprinted, complaining of the neglect of the navy in the time of Henry VI., and praising highly "the policee of keeping the see in the time of the merveillous werriour and victorious prince, King Henry the Fift." The fact is that for some little time the spirit of maritime adventure seems to have slumbered, subsequent to the voyages just recorded. It, however, broke out in full force in the reign of Henry VIII., and flourished still more particularly in that of Queen Elizabeth. In 1527, "King Henry VIII.
sent two faire ships, well manned and victualled, having in them divers cunning men, to seek strange regions, and so they set forth out of the Thames the 20th day of May, in the 19th yeere of his raigne." This voyage was despatched at the instance of Master Robert Thorne, of Bristol, who, in his "exhortation" to the king, gave "very weighty and substantial reasons to set forth a discoverie, even to the North Pole." One of the vessels was lost "about the great opening between the north parts of Newfoundland and Meta incognita, or Greenland," and the other returned, having accomplished nought, about the beginning of October. Hakluyt tried hard to discover the names of the vessels, and of the "cunning men" aboard them. He could only learn that one of the ships was called the _Dominus Vobisc.u.m_, and that a wealthy canon of St. Paul"s, a very scientific person, had accompanied the expedition. "This," writes Hakluyt, evidently in no happy frame of mind, "is all that I can hitherto learne or finde out of this voyage, by reason of the great negligence of the writers of those times, who should have used more care in preserving of the memories of the worthy actes of our nation." Master Thorne deserves, however, the credit of having been the first distinct advocate of Polar exploration in the full sense of the term, or, is at least, the first of whom we have any record.
The general interest felt in the subject of the North-west Pa.s.sage about this period may be inferred from the relation of the next voyage, that of the _Trinitie_ and _Minion_ in 1536, where several gentlemen of the Inns of Court and Chancery, "and divers others in good worship, desirous to see the strange things of the world," accompanied the expedition. Of "sixe-score persons" in the "two tall ships," thirty were private gentlemen. The voyage was instigated by Master h.o.r.e, of London, "a man of goodly stature and of great courage, and given to the study of cosmographie," and was directly encouraged by Henry VIII. After a tedious voyage of two months, they reached Cape Breton, and later Penguin Island and Newfoundland, where they encountered some of "the naturall people of the countrey," who fled from them. The history of this voyage was given to Hakluyt by Mr. Oliver Dawbeney, a merchant, who was one of the adventurers on the _Minion_. Laying in a harbour of Newfoundland, their provisions began to get very scarce, and "they found small reliefe, more than that they had from the nest of an osprey, that brought hourely to her yong great plentie of divers sorts of fishes. But such was the famine that increased amongst them from day to day, that they were forced to seek to relieve themselves off raw herbes and rootes that they sought on the main; but the famine increasing, and the reliefe of herbes being to little purpose to satisfie their insatiable hunger, in the fieldes and deserts here and there, the fellow killed his mate while he stooped to take up a roote for his reliefe, and cutting out pieces of his bodie whom he had murthered, broyled the same on the coles and greedily devoured them.
"By this meane the company decreased, and the officers knew not what had become of them; and it fortuned that one of the company, driven with hunger to seeke abroade for reliefe, found out in the fieldes the savour of broyled flesh, and fell out with one for that he would suffer him and his fellowes to sterve, enjoying plentie as he thought; and this matter growing to cruell speaches, he that had the broyled meate burst out into these wordes:-"If thou wouldest needes know, the broyled meat I had was a piece of such a man"s b.u.t.tocke." The report of this brought to the ship, the captaine found what had become of those that were missing, and was perswaded that some of them were neither devoured with wilde beastes nor yet destroyed with savages; and hereupon he stood up and made a notable oration, containing howe much these dealings offended the Almightie, and vouched the Scriptures from first to last what G.o.d had, in cases of distresse, done for them that called upon Him, and told them that the power of the Almightie was then no lesse than in al former time it had bene. And added, that if it had not pleased G.o.d to have holpen them in that distresse, that it had been better to have perished in body, and to have lived everlastingly, than to have relieved for a poore time their mortal bodyes, and to be condemned everlastingly both body and soule to the unquenchable fire of h.e.l.l. And thus having ended to that effect, he began to exhort to repentance, and besought all the company to pray, that it might please G.o.d to look upon their present miserable state, and for His owne mercie to relieve the same." The famine increasing, it was agreed that they should cast lots who should be killed, but fortunately, that very night a French vessel arrived in that port, and the chronicler coolly and amusingly adds, "such was the policie of the English that they became masters of the same, and changing ships and vittailing them they set sayle to come into England." It is but just to the king to add that he afterwards recompensed the Frenchmen.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SEBASTIAN CABOT.]
