THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE AND THE WHITE SEA
Shortly after the death of Henry VIII there reappeared in England that
mysterious and elusive figure which has so often flitted across the page
of this history—Sebastian Cabot. Although he had passed thirty-five
years in the service of Spain, had received high pay and honour, had
been appointed to the command of an important expedition, and had been
forgiven for his mistakes and incapacity on his return, he was never
really content, and was for ever ready to plot and intrigue that he
might skip from the service of one master to that of another. But
Sebastian Cabot was not the subtle and calculating villain that he has
often been painted. The key to his unending restlessness was nothing
more nor less than an egregious vanity, a never-satisfied desire to be
praised, looked up to, consulted, a morbid fear that he was falling in
the esteem of his fellows. Hence his offers to betray secrets which he
never possessed, his boasts of exclusive knowledge in astronomy and
navigation which he never revealed, and his tacit acquiescence in the
attribution to him by contemporary historians of the honour of being the
original discoverer of North America. Yet with all his hollowness he was
a useful man: he probably knew as much of the scientific side of
navigation and geography as any man living, although he professed to
know much more; and in the course of his long career he could not have
failed to acquire a very perfect knowledge of the details of Spanish
methods of exploration and discovery.
For some ten years at least he had been contemplating the
re-transference of his services to England. In November 1538 he
approached Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry VIII’s envoy in Spain, with a request
to be recommended to the king. Wyatt’s memorandum runs: ‘To remember
Sebastian Cabote. He hath here but 300 ducats a year, and he is
desirous, if he might not serve the King, at least to see him, as his
old master.’ This touching manifestation of affection failed of its
effect. Henry showed no inclination to outbid the emperor for Cabot’s
expensive talents, and no more is heard of the intrigue until 1547. On
October 9 of that year, some eight months after the accession of Edward
VI, the Council made out a warrant for £100 ‘for transporting one Shabot
a pilot to come out of Hispain to serve and inhabit in England’.[288]
The sum was far too large for the expense of the journey alone; possibly
some bribery was needed to get Cabot out of the country. The affair was
still not cleared up nearly two years later when an entry occurs
relative to this same sum of £100, the warrant for which was to be
‘taken up by exchange’ by Henry Ostrich, a member of a business house
which had dealings in Spain.
The date of Cabot’s flight can only be approximately stated. It almost
certainly took place in the summer or autumn of 1548. On the 6th of
January of the following year King Edward, or rather the Protector
Somerset, granted him an annual pension of £166 13_s._ 4_d._, payable
quarterly, the first instalment to date from Michaelmas, 1548; which
date was doubtless near the commencement of his service in England.[289]
Cabot had probably given out that he had travelled to England on private
business. He certainly made no resignation of his office of Pilot Major
of Spain. Consequently more than a year elapsed before the emperor
troubled to ask for his return. In November 1549 Sir Philip Hoby wrote
from Brussels that the emperor had expressed a desire for Cabot to be
sent back. Five months later the Council replied that they were not
detaining him in England, but that he refused of his own accord to
leave; and that as he was an English subject they could not compel him.
With this the matter dropped. Cabot was frequently described by writers
of the latter half of the sixteenth century as an Englishman by birth,
although there is little doubt that he first saw the light in Venice. He
himself lied freely on the point as occasion demanded, and at this
period it was obviously to his interest to pose as an Englishman.
His position and occupations in England at this time are obscure.
Hakluyt states that he was ‘Grand Pilot’ of England, but there is no
other evidence that such an office then officially existed. The
adventurers of the Council doubtless entertained schemes of diverting
some of the wealth of the new worlds into the coffers of their own
State. The long stagnation of the English mind on such subjects was at
last breaking up, as many contemporary events indicate; and mid-century
England was virgin ground for the boastings and mystifications of the
old intriguer, who revelled in the impression he produced on the
unsophisticated islanders. The esteem in which he was held is proved by
several passages in Eden and Hakluyt. But the only project, prior to
that of the north-east voyage to Cathay, of which even a hint survives,
is that referred to in a letter from Cabot to Charles V, informing him
of a design of the Duke of Northumberland to fit out an expedition to
Peru in co-operation with the French.[290] Needless to say, the scheme
was never put into execution. Cabot was simply amusing his credulous
hosts while at the same time ingratiating himself with the emperor by
betraying them. It almost looks as if he had in view at this time yet
another change of employers. His one real achievement during his
declining years did not take shape until the last year of Edward’s
reign.
The general progress of discovery and the growth of English manufactures
led to the project of finding a passage to Cathay by the north-east.
Theoretically there were four ways of reaching from Europe the shores of
eastern Asia, which were still regarded as the most desirable mercantile
goal in the world. The most practicable route, via the Cape of Good
Hope, had been discovered and monopolized by the Portuguese, and no ship
of any other nationality had yet traversed it. The Spaniards had opened
up the corresponding western voyage through the Straits of Magellan or
South-West Passage, although they did not use it to anything like the
same extent, preferring to reach the Pacific by transhipment across the
isthmus of Panama. Frequent attempts, English for the most part, had
ended in nothing but discouragement for those who dreamed of a
North-West Passage through the ice-strewn gate of Davis Straits. The
fourth method only then, through ‘the north east frostie seas’, remained
to be tried. Few practical men could at this stage have put any trust in
the facile theory of Robert Thorne that it was possible to sail due
north over the Pole itself. But the coast-line of northern Russia and
Siberia was entirely unexplored, and, on the principle of _omne ignotum
pro magnifico_, it seemed to offer a glorious solution of the great
problem. Some expansion of the field of England’s commerce was
imperatively needed, for the old European markets were now being
exploited to the fullest possible extent, and the increasing luxury of
living, coupled with the industrial unrest due to the transformation of
the land system, rendered an extension of oversea trade essential to the
salvation of the country. The new England of the Renaissance, seething
with restless energies which waited to take shape and direction, was
incapable of living in a state of economic isolation from the rest of
the world.
