After much trouble Burrough succeeded in getting his vessel off the shoal, and then sought for a better anchorage on the other side of Cape St. John.

"Friday (6th July/26th June) at afternoone we weyed, and departed from thence, the wether being mostly faire, and the winde at East-southeast, and plied for the place where we left our cable and anker, and our hawser, and as soone as we were at an anker the foresaid Gabriel came aboord of vs, with 3 or foure more of their small boats, and brought with them of their Aquauitae and Meade, professing unto me very much friendship, and reioiced to see vs againe, declaring that they earnestly thought that we had bene lost. This Gabriel declared vnto me that they had saued both the ankers and our hauser, and after we had thus communed, I caused 4 or 5 of them to goe into my cabbin, where I gaue them figs and made them such cheere as I could. While I was banketing of them, there came another of their Skiffes aboord with one who was a Kerill (Karelian), whose name afterwards I learned, and that he dwelt in Colmogro, and Gabriel dwelled in the towne of Cola, which is not far from the river's mouth. This foresaid Keril said vnto me that one of the ankers which I borrowed was his. I gave him thanks for the lone of it, thinking it had bene sufficient. And as I continued in our accustomed maner, that if the present which they brought were worth enterteinment, they had it accordingly, he brought nothing with him, and therfore I regarded him but litle. And thus we ended, and they took their leaue and went ashore. At their comming ashore, Gabriel and Keril were at vnconvenient words, and by the eares, as I vnderstand; the cause was because the one had better enterteinment than the other; but you shal vnderstand that Gabriel was not able to make his party good, because there were 17 lodias of the Kerils company who tooke his part, and but 2 of Gabriel's company. The next high water Gabriel and his company departed from thence, and rowed to their former company and neighbours, which were in number 28 at the least, and all of them belonging to the river Cola. And as I vnderstood Keril made reckoning that the hauser which was fast in his anker should have bene his owne, and at first would not deliver it to our boat, insomuch that I sent him worde that I would complain vpon him, whereupon he deliuered the hauser to my company. The next day being Saturday, I sent our boat on shore to fetch fresh water and wood, and at their comming on shore this Keril welcomed our men most gently, and also banketed them, and in the meanetime caused some of his men to fill our baricoes with water, and to help our men to beare wood into their boat; and then he put on his best silke coate, and his collar of pearles and came aboorde againe, and brought his present with him: and thus having more respect vnto his present than to his person, because I perceiued him to be vain-glorious, I bade him welcome and gaue him a dish of figs; and then he declared vnto me that his father was a gentleman, and that he was able to shew me pleasure, and not Gabriel, who was but a priest's sonne."

After Burrough has given account of a storm, during which he lost a jolly boat, which he had purchased at Vardoehus, and by which they were detained some time in the neighbourhood of Cape St. John (whose latitude was fixed at 66 deg. 50') he continues:—

"Saturday (the 14/24th July) at a Northnorthwest sunne the wind came at Eastnortheast, and then we weied, and plied to the Northwards, and as we were two leagues shot past the Cape, we saw a house standing in a valley, which is dainty to be seene in those parts and by and by I saw three men on the top of the hil. Then I iudged them, as it afterwards proued, that they were men which came from some other place to set traps to take vermin[109] for their furres, which trappes we did perceiue very thicke alongst the shore as we went."

The 14th to the 19th July, new style, were passed on the coast of Kanin Nos.[110] On the 19th at noon Burrough was in lat. 68 deg. 40' north. On Friday, the 10/20th July another storm appeared to threaten.

"And as I was musing what was best to be done, I saw a sail come out of a creeke under the foresayd Caninoz, which was my friend Gabriel, who forsook his harborough and company, and came as neere us as he might, and pointed vs to the Eastwards, and then we weyed and followed him. Saturday we went eastsoutheast and followed Gabriel, and he brought vs into an harborough called Morgiouets, which is 30 leagues from Caninoz. This morning Gabriel saw a smoke on ye way, who rowed vnto it with his skiffe, which smoke was two leagues from the place where we road; and at a Northwest sunne he came aboord again, and brought with him a Samoed,[111] which was but a young man; his apparell was then strange vnto vs, and he presented me with three young wild geese, and one young barnacle."

On the 24th/14th July Burrough sailed past Dolgoi Island, and the following day entered the mouth of the Petchora, the latitude of which was fixed at 69 deg. 10'.[112] On the 30th/20th they sailed out again over sandbanks in only five feet of water, and thanked God that their vessel was of so light draught. The day after ice was met with for the first time. On the 4th Aug./6th July in lat. 70 deg. 20' north, they had the meeting already described with an enormous whale.[113] Somewhat later on the same day the Searchthrift anchored in a good haven between two islands, situated in 70 deg. 42' N.L.[114] They were named by Burrough St. James's Islands.

"Tuesday, the 7th Aug./29th July we plyed to the Westwards alongst the shoare, the wind being at Northwest, and as I was about to come to anker, we saw a sail comming about the point whereunder we thought to have ankered. Then I sent a skiffe aboorde of him, and at their comming aboord, they tooke acquaintance of them, and the chiefe man said hee had bene in our company in the riuer Cola, and also declared vnto them that we were past the way which should bring vs to the Ob. This land, sayd he, is called Nova Zembla, that is to say, the New Land; and then he came aboord himselfe with his skiffe he told me the like ... he made me also certaine demonstrations of the way to the Ob. I gave him a steele glasse, two pewter spoons, and a paire of veluet sheathed knives; and then he seemed somewhat the more willing to tary and shewed me as much as he knew for our purpose; he also gave me 17 wild geese.... This man's name was Loshak. Wednesday, as we plied to Eastwards, we espied another saile, which was one of this Loshak's company, and we bare roome and spake with him, who in like sort tolde us of the Ob, as the other had done.... Friday (the 10th Aug./31st July) the gale of winde began to increase, and came Westerly withall, so that by a Northwest sunne we were at an anker among the Islands of Waigats, where we saw two small lodias; the one of them came aboord of us and presented me with a great loafe of bread; and they told me they were all of Colmogro, except one man that dwelt at Pechora, who seemed to be the chiefest among them in killing of the Morse.[115] There were some of their company on shoare which did chase a white beare ouer the high clifs into the water, which beare the lodia that was aboord of us killed in our sight. This day there was a great gale of wind at North, and we saw so much ice driving a seaboord that it was then no going to sea."

During the first days of August the vessel lay for the most part in company with or in the neighbourhood of Loshak, who gave them information about the Samoyeds, after which Burrough visited their sacrificial places.[116]

"Tuesday (the 14/4th) August we turned for the harborough where Loshak's barke lay,[117] where, as before, we road vnder an Island. And there he came aboord of vs and said unto me: if God send wind and weather to serve, I will go to the Ob with you, because the Morses were scant at these Islands of Vaigats; but if he could not get to the riuer of Ob, then he sayd hee would goe to the riuer of Narainzay,[118] where the people were not altogether so savage as the Samoyds of the Ob are: hee shewed me that they will shoot at all men to the vttermost of their power, that cannot speake their speech."

On the 15/5th of August much ice was seen to drift towards the haven where the vessel lay, wherefore Burrough removed back to the place where he had lain a few days before, and whose latitude he now found to be 70 deg. 25'. Loshak left him unexpectedly the following day, while Burrough was taking solar altitudes, and on the 19/9th Burrough too weighed anchor to sail south along the coast of Vaygats. After sailing about in these waters for a time, and being exposed to a severe storm with an exceedingly heavy sea, Burrough, on the 3rd Sept./23rd Aug., determined to turn. On the 21st/11th September he arrived at Colmogro, where he wintered with a view to continue his voyage next year to the Obi. This voyage, however, was abandoned, because he instead went westwards in order to search for two of the ships which accompanied Chancelor, and which had been lost during the return voyage from Archangel.[119]

From this narrative we see that a highly developed Russian or Russian-Finnish navigation was carried on as early as the middle of the fifteenth century between the White Sea, the Petchora, Vaygats, and Novaya Zemlya, and that at that time the Russians or Finns even sailed to the Obi. The sketch, which Burrough gives of the Russian or Russian-Finnish hunters, shows, besides, that they were brave and skilful seamen, with vessels which for the time were very good, and even superior to the English in sailing before the wind. With very few alterations this sketch might also be applied to the present state of things in these regions, which shows that they continue to stand at a point which was then high, but is now low. Taking a general view of matters, it appears as if these lands had rather fallen behind than advanced in well-being during the last three hundred years.

To judge by a letter from the Russian Merchant Company, which was formed in London, it was at his own instance that Stephen Burrough in 1557 sailed from Colmogro, not to Obi, but to the coast of Russian Lapland to search for the lost vessels.[120] The following year the English were so occupied with their new commercial treaties with Russia and with the fitting out of Frobisher's three expeditions to the north-west, that it was long before a new attempt was made in the direction of the north-east, namely till ARTHUR PETS' voyage in 1580.[121] He was the first who penetrated from Western Europe into the Kara Sea, and thus brought the solution of the problem of the North-East Passage to the Pacific a good way forward. The principal incidents of this voyage too must therefore be briefly stated here.

PET and JACKMAN, the former in the George, the latter in the William, sailed from Harwich on the 9th June/30th May, 1580. On the 2nd July/22nd June they doubled the North Cape, and on the 12th/2nd July, Pet was separated from Jackman after appointing to meet with him at "Verove Ostrove or Waygats." On the 15/5th land was in sight, the latitude having the preceding day been ascertained to be 71 deg. 38'. Pet was thus at Gooseland, on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. He now sailed E.S.E., and fell in with ice on the 16/6th July. On the 20/10th July, land was seen, and the vessel anchored at an island, probably one of the many small islands in the Kara Port, where wood and water were taken on board.