The return of Sebastian Cabot to England, after he had done good service to Spain in various maritime enterprises, was very much the cause of awakening the merchants of London to renewed efforts for discovery. This great navigator was introduced by the Duke of Somerset to Edward VI., soon after his succession to the throne, and the young king was so charmed by his conversation and intelligence that he created him, by patent, Pilot Major, and settled on him the large annual pension-for those days-of 166 13s. 4d., "in consideration of the good and acceptable services done and to be done." He was also const.i.tuted "Governour of the mysterie and companie of the marchant adventurers for the discoverie of regions, dominions, islands and places unknowen." By his suggestion a voyage was inst.i.tuted in the year 1553, for the discovery of a _north-east_ pa.s.sage to Cathaia; and three vessels-the _Bona Esperanza_, the _Edward Bonadventure_, and the _Bona Confidentia_-under Sir Hugh Willoughby, as captain-general of the fleet, were made ready for their eventful voyage.
So certain were the promoters of the expedition that the vessels would reach the Indian Seas, that they caused them to be sheathed with lead as a protection against the worms in those waters, which they understood were destructive of wooden bottoms, and this is believed to be the first instance of metal sheathing being used. On May 20th the ships were towed to Gravesend, "the mariners being all apparalled in watchet or skie-coloured cloth," and the sh.o.r.es being thick with spectators. The expedition started with an amount of _eclat_ which contrasts sadly with the events which followed. Sir Hugh Willoughby, with the whole of the merchants, officers, and companies of two of the ships, perished miserably on the coast of Lapland, from the effects of cold and starvation. Their dead bodies were found the following year by some Russian fishermen.
Master Richard Chancelor, the second in command, whose vessel had become separated from the others, was more fortunate. After waiting vainly at Wardhuys, in Norway, for the rest of the squadron, he held on his course till he reached a "very great bay," where he learned from the fishermen that their country was Muscovy or Russia. He made a land journey of fifteen hundred miles to Moscow, where he was well received, and from an abortive attempt at making the north-east pa.s.sage sprung that extensive commerce with Russia which has continued, almost uninterruptedly, ever since.
The events which immediately followed have little bearing on arctic history, excepting that while our merchants were fully alive to the importance of the new commerce opening to their vision they did not neglect exploration. Chancelor and his companions, on a second voyage to Russia, whither they went as commissioners to arrange the treaties and immunities which the Czar might be pleased to grant, were instructed "to use all wayes and meanes possible to learn howe men may pa.s.se from Russia, either by land or sea, to Cathaia." They did not even wait the result of his voyage, but despatched a small vessel, the _Serchthrift_, in command of Steven Burrowe, for north-eastern discovery. On the 27th April, 1556, the vessel being ready at Gravesend, it was visited by many distinguished ladies and gentlemen, including old Cabot, then in his ninety-seventh year, who "gave to the poore most liberall almes; and then, at the sign of the Christopher, hee and his friends banketted," and "entered into the dance himselfe amongst the rest of the young and l.u.s.ty company." The _Serchthrift_ reached the Cola and Petchora rivers, Nova Zembla (the New Land), and the island of Weigats. In proceeding to the eastward they encountered much ice, in which they became entangled, and "which," says the narrative, "was a fearful sight to see." But on June 25th they met their first whale, which seems to have inspired more terror even than the ice. The account given of it is amusing. "On St. James his day, bolting to the windewardes, we had the lat.i.tude at noon in seventy degrees, twentie minutes. The same day, at a south-west sunne, there was a monstrous whale aboord of us, so neere to our side that we might have thrust a sworde or any other weapon in him, which we durst not doe for feare he should have overthrowen our shippe; and then I called my company together, and all of us shouted, and with the crie that we made he departed from us; there was as much above water of his backe as the bredth of our pinnesse, and at his falling downe he made such a terrible noise in the water, that a man would greatly have marvelled, except he had known the cause of it; but, G.o.d be thanked, we were quietly delivered of him." Burrowe returned to England in the autumn, having reached in an eastward direction a further point than any of his predecessors. Meantime, Chancelor, returning to England in company with the newly-appointed Russian amba.s.sador, was wrecked in Pitsligo Bay, Scotland, the former losing his life, and the latter being saved with difficulty.
