FIRST ENGLISH VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-EAST. WILLOUGHBY. CHANCELLOR.
BURROUGH. PET
Many reasons led English seamen to turn northward. East and west were
occupied by Portugal and by Spain, and our own adventurers, rather
later in the field, sought the discovery of routes to Cathay and the
Spice Islands by northern ways. Our seamen had long traded with Norway
and Iceland. The more northern voyages received hearty encouragement
from our Plantagenet kings, who granted charters in 1404, 1432, and
1463 for trade with the Scandinavian nations. Richard III specially
favoured the Iceland voyages. William of Worcester, in his chronicle,
tells us of the enterprises of William Canynge of Bristol, who sent
his ships not only to the Mediterranean and the Baltic, but so far as
Iceland, where one of his vessels of 160 tons was lost. Ships also went
northward from Lynn and other ports, and before long the commercial
ventures led to voyages of discovery. It must always be remembered that
the notices of voyages to be met with in the 15th century chronicles,
few and far between, represented but a small fraction of English
maritime activity and of the voyages actually undertaken. England was
preparing silently, but actively and strenuously, for her supremacy of
the sea, and for her great work in the Arctic regions.
Land was reported beyond the ocean to the westward of Bristol, and
as early as July 1480 we are told by William of Worcester that a
seaman named Thylde--the most scientific seaman, it is added, in all
England--led an expedition in search of the unknown land, and was
absent for 64 days. Others followed in his wake. At last the crew of
the Bristol ship _Matthew_ did actually discover Newfoundland, or
rather re-discover it, for it was the Vinland of the Norsemen. This
was in 1496, and in the following years there were other voyages from
Bristol to the new land. Nine years afterwards the Company of Merchant
Adventurers received their charter, and English Arctic enterprise was
not very long in starting under the auspices of that famous Company.
Mr Robert Thorne, a merchant of London who long resided at Seville,
and whose father had been an adventurer to the new land, was one of
those who urged the importance of northern exploration. In a letter
to the English Ambassador at Madrid, and in another to Henry VIII, he
counselled the discovery of routes to China and the Spice Islands by
the north. He pointed out that from the situation of this realm of
England it was nearest and aptest of all others for the prosecution
of such a discovery, which would win perpetual glory for the King and
infinite profit for his subjects. After reaching the Pole, he said, the
discoverers can decline to which part they list.
Such words were as seed falling on fertile soil. Arctic enterprise
needed stimulus, however, and received it from two young princes of
great promise, both alas! cut off in their prime--Edward VI and Prince
Henry of Wales. King Edward took a warm and personal interest in the
maritime prosperity of his country, and in the science of navigation.
His friend and companion, Henry Sidney[28], was imbued with the same
feeling. Under their auspices the first Arctic expedition was organised
and despatched by the Company of Merchant Adventurers to undertake a
voyage to Cathay by the north-east. The whole subject was considered
with the greatest care as regards the management and discipline, the
ships, the merchandise to be taken, and the provisions.
The most important matter of all was the selection of good commanders.
Sir Hugh Willoughby, a most valiant gentleman and well born, very
earnestly requested that he might be chosen to command the expedition.
Sir Hugh was a younger son of Sir Henry Willoughby, Knight Banneret
of Wollaton, who died in 1528, and whose altar tomb is in Wollaton
church[29]. Sir Henry left three sons John, Edward, and Hugh, and
Edward’s grandson was the builder of the present fine old mansion
at Wollaton, near Nottingham. Hugh was connected, by his father’s
marriages, with two names afterwards known in Arctic history, Markham
and Egerton. He himself married Joan, daughter of Sir Nicholas Strelly,
a Nottinghamshire neighbour. His portrait, now at Wollaton, of which
there is a replica in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, is that of a tall
and handsome man. He was to be Captain-General of the expedition on
board a ship of 120 tons called the _Bona Esperanza_, with a crew of
36 officers and men[30]; the second ship was the _Edward Bonaventure_
of 160 tons, with a crew of 51 officers and men; and the third was the
_Bona Confidentia_ of 90 tons, with 28 officers and men. Sir Hugh had a
relation with him, named Gabriel Willoughby, among the merchants.