On the 24/14th July, Pet was in the neighbourhood of land in 70 deg. 26'. At first he thought that the land was an island, and endeavoured to sail round it, but as he did not succeed in doing so, he supposed it to be Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed in different directions between S.W. and S.E., and was on the 26/16th in 69 deg. 40' N.L. Next day there was lightning with showers of rain. Pet believed himself now to be in Petchora Bay, and after sighting, on the 28/18th July, the headland which bounds the mouth of the river on the north-east, he sailed, it would seem, between this headland and the Selenetz Islands into the great bay east of Medinski Savorot. Here he made soundings on the supposition that the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland would open out at this place, but the water was found to be too shallow, even for a boat. Pet now sailed past Yugor Schar along the coast of Vaygats towards Novaya Zemlya, to a bay on the west coast of Vaygats Island, where he anchored between two small islands, which were supposed to be Woronski Ostrov. The entrance to an excellent haven was indicated on both sides by two crosses.[122] On the islands there was abundance of driftwood, and on one of them was found a cross, at the foot of which a man was buried. Pet inscribed his name on the cross, and likewise on a stone at the foot of the cross, "in order that Jackman, if he came thither, might know that Pet had been there." In the afternoon Pet again weighed anchor, doubled the western extremity of Vaygats Island, and continued his voyage, following all along the coast of Vaygats, first to the north and north-east, then to the south, between an ice-field and the land, until the ice came so close to the shore that the vessel could make no headway, when he anchored in a good haven by an island which lay on the east side of Vaygats in the neighbourhood of the mainland. It was perhaps the island which in recent maps is called Mestni Island. Pet was thus now in the Kara Sea.[123] The latitude given—69 deg. 14'—shows even, if it is correct, that he went far into the bay at the mouth of the Kara river. Here Pet fell in with his comrade Jackman, from whom he had parted on the coast of Kola, and of whose voyage during the interval we know nothing. When the vessels met they were both damaged by ice. As, in addition, the sea to the north and east was barred by compact masses of ice, the captains, after deliberating with the inferior officers, determined to return. They had, also, during the return voyage, to contend with formidable ice obstacles, until, on the 25/15th August, in Lat. 69 deg. 49' north, near the southeastern extremity of Vaygats they met with open water. They sailed along the east coast of Vaygats through the Kara Port, which was passed on the 27/17th August. Hence the course was shaped for Kolgujev Island, on whose sandbanks both vessels ran aground, but were soon got off again without loss. The latitude of the sandbanks was correctly fixed at 68 deg. 48'.

On the 1st Sept./22nd Aug. William was again lost sight of.[124] On the 8th Sept./29th Aug. the George anchored in Tana Fiord, on which there was a town named Hungon.[125] Two days afterwards the George doubled the North Cape, and on the 5th Nov./26th Oct. again anchored at Ratcliffe.

Pet and Jackman were the first north-east explorers who ventured themselves in earnest amongst the drift-ice. In navigating among ice they showed good judgment and readiness of resource, and in the history of navigation the honour falls to them of having commanded the first vessels from Western Europe that forced their way into the Kara Sea. It is therefore without justification that BARROW says of them that they were but indifferent navigators.[126]

With Pet and Jackman's voyage the English North-east Passage expeditions were broken off for a long time. But the problem was, instead, taken up with great zeal in Holland. Through the fortunate issue of the war of freedom with Spain, and the incitement to enterprise which civil freedom always brings along with it, Holland, already a great industrial and commercial state, had begun, towards the close of the sixteenth century, to develop into a maritime power of the first rank. But navigation to India and China was then rendered impossible for the Dutch, as for the English, by the supremacy of Spain and Portugal at sea, and through the endeavours of these countries to retain the sole right to the commercial routes they had discovered. In order to become sharers in the great profits which commerce with the land of silks and perfumes brought with it, it therefore appeared to be indispensable to discover a new sea route north of Asia or America to the Eastern seas. If such a route had been actually found, it was clear that the position of Holland would have been specially favourable for undertaking this lucrative trade. In this state of things we have to seek for the reason of the delight with which the Dutch hailed the first proposal to force a passage by sea north of Asia to China or Japan. Three successive expeditions were at great expense fitted out for this purpose. These expeditions did not, indeed, attain the intended goal—the discovery of a north-eastern sea route to Eastern Asia, but they not only gained for themselves a prominent place in the history of geographical discovery, but also repaid a hundred fold the money that had been spent on them, in part directly through the whale-fishing to which they gave rise, and which was so profitable to Holland, and in part indirectly through the elevation they gave to the self-respect and national feeling of the people. They compared the achievements of their countrymen among the ice and snow of the Polar lands to the voyage of the Argonauts, to Hannibal's passage of the Alps, and to the campaign of the Macedonians in Asia and the deserts of Libya (see, for instance, BLAVIUS. Atlas major, Latin edition, t. i., pp. 24 and 31.) As these voyages together present the grandest attempts to solve the problem that lay before the Vega expedition, I shall here give a somewhat detailed account of them.



THE FIRST DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1594.—This was fitted out at the expense of private persons, mainly by the merchants BALTHASAR MUCHERON, JACOB VALCKE, and FRANCISCUS MAELSON. The first intention was to send out only two vessels with the view of forcing a passage through the sound at Vaygats towards the east, but on the famous geographer PLANCIUS representing that the route north of Novaya Zemlya was that which would lead most certainly to the desired goal, other two were fitted out, so that no fewer than four vessels went out in the year 1594 on an exploratory expedition towards the north. Of these, two, viz. a large vessel, specially equipped, it would appear, for the northern waters, called the Mercurius, and commanded by WILLEM BARENTS,[127] and a common fishing-sloop, attempted the way past the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. The two others, viz. the Swan of Zeeland, commanded by CORNELIS CORNELISZ. NAY, and the Mercurius of Enkhuizen, commanded by BRANDT YSBRADTSZ. TETGALES, were to pass through the sound at Vaygats Island.

All the four vessels left the Texel on the 15/5th June, and eighteen days later arrived at Kilduin in Russian Lapland, a place where at that time vessels, bound for the White Sea, often called. Here the two divisions of the expedition parted company.

Barents sailed to Novaya Zemlya, which was reached on the 14/4th July in 73 deg. 25'; the latitude was determined by measuring the altitude of the midnight sun at an island which was called Willem's Island. Barents sailed on along the coast in a northerly direction, and two days afterwards reached the latitude of 75 deg. 54' north. On the 19/9th July there was a remarkable chase of a Polar bear. The bear was fallen in with on land and was pierced by a bullet, but notwithstanding this he threw himself into the water, and swam with a vigour "that surpassed all that had been heard of the lion or other wild animal." Some of the crew pursued him in a boat, and succeeded in casting a noose round his neck in order to catch him living, with a view to carry him to Holland. But when the bear knew that he was caught "he roared and threw himself about so violently that it can scarcely be described in words." In order to tire him they gave him a little longer line, rowing forward slowly the while, and Barents at intervals struck him with a rope. Enraged at this treatment, the bear swam to the boat, and caught it with one of his forepaws, on which Barents said: "he wishes to rest himself a little." But the bear had another object in view, for he cast himself into the boat with such violence that half his body was soon within it. The sailors were so frightened that they rushed to the fore and thought that their last hour was come. Fortunately the bear could make no further advance, because the noose that was thrown round his neck had fastened in the rudder. A sailor taking courage, now went aft and killed the bear with the stroke of an axe. The skin was sent to Amsterdam. On account of this occurrence the place was called "Bear Cape."



Barents sailed on towards the north and north-east, past the place which he called Cruys Eylandt (Cross Island)[128] and Cape Nassau, a name which has been retained in recent maps, to the latitude of 77 deg. 55', which was reached on the 23rd/13th July. Here from the mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible to see beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he still remained in these northern regions, waiting for a better state of the ice, till the 8th August/29th July, when the vessel was due west of a promontory situated in latitude 77 deg. north, which was named Ice Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here on the ground. Such finds have played a not inconsiderable role in the history of Arctic voyages, and shiploads of worthless ore have on several occasions been brought home. On the 16th August/31st July, while sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 walruses on land. The sailors attacked them with axes and lances, without killing a single walrus, but they succeeded during the attempt to kill them in striking out several tusks, which they carried home with them.

Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this northern route, Barents determined, after consulting with his men, to turn south and sail to Vaygats. While sailing down, Barents, in latitude 71 deg. north, makes the remark that he was now probably at a place where OLIVER BRUNEL[129] had been before, and which had been named by him Costinsark, evidently the present Kostin Schar, a Russian name still in use for the sound which separates Meschduschar Island from the main island. It ought to be observed, however, that on old maps Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion of the word Kostin Schar.

South of "St. Laurens Bay,"[130] in 70-3/4 deg., Barents, on the 21st/11th August, found upon a headland across erected, and in the neighbourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some graves, all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On the 25/15th August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in with the two other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that had come thither shortly before. All the four vessels sailed back thence to Holland, arriving there in the middle of September. The narrative of this voyage closes with the statement that Barents brought home with him a walrus, which had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice. Barents during this journey discovered and explored the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, never before visited by West-European seafarers.

The two other vessels, that left the Texel at the same time as Barents, also made a remarkable voyage, specially sketched by the distinguished voyager JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN.[131]

The vessels were manned by fifty men, among them two interpreters—a Slav, CHRISTOFFEL SPLINDLER, and a Dutch merchant, who had lived long in Russia, FR. DE LA DALE. Provisions for eight months only were taken on board. At first Nay and Tetgales accompanied Barents to Kilduin, which island is delineated and described in considerable detail in Linschoten's work.