CHAPTER XIII.
EARLY ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.
Attempts at the North-west Pa.s.sage-Sir Humphrey Gilbert"s advocacy-The one thing left undone-Frobisher"s Expeditions-Arctic "Diggins"-A Veritable Gold Excitement-Large Fleet Despatched-Disaster and Disappointment-Voyages of John Davis-Intercourse with the Natives-His Reports concerning Whales, &c.-The Merchants aroused-Opening of the Whaling Trade-Maldonado"s Claim to the Discovery of the North-west Pa.s.sage.
While these attempts at a north-east pa.s.sage were being made, the north-west question was by no means forgotten. Several learned men, including Sir Humphrey Gilbert, employed their pens in arguing the practicability of such a pa.s.sage. In his defence of such an attempt he spoke of a friar of Mexico who had actually performed the journey, but who, on telling it to the King of Portugal, had been forbidden to make it known, lest it should reach England. Whatever the facts of this case, some enthusiasm on the subject was the result, and Martin Frobisher spoke of it as _the_ one thing "left undone." But although he also persisted in his advocacy, it took fifteen years of perseverance and constant effort before he could find any one who would give him the a.s.sistance he needed. At last, when hope was nearly dead within him, Dudley Earl of Warwick, came to the rescue, and aided him to fit out two small barques, the _Gabriel_ and the _Michael_, thirty-five and thirty tons burthen respectively. With these small craft-mere c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.ls for such a voyage-he left the Thames.
As he pa.s.sed Greenwich Palace, on the 8th of June, 1576, Queen Elizabeth waved her farewell from a window. Briefly, they reached what is believed to have been the southern part of Greenland and Labrador, where they could not land because of the icy field surrounding the coast. Sailing to the northward, Frobisher met with a gigantic iceberg, which fell in pieces within their sight, making as much noise as though a high cliff had fallen into the sea. They saw a number of Esquimaux, and perhaps the description given of them by the commander is as good as any ever given in few words:-"They be like to Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, and flatte noses, and taunie in colour, wearing seale skinnes; and so doe the women, not differing in the fashion, but the women are marked in the face with blewe streekes downe the cheekes and round about the eyes." They came near the ship timidly, and after a while one of them ventured into the ship"s boat, when Frobisher presented him with a bell and a knife, and sent him back with five of the crew. They were directed to land him apart from the spot where a number of his countrymen were a.s.sembled, but they disobeyed his orders, and were seized by the natives, together with the boat, and none of them were heard of more. Returning to the same spot a few days afterwards, one of the natives was enticed alongside the vessel, when Frobisher, a very powerful man, caught him fast, "and plucked him with maine force, boate and all, into his barke out of the sea. Whereupon, when he found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdaine he bit his tongue in twaine within his mouth; notwithstanding he died not thereof, but lived until he came to England, and then he died of cold which he had taken at sea." With this "strange infidele" Frobisher set sail for home, arriving at Harwich on October 2nd. It is very questionable whether this, the first of Frobisher"s arctic voyages, would not have been his last, but for one little circ.u.mstance, which had been overlooked until the return of the expedition.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FROBISHER Pa.s.sING GREENWICH.]
