KOOLEMANS BEYNEN AND THE VOYAGES OF THE _WILLEM BARENTSZ_. SIR MARTIN
CONWAY AND SPITSBERGEN. CAPTAIN BERNIER AND CANADIAN ARCTIC LANDS
The voyages of Sir Allen Young in the _Pandora_ had as one result the
training of the character of an enthusiastic young Arctic navigator
whose brief career was so brilliant and impressive that no Arctic
history would be complete without some account of it.
Laurens Rijnhart Koolemans Beynen was born at the Hague on the 11th
March 1852, and became a midshipman in the Royal Dutch Navy in 1871. He
saw service in the North Sea, on the coast of Guinea, and in Sumatra,
returning home and obtaining his Lieutenant’s commission in 1874.
Beynen had read much of the former glories of the Dutch navy, and had
thought over the possibility of restoring them. He felt that, owing
to exclusive steamer service in well-known seas, and to enervating
work in the Indian Archipelago, Dutch seamen had lost much of their
skill and spirit. He therefore desired to see new fields of enterprise
occupied by his seafaring countrymen, to serve as a counterpoise to the
less instructive service in the Dutch Indies. Above all, he considered
voyages of discovery in the Arctic seas to be the most fitted to call
forth a new spirit among Dutch seamen. Full of these ideas young
Beynen called upon Commodore Jansen, with whom he was not previously
acquainted, as the officer who was most likely to sympathise with
them[165]. It so happened that Jansen had just received a letter from
Captain Allen Young, and another from myself, asking whether a young
Dutch naval officer could not be appointed to serve in the _Pandora_.
Jansen warmly sympathised with the aspirations of the young officer,
and he received permission to join the vessel.
Beynen could not fail to learn much under such a splendid seaman as
Allen Young, and he became acquainted with ice navigation in its
many phases during the season of 1875, returning with much knowledge
and increased enthusiasm. In the winter of 1876, at my request, he
undertook to edit a second edition of the voyages of Barentsz for the
Hakluyt Society. The work entailed much research, and he accomplished
it with diligence and considerable literary ability. It is a standard
work which is frequently referred to. Beynen then served under Allen
Young in the second voyage of the _Pandora_ and proved himself to be
very useful in peculiarly trying circumstances[166].
Beynen was for a short time in the training ship for boys, cruising
in the North Sea, and he then devoted himself heart and soul to the
Arctic propaganda, delivering lectures all over the country. His bright
enthusiasm was infectious, and an influential Arctic Committee was
formed[167]. Sufficient funds were collected to enable the committee
to build a small schooner at Amsterdam, specially strengthened for ice
navigation. She was launched on April 6th, 1878, and named the _Willem
Barentsz_. Lieut. A. de Bruyne received the command and Koolemans
Beynen went as his second, with Lieut. Speilman for the magnetic
observations, and an adventurous young Englishman W. J. A. Grant--an
Oxford undergraduate, who had also served with Leigh Smith--as
photographer. Commodore Jansen drew up the instructions. He considered
that the Barentsz Sea would make an excellent training ground for Dutch
seamen, but that the first voyage should be confined within the limits
of what is easily attainable. He thought that, by yearly increasing
knowledge and experience, his countrymen might in time be in a position
to undertake more hazardous and difficult voyages.
The _Willem Barentsz_ went direct to Amsterdam Island, near the
north-west point of Spitsbergen, and the Dutch explorers visited the
site of Smeerenburg, repairing some of the tombstones. They then
dredged and sounded over the Barentsz Sea. In Beynen’s words they
made “a scientific examination of the sea that bears the name of the
greatest of our mariners.” Beynen in his letters, describes with a
graphic pen the incidents of the voyage, and the various encounters
with the ice.
On the little schooner’s return the young officer who had been the
mainstay of the expedition was ordered to the East Indies and died of
fever at Macassar. His loss was deeply felt by many friends, for there
was a charm about the young enthusiast which endeared him to all.
But none mourned for the youth so full of promise, cut off before he
reached his prime, more deeply than Admiral Jansen, who looked upon him
almost as a son.
In 1879 Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Captain A. H. Markham, R.N.,
chartered the little Norwegian cutter _Isbjörn_, and made an extensive
exploration of the shores of Novaya Zemlya, and the Kara Sea, with the
object of reporting on the state of the ice and other important matters
of a similar nature in those waters. They were in company with the
_Willem Barentsz_ for some days in the Matyushin Strait.