On the 12th/2nd July Nay and Tetgales sailed from Kilduin for Vaygats Island. Three days afterwards they fell in with much drift-ice. On the 20/10th they arrived at Toxar, according to Linschoten's map an island on the Timan coast, a little west of the entrance to Petchora. They there met with a Russian lodja, whose captain stated that he believed, after hearsay, that the Vaygats Sound[132] was continually covered with ice, and that, when it was passed, men came to a sea which lay to the south of, and was warmer than, the Polar Sea. Some other Russians added, the following day, that it was quite possible to sail through Vaygats Sound, if the whales and walruses, that destroy all vessels that seek to pass through, did not form an obstacle; that the great number of rocks and reefs scarcely permitted the passage of a vessel; and finally, that the Grand Duke had ordered three vessels to attempt the passage, but that they had all been crushed by ice.

On the 22nd/12th July there came to Toxar hunters from the White Sea, who spoke another language than the Russians, and belonged to another race of men—they were evidently Finns or Karelians. A large number of whales were seen in the haven, which gave occasion to a remark by Linschoten that whale-fishing ought to be profitable there. After the ice had broken up, and crosses with inscriptions giving information of their movements had been erected on the shore, they sailed on. On the 31/21st July they sighted Vaygats. They landed at a headland marked with two crosses, and there fell in with a native, clad in much the same way as a Kilduin Lapp, who soon took to flight. Other headlands marked with crosses were afterwards visited, and places where idols were found set up by hundreds. Linschoten also landed on that Idol Cape which was visited during the voyage of the Vega. There were then from three to four hundred wooden idols, which, according to Lindschoten's description, were very similar in appearance to those we saw. They were so ill made, says he, that one could scarcely guess that they were intended to represent men. The visage was very broad, the nose projecting, there were two holes in place of the eyes, and another hole represented the mouth. Five, six, or seven faces were often found carved on one and the same stock "perhaps intended to represent a whole family." Many Russian crosses were also erected there. Some days later they found on the south shore of the sound a small house filled with idols, much better made than the former, with eyes and paps of metal. While the Dutch were employed in examining this collection of idols, a reindeer sledge was driven forward in which sat a man armed with a bow. When he saw the foreigners, he called loudly, on which a number of sledges with about thirty men drove out of a valley and endeavoured to surround the Dutch. They now fled in haste to their boat, and when it had left the beach the Samoyeds shot at it with their arrows, but without hitting it. This bloodless conflict is, so far as we know, the only one that took place between the natives and the north-east voyagers. The latter are thus free from the great bloodguiltiness which attaches to most of those, who in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries made voyages of discovery in southern regions.

Some days later, on the 10th August/31st July, the Dutch had a friendly meeting with the Samoyeds, who gave them very correct information concerning the state of the land and the sea, telling them that "after ten or twelve days they would meet with no more ice, and that summer would last six or seven weeks longer." After the Dutch had learned all they could from these "barbarians, who had greater skill in managing their bow than a nautical gnomon, and could give better information regarding their hunting than about the navigable water," they took their departure. When one of the sailors hereupon blew a horn, the savages were so frightened, that they begun to take to flight, but, quieted by the assurance that the blast of the horn was only a sign of friendship, they returned and on the beach saluted the departing strangers, bowing themselves to the earth with uncovered heads and crossed hands.

On the 11th/1st August the Dutch, full of hope, sailed into the Kara Sea, or, as they called it, the "North Tartaric Ocean." They soon fell in with ice, on which account on the 13th/3rd they sought protection under Mestni Island (Staten Eiland). Here they found a sort of rock crystal resembling diamonds in all respects except hardness, a disappointing circumstance which was ascribed to the action of cold. Here also were seen images and sacrificial places, but no houses and no trees.

When Nay and Tetgales sailed on, they came to an extensive open sea, and on the 20/10th August they believed that they were off the mouth of the Obi. Two of its principal mouth-arms they named, after the vessels, "Swan" and "Mercurius," names which have since been forgotten. It is quite evident that the river which the Dutch took for the Obi was the Kara, and that the mouth-arms, Swan and Mercurius, were two small coast rivers which debouch from Yalmal into the Kara Sea.

On the 21st/11th August they determined to return home, taking it for proved that, from the point which had been reached, it would be easy to double "Promontorium Tabin," and thus get to China by the north-east passage. A large number of whales were seen raising half their bodies out of the sea and spouting jets of water from their nostrils in the common way, which was considered a further sign that they had an extensive ocean before them.

On the 24/14th August, Nay and Tetgales sailed again through Yugor Schar (Fretum Nassovicum), and the day after at three small islands, which were called Mauritius, Orange, and New Walcheren, they fell in with Barents, and all sailed home to Holland, fully convinced that the question of the possibility of a north-east passage to China was now solved. It was shown indeed, in the following year, that this supposition rested on quite too slight a foundation, but the voyages of Nay and Tetgales deserve in any case an honoured place in the history of navigation, for they extended considerably the knowledge of the northern regions through the discovery, or at least through the first passage of, Yogor Schar, and, like Barents, these seafarers must get the credit of carrying out the task assigned to them with skill, insight, resolution, and resource.



THE SECOND DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1595.[133] After the return of the first expedition a report of the discoveries which had been made was given in to Prince MAURICE of ORANGE, JAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT, Advocate of Holland, and the other authorities at home. They were so convinced by this report that the sea route to China was actually discovered, that they immediately made arrangements to send out the following year a flotilla of seven vessels, two from Amsterdam, two from Zeeland, two from Enkhuizen, and one from Rotterdam, with a view to open the new commercial communication.

The commanders of the vessels were CORNELIS NAY (Admiral), BRANDT TETGALES (Second in Command), BARENTS, LAMBERT GERRITSZ. OOM, THOMAS WILLEMSZ., HARMAN JANSZ., and HENDRIK HARTMAN. The lieutenants were LINSCHOTEN, JACOB HEEMSKERK, FRANCOYS DE LA DALE, JAN CORNELISZ., RIJP, and N. BUYS. Six of the vessels were laden with goods and coin; the seventh was to return, home with news when the fleet had sailed through Vaygats Sound. The great preparations, however, occupied so much time that it was not until the 12th/2nd July that the voyage could be begun. On the 22nd/12th August, Kegor on the Ribatschni peninsula was sighted, and on the 29/19th August the fleet arrived at the Sound between Vaygats and the mainland, and found a great deal of ice there.

On the 3rd Sep./24th Aug. the Dutch met with some Russians, who told them that the winter had been very severe, but that the ice would in a short time disappear, and that the summer would still last six weeks. They also stated that the land to the northward, which was called Vaygats, was an island, separated on its north side from Novaya Zemlya; that it was visited in summer by natives, who towards winter returned to the mainland; that Russian vessels, laden with goods, yearly sailed through Vaygats Sound past the Obi to the river Gillissy (Yenisej), where they passed the winter; that the dwellers on the Yenisej were of the Greek-Christian religion, &c.

On the 10th Sept./31st Aug. the Dutch came in contact with the Samoyeds south of Vaygats Sound. Their "king" received the strangers in a very hospitable and friendly manner, and informed them that in three or four weeks the cold would begin; that in some years the drift-ice did not disappear; that during winter the whole sound and the bays and coves were frozen over, but that the sea on both sides did not freeze; that beyond the mouth of the river Ob there were the mouths of two other rivers, of which the more remote was called the "Molconsay," the nearer, which was often visited by Russian trading vessels, the Gillissy; that the land continued beyond the Ob to a cape which projected towards Novaya Zemlya, and that beyond this promontory there was a great sea, which extended along Tartary to warm regions.[134]

When the Dutch sailed into the Kara Sea they fell in with much ice, on which account they anchored at the island, Staten Eiland, where during the preceding voyage rock crystal had been found. Here two men were killed in the way that has already been described.[135] Depressed by this unfortunate occurrence and afraid to expose their vessels, laden with valuable goods, too late in the season, to the large quantity of ice which drifted about in the Kara Sea, the commanders determined to turn. The fleet returned to Holland without further adventure, passing through Vaygats Sound on the 25/15th September.

This expedition did not yield any new contribution to the knowledge of our globe. But it deserves to be noted that we can state with certainty, with the knowledge we now possess of the ice-conditions of the Kara Sea, that the Dutch during both their first and second voyages had the way open to the Obi and Yenisej. If they had availed themselves of this and continued their voyage till they came to inhabited regions on either of these rivers, a considerable commerce would certainly have arisen between Middle Asia and Europe by this route as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century.

THE THIRD DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1596-97.[136] After the unfortunate issue of the expedition of 1595, which had been fitted out at so great an expense, and which had raised so great expectations, the States-General would not grant the necessary funds for a third voyage, but they offered instead a great prize to the states or merchants that at their own expense should send out a vessel that should by the route north of Asia force a passage to Asia and China.[137] Encouraged by this offer the merchants of Amsterdam sent out two vessels, one under the command of Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk, the other under Jan Cornelisz. Rijp. The crew were chosen with care, unmarried men being preferred, with the idea that wife and children would detract from the bravery of the members of the expedition and lead them to return home prematurely.



On the 20/10th May these vessels left Amsterdam. On the 14/4th June they saw in lat. 71 deg. North some beautiful parhelia, which are found delineated in De Veer's work, and Blavii Atlas Major.