Every one who visits a strange place likes to bring home some little memento, and several of the men on this voyage had collected trifles-flowers, moss, gra.s.s, pebbles, or what not. One of them had obtained a piece of stone, "much like to a sea-cole in colour," which being given to one of the adventurer"s wives, she threw it in the fire, doubtless to see whether it would burn. Whether from accident or not, she threw some vinegar on it to quench the heat, when "it glistered with a bright marquesset of golde." This incident soon became known abroad, and the stone was a.s.sayed, the "gold finers" reporting it to contain a considerable quant.i.ty of gold. It seems almost ridiculous to think of a fever, a veritable "excitement," in connection with Arctic "diggins."
Nevertheless, the next voyage of Frobisher was instigated purely for the further discovery of the precious metal. Queen Elizabeth seems to have been infected with the same fever, and Frobisher on taking his leave of her Majesty had the honour of kissing her hand, and being dismissed with "gracious countenance and comfortable words." He was furnished with "one tall ship" of her Majesty"s, named the _Ayde_, of 180 tons or so, and two barques of about thirty tons each. On the way north they observed some enormous icebergs, more than half a mile in circuit, and seventy to eighty fathoms (210 to 240 yards) under water. The ice being perfectly fresh, Frobisher came to the conclusion that they "must be bredde in the sounds, or in some land neere the Pole." It is now admitted that icebergs properly so called, are but the _ends of glaciers_, broken off. Furthermore, he was the first to record that "the maine sea freeseth not, therefore there is no _mare glaciale_, as the opinion hitherto hath bene." They loaded up with the ore from Hall"s greater island and on a small island in Frobisher"s Strait. "All the sands and cliffs did so glister, and had so bright a marquesite, that it seemed all to be gold, but upon tryall made it prooved no better than black-lead, and verified the proverbe, "All is not gold that glistereth."" We shall see that it was only iron pyrites, a sulphuret of iron. They also professed to have found on another island a mine of silver, and more gold ore.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ARCTIC SCENE: FLOATING ICE.]
On this expedition they had several altercations with the natives, and in one skirmish in Yorke Sound killed five or six of them. It is said that they found here some of the apparel of their five unfortunate companions who had been seized the previous year by the natives. By means of two captives they brought about some degree of intercourse with the Esquimaux, and left a letter, understanding that their own sailors were still alive, but they were never more seen. Having loaded with about 200 tons of the supposed gold ore, they set sail for England, where they arrived safely, to the great delight of the queen and court, who considered that there were now great hopes of riches and profit. It was determined that a third expedition should be despatched the following year (1578).
The fleet on this occasion consisted of no less than fifteen vessels. One hundred persons were taken to form a settlement and remain there the complete year, keeping three of the vessels for their own use; the others were to bring back cargoes of the ore. Frobisher was appointed admiral and general. From first to last the voyage was disastrous. In the straits named after Frobisher, one of their larger barques struck so violently on a ma.s.s of ice that she sank in sight of the whole fleet, and although all the people on board were saved, a part of the house intended for the settlers went down with the wreck. A violent storm next ensued, which dispersed the fleet, some of the vessels being fixed in the ice of the strait, others being swept away to sea. It was a severe season, and they were bewildered by fogs, snow, and mist. After many perils, a large part of the fleet a.s.sembled in the Countess of Warwick"s Sound, when a council was held. It was at first determined to plant the colony on the adjoining island, but on examination so much of the wooden house was missing, and so great a quant.i.ty of the stores and provisions were on the ships which had parted company, that the idea was abandoned. "A great black island," where so much black ore was found that it "might suffice all the gold gluttons of the world," was discovered by one of the captains, and was named after him, "Best"s Blessing." It was at length decided that each captain should load his ship with ore and set homewards. The fleet arrived in England on or about October 1st, having lost some forty persons. The ore being now carefully examined proved worthless pyrites; and the Arctic gold mines seem to have proved a "fizzle" as great as any of the worst which have succeeded them. One Michael Lok, who had advanced money and become security for Frobisher, was ruined, and cast into the Fleet prison. One of the accounts mentions the fact that when the ore was first examined, one of the a.s.sayers, "by coaxing nature, as he privately admitted to Michael Lok," _pretended_ to make the discovery of its precious qualities. It seems that the Master of the Mint had reported on it adversely; but the favourable opinion of others and the l.u.s.t for wealth overcame all reason and judgment, until queen, courtiers, and subjects were sobered by the complete disappointment, which ended all further search for the time.