The Arctic voyages of the _Willem Barentsz_ were continued for six more
years. In 1879 Lieut. A. de Bruyne again commanded, with Lieut. H. van
Brockhuyzen as his second. In this voyage Franz Josef Land was sighted
and large and valuable collections were made. The voyages of 1880
and 1881 were commanded by van Brockhuyzen, but in 1880 the _Willem
Barentsz_ was driven on shore and the work of the season lost. She was
re-floated and thoroughly repaired, and Lieut. Hoffmann conducted the
voyage of 1882. The two last voyages in 1883 and 1884 were commanded
by Lieut. Dalen. The impetus that Koolemans Beynen had given to Dutch
Arctic enterprise must have been great, seeing that these voyages were
continued for six years after his death[168]. Useful scientific work
was done during all the voyages, and it is much to be regretted that
the good work was not continued and its scope extended by the people of
the Netherlands.
* * * * *
Although the scientific exploration of a country such as Spitsbergen
after its discovery and the delineation of its coasts, mountain ranges,
and islands, hardly comes within the scope of the present work, mention
of some important work in this group cannot be omitted. In 1898 the
Swedish and Russian expeditions began the measurement of an arc of
meridian in Spitsbergen, which was completed in 1890. In 1890 also, Dr
Nathorst made an important circumnavigation of the Spitsbergen group,
thoroughly exploring Giles Land, and the Wiche Islands. There have been
numerous visits of yachts, as well as vessels coming with scientific
objects; even a company has been formed to work the veins of coal
discovered. But the most important recent Spitsbergen work has been the
expedition in 1896 to cross the main island for the first time. Up to
that time the interior of Spitsbergen was practically unknown.
Sir Martin Conway undertook this achievement with four companions--Mr.
Garwood, a mountaineer and geologist; Dr Gregory, the author of _The
Great Rift Valley of Africa_; Mr. Trevor Battye, who had previously
made a very thorough survey of Kolguev Island in 1894[169], as
geologist; and Sir Martin’s cousin, Mr. H. E. Conway, as the artist.
The expedition was quite successful and a valuable and very interesting
narrative describing the interior of Spitsbergen was the result. The
route was from Advent Bay to Agadh Bay on the east coast. The party
also visited the north coast and Walden Island, and passed down
Hinlopen Strait. In the following year Sir Martin Conway and Mr.
Garwood explored the interior between Klaas Bille and Wijde Bays,
and made an ascent of the Horn-sands-tind. This is not all, however,
that Arctic students owe to Sir Martin Conway. Besides his _First
Crossing of Spitsbergen_ he has published a History of Spitsbergen from
its discovery to the beginning of the scientific exploration of the
country, with a complete discussion of the nomenclature--a most useful
feature, as the English and Dutch were discovering and naming at the
same time, and overlapping each other[170]. Sir Martin has also edited
some early Spitsbergen voyages for the Hakluyt Society.
* * * * *
One of the most recent Arctic events is the transfer to the Dominion
Government of all the islands north of America previously forming
part of the territories of the British Crown. These islands consist
of Baffin Island, North Devon, Ellesmere Island, and the whole of the
Parry Archipelago.
The Dominion Government resolved to fit out and send a steamer to take
formal possession. The _Gauss_ was bought, which had been specially
built at Kiel for Antarctic service in 1900, a vessel of 436 tons net,
with a length of 165 and a width of 37 ft. The command was given to
Captain Bernier, who in 1902 had endeavoured to obtain funds for a
vessel to drift across the Pole, taking deep sea soundings,--an able
and efficient commander who had made a preliminary voyage up Barrow
Strait in 1907.
Commander Bernier had three executive officers, two engineers, a
purser, surgeon, historiographer, meteorologist, geologist, naturalist,
and 31 men; 43 all told. Leaving Quebec in July 1908, the _Gauss_
proceeded up Davis Strait and Baffin Bay to Etah in Smith Sound.
Bernier then entered Lancaster Sound, and went up Barrow Strait,
Melville Sound, and M’Clure Strait, examining the _Resolute’s_ large
depôt at Dealy Island. He wintered in Parry’s Winter Harbour, sending
two parties across to annex Banks Island and Victoria Island. Leaving
Winter Harbour on August 12th, 1909, he proceeded to sound Byam Martin
and Austin Channels, and sailed down Barrow Strait to Navy Board Inlet,
which he entered, passing down the channels and coming out at Pond’s
Bay. He returned to Canada after completing a well planned and most
successful voyage.
The geographic board of Canada have done excellent service to Arctic
geography by taking in hand the question of nomenclature, making a
complete list of place names, and giving single names to islands which
had previously been covered with names like an advertisement hoarding,
without reference to geographical features.