On the 15/5th June one of the crew cried out from the deck that he saw white swans, but on a closer examination it appeared that they consisted of large pieces of ice, which drifted along the edge of the pack.[138] On the 19/9th they discovered, north of North Cape, a new island, situated in latitude 74 deg. 30' North. A large bear was killed here, and on this account the island was called Bear Island. On the 29/19th they came in the 80th degree of latitude to another formerly unknown land, which they believed to be connected with Greenland. It was in fact the large group of islands, which afterwards obtained the name Spitzbergen. There were found here on a small island the eggs of a species of goose—rotgansen[139] which comes yearly to Holland in great flocks, but whose breeding place was before unknown. With reference to this, De Veer says that it is finally proved that this goose is not, as has been hitherto supposed, propagated in Scotland by the goose laying her eggs from the branches of trees overhanging the water, the eggs being broken in pieces against the surface of the water, and the newly hatched young immediately swimming about.

After an unsuccessful attempt had been made to sail to the north of Spitzbergen the vessels proceeded southwards along the west coast,[140] and on the 11th/1st July came again to Bear Island. Here the vessels parted company, Barents sailing eastwards towards Novaya Zemlya, Rijp northwards towards the east coast of Spitzbergen. On the 27/17th July, Barents reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in latitude 73 deg. 20' North. On the 30/20th July, no further advance could be made for ice, which still lay close to the shore. During the stay here there were several adventures with bears, all of which, came off successfully. In consequence of ice obstacles their progress was exceedingly slow, so that it was not until the 25/15th August that they reached the Orange Islands. The following day several of the crew ascended a high mountain, from which they saw open water on the other side of an island. As glad at the sight of the sea as the ten thousand under Xenophon, they rushed back to the vessel to give Barents the important news. He now did all he could to pass the north extremity of Novaya Zemlya. He was successful in doing so, and on the 31/21st a haven, situated in about the latitude of 76 deg. North, was reached with great difficulty, but all attempts to sail eastwards from it were unsuccessful. Finally, on the 4th Sept./25th Aug. Barents determined to return to Holland.



Now, however, it was too late. The haven was blocked with drift-ice, which was in constant motion, several times pressed the vessel high up between the pieces of ice, and finally broke the rudder in pieces. It was now evident that it would be necessary to winter, and for this purpose the requisite tools, household articles, and provisions were landed and men sent out to examine the neighbourhood. Reindeer tracks were seen, and, what was more important, there were found on the beach large tree-stems with their roots still adhering, and other wood which the marine currents had drifted to this otherwise completely woodless region. The drift-wood was collected in large heaps that it might not be buried under the snow in winter. A place was chosen for a house, and the Dutch began to draw timber to the place. The openings in the drift-ice were on the 25/15th September covered with a crust of ice two inches thick, but on the 5th Oct./15th Sept. the ice was again somewhat broken up, which however was of no advantage to the imprisoned, because their vessel was forced up so high on a block of ground ice that it could not be got off. Bears were hunted almost daily. They were very bold and sometimes came on board the vessel. On the 15/5th October all ice was driven off as far as the eye could see, but the vessel still lay motionless on the blocks of ground ice. Round these the ice closed in again, to break up anew at a greater or less distance from the beach. On the 4th March/22nd Feb. there was still much open water visible from the beach, and on the 16/6th and 18/8th March, the sea appears to have been in one direction completely free of ice.

On the 31/21st October, the crew began to remove into the house, where they afterwards passed the winter 1596-97 with many sufferings, dangers, difficulties, and privations which are described in De Veer's work. The crew, however, never lost courage, which undoubtedly was a principal cause of most of them being saved. The house was built on the north-east side of Novaya Zemlya, on the shore of Barents' Ice Haven. It was situated far to the north of any other place where men had previously passed the winter. The land and its animal life was unknown, the hard frozen, almost rock-fast and yet continually moving ice-covering, with which the sea was bound, was something quite novel, as also were the effects which long continued and severe cold exerts on animate and inanimate objects. Before the attempt was made it was not considered at all certain that men could actually endure the severe cold of the highest north and the winter night three or four months long. No wonder therefore that the skill and undaunted resolution of the Dutch Polar explorers aroused unmingled admiration among all civilised nations, and that the narrative of their wintering was received with unbounded interest and formed the subject of innumerable writings and reproductions both in prose and verse in almost all civilised languages. Only a few facts from the journal of the wintering need therefore be given here.



On the 14/4th November the sun disappeared, and was again visible on the 3rd Feb./24th Jan. These dates have caused scientific men much perplexity, because in latitude 76 deg. North, the upper edge of the sun ought to have ceased to be visible when the sun's south declination in autumn became greater than 13 deg.,[141] and to have again become visible when the declination again became less than that figure; that is so say, the sun ought to have been seen for the last time at Barents' Ice Haven on the 27/17th October, and it ought to have appeared again there on the 14/4th February. It has been supposed that the deviation arose from some considerable error in counting the days, but this was unanimously denied by the crew who wintered.[142] The bears disappeared and reappeared with the sun. Instead, foxes came during winter to the building, and were caught for food in numbers, many on the roof of the house. In order to pass the time and keep up their courage, the Dutch sometimes had entertainments, at which the cheerfulness of the partakers had to make up for the meagreness of the fare. After the return of the sun the bears again came very close, so that there was a number of hunting adventures with them, all of which came off successfully. Several bears made themselves at home in the vessel abandoned by the crew, casting everything about, and broke up the hatch of the kitchen, covered as it was with deep snow. An attempt to eat bear's liver resulted in those that ate of it becoming very ill, and after recovery renewing their skin over the whole body. Once during severe cold, when pitcoal was used to warm the building, all the men in it were like to have died of the fumes. On one or two occasions, for instance on the 25/15th February, so much snow had collected outside the door, that it was necessary to go out by the chimney. For the preservation of their health the Dutch often took a vapour bath in a barrel fitted up for the purpose.

On the 7th May/27th April the first small birds were seen, and on the 25/15th May Barents declared that if the vessel were not got off before the end of the month, they should return in boats, which were therefore immediately got ready. This was, however, attended with great difficulty, because most of the crew had during the course of the winter become exceedingly weak, evidently from scurvy. After the equipment of the boats had been completed and they had been properly laden with provisions, the Dutch at last started on the 23rd/13th June.

A man had died on the 6th Feb./27th Jan. At beginning of the boat voyage Barents himself was very ill, and six days after, on the 30/20th June, he died, while resting with his companions on a large floe, being compelled to do so by the drift-ice. On the same day one of the crew died, and on the 15/5th July another.

On the 7th Aug./28 July returning Arctic explorers at St. Lawrens' Bay fell in with two vessels manned by Russian hunters, whose acquaintance the Dutchmen had made the year before, and who now received them with great friendliness and pity for their sufferings. They continued their voyage in their small open boats, and all arrived in good health and spirits at Kola, where they were received with festivities by the inhabitants. It gave them still greater joy to meet here Jan Cornelisz. Rijp, from whom they had parted at Bear Island the preceding year, and of whose voyage we know only that he intended to sail up along the east coast of Spitzbergen, and that, when this was found to be impossible, he returned home the same autumn.

After the two boats, in which Barents' companions had travelled with so many dangers and difficulties from their winter haven to Russian Lapland, had been left in the merchant's yard[143] at Kola, as a memorial of the journey—the first memorial of a Polar expedition was thus raised at Kola—they went on board Rijp's vessel, and sailed in it to Holland, arriving there the 8th November/29th October. Sixteen men had left Holland with Barents, twelve men returned in safety to their native land, and among them JACOB VAN HEEMSKERK, a man who during the whole voyage had played a prominent part, and afterwards lived long enough to see the time when the Dutch were a match at sea for the Spaniards. For he fell as commander of the Dutch fleet which defeated the Spanish at Gibraltar on April 25, 1607.



During Barents' third voyage Bear Island and Spitzbergen were discovered, and the natural conditions of the high northern regions during winter first became known. On the other hand, the unfortunate issue of the maritime expeditions sent out from Holland appears to have completely deterred from farther attempts to find a north-eastern commercial route to China and Japan, and this route was also now less necessary, as Houtman returned with the first Dutch fleet from the East Indies the same year that Barents' companions came back from their wintering. The problem was therefore seriously taken up anew for the first time during the present century; though during the intervening period attempts to solve it were not wholly wanting.

For the desire to extend the White Sea trade to Siberia, and jealousy of the companies that had known how to procure for themselves a monopoly of the lucrative commerce with eastern Asia, still led various merchants now and then during the seventeenth century to send out vessels to try whether it was possible to penetrate beyond Novaya Zemlya. I shall confine myself here to an enumeration of the most important of these undertakings, with the necessary bibliographical references.

1608. HENRY HUDSON, during his second voyage, landed on Novaya Zemlya at Karmakul Bay and other places, but did not succeed in his attempt to sail further to the east, north of this island. He made the voyage on account of English merchants. A narrative of it is to be found in Purchas (iii. p. 574), and an excellent critical collection of all the original documents relating to Hudson's life and voyages in G.M. Asher's Henry Hudson the Navigator, London, 1860 (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, No. 26). It was west of the Atlantic that Hudson earned the laurels which gave him for all time so prominent a place in the history of navigation, and the sea there also became his grave. Eastwards he did not penetrate so far as his predecessors. I cannot therefore here find room for any account of his voyage to Novaya Zemlya; it may only be mentioned that two of his crew on the morning of the 25/15th of June, 1608, in 75 deg. N.L., saw a mermaid. The following statement is taken from his journal: "This morning one of the crew, as he looked over the side, saw a mermaid. Another of his comrades came up at his call. She was close to the vessel's side, looking steadily at the men. Soon after she was thrown down by a wave. From the middle upwards her back and breast were like a woman's. Her body was as large as a man's, her skin very white, and long dark hair hung down her back. When she dived, they saw her tail, which resembled that of a dolphin and was spotted like a mackerel's. The names of the men who saw her were Thomas Hiller and Robert Bayner." It was probably a curious seal that gave occasion to this version of the old yarn.