Frobisher did good service for his country afterwards, and fought with such bravery against the Spanish Armada that he was knighted. He died from the effect of a shot-wound received at the a.s.sault of Croyson, during the war with Henry IV. of France.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MARTIN FROBISHER.]
The disastrous voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with its melancholy termination, has been already described; but the merchants of London and elsewhere, being still persuaded "of the likelyhood of the discoverie of the north-west pa.s.sage," only two years later subscribed for fresh attempts. John Davis-a name inseparably a.s.sociated with arctic enterprise-received the appointment of captain and chief pilot of the new expedition. Two small vessels, the _Sunshine_ and _Moonshine_, were employed, and on one of them four musicians were taken. They left Dartmouth on the 7th of June, 1585, and on the 19th of July were off the west coast of Greenland, where they noted "a mighty great roaring of the sea," which was found to proceed from the "rowling together of islands of ice." As they proceeded northward, the fog, which had hampered their movements, clearing away, they observed "a rocky and mountainous land, in form of a sugar-loaf," its summit, covered with snow, appearing, as it were, above the clouds. The aspect of all around was so uninviting that Davis named it "The Land of Desolation." He could not land there, owing to the coast ice, and after sundry explorations to the southward, and again to the north-westward, discovered an archipelago of islands, "among which were many free sounds, and good roads for shipping," to which he gave the t.i.tle of Gilbert"s Sound. Here a mult.i.tude of natives approached in their canoes, on which the musicians began to perform, and the sailors to dance and make signs of friendship. This delighted the "salvages," and the sailors obtained from them almost whatever they wished-canoes, clothing, bows, and native implements. After other explorations they reached a fine open pa.s.sage (c.u.mberland Strait) between Frobisher"s Archipelago and the land now called c.u.mberland"s Island, entirely free from ice, "and the water of the colour, nature, and quality of the main ocean." They proceeded up it a distance of sixty leagues, when they found a cl.u.s.ter of islands in the middle of the pa.s.sage, and the weather being bad and the season late, they, after a week"s further stay, determined to sail for England, where they arrived safely on September 30th.
The reports given by Davis respecting the vast number of whales and seals observed, and the peltries to be obtained from the Esquimaux, aroused the enterprise of the merchants, and several persons in Exeter and other parts of the West of England combined to add a trading vessel, the _Mermaid_, of one hundred and twenty tons, to those which had been employed the previous season. Davis again reached the west coast of Greenland, where much intercourse was held with the natives, who came off to the vessels sometimes in as many as one "hundred canoes at a time ... bringing with them seale skinnes, stagge skinnes, white hares, seale fish, samon peale, smal cod, dry caplin, with other fish, and birds such as the country did yield." The natives do not seem to have made quite so favourable an impression as on the former occasion, and were described as thievish and mischievous, p.r.o.ne to steal everything on which they could lay their hands. After some remarks on their diet, we are gravely informed that they "drink salt water," and eat gra.s.s and ice as luxuries. They were found to be extremely nimble and strong, and fond of leaping and wrestling, in which they beat the best of the crew, who were west-country wrestlers. In the middle of July the adventurous navigators were alarmed at the appearance of a most "mighty and strange quant.i.ty of yce in one entire ma.s.se," so large that Davis was afraid to mention its dimensions, lest he should not be believed. The same modesty and diffidence has not been observed, to any marked degree, in the narratives of most modern voyagers and travellers! They coasted the ice till the end of July, and the cold was so severe, even in this month, that the shrouds, ropes, and sails were frozen, and the air was loaded with a thick fog. Sickness prevailed among the men, and they commenced to murmur. They "advised their captain, through his overboldness, not to leave their widows and fatherless children to give him bitter curses." He therefore left the _Mermaid_ to remain where she was, in readiness to return, while with the _Moonshine_ he would proceed round the ice. Davis made several discoveries of some geographical importance, and thought that off the Labrador coast, in lat.i.tude 54 N., he had actually discovered the opening to the north-west pa.s.sage. Two of his vessels, the _Sunshine_ and _North Star_, had been despatched previously to seek a pa.s.sage northward, between Greenland and Iceland, as far as lat.i.tude 80. They proceeded some little distance north, being much hampered by the ice, but in effect accomplished nothing.