In the months preceding the spring of 1553 a strong combination of
capitalists, courtiers, and merchants was formed for the prosecution of
the Cathay enterprise. It included the Marquis of Winchester, the Earls
of Arundel, Bedford, and Pembroke, Lord William Howard, Sir William
Cecil, Sir John Gresham, Thomas Gresham, Sir George Barnes, and about
two hundred others.[291] None of the documents relating to the Company
prior to the first voyage are now known to exist with the exception of
Sebastian Cabot’s ordinances for the guidance of the commanders. From a
reference in the latter, however, it is evident that a charter of
incorporation was granted by Edward VI, and that the government of the
Company was regularly constituted. Article 20 of the ordinances,
relating to the disposal of merchandise, provides that an inventory
shall be ‘presented to the Governor, Consuls and Assistants in London,
in good order, to the intent the King’s Majesty may be truly answered of
that which to his Grace by his grant of incorporation is limited’. It
would appear by this that in return for granting a monopoly the king was
to have a share of the profits. Sebastian Cabot acted as chief expert
adviser to the new company, and, in consideration of his services, he
was appointed its first Governor, in which position he was confirmed by
the subsequent charter granted by Philip and Mary in 1555. His dimly
reported adventures in search of the North-West Passage under Henry VII
were no doubt supposed to give weight to his opinions on the North-East,
although in reality he was as ignorant as was every one else on the
subject. The Company raised, for the setting out of the first voyage, a
capital of £6,000 divided into £25 shares. The subscribing of a single
share entitled an investor to membership.
It is important to emphasize the fact that this new company of
‘Merchants Adventurers of England for the discovery of lands,
territories, isles, dominions and seignories unknown’ was an
organization quite distinct from and independent of the old Merchant
Adventurers who exported cloth to the Low Countries. The term ‘merchant
adventurers’ was of general and not particular application, although,
during the time when there was only one such society in London, it had
naturally tended to be used as a proper noun. The fact that by force of
circumstances the name of the new combination was soon changed, and that
it came to be called the Russia or Muscovy Company, has perpetuated the
error as to its origin, from which serious misconceptions have arisen.
One of these is the story that Sebastian Cabot was Governor of the Low
Countries Merchant Adventurers, and that, in that capacity, he took a
leading part in the struggle with the Hansa which ended in the abolition
of that society’s privileged position in England. This supposition,
first advanced in Campbell’s _Lives of the British Admirals_, and
repeated by subsequent writers, is unsupported by any contemporary
evidence, and is manifestly absurd. The Governor of the Low Countries
Merchants had to reside at Antwerp, their head-quarters. Antwerp being
Imperial territory, Cabot would not have dared to set foot in it after
1548. Moreover, the names of the Governors of the old Merchant
Adventurers during Cabot’s presidency of the new company are traceable
in the State papers of the time: from 1548 to 1558 Thomas Chamberlain,
William Dansell, and Anthony Hussey successively filled that office.
They were London merchants, intimately acquainted with the cloth trade,
and exercising administrative control over the business of their fellows
in Antwerp. It is obvious that Cabot lacked the qualifications for such
a duty. The whole legend falls to the ground when it is realized that
there were now two companies of Merchant Adventurers.
From a crowd of eager applicants Sir Hugh Willoughby was selected to be
Captain-General of the first expedition, mainly on account of his good
record of war service and his commanding appearance. Richard Chancellor,
a protégé of Sir Henry Sidney, was appointed chief pilot and second in
command. Little is known of Willoughby’s previous career, except that he
had served on land in the Scottish wars. Chancellor was a professional
seaman who had been with Roger Bodenham in the adventurous voyage of the
_Bark Aucher_ to the Mediterranean in 1551. At the same meeting at which
these appointments were made it was decided that the voyage must begin
before the end of May in case the way should be barred by ice before the
passage had been effected. It is evident that both the length of the
Arctic winter and the distance to be traversed before the eastern flank
of Asia should be turned were grossly underestimated; otherwise the
voyage would certainly have been postponed till the next year. But none
of the geographical factors of the project were known, and, after a vain
attempt to extort information from the dense stupidity of two Tartar
stableboys who had somehow found their way to London, and who were
interrogated before the assembled adventurers, the issue had to be left
to the fates.
The fleet consisted of the _Bona Esperanza_, 120 tons, the _Edward
Bonaventure_, 160 tons, and the _Bona Confidentia_, of 90 tons. Each
ship was accompanied by a pinnace and a boat. Willoughby sailed in the
_Esperanza_, having with him six merchants, including his kinsman
Gabriel Willoughby, and a crew of thirty-one, of whom three were
discharged at Harwich before clearing from the English coast. Chancellor
was captain of the _Edward Bonaventure_, with Stephen Borough as master
and John Buckland mate. His crew numbered thirty-seven, among whom were
William Borough and Arthur Pet, both in the forecastle. He had also with
him ten landsmen—merchants, gentlemen adventurers, and a chaplain. The
_Confidentia_ was commanded by Cornelius Durforth, with three merchants
and twenty-four officers and men. The pinnaces were manned by drafts
from the ships to which they were attached.
Cabot’s ordinances[292] contain many interesting details. They embody
the experience gained in more than half a century of Spanish
exploration, with modifications suitable for the special circumstances
of the voyage. Loyalty and goodwill in executing orders are prominently
insisted upon. The Admiral is to submit all important matters to the
decision of a Council of Twelve in which he is allowed a double vote.
