BARENTSZ. LINSCHOTEN. DE VEER
In the struggle for independence against Spain in the height of her
power, the Dutch nation saw the necessity for making every effort to
increase her commerce in order to obtain the sinews of war, and it thus
came about that, while in the fight for freedom England and Holland
were close allies and friends, it was inevitable that in matters of
trade there should be rivalry.
It was not long before the Dutch, seeing the great success of England’s
trade with Russia by the White Sea, began to follow so promising a
lead. In 1565 a ship from Enkhuizen arrived at a spot on the coast
of Russian Lapland to which the name of Kola was given, and formed a
settlement. In the next year two merchants from Antwerp, starting from
Kola, reached the mouth of the Onega, and made a journey to Moscow.
Next, a trustworthy person was found to make a voyage to Kholmogori
to learn the Russian language and if possible to establish commercial
relations.
The name of the person selected was Oliver Brunel, a native of
Brussels. He was the founder of the White Sea trade of the Dutch, and
their first Arctic navigator. Brunel made a remarkable journey in the
country of the Samoyeds, crossing the river Petchora and reaching the
banks of the Obi. He was successful in acting as an agent for Russian
merchants, and in 1578 a Dutch ship anchored for the first time at the
mouth of the Dwina. It was quickly followed by another ship owned by
Balthazar de Moucheron, and thus the Dutch trade with the White Sea was
established.
[Illustration: WILLEM BARENTSZ.
(Originally a vignette in a chart published in Amsterdam between 1613
and 1615[33].)]
It was Balthazar de Moucheron, an eminent merchant of Middelburg, who
conceived the project of imitating the English adventurers, and sending
two vessels to discover a north-east route to China. One was the
_Swan_ of Keer in Walcheren, commanded by Cornells Nai of Enkhuizen,
the other the _Mercury_ of Enkhuizen under Brant Tetgales. They were
to attempt a passage by the Waigat. The merchants of Amsterdam fitted
out a vessel also named the _Mercury_ but, acting under the advice of
the cosmographer Plancius, they adopted another route, and resolved
to attempt a passage round the northern end of Novaya Zemlya. The
commander of this second _Mercury_ was Willem Barentsz, a native of
the island of Terschelling, an accomplished seaman and pilot. He had
translated the sailing directions of Ivar Bardsen the Greenlander[34],
and the journal of Arthur Pet; showing the close attention he had paid
to the former history of northern enterprise. Barentsz understood the
science of navigation, and was an excellent observer.
The three vessels, with Cornelis Nai as Admiral, sailed from the Texel
on the 4th June, 1594. On the 29th Barentsz parted company to pursue
his more northern route, while Nai and Tetgales shaped a course for
Waigatz. It was agreed that, if they had to return, they were to wait
for each other until September at Kildin, on the coast of Lapland.
Barentsz came in sight of Novaya Zemlya in 73° 25′ N. on July 4th, and,
proceeding northwards along the coast, passed Cape Nassau in 76° 20′ N.
on the 10th. Here the land turns nearly due east, with many glaciers,
and hills rising to 2000 feet behind them. Off the coast are the two
Orange Islands, each about half a mile long, with precipitous sides
and flat summits about 100 feet above the sea. Hitherto Barentsz had
been in a fairly open sea, but on rounding Cape Nassau he was stopped
by floes of ice. He persevered in an attempt to pass through them
for some days, but on the 3rd of August he was obliged to begin the
homeward voyage. Between Cape Nassau and the Orange Islands Barentsz
had put his ship about no less than 81 times, and had sailed over
1546 miles including all the tacks. On the 15th of August he reached
Matthew Island on the south coast of Novaya Zemlya, where he met Nai
and Tetgales. They had passed through Pet Strait, and had gone for a
short distance into the Kara Sea. All three vessels returned to Holland
in September. The narrative of his first voyage was written by Barentsz
himself.
[Illustration: Novaya Zemlya, showing entrances to Kara Sea.]