The latter vessel was lost on the pa.s.sage home.
The second voyage of Davis had not been particularly prosperous either as regards commerce or discovery, but his persistency and perseverance induced the merchants to despatch a third expedition in 1587. On this voyage he proceeded as far north as 73, and discovered the strait which now bears his name. The merchant adventurers would doubtless have continued these voyages, even in part for discovery, had they been reasonably profitable. But although Davis tried very zealously to persuade them, they now declined most absolutely. We find him eight years after appealing for the same object to Her Majesty"s Privy Council in a little work ent.i.tled, "The Worlde"s Hydrographicall Discription," a book of which it is believed there are not over three copies in existence. Among the headings to the various divisions is one to this effect: "That under the Pole is the greatest place of dignitie." Davis made no more arctic voyages, but was employed by the Dutch in the East Indian service.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ICEBERG BREAKING UP.]
While there are so many well-authenticated voyages to record, we shall not be blamed if those of a doubtful nature are here omitted. The so-called voyage of Maldonado, in which he claimed to have effected a north-west pa.s.sage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1588, and back again the following year, is universally discredited, and the narrative bears every indication of being an utter forgery. The genuine voyage of Juan de Fuca, in 1592, who, while searching for the same imaginary "Straits of Anian,"
of which Maldonado wrote, discovered the straits which now bear his own name, belongs properly to voyages in the Pacific Ocean, and will be considered in its place.
CHAPTER XIV.
North-eastern Voyages of the Dutch-Barents reaches Nova Zembla-Adventures with the Polar Bears-Large Trading Expedition organised-Failure of the Venture-Reward offered for the Discovery of a North-east Pa.s.sage-Third Voyage-Dangers of the Ice-Forced to Winter on Nova Zembla-Erection of a House-Intense Cold-Philosophical Dutchmen-Attacks from Bears-Returning Spring-The Vessel abandoned-Preparations for a Start-The Company enfeebled and down-hearted-Voyage of 1,700 miles in two small Boats-Death of Barents and Adrianson-Perils of Arctic Navigation-Enclosed in the Ice-Death of a Sailor-Meeting with Russians-Arrival in Lapland-Home once more-Discovery of the Barents Relics by Carlsen-Voyages of Adams, Weymouth, Hall, and Knight.
"The True and Perfect Description of Three Voyages, so strange and woonderfull that the like hath neuer been heard of before," albeit bearing a somewhat sensational t.i.tle, is by a long way the most complete of early Arctic narratives. The work is a translation, by one William Phillip, from the Dutch of Gerrit de Veer, and describes three voyages undertaken by the Hollanders towards the close of the sixteenth century, with the view of reaching China by a north-east pa.s.sage. The narrative of the last expedition in particular, during the progress of which they met so many disasters, were obliged to spend ten months in the inhospitable region of Nova Zembla, abandon their vessel, and make their homeward voyage of seventeen hundred miles in two small open boats through all the perils of the Arctic seas, will be found most interesting. Our account is compiled from the edition edited by Dr. Beke, and issued by the Hakluyt Society.