1611. WILLIAM GOURDON, with the title "appointed chief pilote for discoverie to Ob," brought this year a cargo of goods to Pustosersk, and sailed thence to Novaya Zemlya. At the mouth of the Petchora he saw 24 lodjas, manned with ten to 16 men each, bound for "Mangansei" east of Ob (Purchas, iii. pp. 530, 534). While attempting to get further information regarding these voyages to Siberia, the Muscovy Company's envoy learned that, at least as a rule, the question was only of carrying goods by sea to the bottom of Kara Bay, whence they were transported overland to Ob, advantage being taken of two small rivers and a lake (Purchas, iii. p. 539). But other accounts lead us to infer that the Russian lodjas actually sailed to Ob, even through Matotschkin Schar, as appears from statements in Purchas (iii. pp. 804, 805). At the same place we find the statement, already quoted, of a Russian, who in 1584 offered for fifty roubles to act as guide overland from the Petchora to the Ob, that a West-European ship was wrecked at the mouth of the Ob, and its crew killed by the Samoyeds who lived there. The Russian also said that it was an easy matter to sail from Vaygats to the mouth of the Ob.

1612. The whaling captain JAN CORNELISZ. VAN HOORN endeavoured to sail north of Novaya Zemlya towards the east, but met with ice in 77 deg. N.L., which compelled him to return (Witsen, p. 906).

1625. CORNELIS BOSMAN, at the instance of the Northern Company of the Netherlands, with a vessel of 90 tons, manned by 24 men, and provisioned for two and a half years, passed through Yugor Schar eastwards, but fell in with so much ice in the Kara Sea that he was compelled to seek for a harbour in that sound. There he waited for more favourable conditions, but was finally compelled by storm and ice to return with his object unaccomplished. (S. Muller, Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie, Utrecht, 1874, p. 185.)

1653.[144] This year a Danish expedition was sent out to the North-east. An account of the voyage was given by DE LA MARTINIERE, surgeon to the expedition, in a work published for the first time at Paris in 1671, with the following title: Voyage des Pais Septentrionaux. Dans lequel se void les moeurs, maniere de vivre, &c. superstitions des Norweguiens, Lappons, Kiloppes, Borandiens, Syberiens, Samojedes, Zembliens, &c. Islandois, enrichi de plusieurs figures.[145] This work afterwards attained a considerable circulation, doubtless in consequence of Martiniere's easy style, contrasting so strongly with the common dry ship's-log manner, and the large number of wonderful stories he narrates, without the least regard to truth or probability. He is the Munchhausen of the North-east voyages. The Norse peasants, for instance, are said to be all slaves to the nobles, who have sovereign power over their property, tyrannise over their inferiors, and are prone to insurrection. The elks are said to be liable to falling sickness, and therefore fall down in convulsions when they are hunted—hence their name "eleend." Sailors are said to have purchased on the north-west coast of Norway for ten crowns and a pound of tobacco three knots of wind from the Lapps living there, who were all magicians; when the first knot was loosed, a gentle breeze arose, the second gave a strong gale, the third a storm, during which the vessel was in danger of being wrecked.[146]. Novaya Zemlya is stated to be inhabited by a peculiar tribe, "the Zembliens," of whom two were taken prisoners and carried to Copenhagen. De la Martiniere also got the head of a walrus, which had been harpooned with great difficulty; the animal was drawn as a fish with a long horn projecting from its head. As a specimen of the birds of Novaya Zemlya a penguin was drawn and described, and finally the work closed with a rectification of the map of the Polar Regions, which according to the author's ideas ought to be as represented below. I refer to these absurdities, because the account of Martiniere's voyage exerted no little influence on the older writings relating to the Arctic Regions.

1664 and 1668. A whaling captain, WILLEM DE VLAMINGH, sailed in 1664 round the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya to Barents' winter quarters, and thence eastwards, where one of his men thought he saw land ("Jelmert-landt," Witsen, p. 902).[147] The same Vlamingh says that in 1668 he discovered, twenty-five miles N.N.E. of Kolgujev, a new island three to four miles in circumference. This island, which was described in great detail, and named by the discoverer "Witsen's Island," has not since been seen again (Witsen, p. 923).

1666. In this year some vessels were sent from the Netherlands to the north-east. There were Jews among the owners, and the seafarers were furnished with letters in Hebrew, because it was believed that they would come in contact with some of the lost tribes of Israel. Nothing farther appears to have been known of the voyage, which undoubtedly was without result. (Witsen, p. 962.)



1675. A Dutch whaling captain, CORNELIS PIERSZ. SNOB-BERGER, visited Novaya Zemlya, on whose coast he killed three whales and six hundred walruses. He would probably have got still more "fish," if he had not in 72-1/2 deg. found an ore, which appeared to contain silver, gold, and other metals. Instead of blubber the skipper now loaded ore, which in his opinion was precious, but afterwards on being tested at home was found to be valueless (Witsen, p. 918).

17th Century, year not stated. Shipmaster CORNELIS ROULE is said to have sailed in the longitude of Novaya Zemlya to 84-1/2 deg. or 85 deg. N.L. and there discovered a fjord-land, along which he sailed ten miles. Beyond that a large open sea was seen. From a high mountain situated on a sound, in which he rode, it appeared that he might sail one or two watches further to the north. He found there large numbers of birds, which were exceedingly tame (Witsen, p. 920). If we take some degrees from the latitude stated, which is perhaps not very unreasonable in dealing with the narratives of old whalers, which have passed through two or three hands, Roule may, as far back as two hundred years ago, have reached Franz-Josef's Land, and sailed along its coast to a very high latitude for those regions.

1676. WOOD and FLAWES were sent out from England by Charles II. to sail by the north-east passage to the Pacific. For this purpose the English Admiralty fitted out a vessel, the Speedwell, while "as all exploratory voyages are exposed to the possibility of disaster," another small ship, the Prosperous, was purchased and handed over to the expedition by private gentlemen.[148] The command of the first vessel was given to Captain Wood, the chief promoter of the undertaking, and the other vessel was commanded by Captain Flawes. The voyage was completely without result, as Wood did not penetrate so far, either to the north or east, as his predecessors or as the whalers, who appear to have at that time frequently visited North Novaya Zemlya. Wood had previously accompanied Sir John Narborough during a voyage through the dangerous Magellan Straits, in the course of which he became known as a bold and skilful seaman, but he not only wanted experience in sailing amongst ice, but also the endurance and the coolness that are required for voyages in the high north. He thereby showed himself to be quite unfit for the command which he undertook. Before his departure he was unreasonably certain of success; with the first encounter with ice his self-reliance gave way entirely; and when his vessel was wrecked on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, he knew no other way to keep up the courage of his men and prevent mutiny than to send the brandy bottle round.[149] Finally after his return he made Barents and other distinguished seafarers in the Arctic Regions answerable for all the skipper tales collected from quite other quarters, which he before his departure held to be proved undoubtedly true. This voyage would therefore not have been referred to here, if it had not been preceded and followed by lively discussions regarding the fitness of the Polar Sea for navigation, during which at least a portion of the experience which Dutch and English whalers had gained of the state of the ice between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya was rescued from oblivion, though unfortunately almost exclusively in the form of unconfirmed statements of very high latitudes, which had been occasionally reached. Three papers mainly led to Wood's voyage. These were:—

1. A letter, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,[150] on the state of Novaya Zemlya, said to be founded on discoveries which had been made at the express command of the Czar. The letter was accompanied by a map, drawn by an artist named Panelapoetski, who sent it from Moscow as a present to the writer. The Kara Sea is said to be a freshwater inland lake which freezes strongly in winter, and it is stated that according to the unanimous accounts of the Samoyeds and Tartars it is quite possible to sail north of Novaya Zemlya to Japan.

2. Another letter was inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,[151] in which the statement in the former letter on the connection of Novaya Zemlya with the mainland is repeated, and the difficulties which Barents met with ascribed to the circumstance that he sailed too near the land, along which the sea is often frozen; some miles from the shore, on the other hand, it never freezes, even at the Pole, unless occasionally. It is also said that some Amsterdam merchants sailed more than a hundred leagues eastward of Novaya Zemlya, and on that account petitioned the States-General for privileges.[152] However, in consequence of opposition from the Dutch East India Company, their petition was not granted, on which the merchants turned to Denmark. Here their proposal was immediately received with favour. Two vessels were fitted out, but instead of sailing to Japan, they went to Spitzbergen to the whale-fishing. It is further stated in the letter that it would not be unadvisable to let some persons live for a time with the Samoyeds, in order to find out what they knew of the matter, and that, when a more complete knowledge of the navigable waters was acquired, the whole voyage from England to Japan might be accomplished in five or six weeks. Were a wintering necessary, it would not be attended with any danger, if, instead of a house of thick planks standing by itself, earth huts were used.

3. A pamphlet, whose contents are given in the long and peculiar title: "A brief Discourse of a Passage by the North-Pole to Japan, China, etc. Pleaded by Three Experiments: and Answers to all Objections that can be urged against a Passage that way. As: 1. By a Navigation from Amsterdam into the North-Pole, and two Degrees beyond it. 2. By a Navigation from Japan towards the North-Pole. 3. By an Experiment made by the Czar of Muscovy, whereby it appears, that to the Northwards of Nova Zembla is a free and open Sea as far as Japan, China, etc. With a Map of all the Discovered Lands neerest to the Pole. By Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King's most Exellent Majesty. London, 1674."