The fleet is to be careful to keep together and the commanders are to go
on board the Admiral’s ship as often as he shall require. Logs are to be
kept by every person capable of writing and to be compiled into a common
ledger to be preserved for record. The Admiral and Council have power to
reduce in rank inefficient officers and to set delinquents on shore in
any English port. Morning and evening prayers are to be read daily, and
no blasphemy, swearing, lewd talk, dicing, card-playing, or other
devilish games to be permitted. The merchants are only to trade with the
consent of the captains, councillors, and head merchants, or a committee
of four of them. Petty merchants must show their accounts to the head
merchants, and all goods must be carefully packed and not opened until
the end of the voyage. No person may engage in private trade until the
Company’s interests are first satisfied. In dealing with strangers all
must be careful not to enter into any discussion about religion. Persons
may be enticed aboard the ships to give useful information, but no
violence must be used, although it is recommended to make them drunk if
possible. Strangers must not be offended by arrogance or ridicule. If
invited to festivities the landing party should go in force and well
armed. News is to be sent home whenever possible, especially in the
event of the passage being found. The last article contains an
impressive warning against ‘conspiracies, partakings, factions, false
tales, and untrue reports’, and an exhortation to behave always as loyal
and honourable men, ‘with daily remembrance of the great importance of
the voyage, the honour, glory, praise, and benefit that depend ... upon
the same, toward the common wealth of this noble realm, the advancement
of you the travailers therein, your wives and children’.
The twelve councillors were Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor,
George Burton, head merchant, Richard Stafford, minister, Thomas
Langlie, merchant, James Dalabere, gentleman, and the masters and mates
of the three ships.
No better planned and equipped expedition had ever before left an
English port on a voyage of discovery. The commander was a man of rank
and good repute, while the chief navigator was a practical seaman and no
mere book-learned amateur. The crews were of the best that could be
found, and acted up to the spirit of their instructions; there is no
hint of insubordination in any accounts of the voyage, although the
bitterest hardships were encountered. In addition to Chancellor there
were in the _Bonaventure_ alone three men who afterwards rose to
eminence in their profession and commanded important expeditions. The
ships were the largest that could conveniently be used, for, although
greater tonnage was common in the navy, big vessels were not yet a
success for trade and exploration, being too unhandy for navigation on
uncharted coasts. The Admiral was furnished with letters of friendship
and recommendation from Edward VI to all princes and potentates
inhabiting the north-east parts of the world as far as the empire of
Cathay. For reasons obvious enough now, the attempt to force a passage
to Asia was foredoomed to inevitable failure, but that failure was due
to no fault in the promotion or execution of the voyage. It resulted
from a want of the knowledge which was only to be obtained from actual
trial and experience.
All preparations being complete, the fleet departed from Ratcliff on May
10, 1553. The next day, towing down the river, they passed Greenwich
with great pomp, the mariners all attired in their uniform of sky-blue
cloth, kept for such occasions, and the ships discharging their ordnance
in a salute to the king, who was then lying sick in the palace. The
Privy Councillors looked out from the windows, ‘the courtiers came
running out, and the common people flocked together, standing very thick
upon the shore ... but, alas, the good King Edward, in respect of whom
principally all this was prepared, he only by reason of his sickness was
absent from this show, and not very long after the departure of these
ships the lamentable and most sorrowful accident of his death followed’.
Proceeding in leisurely fashion out of the estuary and along the East
Anglian coast, it was not until the 23rd of June that the voyage fairly
commenced with a final clearance from Orford Ness. After getting well
away from the land, a course was steered due north until the 27th. Then,
westerly winds preventing them from touching at Shetland, after much
‘traversing and tracing the seas by reason of sundry and manifold
contrary winds’, they came to the southern end of the Lofoten
Archipelago on the coast of Norway. Touching at various points they
arrived on August 2 at the island of Senjen in latitude 69½°. A skiff
put off from the land and informed them of their whereabouts, promising
also that a pilot should be furnished next day to conduct them round the
North Cape to Vardo, the Danish stronghold which marked the furthest
outpost of European civilization in the North-East. Beyond Vardo all was
unknown.
Before the promised pilot could come aboard a sudden and violent storm
arose and scattered the fleet far out to sea. The night came on and the
wind so increased that Willoughby was forced to heave to. In the morning
he was rejoined by the _Confidentia_, but the _Edward Bonaventure_,
Chancellor’s ship, was nowhere to be seen. At this point the story of
the expedition forks into two, for Chancellor and Willoughby never met
again. It will be convenient first to follow to their conclusion the
fortunes of the latter.
As it had been agreed that in case of a separation Vardo should be the
rendezvous, Willoughby, with the _Esperanza_ and the _Confidentia_, set
about finding his way thither. The gale abating on August 4, he sailed
north-east by north, but soon found that he was quite out of his
reckoning and that his charts were incorrect. With frequent changes of
direction owing to varying winds, but all the time making headway
eastwards, he sailed on until August 14, when land was discovered in
latitude 72°. His course cannot with any certainty be laid down; on some
days the distance traversed is not stated in the log, the eccentricities
of the compass in northern latitudes render untrustworthy the bearings
given, there was then no accurate method of calculating longitude, while
such factors as currents and leeway caused serious errors in an attempt
to estimate the distance by dead reckoning. The one certain datum is the
fact that the land discovered lay in 72°. Latitude was then usually
ascertainable within a degree of correctitude; William Borough’s chart
of these regions, drawn up a few years later, contains no error greater
than ¾°, and only one in any way approaching that. Therefore it is
evident that Willoughby, on August 14, 1553, discovered Novaia Zemlia,
probably in the neighbourhood of Moller Bay.[293] Between it and
Greenland there is no other land in latitude 72°. Willoughby’s error in
longitude may be judged from the fact that he thought it to be 480 miles
east by north from the island of Senjen on the coast of Norway; actually
it is about 700 miles. The prospect was desolate in the extreme: ‘Early
in the morning we descried land,’ he says, ‘which land we bare with all,
hoising out our boat to discover what land it might be: but the boat
could not come to land, the water was so shoal, where was very much ice
also, but there was no similitude of habitation.... Then we plyed to the
northward the 15, 16 and 17 day.’ There was no occasion here for the use
of the king’s friendly letters to princes and potentates, but the
explorers did not lose heart. The last quoted phrase seems to imply that
Willoughby took this land to be a promontory of the continent and that
he was seeking to find the passage round it to the northward, having by
this time given up the idea of meeting Chancellor at Vardo. However,
after three days’ ‘plying’ or beating to windward, the _Confidentia_ was
found to be leaking, and, putting about, they ran 70 leagues before the
wind to the south-south-east to seek a harbour for her repair.