In the year 1594 the United Provinces determined to send out an expedition in the hopes of finding a northern route to China and India. The city of Amsterdam contributed two vessels: Zeelandt and Enkhuysen one each. Willem Barents(21), "a notable, skillfull, and wise pilote," represented Amsterdam, while the other vessels were respectively commanded by Cornelis Cornelison and Brand Ysbrants. The vessels left the Texel on June 5th, and soon after separated. Following first the fortunes of Cornelison and Ysbrants, we find that they reached Lapland on the 23rd, and, proceeding eastward, found the weather in the middle of July as hot as in Holland during the dog days, and the mosquitoes extremely troublesome. Reaching Waigatz Island they met enormous quant.i.ties of drift-wood, which was also piled up on the sh.o.r.es. Pa.s.sing the southern end of the island, they observed three or four hundred wooden idols, men, women, and children, their faces generally turned eastward. Sailing through Waigatz Strait, they found and were impeded much by large quant.i.ties of floating ice; later they reached an open sea perfectly clear of it. The land to the southward was in sight, and trended apparently to the south-east. Without more ado they concluded that they had discovered an open pa.s.sage round Northern Asia to China, and turned their vessels" bows homewards, in order to be the first to bring the good news to Holland. Meanwhile, Barents, in the _Messenger_, crossed the White Sea, and eventually made the west coast of Nova Zembla, proceeding thence northwards, naming several headlands and islands. About lat.i.tude 77 25" they encountered an immense field of ice, of which they could see no end from the mast-head, and they had to turn back. After becoming entangled in drift-ice, and experiencing misty, cold, and tempestuous weather, the crew began to murmur, and then refused positively to proceed. On the homeward voyage, after they had arrived at Maltfloe and Delgoy Islands, they met the other ships, the commanders of which were jubilant with the idea that they had discovered the North-east Pa.s.sage. At all events, on their return, the reports given by them were so favourably considered, that preparations were immediately made for a second expedition.
Near one of the islands off the coast of Nova Zembla Barents and a boat-load of his men were almost swamped by an enormous white she-bear, which they had wounded, and secured by a rope. The animal, in its pain and fury, more than seconded their efforts to get it on board-for they had fancied that they might take her alive to Holland-and a panic ensued.
Fortunately the rope caught round a rung or hook of the rudder, and one of the bolder men then struck her into the water. The rest immediately got to their oars and rowed so rapidly to the ship, that the bear was pretty well half drowned by the time they arrived there, and she was easily despatched. De Veer, the princ.i.p.al historian of these voyages, gives us some graphic descriptions of the walrus. A female walrus almost succeeded in swamping one of the boats, as Madam Bruin had before, but fled when a good round volley of Dutch execrations were levelled at her. Some of the men, tempted by the ivory tusks apparently within their easy reach, went ash.o.r.e with the intention of killing some of these animals, but the sea-horses "brake all their hatchets, curtle-axes, and pikes in pieces,"
and they could not kill any of them, but succeeded in performing dentistry on a rough scale by knocking out some of their teeth. The resemblance of the front part of the head of a young walrus to a human face has been often remarked, and, as we shall hereafter show, has had much to do with sailors" stories concerning mermaids and mermen. More than once has the cry, "A man overboard!" been caused by the sudden appearance of the head of a young walrus above the water near a ship"s side.
The second expedition consisted of seven vessels: six laden with wares, merchandise, and money, and factors to act as traders; the seventh, a small pinnace, was to accompany the rest for part of the voyage, and bring back news of the proceedings. These extensive preparations were rendered nearly useless by the dilatoriness of those who had the matter in hand.
The vessels did not leave the Texel till July 2nd, 1595, nor reach Nova Zembla before the middle of August. The coasts of that island were found to be unapproachable on account of the ice. In few words, they returned to Holland, having accomplished little or nothing.
When off Waigatz some of the men had landed to search for supposed precious stones, which they fondly believed were diamonds, but which were doubtless pieces of rock crystal. As two of the men were taking a little rest, a "great leane white beare" suddenly stole upon them, and caught one fast by the neck. The other, seeing the cause, ran away. "The beare," says the quaint narrative, "at the first faling upon the man, bit his head in sunder, and suckt out his blood," whereupon some twenty of the men ran to the place, and charged the animal with their pikes and muskets. Bruin, nothing daunted, seized another of the men and tore him in pieces, the rest, seized with terror, running away. A number of sailors, seeing all this, immediately came on sh.o.r.e, and a second charge was made. Many shots were fired, but missed; at length the purser shot the animal between the eyes, when she began to stagger. Two of the men broke their axes over her, and yet she would not leave the bodies of their comrades. At length one of them succeeded in stunning her with a well-directed blow, and then cut her throat.
[Ill.u.s.tration: NOVA ZEMBLA, SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN BY BARENTS AND HIS FOLLOWERS.
(_After an Authentic Map made by Gerrit de Veer._)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: MOCK SUNS, SEEN ON THE 4TH JUNE, 1596, BY BARENTS AND HIS FOLLOWERS.