The most remarkable passage in this scarce little book is the following:—

"Being about twenty-two years ago in Amsterdam, I went into a drinking-house to drink a cup of beer for my thirst, and sitting by the public fire, among several people, there happened a seaman to come in, who, seeing a friend of his there, whom he knew went in the Greenland voyage, wondered to see him, because it was not yet time for the Greenland fleet to come home, and asked him what accident brought him home so soon; his friend (who was the steer-man aforsaid in a Greenland ship that summer) told him, that their ship went not out to fish that summer, but only to take in the lading of the whole fleet, to bring it to an early market. But, said he, before the fleet had caught fish enough to lade us, we, by order of the Greenland Company, sailed unto the north pole and back again. Whereupon (his relation being novel to me) I entered into discourse with him, and seemed to question the truth of what he said; but he did ensure me it was true, and that the ship was then in Amsterdam, and many of the seamen belonging to her to justify the truth of it; and told me, moreover, that they had sailed two degrees beyond the pole. I asked him if they found no land or islands about the pole? He told me, No, they saw no ice; I asked him what weather they had there? He told me fine warm weather, such as was at Amsterdam in the summer time and as hot."[153]

In addition to these stories there were several contributions to a solution of the problem, which Wood himself collected, as a statement by Captain Goulden, who had made thirty voyages to Spitzbergen, that two Dutchmen had penetrated eastward of that group of islands to 89 deg. N.L.; the observation that on the coast of Corea whales had been caught with European harpoons in them;[154] and that driftwood eaten to the heart by the sea-worm was found on the coasts of the Polar lands, &c.[155]

When Wood failed, he abandoned the views he had before maintained, declaring that the statements on which he had founded his plans were downright lies and delusions. But the belief in a polar sea that is occasionally navigable is not yet given up. It has since then been maintained by such men as DAINES BARRINGTON,[156] FERDINAND VON WRANGEL, AUGUSTUS PETERMANN,[157] and others. Along with nearly all Polar travellers of the present day, I had long been of an opposite opinion, believing the Polar Sea to be constantly covered with impenetrable masses of ice, continuous or broken up, but I have come to entertain other views since in the course of two winterings—the first in 79 deg.53', that is to say, nearer the Pole than any other has wintered in the old world, the second in the neighbourhood of the Asiatic Pole of cold—I have seen that the sea does not freeze completely, even in the immediate neighbourhood of land. From this I draw the conclusion that the sea scarcely anywhere permanently[158] freezes over where it is of any considerable depth, and far from land. If this be the case, there is nothing unreasonable in the old accounts, and what has happened once we may expect to happen another time.

However this may be, it is certain that the ignominious result of Wood's voyage exerted so great a deterring influence from all new undertakings in the same direction, that nearly two hundred years elapsed before an expedition was again sent out with the distinctly declared intention, which was afterwards disavowed, of achieving a north-east passage. This was the famous Austrian expedition of PAYER and WEYPRECHT in 1872-74, which failed indeed in penetrating far to the eastward, but which in any case formed an epoch in the history of Arctic exploration by the discovery of Franz-Josef's Land and by many valuable researches on the natural conditions of the Polar lands. Considered as a North-east voyage, this expedition was the immediate predecessor of that of the Vega.

It is so well known through numerous works recently published, and above all by Payer's spirited narrative, that I need not go into further detail regarding it.

But if the North-east voyages proper thus almost entirely ceased during the long interval between Wood's and Payer's voyages, a large number of other journeys for the purpose of research and hunting were instead carried out during this period, through which we obtained the first knowledge founded on actual observations of the natural conditions of Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea. Of these voyages, mainly made by Russians and Scandinavians, I shall give an account in the next chapter. It was these that prepared the way for the success which we at last achieved.

[Footnote 102: In Bosworth's translation this name is replaced by White Sea, an unnecessary modernising of the name, and incorrect besides, as the White Sea is only a bay of the ocean which bounds Europe on the north. ]

[Footnote 103: The Russian chronicles state that the land between the Dwina and the Petchora (Savolotskaja Tchud) was made tributary under the Slavs in Novgorod during the first half of the ninth century. A monastery is spoken of in the beginning of the twelfth century at the mouth of the Dwina, whence we may conclude that the land was even then partly peopled by Russians, but we want trustworthy information as to the time when the Russian-Finnish Arctic voyages began (compare F. Litke, Viermalige Reise durch das noerdliche Eismeer. Berlin, 1835, p. 3). ]

[Footnote 104: The voyage is described in Hakluyt, 1st Edition, p. 311. It is inserted in the list of contents in the following terms: "The voyage of Steven Burrough towarde the river Ob, intending the discoverie of the north-east passage. An. 1556." It appears from the introduction to Hakluyt's work that the narrative was revised by Burrough himself. In the text Burrowe is written instead of Burrough. ]

[Footnote 105: As I have already mentioned, von Herbertstein states that the Russians (Istoma and others) as early as 1496 sailed round the northern extremity of Norway in boats, which when necessary could be carried over land. North Cape, or rather Nordkyn, was called at that time Murmanski Nos (the Norman Cape). When Hulsius in his collection of travels gives von Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage, he considers Swjatoi Nos on the Kola peninsula to be North Cape (Harnel, Tradescant, St. Petersburg, 1847, p. 40). ]

[Footnote 106: This must be a slip of the pen or an error of the press; it was probably intended to be 68 deg. 48'. Kola lies in 68 deg. 51' N.L. ]

[Footnote 107: This statement is very remarkable. For it shows that the vessels, that were then used by the Russians and Fins, were not very inferior as compared with those of the West-Europeans, which is confirmed by the fact, among others, that, nowhere in accounts of the voyages of the English or Dutch in former times to Novaya Zemlya, do we find it stated that in respect to navigation they were very superior to the Kola men. As the Russian-Finnish lodjas of the time were probably beyond the influence of the shipbuilding art of Western Europe, it is of importance to collect all that is known about the way in which these vessels were built. Several drawings of them occur in the accounts of the Dutch voyages, but it is uncertain how far they are accurate. According to these the lodja was klinker-built, with boards not riveted together but bound fast with willows, as is still occasionally practised in these regions. The form of the craft besides reminds us of that of the present walrus-hunting sloop. ]

[Footnote 108: Cape Voronov, on the west side of the mouth of the river Mesen. ]

[Footnote 109: Probably mountain foxes. Remains of these fox-traps are still frequently met with along the coast of the Polar Sea, where the Russians have carried on hunting. ]

[Footnote 110: Kanin Nos is in 68 deg. 30' N.L. ]

[Footnote 111: This was the first meeting between West-Europeans and Samoyeds. ]

[Footnote 112: The capes which bound the mouth of the Petchora—Cape Ruski Savorot and Cape Medinski Savorot,—are very nearly in lat. 69 deg.. ]

[Footnote 113: See above, page 168. ]

[Footnote 114: Evidently islands near the southern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. ]

[Footnote 115: Probably he was of Finnish race. The Quaens in North Norway are still the most skilful harpooners. In recent times they have found rivals in skill with the harpoon and gun in the Lapps. ]

[Footnote 116: The information Burrough obtained regarding the Samoyeds is given above at page 100. ]

[Footnote 117: From the context, and the circumstance that "much ice was drifting in the sea," we may conclude that this haven was situated on the north side of the island at the entrance to the Kara Port. ]

[Footnote 118: Probably the river which on Massa's map is called Narontza, and debouches on the west coast of Yalmal. ]

[Footnote 119: All the three vessels that were employed in the first English expedition to the North-east had an unfortunate fate, viz.:

The Edward Bonaventure, commanded by Chancelor and Burrough, sailed in 1553 from England to the White Sea, returned to England in 1554 and was on the way plundered by the Dutch (Purchas, iii. p. 250); started again with Chancelor for the Dwina in 1555, and returned the same year to England under Captain John Buckland; accompanied Burrough in 1556 to the Kola peninsula; went thence to the Dwina to convey to England Chancelor and a Russian embassy, consisting of the ambassador Ossip Gregorjevitsch Nepeja and a suite of sixteen men; the vessel besides being laden with goods to the value of 20,000l. It was wrecked in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen (Aberdour Bay) on the 20th (10th) November. Chancelor himself, his wife, and seven Russians were drowned, and most of the cargo lost.

The Bona Esperanza, admiral of the fleet during the expedition of 1553. Its commander and whole crew perished, as has been already stated, of disease at Arzina on the coast of Kola in the beginning of 1554. The vessel was saved and was to have been used in 1556 to carry to England the Russian embassy already mentioned. After having been driven by a storm into the North Sea, it reached a harbour in the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, but after leaving that harbour disappeared completely, nothing being known of its fate.

The Bona Confidentia was saved like the Bona Esperanza after the disastrous wintering at Arzina; was also used in conveying the Russian embassy from Archangel in 1556, but stranded on the Norwegian coast, every man on board perishing and the whole cargo being lost.