From hence onwards the actual course is altogether conjectural; the
daily distances are seldom given, and no more latitudes are mentioned.
But the general direction was now westwards, and it is evident that the
quest for the passage had been given up for that year. The object was
now to return to some safe wintering place on the coast of Norway. On
August 23 land was sighted on a west-south-westerly course, low-lying
and deserted, and running west-south-west and east-north-east. This was
probably the coast to the west of Cape Ruskoi and the Petchora River.
After coasting westwards for some distance they drew off into the sea,
and seem next to have sailed south-westwards into Cheska Gulf. Land was
again seen on the 28th, barren as before and running north-eastwards to
a point, after which it turned to the west. This can only be identified
with Kaninska Island, the eastern arm of the entrance to the White Sea.
The explorers landed in a neighbouring bay and saw signs of human
habitation, although no one appeared. On September 4 they lost touch
with the coast by reason of contrary winds, but regained it on the 8th.
It was probably during this interval that the entrance to the White Sea,
where Chancellor had already found safety, was passed and missed. From
September 8 to the 17th they coasted north-westwards along the dreary
shore of Lapland, and finally, turning back for a short distance, they
entered on the 18th a haven known as the River Arzina, which they had
noted a day or two before. It was some six miles long by one and a half
wide, and was full of seals and large fish, while on the land were seen
bears, deer, foxes, and other beasts, but no sign of man. After spending
a week in this place they decided to winter there as the weather had
become too bad to admit of further exploration. Groups of men were sent
out in three directions to search for inhabitants, but all alike
returned ‘without finding of people or any similitude of habitation’.
With these words closes the log of Sir Hugh Willoughby, written by his
own hand, and found a year later by Russian fishermen in the cabin of
the _Bona Esperanza_.
The details of the sufferings and death of the sixty-three men who
formed the crews of the _Esperanza_ and the _Confidentia_ are
unrecorded: not one of them survived the long Arctic winter. The only
other document besides the log of which we have any record was a will
made in January 1554 by Gabriel Willoughby, from which it was evident
that Sir Hugh and most of his crew were still alive in that month. The
will came into the possession of Samuel Purchas, by whom it was kept as
a relic, but it has long since disappeared. They certainly did not die
of starvation, for, when the ships were visited in 1555 by agents of the
Company, a considerable quantity of provisions was recovered. Henry
Lane, writing from Russia many years afterwards, ascribed their fate to
‘want of experience to have made caves and stoves’. At that we must
leave it. A wildly imaginative description by Giovanni Michiel, the
Venetian agent in London, forwarded to his Government in 1555, says:
‘The mariners now returned from the second voyage narrate strange things
about the mode in which they (i.e. Willoughby and his men) were frozen,
having found some of them seated in the act of writing, pen still in
hand, and the paper before them; others at table, platter in hand, and
spoon in mouth; others opening a locker, and others in various postures,
like statues, as if they had been adjusted and placed in those
attitudes. They say that some dogs on board the ships displayed the same
phenomena.’ Other statements in the same letter are demonstrably false,
and it need only be said that the above account is extremely unlikely to
be true.
Chancellor, in the _Edward Bonaventure_, had better fortune. After
losing sight of Willoughby in the storm of August 2, he steered for
Vardo as had been pre-arranged. Reaching that place without difficulty
he waited a week for the other two ships and then decided to proceed on
the voyage without them. The pluck and loyalty of Chancellor and his
crew are altogether admirable. If they had not exhibited those qualities
in the highest degree the whole project would have ended in complete
failure, and a disastrous check would have been sustained by the
exponents of the new movement of maritime expansion just when, for the
first time, there was some sign of national interest aroused. After the
separation from the rest of the fleet Chancellor’s company became,
according to Clement Adams, ‘very pensive, heavy and sorrowful’, and an
incident which took place at Vardo was not calculated to raise their
spirits. They encountered there certain Scotsmen who, hearing of their
intention to seek the North-East Passage, did their best to dissuade
them, magnifying the dangers of the northern seas and omitting no
arguments to divert them from their purpose. The Scotsmen, if they had
been resident for any length of time at Vardo, must have spoken with
good reason, and what they said was believed by the English to be
inspired by pure good will and without envious intent. Chancellor stood
firm, however, and ‘holding nothing so ignominious and reproachful as
inconstancy and levity of mind, and persuading himself that a man of
valour could not commit a more dishonourable part than, for fear of
danger, to avoid and shun great attempts, he was nothing at all changed
or discouraged with the speeches and words of the Scots, remaining
stedfast and immutable in his first resolution: determining either to
bring that to pass which was first intended, or else to die the death’.