As second in command, Richard Chancellor was selected from among many
applicants, on the recommendation of King Edward’s friend, Sir Henry
Sidney, who made a speech to the Merchant Adventurers, commending
an enterprise which, he said, would prove profitable and honourable
to our country. Chancellor had been in the service of Sidney, who
reminded the merchants that while they found the means but remained
at home, Chancellor hazarded his life amongst the perils of the sea.
He concluded by saying, “If it fall so happily out that he return
again, it is your part and duty liberally to reward him.” Chancellor
was in the _Edward Bonaventure_ as chief pilot of the fleet, and
he had with him Stephen Borough as master of the ship, his brother
William Borough, and Arthur Pet, all destined later to become famous as
Arctic navigators. The master of the _Bona Confidentia_ was Cornelius
Durforth, whose young son sailed with him as a seaman. King Edward VI
addressed a “letter missive,” in several languages, to the potentates
inhabiting the north-east parts of the world toward the mighty empire
of Cathay, commending the right valiant and worthy Sir Hugh Willoughby
to their good offices.
The three ships left Ratcliffe on May 10th, 1553, and started with
the ebb. They were towed by their boats, the sailors being dressed in
sky-coloured cloth, and passing Greenwich there was a great crowd on
the shore, and the courtiers stood at the windows of the palace, the
ships saluting. But, alas! the young King who had taken great interest
in the expedition, receiving news of it from his friend Henry Sidney,
was on his deathbed. There was a detention at Harwich owing to some of
the provisions being bad, but on the 23rd of June the little squadron
stood out to sea from Orfordness.
It was not until the 14th of July that Halgoland was sighted, the
home of Ohthere, the first Arctic navigator. They visited Udröst, on
the Arctic Circle and had friendly intercourse with the people of the
Lofoten Islands. They also touched at Senjen, but off the coast of
Finmarken, Chancellor, in the _Edward Bonaventure_, parted company
in a gale of wind. Sir Hugh Willoughby, with his own ship and the
_Bona Confidentia_, searched for the port of Vardö, which he called
“Wardhouse,” the rendezvous. But strong breezes obliged him to shape
a course to the eastward, and on the 14th of August he came in sight
of land in 72° N. He hoisted out the boat, but could not reach the
coast owing to the water being shoal. Sir Hugh had discovered Novaya
Zemlya, at the part now called the “Goose Coast,” It was known to the
adventurers of those days as “Willoughby’s Land,” but was shown on some
maps as a separate island[31]. Sir Hugh continued to work up along the
coast for three days, but the _Bona Confidentia_ was leaking badly,
and it was decided to seek a harbour in Finmarken in order to repair
her. After beating about for some days Sir Hugh finally brought the
two vessels into a haven at the mouth of the river Arzina, near Kegor
on the coast of Lapland. Here he determined to winter, as animals were
seen both on land and sea, but no human dwellers could be found.
The gallant explorer and all his companions perished before the
spring’s arrival, though some survived into January. The ship was found
by some Russian fishermen, and Mr Killingworth, the Company’s agent in
Russia, sent a ship to bring the property home. Sir Hugh Willoughby’s
journal and his will, with other papers, were recovered. Milton, in
his history of Muscovia, says that the ship was also despatched on
her return, “but being unstaunch as is supposed, she sunk by the way
with her dead, and them also that brought them.” Milton was, however,
mistaken. The ships returned safely to England under the command of
John Buckland, with the body of Sir Hugh Willoughby and his effects.
Like La Perouse and Franklin, Sir Hugh Willoughby, England’s first
Arctic explorer, perished in the midst of his discoveries--a glorious
close to his honourable career.
Chancellor, in the _Edward Bonaventure_, after parting from the other
two vessels, proceeded to Vardö, where he waited for seven days. He
then continued the voyage, entered the White Sea, and obtained supplies
and information from the Russians at Kholmogori, afterwards called
Archangel. He was told that the country was ruled by a king named
Ivan Vasilivitch, and eventually it was arranged that he should make
a journey to Moscow, where he was well received, travelling back to
his ship, and making the return voyage to England. He had discovered
Russia, and an important trade between the two countries was begun. It
would be difficult to over-estimate the commercial importance of our
first Arctic expedition.