Of the four vessels that left the Dwina on the 2nd August, 1556, only the Philip and Mary succeeded, after wintering at Trondhjem, in reaching the Thames on the 28th (18th) April, 1557. (A letter of Master Henrie Lane to the worshipfull Master William Sanderson, containing a brief discourse of that which passed in the north-east discoverie, for the space of three and thirtie yeeres, Purchas, iii. p. 249.) ]

[Footnote 120: Hamel, Tradescant der aeltere, p. 106. Hakluyt, 1st Edition, p. 326. The voiage of the foresaid M. Stephen Burrough An. 1557 from Colmogro to Wordhouse, &c. This voyage of Burrough has attracted little attention; from it however we learn that the Dutch even at that time carried on an extensive commerce with Russian Lapland. In the same narrative there is also a list of words with statements of prices and suitable goods for trade with the inhabitants of the Kola peninsula. ]

[Footnote 121: Two accounts of this voyage are to be found in Hakluyt's collection (pp. 466 and 476). A copy of Pet's own journal was discovered some years ago, along with other books, frozen in among the remains of Barents' wintering on the north-east side of Novaya Zemlya. It has not been published, but is in the possession of Consul Rein at Hammerfest. ]

[Footnote 122: The Russians had thus landmarks on Novaya Zemlya 300 years ago. ]

[Footnote 123: It is commonly assumed that Pet sailed into the Kara Sea through Yugor Schar, but that this was not the case is shown partly by the fact that he never speaks of sailing through a long and narrow sound, partly by the account of the many islands which he saw in his voyage, and partly by the statement that coming from the south he sailed round the westernmost promontory of Vaygats Island. If we except small rocks near the shore, there are no islands off the southern part of Vaygats Island. In sailing east of Medinski Savorot, Pet took the land south of Yugor Schar for Vaygats, and the soundings on the 29th (19th) July were carried out undoubtedly in the mouth of some small river debouching there. ]

[Footnote 124: Of Jackman Hakluyt says (2nd Edition, i. p. 453): "William with Charles Jackman came to a haven in Norway between Tronden and Rostock in October, 1580, and wintered there. Thence the following February he went with a vessel, belonging to the king of Denmark, to Iceland, and since then nothing has been heard of him." About that time an English ship stranded at the Ob, and the crew were killed by the Samoyeds. It has been conjectured that it possibly was Jackman (compare Purchas, iii. p. 546; Hamel, p. 238). It is more probable that the vessel which suffered this fate was that which, two years before Pet and Jackman's voyage, appears to have been sent out by the Muscovy Company to penetrate eastwards from the Petchora. The members of this expedition were James Bassendine, James Woodcocke, and Richard Brown, but we know nothing concerning it except the very sensible and judicious rules that were drawn up for the expedition (Hakluyt, 1st Edition, p. 406). ]

[Footnote 125: I have not been able to find any name resembling this on modern maps. ]

[Footnote 126: A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions. London, 1818, p. 99. ]

[Footnote 127: His proper name was Willem Barentszoon; it was also written Barentz, Barendsz, Bernardsson, &c. Barents' three voyages formed the subject of a work by GERRIT DE VEER, which was published for the first time in 1598 at Amsterdam in a Dutch, a Latin, and a French edition. The last-mentioned has the following title: Vray Description de Trois Voyages des Mer tres admirables faicis ... par les navires d'Hollande &c. Zelande au nord ... vers les Royaumes de China &c. Catay, etc. Afterwards this work was frequently reprinted in different languages, both singly and in DE BEY'S, PURCHAS', and other collections of Travels. See on this point P.A. Tiele, Memoire bibliographique sur les journaux des navigateurs Neerlandais. Amsterdam, 1867. ]

[Footnote 128: From two large crosses which were found erected on the island. This shows that the Russians had also explored the north part of Novaya Zemlya before the West-Europeans. ]

[Footnote 129: The name Oliver Brunel occurs so often in accounts of the first voyages to Novaya Zemlya, and the man who bore it appears to have exercised so great an influence on the development of commercial communications with Russia, and the sending out of exploratory expeditions to the North Polar Sea, that I shall give a brief sketch of his life, mainly after S. Muller, Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie, Utrecht, 1874, p. 26.

Oliver Brunel was born in Brussels, and in 1565 went in a Russian vessel from Kola to Kolmogor in order to learn the Russian language and make himself acquainted with the trade of the region. But the English, who of course eagerly endeavoured to prevent any intrusion on their newly-discovered commercial territory, prevailed on the Russians to keep him in prison for several years. In the end he was set at liberty, or rather handed over to the rich merchants Jakov and Grigory Anikiev (Stroganov). In consequence of this, Brunel came to take part in the commercial expeditions sent out by this mercantile house, (which by the conquest of Siberia acquired a world-historical importance, both by land and sea,) to the parts of Asia bordering on Russia, whereby he became well acquainted with the Polar Sea and the Gulf of Obi. Brunel afterwards brought about direct communication between the Netherlands and the great commercial house, almost sovereign de facto if not de jure in extensive countries. In connection with this Brunel made strenuous exertions to open in earnest the navigation of the Netherlands to the White Sea, and there found a Netherlands factory, which was placed not on Rosen Island, which was occupied by the English, but on the spot where the present Archangel is situated. Brunel next took part in preparations for a Russian North-east expedition, for which Swedish shipbuilders were received into Stroganov's service. Brunei himself travelled by land to Holland to enlist men. A number of particulars regarding these undertakings of Brunel are contained in a letter of JOHN BALAK to GERARD MERCATOR, dated "Arusburgi ad Ossellam fluvium" the 20th February, 1581. The letter is printed in the second edition of Hakluyt, 1598, i. p. 509. Scarcely however had Brunel returned to his native country, before he altered his plan and wished to procure for his own fatherland the honour and advantage of the undertaking. The first attempt of the Dutch to reach China and Japan by the north-east thus came about. Of this voyage we know only that Brunel endeavoured without success to sail through Yugor Schar, and that his vessel, heavily laden with furs, plates of mica, and rock-crystal, was wrecked on the way home at the mouth of the Petchora (Beschryvinghe vander Samoyeden Landt in Tartarien, &c. Amsterdam, 1612. S. Muller's Photolithographic Reproduction, 1878). The mica and rock-crystal were undoubtedly brought from the Ural, as no useful plates of mica or large rock-crystals are found in the region of the Petchora. Brunel then entered the Danish service. For we know that an Oliver Brunel during the reign of King Fredrik II. in Denmark offered to explore Greenland, and for that purpose in 1583 obtained the right to settle in Bergen and there enjoy six years freedom from taxes (Cf. Groenlands historiske Mindesmoerker, Copenhagen, 1838, vol. iii. p. 666). ]

[Footnote 130: Probably the Sachanich Bay of the Russians. ]

[Footnote 131: Voyagie, ofte Schip Vaert, van Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, van by Noorden, om langes Noorwegen de Noortcaep, Laplant, Vinlant, Ruslandt ... tot voorby de revier Oby, Franeker, 1601. Another edition at Amsterdam in 1624, and in abstract in Saeghman's collection of travels in 1665. The voyage is also described in Blavii Atlas Major, 1665. Linschoten was "commis" on board, a post which included both the employment of supercargo and that of owners' commissioner. ]

[Footnote 132: That is Yugor Schar. This name also occurs, though in a somewhat altered form, as "Wegorscoi tzar," on Isaac Massa's map of 1612, which, according to the statement of the publisher, is a copy of a Russian chart. ]

[Footnote 133: Accounts of this expedition are given both by De Veer and Linschoten in the above-named works. ]

[Footnote 134: These remarkable statements are found in Linschoten's above quoted work printed in 1601, and cannot therefore be spurious. They thus show that Taimur Land was inhabited by Samoyeds, and that the geography of this region was then well known. ]

[Footnote 135: See above, page 142. ]

[Footnote 136: The sketch of this voyage forms the main portion of the above mentioned work of De Veer. Undoubtedly the adventures during the wintering, the first in so high a latitude, in the first place procured for De Veer's work the enormous popularity it enjoyed, and led to its being translated into so many languages. ]

[Footnote 137: The resolution regarding the offer of this prize is given below: Extract nit het Register der Resolutien van de Hoog Mogende Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenigde Nederlanden.

Folio 158 vso 13 April 1596.

De Gedeputeerde van de Heeren Staten van Holland verclaren dat heure principalen geadviseert hebbende op de hervattinge van het voyagie naer China en Japan, benoorden om, deselve voyage afgeslagen hebben, ten aenzien van de groote costen die nu twee Jaren achter den anderen om de reyse te verzoeken te vorgeefs angewent zijn, maer dat Hare E. goetgevonden ende geconsenteert hebben, mede tgevolgh van de andere provincien bij zoeverre datter eenige coopluijden aventuriers bij compagnie ofte anderssine de voerscreven reijse op heure costen ende risique, zonder te schepen ende tgelt van den lande, zonde begeren te verzoeken, dat men dezelve aventuriers de reijse gevonden ende gedaen hebbende, daervan brengende goet ende geloofflijck beschijt, tot haer luijder wedercomste, zal vereeren mette somme van vijff en twintich duysent gulden eens. Item daar enboven accorderen den vrijdom voor twee jaren van convoyen der goederen die zij uit dese landen naer China off Japan zullen transporteren, ende noch vrijdom voer den tyd van acht jaren van te goederen die zij uit China ofte Japan in dese landen sullen bringen. Waerop geadviseert wesende hebben de Gedeputeerde van d'andere provincien hen daarmede geconformeert, die van Seelant opt welbehagen van heure principalen, maer die van Utrecht hebben verclart niet te consenteren in de vereeringe van XXVm. ]

[Footnote 138: Every Polar traveller has at one time or other made the same or a similar mistake. In 1861, for instance, a boat party, of whom I was one, thought that they saw clearly sailors in sou'-westers and with white shirtsleeves building a cairn on a point which appeared to be at no great distance. But the cairn was found to be a very distant mountain, the shirt-sleeves were formed of snow-fields, the sou'-westers of pointed cliffs, and the motion arose from oscillatory changes in the atmospheric strata. ]

[Footnote 139: Undoubtedly Anser bernicla, which is common on the west coast of Spitzbergen. The Dutch name ought neither to be translated red goose, as some Englishmen have done, nor confounded with rotges. ]

[Footnote 140: See the copy of Barents' own map with his course laid down upon it, which is to be found in Pontanus, Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium Historia (Amst. 1611), and is annexed to this work in photolithographic facsimile. ]

[Footnote 141: On the assumption of a horizontal refraction of about 45'. ]