His men rose to his own height of resolution, and the most hearty good
will prevailed between captain and crew. Accordingly, about the middle
of August they set forward once more, arriving at length at the entrance
of the White Sea. It does not appear whether or not he believed this to
be the mouth of the passage. In any case, ignorant as he was of the
shape and extent of the northern coast of Asia, it was his duty to
explore it, especially as it ran southwards at first and then curved to
the east in the Bay of Mezen. Having penetrated far into this great gulf
the explorers sighted a boat full of fishermen, the first men seen since
leaving Vardo. They fled in terror at the sight of the strange English
ship, of a size and loftiness hitherto undreamed of by their simple
minds. Chancellor manned his boat and overtook them, finding them ‘in
great fear as men half dead’. He reassured them by his gentleness and
courtesy, the report of which was spread abroad and caused ‘the
barbarous Russes’ to flock round the ship with offers of food and
welcome. At this point the English learned, somewhat to their surprise,
that they had discovered the dominions of the Czar. There is no hint in
Sebastian Cabot’s instructions of any such result being contemplated. A
marginal note to a later account of Russian adventures in Hakluyt says
that they arrived first at the village of Newnox (Nenoksa), twenty-five
miles west of St. Nicholas and somewhat further from St. Michael
(Archangel).[294]
News of their coming was at once sent to the Czar Ivan, not yet called
the Terrible, whose authority was so respected, even in those remote
regions, that the natives dared not buy the Englishmen’s goods without
his permission. In the meantime Chancellor, who at once realized the
commercial possibilities of his discovery, was eager to set out for
Moscow to deliver in person to the Czar his king’s letters of
recommendation. The local authorities were still awaiting instructions,
pending the arrival of which they made excuses to defer the journey. At
length they yielded on Chancellor’s threat to depart forthwith by the
way he had come. They provided him with sledges and post-horses with
which he and a few companions set forward over the snow-covered plains
to the south. On the way he encountered the messenger returning from the
Czar with a letter couched in cordial terms and injunctions to the
inhabitants to defray all the expenses of the journey. Such was the
weight of Ivan’s word that the Russians quarrelled and fought for the
honour of supplying horses to the travellers.
Twelve days after arriving at Moscow Chancellor was summoned before the
Czar. He was conducted through an outer room, wherein sat a hundred
courtiers in cloth of gold, into the presence chamber filled with a
hundred and fifty more. Ivan sat on a lofty throne, with crown and
sceptre and a most regal countenance. Nothing abashed, the sailor strode
up to him and saluted after the English fashion, and then presented the
letters of Edward VI. The emperor, having read the letters, conversed a
little with him and commanded him and his companions to dinner. The meal
was served in high state, with impressive ceremonies and massive vessels
of gold; but the English were quick to detect barbarian squalor beneath
barbaric display. They were greatly impressed, however, by the hardiness
of the people, and by the iron discipline which prevailed throughout the
land; also by the military power of the Czar, concerning which they gave
credit to exaggerated reports.
Chancellor made good use of his opportunities. His account of Russia and
that of Clement Adams (based entirely on reports of this first voyage)
are full of useful and generally correct information on the cities,
government, laws, religion, and products of the country, to an extent
that is wonderful when one considers that at the outset he was utterly
ignorant of its language and almost of its very existence. In his
bearing toward the Czar and his ministers he remembered always that he
was the representative of England, and that his conduct would mainly
determine the attitude which they would take up towards his country. His
combined modesty and dignity caused him to be favourably treated from
the first, and secured valuable privileges for the Company.
After a stay in Moscow of unknown duration, Chancellor and his comrades
returned to the Bay of St. Nicholas, where his ship had been laid up for
the winter. He was the bearer of a letter from Ivan to the English
sovereign, dated February 1554, in which a cordial invitation was
extended to Englishmen who should wish to trade with Russia. The Czar
promised them his protection and complete freedom to buy and sell in any
part of his dominions. As soon as navigation became possible the _Edward
Bonaventure_ set sail for England, arriving in the summer of 1554, after
having been robbed on the way by Flemish pirates.
Chancellor’s return with tidings of a promising new outlet for English
trade created a great stir in commercial circles. The quest of the
North-East Passage was for the moment forgotten, and a second expedition
to the White Sea was prepared for 1555. In February of that year the
Company obtained a fresh charter of incorporation from Philip and Mary,
in supersession of that granted by Edward VI. Sebastian Cabot, as having
been ‘the chiefest setter forth of this journey or voyage’, was
confirmed in the office of Governor. Four consuls and twenty-four
assistants to the Governor were to be elected yearly by the
shareholders, meeting in London or elsewhere. The first list of
appointments to these offices was stated in the charter. Among the four
consuls were Anthony Hussey, Governor of the Low Countries Merchant
Adventurers, and Sir George Barnes, whom we have already seen as an
adventurer in the African voyages. Sir John Gresham was one of the
assistants, as were also Sir Andrew Judde, Miles Mordeyne, and others
who took an active part in the Guinea trade. The Governor, consuls, and
assistants were to have full administrative powers over the merchants of
the Company. It is interesting to note how naturally the English
tradition of representative government took its place in the affairs of
these mercantile societies. The constitutions of the old Merchant
Adventurers, of the Staplers, and of the various provincial merchant
guilds, were very similar to the one now under consideration. The habits
of thought which they kept alive were undoubtedly a factor in preventing
England from becoming an absolute monarchy after the example of her
Continental neighbours. The charter proceeded to grant power to the
Company to acquire real estate in England, to plead in the courts, to
make statutes for its own governance, to impose penalties for the
enforcement of the same, to proceed with the discovery of new lands and
to conquer them in the name of the English Crown, and finally, to enjoy
a monopoly of the newly instituted trade with Russia, in which all other
persons were forbidden to engage.
The 1555 expedition consisted of two ships, the _Edward Bonaventure_ and
the _Philip and Mary_.[295] They sailed from London at the end of May.
The instructions were for the former to go to the White Sea while the
latter stopped at Vardo, there to collect a cargo of fish and train oil.
Richard Chancellor was in chief command, sailing in the _Edward_. With
him were Richard Gray and George Killingworth, appointed to be agents
for the Company in Russia. John Brooke was to fulfil a similar duty at
Vardo. Killingworth must have been a man of striking appearance: Henry
Lane records that on one occasion, when dining with the Czar, ‘The
prince called them to his table to receive each one a cup from his hand
to drink, and took into his hand Master George Killingworth’s beard,
which reached over the table, and pleasantly delivered it to the
Metropolitan, who, seeming to bless it, said in Russe: This is God’s
gift. As indeed at that time it was not only thick, broad and yellow
coloured, but in length five foot and two inches of a size.’ The agents
were ordered to go with Chancellor to the Czar, to present the queen’s
letters, and to obtain from him a grant of privileges. They were also to
set up warehouses in Moscow or other towns and sell their goods to the
best advantage. They were to use all diligence in inquiring about the
route from Russia to Cathay, and in obtaining news as to Willoughby’s
fate, of which nothing was yet known in England.