The Muscovy Company received a charter of incorporation in February
1555, and in June Richard Chancellor was sent on a second voyage with
two ships, the _Edward Bonaventure_ and the _Philip and Mary_. George
Killingworth accompanied him as the Company’s agent. Chancellor again
visited Moscow, and rejoined the _Edward Bonaventure_ at Kholmogori
with a Russian Ambassador, in July 1556. In November she arrived off
Pitsligo, near Aberdeen, where she was driven on the rocks during a
heavy gale. Chancellor perished in an attempt to reach the shore in
a boat, but the Russian Ambassador was safely landed, and honourably
received in London. The narrative of Chancellor’s first voyage was
written in Latin by Edward Adam, the learned young schoolmaster to King
Edward’s pages, who received his information from Chancellor himself.
It is given in English by Hakluyt.
The first Arctic expedition thus opened the trade to Russia, a great
service, the first of many which Polar exploration has done to this
country. But we must leave the Company’s agents actively engaged in
the establishment of that trade to follow the course of discovery.
Of the crew of Chancellor’s ship, we hear again of at least six.
The two merchants John Hasse and Richard Johnson were useful agents
whose reports are given by Hakluyt. John Buckland, the master’s mate,
commanded the ship which went to recover the journal and effects of his
chief, Sir Hugh Willoughby. Stephen and William Burrough and Arthur
Pet continued the work of discovery, and the two former became very
distinguished naval officers.
Stephen Burrough is the third name on our Arctic roll of honour,
following Willoughby and Chancellor. He was born at Borough in the
parish of Northam near Bideford in Devonshire, in 1525, and was Master
of the _Edward Bonaventure_ under Chancellor at the age of 28. His
brother William was eleven years younger, and served as a sailor boy
under Stephen. In 1556 a pinnace called the _Searchthrift_ was fitted
out by the Muscovy Company for discovery, and Stephen Burrough was
entrusted with the command. His brother William went with him. On the
27th of April the _Searchthrift_ was at Gravesend, and was visited by
the managers of the Company and several ladies, who after a collation
on board, distributed liberal presents to the men, and gave a banquet
followed by dancing at the Christopher Inn. On the 29th they left
Gravesend, and by the end of May the _Searchthrift_ was off the
well-known headland to which Burrough gave the name North Cape.
Thence the explorers sailed along the Murman coast, as the Russians
call the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula. It consists of high and
precipitous granite cliffs with some harbours towards the western end.
At the river Kola the English voyagers met with a number of Russian
boats called _lodias_, chiefly belonging to Kholmogori (Archangel),
with 20 oars and a crew of 24 men each. They were engaged in walrus
and salmon fishing. The Russian captains were extremely friendly,
presenting Burrough with loaves of bread, oatmeal, and fish, and
piloting him along the coast. Crossing the entrance to the White
Sea, Burrough sighted Kolguev Island, the mouth of the Petchora, and
Kaninnoss, learning the names from his Russian friends. By the middle
of July the _Searchthrift_ sighted land right ahead, with distant
mountains to the north. This, he learnt, was called Waigatz, and the
northern land Novaya Zemlya. Part of its western coast, further to
the north, had, as we have seen, already been discovered by Sir Hugh
Willoughby.
Stephen Burrough discovered the strait, 25 miles wide, between Waigatz
and Novaya Zemlya, which rightfully bears his name. The limit of
knowledge was then the mouth of the Obi, but Burrough, pestered by
ice, fogs, and gales of wind, was unable to penetrate into the Kara
Sea. He landed on Waigatz, an island 70 miles long by 20 to 25 broad,
consisting of a limestone ridge on the east side, and a lower shaley
ridge to the west, with a swampy plain covered with small lakes
between. The climate is extremely severe in the winter, but in the
short summer the ground is covered with wild flowers. There are acres
of flowering plants a foot high, including a delicate pink-blossomed
crucifer, a yellow poppy, and a sort of lousewort (_Melampyrum
sylvaticum_) of many colours, from glorious yellows to rich pinks.
Buttercups carpet wide areas, and one water-loving species floats on
the meres and tarns like a miniature water-lily, filling the air with
its fragrance. There are stunted willows a foot high but no other
wood-forming plant. Birds are numerous, and the peregrine falcon and
the rough-legged buzzard nest on the cliffs of the island.
The approach of winter obliged our explorers to give up their attempt
for that year, and on the 11th September Burrough brought the
_Searchthrift_ to Kholmogori, intending to renew his efforts in the
following year. But the orders of the Company were that he should shape
a homeward course, and in the autumn of 1557 he returned to the Thames.