A well-known traveller and writer, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, sailed
with Tetgales in the Enkhuizen ship. Linschoten was born at Haarlem
in 1563. At the age of 16 he joined his brothers, who were merchants
at Seville. He went thence to Lisbon, and obtaining a place in the
suite of the Archbishop of Goa sailed for India in 1583. He remained
at Goa until 1589, when he took ship at Cochin to return with his
friend Dirk Gerritz, who had been 26 years in the East and had been
to China and Japan as gunner of a Portuguese ship. Dirk Gerritz wrote
notes upon China and India, and in 1598 he was pilot in the first
Dutch voyage through the Straits of Magellan. Linschoten stopped on
his homeward voyage at Terceira, one of the Azores, for more than two
years, which enabled him to give a full account of the memorable fight
of the _Revenge_. At length he got back to Holland in September 1592
and wrote his _Itinerary_, which was published in 1596. He was an
indefatigable collector of information of all kinds, and his book of
travels is most fascinating[35]. But, while busily engaged upon it,
Linschoten’s attention was diverted by the project of de Moucheron for
the discovery of the North-east Passage, and he sailed with Tetgales
as supercargo[36].
It was Linschoten’s sanguine report expressing a full conviction
that the northern route to the Indies was discovered which induced
the Dutch merchants to undertake a second voyage on a larger scale.
Seven vessels were fitted out, two in Zeeland, two from Enkhuizen, two
from Amsterdam, and one from Rotterdam. The _Griffin_ and _Swan_ from
Zeeland were again under Cornelis Nai, the _Hope_ of Enkhuizen was
commanded by Tetgales, and Barentsz had the _Greyhound_ of Amsterdam
and was chief pilot. Linschoten, Jacob van Heemskerk, and Jan Cornells
Rijp were the supercargos. Linschoten was also a Commissioner on behalf
of Prince Maurice of Orange and the States General.
The ships assembled at the Texel and sailed on the 2nd July, 1595.
On the 19th August they reached the entrance of Pet Strait which
was closed with ice, “most frightful to behold,” writes Linschoten.
Parties were sent across Waigatz Island to report on the state of
the ice in the Kara Sea. Barentsz himself crossed to the mainland to
get information from the Samoyeds, and several efforts were made to
pass through the ice, but all in vain. The crews began to murmur. The
attempt was accordingly abandoned and the fleet returned to Holland in
October[37].
The total failure of this voyage caused great disappointment, and the
States General decided that no further attempt should be made at the
public expense. Barentsz, however, supported by Plancius, persisted in
the opinion that a passage might be effected round the north of Novaya
Zemlya, so the merchants of Amsterdam were induced to fit out one
more expedition. It consisted of two vessels, one commanded by Jacob
van Heemskerk, the other by Jan Cornells Rijp. Barentsz went with
Heemskerk as chief pilot.
On the 9th June, 1596, the two ships came to a small steep island north
of the Finmarken coast which received the name of Bear Island[38].
It appears that the plan was to keep away from Waigatz Island, where
failure had attended the second voyage, and instead to shape a
northerly course.
[Illustration: A wonder in the heavens, and how we caught a bear.]
The Finmarken coast is separated from Bear Island by a sea 280 miles
wide with a depth of 300 fathoms. A wild cheerless waste presents
itself on the north-western half, covered with lakes and marshes, while
the south-eastern part is mountainous. Mount Misery rises to 1760
feet in height. The formations are of carboniferous limestones and
sandstones with rich coal beds on the north coast. Bear Island may be
considered as the southernmost headland of the submarine plateau out of
which Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land rise.
Only 105 miles to the north is the South or Look-out Cape of
Spitsbergen. The Dutch explorers, on leaving Bear Island, continued
on a northerly course from the 13th to the 19th June. But no part of
Spitsbergen was sighted until they reached its north-western point in
79° 49′ N. A marvellous fight with a bear is recounted by Gerrit de
Veer, and two landings on the coast to get ballast and birds’ eggs.