All this was duly carried out. The _Edward’s_ cargo was unladen at St.
Nicholas, and the goods transported up the Dwina to Colmogro
(Kholmogori), and thence to Vologda, where they were warehoused. Vologda
was about half-way between St. Nicholas and Moscow. At the end of
September Chancellor, with four others, set out for the capital to
perform their errand to the Czar. They were as well received as on the
previous occasion, and it was agreed that they should establish
factories at Colmogro and Vologda, the one fifty and the other five
hundred miles up the Dwina. The Czar made a formal grant of privileges,
including freedom from tolls and customs, freedom from arrest, and
recognition of the jurisdiction of the Chief Agent of the Company over
all Englishmen in Russia.
After the departure of Chancellor in the previous year the bodies of
Willoughby and his men had been discovered in their ships at Arzina by
Russian fishermen. The vessels were still lying at the same anchorage,
and were now visited by some of Killingworth’s men, a considerable
quantity of the cargoes being recovered. It is possible that
Willoughby’s body was sent home. His ships, for lack of sufficient
seamen, had to be left for another year.[296] Richard Chancellor, with
the agents, remained in Russia for the winter, but the _Edward
Bonaventure_ was sent home before the navigation closed. She picked up
the _Philip and Mary_ at Vardo, and they arrived together in the Thames
at the beginning of November.[297]
Next year (1556) the _Edward_ and the _Philip and Mary_ were again sent
out, in company with a pinnace called the _Serchthrift_ under the
command of Stephen Borough. The latter was not intended to trade, but to
pursue the north-eastern discovery towards the River Obi. The two large
ships had surplus crews for the manning of Willoughby’s vessels, the
_Bona Esperanza_ and the _Bona Confidentia_, found in the previous year.
They left Ratcliff on April 23. Soon afterwards occurred one of the last
recorded incidents in the life of Sebastian Cabot:
‘The 27th, being Monday, the right worshipful
Sebastian Cabota came aboard our pinnace at Gravesend,
accompanied with divers gentlemen and gentlewomen
who, after they had viewed our pinnace and tasted of
such cheer as we could make them aboard, they went
on shore, giving to our mariners right liberal rewards:
and the good old gentleman Master Cabota gave to the
poor most liberal alms, wishing them to pray for the
good fortune and prosperous success of the _Serchthrift_
our pinnace. And then at the sign of the Christopher,
he and his friends banqueted, and made me (Stephen
Borough) and those that were in the company, great
cheer: and for very joy that he had to see the towardness
of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance
himself amongst the rest of the young and lusty company:
which being ended, he and his friends departed
most gently, commending us to the governance of
almighty God.’
This was his last personal appearance on the page of history. All that
remains thereafter is a document or two relative to his pension, and a
reference to his death by his friend Richard Eden. The latter event
almost certainly took place towards the end of 1557, when he must have
been at least eighty-two years of age.
The _Serchthrift_ and the two large vessels made a prosperous voyage to
the north. In the mouth of the White Sea Stephen Borough with the
_Serchthrift_ parted company to go on his own business, whilst the
others proceeded to St. Nicholas. Borough’s little vessel was
excellently suited for exploring the shallow waters and sandy coasts
lying to the north-east of the White Sea. Her tonnage is not stated, but
she was able to float in five feet of water. Yet her cabin was
sufficiently large to admit of the entertainment of several people at
once. She was fully rigged with three masts, and carried a skiff upon
her deck. Probably she approximated to the type which in Latin countries
was called a caravel. Her crew numbered ten, including Stephen’s brother
William.[298]
Although he bade farewell to the _Edward Bonaventure_ on May 31, it was
not until June 22 that Borough’s voyage was fairly begun. In the
interval he explored the southern shore of the Bay of Mezen and anchored
in the Kola River. A fleet of Russian ‘lodias’ or fishing-boats
collected in the estuary, bound for the summer fishing off the Petchora.
They were undecked, fitted with oars and sails, and were of even lighter
draught than the _Serchthrift_, although they carried twenty-four men
each. The skipper of one of them, Gabriel by name, was very friendly and
rendered useful services to the English. On June 22 all sailed in
company, rounding Cape St. John, the northern arm of the bay. Two days
later the _Serchthrift_ was in peril of being wrecked on a lee shore.
Gabriel, whose craft had reached shelter, came out in a skiff to render
aid. He lent them his own anchor and another which he had borrowed,
their own being too heavy, and, these anchors being taken seawards and
dropped by the skiff, they were able to warp off the shore.
On July 9 they rounded the cape called Kanin Nos and proceeded to
Morgoviets, thence pushing on to the mouth of the Petchora, which was
reached on the 15th. At this point Borough observed the variation of the
compass to be 3½° W. Five days were spent in the Petchora. On July 21,
the day after leaving, the _Serchthrift_ was in great peril from ice,
being hemmed in by a monstrous floe only half an hour after first
sighting it. After six anxious hours she got clear. An easterly course
was followed a little to the north of the seventieth parallel until the
25th, on which date the small islands which lie to the south of Novaia
Zemlia were discovered. Borough named them St. James’s Islands. The
variation was here 7½° W. A Russian vessel passing by gave them some
information as to the River Obi, the intended goal of the voyage, and
they plied eastwards against a head wind until July 31. On that date
they arrived at the Island of Vaigats, the most easterly point they were
destined to reach. In its neighbourhood they remained for more than
three weeks, experiencing very bad weather, storms, rain, and fog. They
encountered some Samoyedes who lived in deer-skin tents and worshipped
idols; and Richard Johnson, one of the crew, wrote a graphic description
of their wizardry and ‘devilish rites’. He was left behind among these
savages for the winter, but the manner of his return to civilization
does not appear.