Both the brothers, Stephen and William, became distinguished officers,
showing what an admirable training Arctic service is for the navy, both
in its executive and scientific branches. Stephen Burrough induced
Richard Eden to translate the _Arte de Navegar_ of Martin Cortes,
then the best book on navigation, thus securing the means whereby our
seamen could obtain instruction. In 1563 he became Chief Pilot in the
Medway, with the duty of instructing and examining officers in the art
of navigation. He died in July, 1584, and was buried at Chatham. His
brother William continued to serve the Muscovy Company in voyages to
the White Sea, and in 1570 he commanded a fleet bound to Narva in the
Baltic. Both brothers were very attentive in observing the variation of
the compass during the voyage to Waigatz, and in 1581 William Burrough
published his _Discourse of the Variation of the Needle_. He became
Comptroller of the Navy in 1583, and commanded the fleet which conveyed
the Earl of Leicester from Harwich to Flushing in 1585. He constructed
charts and prepared sailing directions, besides serving with Drake at
Cadiz, and under Lord Howard against the Spanish Armada. His chart of
the mouth of the Thames was the best until the first trigonometrical
survey was made by Murdoch Mackenzie in 1790[32]. He died in 1599. For
such valuable services as these, the Arctic expeditions which trained
the Burroughs to observe and to act promptly and judiciously are
doubtless not a little to be thanked.
For more than 20 years after the return of the _Searchthrift_ the
northern voyages were devoted to the promotion of Russian trade and
not to discovery, but in 1580 Sir George Barne, a prominent citizen of
London, with his colleague, Sir Rowland Hayward, resolved to fit out
a small expedition with the object of continuing the discoveries made
by Stephen Burrough. They equipped two small vessels, the _George_ of
London, 40 tons, and the _William_ of London, 20 tons. Arthur Pet of
Ratcliffe, who had been a seaman in the _Edward Bonaventure_, received
command of the _George_ with a crew of nine men and a boy, including
Hugh Smith, an intelligent person who wrote an account of the voyage.
The _William_ was entrusted to Charles Jackman of Poplar, with a crew
of five men and a boy. Nicholas Chancellor, perhaps one of the two sons
of Richard, who caused him so much anxiety when he sailed into the
unknown with Sir Hugh Willoughby, sailed with Pet as merchant. They
were supplied with letters from the Queen. Sailing directions were
drawn up by William Burrough, with instructions for observing; a paper
of advice was written for them by Dr Dee, and a note on the commercial
aspects of the enterprise by Richard Hakluyt. Under these excellent
auspices the two tiny little vessels set out on the voyage to Cathay by
the north-east.
Leaving Harwich on the 30th May, 1580, the two boats rounded the North
Cape, and arrived at Vardö on the 23rd June. When they put to sea
again the _William_ was obliged to stop at Kegor for repairs, while
the _George_ continued her easterly course until she came in sight of
the coast of Novaya Zemlya. Here she was beset in the ice, and, having
been extricated with some difficulty, she reached the Bay of Petchora,
and sighted Waigatz on the 18th July. Six days afterwards the _William_
joined company again; but her stern post was broken, her rudder was
hanging loose, and she would not steer. The combined crews set to
work to remedy the damage by passing hawsers round the stern of the
_William_ and hauling them taut at a capstan, and they were again able
to steer her.
Captain Pet discovered the strait between Waigatz and the mainland,
and the two boats passed through it and made several attempts to bore
through the ice, sometimes entering the pack, and occasionally making
slight progress by sailing along lanes of water left between the
grounded ice and the shore. In August, when they found it impossible
to penetrate the ice, they gave up the attempt. Passing the shoals of
Kolguev Island, the _William_ again parted company in a fog on the
22nd August. Captain Pet brought the little _George_ safely back into
the Thames on the 25th of September. Jackman was less fortunate. The
_William_ wintered in the Trondhjem fjord, sailed in company with a
Danish vessel bound for Iceland in the spring, but was never heard of
more. The fearless audacity of these gallant seamen in attempting
to achieve the north-east passage in such frail vessels is worthy of
admiration, for they were well aware of the dangers and obstacles.
The moral effect of our earliest Arctic voyages was far-reaching
and enduring. They excited a spirit of emulation in our seamen, and
aroused a desire for honourable distinction in northern enterprise
and discovery which was deep and lasting. The immediate and practical
effect was the opening of a lucrative trade with Russia.