There was another landing on the 23rd to observe the variation of
the compass. Then, as the ice stopped the way northward, a southerly
course was shaped on June 28th. The land was supposed to be a part of
Greenland. By the 1st July they were again at Bear Island.
[Illustration: How our ship stuck fast in the ice.]
There was much dispute between Barentsz and Rijp as to the course, and
it ended in Rijp returning with his ship to Holland. Heemskerk, under
the guidance of Barentsz, then made for Novaya Zemlya, and coasted
along to the northward, until he doubled Cape Nassau, and passed the
furthest point reached by Barentsz on his first Voyage. Here the ship
was beset and, after fruitless attempts to extricate themselves from
the ice by tacking about in various directions, Heemskerk and Barentsz
found themselves on the west side of a bay which was named Ice Haven.
Here “they were forced, in great cold, poverty, misery, and grief to
stay all the winter.” This was on the 26th August. The heavy pack ice
drifted into the bay, gave the ship several severe nips, and firmly
wedged her between grounded masses of pack ice. But the ice was seen to
be in motion in the offing until Christmas.
The crew consisted of 17 souls all told. Fortunately there was a large
supply of driftwood, and with this, eked out by planks from the ship,
they built a house, 32 feet long by 20 broad, into which they removed
all their provisions and valuables. A chimney was fixed in the centre
of the roof, a Dutch clock was set up and made to strike the hours,
bed-places were fixed along the walls, and a wine cask was converted
into a bath. Snowstorms and gales of wind prevailed throughout the
winter, which had the good effect of drifting snow round the house as
high as the roof and thus raising the temperature within.
They entered upon the year 1597 “with great cold, danger, and disease”;
but strove to keep up their spirits by mild festivity on Twelfth-night,
their meal consisting of a little wine and pancakes of meal and oil.
Foxes were caught in traps, and occasionally a bear was shot, but
sickness began to appear from want of exercise and unwholesome food.
The little ship’s boy died, Barentsz himself had long been ill, and a
man named Claas Adrianszoon was also in an almost hopeless state.
When the summer came and open water appeared it was found that the ship
was too much damaged by the ice to be seaworthy, so it was resolved to
retreat in the boat and the _schuit_[39]. Barentsz wrote a paper giving
an account of their proceedings, which was placed in the chimney. They
then dragged down the remaining provisions and merchants’ goods to the
boats, and loaded them. Willem Barentsz, who was unable to walk, was
brought down to the boats on a sledge. Claas Adrianszoon was conveyed
in the same manner; and the forlorn people divided themselves between
the two boats, each of which took one of the sick men. They all signed
a letter stating their reason for abandoning the ship, except four who
either could not write or were too ill to sign.
“So committing themselves to the will and mercy of God, with a
west-north-west wind, and on indifferent open water, they set sail
and put to sea,” on the 13th of June, 1597. They reached the Orange
Islands, and landed at Point Desire to melt snow and fill their
beakers, and to get birds’ eggs for the sick. Here Captain Heemskerk
fell into the water and nearly lost his life; but he was rescued, and
dried his clothes at the fire of driftwood they had made to melt the
snow. From the Orange Islands they sailed about 20 miles to Ice Point.
The boats being close together the captain hailed Willem Barentsz to
know how he did. Barentsz replied “I am well, mate, and I hope to be
able to run before we come to Wardhaus.” Gerrit de Veer, the mate, was
in the same boat with Barentsz. “Gerrit,” he said, “if we are near the
Ice Point [the northernmost point of Novaya Zemlya] just lift me up
again. I must see that point once more.”
On the 17th June the boats were beset by the ice, “it came so fast
upon us that it made our hair stand upright on our heads, it was so
fearful to behold.” The boats were hauled up on the ice and repaired.