At length, on August 22, Stephen Borough determined to give up the hope
of further progress for that year. The winds were continuously
unfavourable, the ice was increasing, and the nights were becoming dark.
He turned his sails westwards therefore, doubling Kanin Nos on August
30, and reaching Colmogro, where he wintered, on September 11. He
intended to pursue his discoveries further in the following year, but
was sent instead to look for traces of the ill-fated vessels lost on the
Norwegian coast in the autumn of 1556, as will be described below.
Nothing further was done towards the solution of the north-eastern
problem until the abortive expedition of Pet and Jackman in 1580.
In the meantime the two trading vessels sent out in 1556 had reached St.
Nicholas and there discharged their cargoes. The extra hands were sent
to take possession of Willoughby’s derelict ships, and brought them also
into the bay to be loaded for England. When all were ready to sail for
home Richard Chancellor came down to St. Nicholas, bringing with him a
Russian ambassador for England, Osep Nepea, Governor of Vologda. Both
took passage in the _Edward Bonaventure_, which carried also sixteen
other Russian passengers and £20,000 worth of goods. The _Bona
Esperanza_ had a cargo worth £6,000 and ten more members of the
ambassador’s suite. The ladings of the _Bona Confidentia_ and the
_Philip and Mary_ are not specified. The homeward voyage was disastrous.
Violent storms drove the fleet on to the Norwegian coast: the _Philip
and Mary_ struggled into Trondheim and passed the winter there, not
arriving in the Thames until April 18, 1557; the _Bona Confidentia_ was
seen to split on a rock at the entrance to the same port, and perished
with all hands; while the _Bona Esperanza_ was never heard of again. The
_Edward Bonaventure_ alone continued the voyage, only to meet her fate
on the Scottish coast. On November 10, 1556, after a four months’
passage, she was driven on a lee shore at Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire in
the darkness of a winter’s night. Chancellor, intent on saving the
ambassador, took to the boat, placing him in it with seven of his
compatriots. But it was swamped before reaching the shore; the
ambassador was saved, but the other seven Russians perished, together
with Chancellor and several of the crew. It would appear that those who
stuck by the ship saved their lives; for the remaining nine of the
ambassador’s suite survived, as also did John Buckland, the master of
the vessel. The hungry Scots of the coast plundered the wreck, not £500
worth of goods being ever recovered.
The death of Richard Chancellor was a great loss to his country. He had
been successful as seaman, explorer, and diplomatist. His courage in
face of misfortune on the first voyage and his admirable conduct at the
court of the Czar had alone made the success of the new company
possible, and entitle him to take a worthy place among the great
Englishmen of his age.
As soon as the news of the wreck reached London the Company obtained
letters from the queen to the Regent of Scotland, and dispatched Dr.
Lawrence Hussey to conduct the ambassador to England and to recover the
ship’s cargo. Mary of Guise, the Regent, did her best to obtain
restitution of the stolen goods, but her efforts were for the most part
unavailing; a few small packages of wax were given up by the poorer sort
of Scots, ‘but the jewels, rich apparel, presents, gold, silver, costly
furs, and such like, were conveyed away, concealed and utterly
embezzled’. Finding the business hopeless, Hussey set out with the
ambassador, crossing the Border on February 18, 1557, and drawing near
London on the 27th. The Czar’s representative was accorded a most
magnificent reception, entering London like a conquering king. Twelve
miles out of the city he was met by eighty merchants in costly apparel
and chains of gold, who conducted him to a house in the suburbs. Next
day the members of the Russia Company, as it may now be called, to the
number of 140, led him into the city. At the gates he was met by Lord
Montague with 300 mounted men, representing the queen, and by the Lord
Mayor and all the aldermen, who took him through crowded streets to his
lodging in Fenchurch Street. At various points on the route he was the
recipient of costly presents. Business was not immediately proceeded
with, as it was necessary to await the arrival of King Philip from the
Netherlands.
At length, on March 25, Osep Nepea had his first formal audience of
their Majesties, and the negotiations for a treaty were commenced. It
appears from a Venetian report—a source, however, which we have seen to
be very untrustworthy in this connexion—that, besides discussing
commercial matters, the ambassador requested a loan of artillery and
ammunition for the Czar, and that the Swedish ambassador protested
strongly, threatening war.[299] No trace of any military question
appears in any other evidence as to the negotiations. Among the Cecil
papers are some memoranda for a treaty with Russia.[300] The concessions
proposed for the Muscovites were very similar to those granted by Ivan
to the English; but, in fact, the treaty was rather ornamental than
useful. There was no necessity for it, for the simple reason that no
subjects of the Czar were likely to resort to London for many a year to
come. Russia’s sole outlets to the ocean were at that time the shores of
Lapland and the White Sea; her sailors were nothing more than fishermen,
and their craft were quite unsuited for a voyage to England, being for
the most part undecked rowing-boats; while her merchants were landsmen
and not seamen, accustomed to carry their goods for immense distances
over the rivers and plains, but having none of the knowledge or
inclination requisite for a sea-borne commerce. Hence the intercourse
between the two countries was necessarily very one-sided, and the
privileges already granted by the Czar were all that was needed in the
shape of diplomatic regulation. The real utility of Osep Nepea’s visit
was to learn something of the power and civilization of England, and to
open up an interchange of civilities between the two courts.