[Footnote 142: See on this point De Veer, leaf 25 and an unpaged leaf between pages 30 and 31 in Blavii Atlas Major, tom. i. That a mistake occurred in the date is not possible, because the latitude was determined by solar observations on the 29th (19th) February, the 21st (11th) and 31st (21st) March (see De Veer, I. 27). Besides, at the correct date, the 3rd February (24th January), a conjunction of Jupiter and the moon was observed, whereby the difference of longitude between Ice Haven and Venice was determined to be 75 deg.. However erroneous this determination may be, it shows, however, that the date was correct. ]

[Footnote 143: Built along with a weigh-house intended for the Norwegians in 1582 by the first vojvode in Kola (Hamel, p. 66). In Pontanus (Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium Historia, Amsterodami, 1611, p. 142), there is a drawing of the inner yard of this house, and of the reception of shipwrecked men there. ]

[Footnote 144: The year is incorrectly given as 1647 by F. von Adelung (Kritisch-Litteraerische Uebersicht, &c.). ]

[Footnote 145: The following editions are enumerated: four French, Paris, 1671, 1672, 1676, and Amsterdam, 1708; six German, Hamburg, 1675, Leipzig, 1703, 1706, 1710, 1711, and 1718; one Latin, Glueckstadt, 1675; two Dutch, Amsterdam, 1681 and 1685; one Italian, printed in Conte Aurelio degli Anzi's Il Genio Vagante, Parma, 1691; two English, one printed separately in 1706, the other in Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibl., 3rd edition. London, 1744-48, Vol. II. p. 457. ]

[Footnote 146: The story of the wind knots is taken from Olaus Magnus, De gentibus septentrionalibus, Rome, 1555, p. 119. There a drawing of the appearance of the knots is also given. ]

[Footnote 147: Compare page 203. ]

[Footnote 148: These were James Duke of York, Lord Berkley, Sir John Williamson, Sir John Bankes, Mr. Samuel Peeps, Captain Herbert, Mr. Dupey, and Mr. Hoopgood (Harris, Nav. Bibl., vol. ii. p. 453). ]

[Footnote 149: "All I could do in this exigency was to let the brandy-bottle go round, which kept them allways fox'd, till the 8th July Captain Flawes came so seasonably to our relief" (Barrow, A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions. London, 1818, p. 268). ]

[Footnote 150: "A letter, not long since written to the Publisher by an Experienced person residing at Amsterdam," etc. (Philosophical Transactions, vol. IX. p. 3, London, 1674). ]

[Footnote 151: "A summary Relation of what hath been hitherto discovered in the matter of the North-East passage; communicated by a good Hand" (Phil. Trans., vol. x. p. 417. London, 1675). ]

[Footnote 152: The time when the voyage was made is not stated in the letter quoted. Harris says that he with great difficulty ascertained the year of the successful voyage to the eastward to be 1670. He says further that the persons who gave him this information also stated that, at the time when this petition was given in to the States-General, it was also asserted that there was no difficulty in sailing northwards from Spitzbergen (Greenland), and that many Dutch vessels had actually done it. To confirm this statement the merchants proposed that the logs of the Spitzbergen fleet for the year 1655 should be examined. This was done. In seven of them it was found recorded that the vessels had sailed to 79 deg. N.L. Three other logs agreed in the point that on the 1st August, 1655, 88 deg. 56' was observed. The sea here was open and the swell heavy (Harris, Nav. Bibl., ii. p. 453). J.R. Forster (Geschichte der Entdeckungen und Schiffsfahrten im Norden, Frankfurt a. d. Oder, 1874) appears to place the voyage eastward of Novaya Zemlya in the period before 1614. It is, however, probable that the voyage in question is Vlamingh's remarkable one in 1664, or that in 1666, of which I have already given an account. ]

[Footnote 153: In more recent times the whalers have been more modest in their statements about high northern latitudes reached. Thus a Dutchman who had gone whale-fishing for twenty-two years, at an accidental meeting with Tschitschagoff in Bell Sound in the year 1766, stated among other things that he himself had once been in 81 deg., but that he heard that other whalers had been in 83 deg. and had seen land over the ice. He had seen the east coast of Greenland (Spitzbergen) only once in 75 deg. N.L. (Herrn von Tschitschagoff Russisch-kaiserliehen Admirals Reise nach dem Eissmeer, St. Petersburg, 1793, p. 83). Dutch shipmasters too, who in the beginning of the seventeenth century penetrated north of Spitzbergen to 82 deg., said that they had thence seen land towards the north (Muller, Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie. p. 180). ]

[Footnote 154: Witsen states, p. 43, that he had conversed with a Dutch seaman, Benedictus Klerk, who had formerly served on board a whaler, and afterwards been a prisoner in Corea. He had asserted that in whales that were killed on the coast of that country he had found Dutch harpoons. The Dutch then carried on whale-fishing only in the north part of the Atlantic. The find thus shows that whales can swim from one ocean to the other. As we know that these colossal inhabitants of the Polar Sea do not swim from one ice-ocean to the other across the equator, this observation must be considered very important, especially at a time when the question whether Asia and America are connected across the Pole was yet unsettled. Witsen also enumerates, at p. 900, several occasions on which stone harpoons were found in the skins of whales caught in the North Atlantic. These harpoons, however, may as well be derived from the wild races, unacquainted with iron, at Davis Strait, as from tribes living on the north part of the Pacific. At Kamschatka, too, long before whale-fishing by Europeans began in Behring's Sea, harpoons marked with Latin letters were found in whales (Steller, Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka, Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1774, p. 102). ]

[Footnote 155: The account of Wood's voyage was printed in London in 1694 by Smith and Walford, printers to the Royal Society (according to a statement by Barrington, The possibility of approaching the North Pole asserted, 2nd Edition, London, 1818, p. 34). I have only had an opportunity of seeing extracts from the account of this voyage in Harris and others. ]

[Footnote 156: Barrington published a number of papers on this question, which are collected in the work whose title is given above, of which there were two editions. ]

[Footnote 157: At several places in his Mittheilungen, 1855-79. ]

[Footnote 158: That thin sheets of ice are formed in clear and calm weather, even in the open sea and over great depths, was observed several times during the expedition of 1868. But when we consider that salt water has no maximum of density situated above the freezing-point, that ice is a bad conductor of heat, and that the clear, newly-formed ice is soon covered by a layer of snow which hinders radiation, it appears to me to be improbable that the ice-covering at deep, open places can become so thick that it is not broken up even by a moderate storm. Even the shallow harbour at Mussel Bay first froze permanently in the beginning of February, and in the end of January the swell in the harbour was so heavy, that all the three vessels of the Swedish Expedition were in danger of being wrecked—in consequence of the tremendous sea in 80 deg. N.L. in the end of January! The sea must then have been open very far to the north-west On the west coast of Spitzbergen the sea in winter is seldom completely frozen within sight of land. Even at Barents' winter haven on the north-east coast of Novaya Zemlya, the sea during the coldest season of the year was often free of ice, and Hudson's statement, "that it is not surprising that the navigator falls in with so much ice in the North Atlantic, when there are so many sounds and bays on Spitzbergen," shows that even he did not believe in any ice being formed in the open sea. ]



CHAPTER VI.

The North-east Voyages of the Russians and Norwegians— Rodivan Ivanov, 1690—The great Northern Expedition, 1734-37 —The supposed richness in metals of Novaya Zemlya— Juschkov, 1757—Savva Loschkin, 1760—Rossmuislov, 1768— Lasarev, 1819—Luetke, 1821-24—Ivanov, 1822-28— Pachtussov, 1832-35—Von Baer, 1837—Zivolka and Moissejev, 1838-39—Von Krusenstern, 1860-62—The Origin and History of the Polar Sea Hunting—Carlsen, 1868—Ed. Johannesen, 1869-70—Ulve, Mack, and Quale, 1870—Mack, 1871— Discovery of the Relics of Barents' wintering—Tobiesen's wintering, 1872-73—The Swedish Expeditions, 1875 and 1876 —Wiggins, 1876—Later Voyages to and from the Yenisej.

From what I have stated above it follows that the coast population of North Russia earned on an active navigation on the Polar Sea long before the English and the Dutch, and that commercial expeditions were often undertaken from the White Sea and the Petchora to the Ob and the Yenisej, sometimes wholly by sea round Yalmal, but most frequently partly by sea and partly by land transport over that peninsula. In the latter case the Russians went to work in the following way; they first sailed through Yugor Straits, and over the southern part of the Kara Sea to the mouth of the Mutnaja, a river debouching on Yalmal; they then rowed or towed the boats up the river and over two lakes to a ridge about 350 metres broad, which forms the watershed on Yalmal between the rivers running west and those running east; over this ridge the boats and the goods were dragged to another lake, Selennoe, from which they were finally carried down the River Selennaja to the Gulf of Obi.[159]

These and similar accounts were collected with great difficulty, and not without danger, by the Muscovy Company's envoys; but among the accounts that have been thus preserved we do not find a single sketch of any special voyage, on the ground of which we could place a Russian name beside that of Willoughby, Burrough, Pet and Barents in the older history of the North-East Passage. The historical sources of Russia too must be similarly incomplete in this respect, to judge from the otherwise instructive historical introduction to Luetke's voyage. Gallant seamen, but no Hakluyt, were born during the sixteenth and seventeenth century on the shores of the White Sea, and therefore the names of these seamen and the story of their voyages have long since fallen into complete obscurity, excepting some in comparatively recent times.

In the second edition of Witsen's great work we find, at page 913, an account of an unsuccessful hunting voyage to the Kara Sea, undertaken in 1690, that is to say, at a time when voyages between the White Sea and the Obi and Yenisej were on the point of ceasing completely. The account was drawn up by Witsen from an oral communication by one of the shipwrecked men, Rodivan Ivanov, who was for several years mate on a Russian vessel, employed in seal-fishing on the coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island.