The two sick men were laid on the floe. Barentsz seemed better, and
had some discussion with Gerrit de Veer about the chart. Then he said
“Gerrit, give me to drink.” He had no sooner swallowed the water than
he was taken with a sudden spasm and died. Claas Adrianszoon died soon
afterwards. On the 22nd they got the boats into open water and again
made sail.
With much labour, and frequent difficulties with the ice, the two boats
made their way southwards along the coast of Novaya Zemlya until, on
the 28th July, they fell in with two Russian _lodias_. By this time
they were all suffering, more or less, from scurvy. The Russians
sailed away towards Waigatz Island. The Dutchmen though very sick, and
scarcely able to pull their oars, also managed to reach the island
where, to their great joy, they found plenty of scurvy grass, which
cured them. They had heard of its healing virtues in Holland, and they
now ate the leaves in handfuls.
[Illustration: Part of Hondius’s Map of 1611, showing Barentsz’s
Discoveries.]
At length the weary voyagers reached Kola in Lapland, where they found
a Dutch ship commanded by the very same Jan Cornelis Rijp who had
parted company with them in the previous year. On the 30th of August
he came and welcomed them with great joy as if they had risen from
death to life again. He brought a barrel of beer, wine, spirits, bread,
meat, salmon, and sugar to comfort and relieve them. At Kola they left
the two boats in which they had sailed over 600 miles “whereat the
inhabitants could not sufficiently wonder.” On the 17th September the
homeward voyage was commenced in the ship of Jan Cornelis Rijp. Still
very weak, but rapidly recovering, they reached Amsterdam on the 1st
of November, 1597, in the same clothes they wore in Novaya Zemlya, and
were received by Prince Maurice.
The narrative of this remarkable voyage was simply but well written by
Gerrit de Veer, the mate, and faithful companion of Barentsz in his
last two voyages[40].
Willem Barentsz deservedly holds a high place in the roll of Arctic
worthies. He was a good sailor, and an accomplished pilot and
navigator. As an observer he was careful and remarkably accurate. But
he possessed still higher qualities. He was resolute and persevering,
and, while taking all possible precautions, he was ready to run some
risk in order to secure success. He knew well that to be over cautious
was to secure nothing, and that some slight dash of recklessness was
the very essence of achievement. Hence his deeds exceeded those of all
others in that 16th century. He was trusted by his men, and anxiety was
mingled with their sorrow at the loss of their “chief guide and only
pilot.”
For 278 years the winter quarters of Barentsz remained unvisited. The
north-east point of Novaya Zemlya was never again rounded until the
spell was broken by the Norwegian, Captain Elling Carlsen, who reached
the Ice Haven of Barentsz on September 7th, 1871[41]. He saw the
house standing at the head of the bay, with large puncheons standing
round it, and found the interior exactly as represented in the old
drawing which illustrates the narrative of Gerrit de Veer. There
was the row of standing bed-places, the Dutch clock, the halberd and
muskets, the great kettles and cooking-pans over the fireplace, the
instruments, and the books that had beguiled the weary hours of that
long night. One book was a translation of the Spanish work of Medina on
navigation, another a chronicle of Holland, another a Dutch translation
of Mendoza’s History of China. There was also a Dutch version of Arthur
Pet’s journal. Implements and utensils of all kinds too there were,
down to the flute and the small shoes of the poor little ship’s boy who
died during the winter[42].
[Illustration: Relics from Barentsz’s hut. (_National Museum,
Amsterdam_)]
[Illustration: The exact manner of the house wherein we wintered.]
Queen Elizabeth took great interest in the northern voyages of her own
subjects and of her Dutch allies. We find Sir Francis Vere, her General
in the Netherlands, sending home a full account of the first voyage of
Barentsz on 7th October 1594[43], and adopting Linschoten’s sanguine
views of the ultimate commercial success of the enterprise, which was
to be renewed in the following year. This letter was the consequence
of an order from the Queen to keep her fully informed respecting the
maritime, and more especially the Arctic, undertakings of the Dutch.