An interesting glimpse of the Muscovite at Mary’s court is afforded by a
letter from Josse de Courteville, one of Philip’s Flemings, to the
President Viglius:
‘Je tiens que vous aves esté adverty de l’arrivée du Moscovitte en ce
royaulme, que l’on dict estre passé par la Mer Froide et que l’on
tenoit innavigable. La royne l’a faict icy tarder jusques a l’arrivée
du roy; et aujourd’huy a-t-il esté mené vers Leurs Majestés, au droict
costel de l’evesque de Londres, accompagné de plusieurs chevaliers de
l’ordre et autres, accoustré, assez à la turquesque, d’ung habillement
long jusqu’en terre, de velour pourfillé d’or, et sur la teste force
pierreryes.... Il y marchoit quatre de ses serviteurs devant luy,
accoustrés à l’advenant d’une mesme fachon, et deulx derrière, qui
portiont chascun ung fardeau que aucuns disiont estre sables, aultres
aultre chose, pour en faire présent à Leurs Majestés. Et, comme je me
voulus enquérir du surplus, j’eus nouvelles du partement de ce
courier, qui ne me sembloit se debvoir oublier; et par ainsy je suis
forcé vous laisser le compte à demy.‘[301]
The Company had prepared four ships for the Russian voyage in the spring
of 1557, three of which had already been used in the voyages to the
Guinea coast. They were the _Primrose_, the _John Evangelist_, the
_Anne_, and the _Trinity_. In the first-named went as admiral Anthony
Jenkinson, who was henceforward to take a foremost place in the
exploration of Russia and Central Asia. Osep Nepea also took passage in
the _Primrose_, bearing a letter from Philip and Mary to the Czar,
together with numerous costly presents for himself and his master. Their
Majesties’ letter gave a summary of the commercial treaty which the
ambassador had concluded, and expressed the customary hopes of amity and
good will between the two nations. The Russian merchants—if any should
ever come to England—should have liberty to come and go, and carry on
their business in all parts of the kingdom, selling their goods
wholesale or retail without impediment. While in England they should be
under the special protection of the queen, and should be free from the
payment of the taxes and dues which all other foreigners had to pay.
They might set up warehouses in London and other cities. For their
greater security the Lord Chancellor should be assigned as their judge
and legal adviser, and should decide impartially all disputes. The
letter concluded by giving a testimonial to the conduct and ability of
Osep Nepea, who would be able to describe at greater length the matters
referred to.[302]
[Illustration:
THE ENGLISH DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH-EAST.
From William Borough’s Chart of Northern Navigation,
Royal MS. 18 D. iii. 124.
]
With the departure of the ambassador and the arrival in Russia of
Anthony Jenkinson, the story of the Russia Company enters on a new
phase. The business of the Company, in spite of the maritime disasters
of its early years, was now firmly established. It had three principal
factories, at Colmogro, Vologda, and Moscow; and a third agent, Henry
Lane, was sent out in 1557 to assist the two already appointed. Numerous
subordinate merchants and apprentices were employed, and craftsmen of
various kinds—rope-makers, coopers, skinners—were set to work at the
establishments in Russia so that freight might be saved by exporting
manufactured goods instead of raw material. A regular service of letters
through Poland and Danzig was established.
After Stephen Borough’s voyage in 1556 the search for the sea passage to
Cathay was for a time discontinued, but the marvellous journeys of
Anthony Jenkinson by land more than maintained the reputation of the
Company for the promotion of discovery. His adventures, however, and the
further history of the Company, fall mainly in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth and outside the scope of this work. One point deserves to be
emphasized: King Philip, by giving his full countenance and support to
the north-eastern discoveries, had tacitly admitted that the papal
division of the globe was not by him considered as extending to the
Arctic regions. Once the literal interpretation of the great bull was
broken down, it was impossible to say where the line should be drawn,
and the way was prepared for the retreat of Spain from an untenable
position to the more reasonable one of maintaining her monopoly in the
lands already colonized by her.
-----
Footnote 288:
_Acts of the Privy Council_, ii. 137.
Footnote 289:
Hakluyt, vii. 156–7. Some confusion has arisen as to the year of this
patent, but it is perfectly clear. ‘The sixt day of Januarie, in the
second yeere of his raigne. The yeere of our Lord 1548’ is January 6,
1549, by the present style. Edward VI succeeded to the throne on
January 28, 1547.
Footnote 290:
Navarette, _Colección de Documentos inéditos para la historia de la
España_, iii. 512. The letter is here dated November 15, 1554, but was
probably written at least two years earlier. Northumberland was
executed on August 22, 1553.
Footnote 291:
Charter of Philip and Mary, February 6, 1555, and _Cal. S. P. Dom.
Addenda, Mary_, p. 439. The latter is a list of the members in May
1555. It includes the names of three women among the adventurers.
Footnote 292:
The authorities for these voyages are to be found, unless otherwise
indicated, in Hakluyt (Maclehose ed., 1903), vol. ii.
Footnote 293:
Purchas, xiii. 6, thinks that Spitzbergen was the land found. The
lowest point of Spitzbergen is in 76½°. It is impossible that
Willoughby could have committed such a serious error in latitude.
Moreover, Spitzbergen is due north of Senjen.
Footnote 294:
Hakluyt, iii. 74, 331.
Footnote 295:
The Venetian agent (_Venetian Cal._ vi, No. 89) says three. The error
arose from the name of the _Philip and Mary_, which the Italian
doubtless took to be two vessels. The instructions for the voyage
leave no doubt that only two ships were sent. See also Henry Lane’s
letter (Hakluyt, iii. 332).
Footnote 296:
The Venetian envoy wrongly states that they were brought home in 1555.
Footnote 297:
_Venetian Cal._ vi, No. 269.
Footnote 298:
These details are scattered here and there in Borough’s account of the
voyage.
Footnote 299:
_Venetian Cal._ vi, No. 852.
Footnote 300:
_Cal. Cecil MSS._, i, p. 146.
Footnote 301:
_Brussels Archives_, Kervyn de Lettenhove, i, p. 61.
Footnote 302:
_Cotton MSS._, Nero, B viii, 3.