EARLY ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.
Attempts at the North-west Passage—Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s
advocacy—The one thing left undone—Frobisher’s Expeditions—Arctic
“Diggins”—A Veritable Gold Excitement—Large Fleet
Despatched—Disaster and Disappointment—Voyages of John
Davis—Intercourse with the Natives—His Reports concerning Whales,
&c.—The Merchants aroused—Opening of the Whaling Trade—Maldonado’s
Claim to the Discovery of the North-west Passage.
While these attempts at a north-east passage were being made, the
north-west question was by no means forgotten. Several learned men,
including Sir Humphrey Gilbert, employed their pens in arguing the
practicability of such a passage. In his defence of such an attempt he
spoke of a friar of Mexico who had actually performed the journey, but
who, on telling it to the King of Portugal, had been forbidden to make it
known, lest it should reach England. Whatever the facts of this case, some
enthusiasm on the subject was the result, and Martin Frobisher spoke of it
as _the_ one thing “left undone.” But although he also persisted in his
advocacy, it took fifteen years of perseverance and constant effort before
he could find any one who would give him the assistance he needed. At
last, when hope was nearly dead within him, Dudley Earl of Warwick, came
to the rescue, and aided him to fit out two small barques, the _Gabriel_
and the _Michael_, thirty-five and thirty tons burthen respectively. With
these small craft—mere cockle-shells for such a voyage—he left the Thames.
As he passed Greenwich Palace, on the 8th of June, 1576, Queen Elizabeth
waved her farewell from a window. Briefly, they reached what is believed
to have been the southern part of Greenland and Labrador, where they could
not land because of the icy field surrounding the coast. Sailing to the
northward, Frobisher met with a gigantic iceberg, which fell in pieces
within their sight, making as much noise as though a high cliff had fallen
into the sea. They saw a number of Esquimaux, and perhaps the description
given of them by the commander is as good as any ever given in few
words:—“They be like to Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, and
flatte noses, and taunie in colour, wearing seale skinnes; and so doe the
women, not differing in the fashion, but the women are marked in the face
with blewe streekes downe the cheekes and round about the eyes.” They came
near the ship timidly, and after a while one of them ventured into the
ship’s boat, when Frobisher presented him with a bell and a knife, and
sent him back with five of the crew. They were directed to land him apart
from the spot where a number of his countrymen were assembled, but they
disobeyed his orders, and were seized by the natives, together with the
boat, and none of them were heard of more. Returning to the same spot a
few days afterwards, one of the natives was enticed alongside the vessel,
when Frobisher, a very powerful man, caught him fast, “and plucked him
with maine force, boate and all, into his barke out of the sea. Whereupon,
when he found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdaine he bit
his tongue in twaine within his mouth; notwithstanding he died not
thereof, but lived until he came to England, and then he died of cold
which he had taken at sea.” With this “strange infidele” Frobisher set
sail for home, arriving at Harwich on October 2nd. It is very questionable
whether this, the first of Frobisher’s arctic voyages, would not have been
his last, but for one little circumstance, which had been overlooked until
the return of the expedition.
[Illustration: FROBISHER PASSING GREENWICH.]
Every one who visits a strange place likes to bring home some little
memento, and several of the men on this voyage had collected
trifles—flowers, moss, grass, pebbles, or what not. One of them had
obtained a piece of stone, “much like to a sea-cole in colour,” which
being given to one of the adventurer’s wives, she threw it in the fire,
doubtless to see whether it would burn. Whether from accident or not, she
threw some vinegar on it to quench the heat, when “it glistered with a
bright marquesset of golde.” This incident soon became known abroad, and
the stone was assayed, the “gold finers” reporting it to contain a
considerable quantity of gold. It seems almost ridiculous to think of a
fever, a veritable “excitement,” in connection with Arctic “diggins.”
Nevertheless, the next voyage of Frobisher was instigated purely for the
further discovery of the precious metal. Queen Elizabeth seems to have
been infected with the same fever, and Frobisher on taking his leave of
her Majesty had the honour of kissing her hand, and being dismissed with
“gracious countenance and comfortable words.” He was furnished with “one
tall ship” of her Majesty’s, named the _Ayde_, of 180 tons or so, and two
barques of about thirty tons each. On the way north they observed some
enormous icebergs, more than half a mile in circuit, and seventy to eighty
fathoms (210 to 240 yards) under water. The ice being perfectly fresh,
Frobisher came to the conclusion that they “must be bredde in the sounds,
or in some land neere the Pole.” It is now admitted that icebergs properly
so called, are but the _ends of glaciers_, broken off. Furthermore, he was
the first to record that “the maine sea freeseth not, therefore there is
no _mare glaciale_, as the opinion hitherto hath bene.” They loaded up
with the ore from Hall’s greater island and on a small island in
Frobisher’s Strait. “All the sands and cliffs did so glister, and had so
bright a marquesite, that it seemed all to be gold, but upon tryall made
it prooved no better than black-lead, and verified the proverbe, ‘All is
not gold that glistereth.’” We shall see that it was only iron pyrites, a
sulphuret of iron. They also professed to have found on another island a
mine of silver, and more gold ore.
[Illustration: AN ARCTIC SCENE: FLOATING ICE.]
On this expedition they had several altercations with the natives, and in
one skirmish in Yorke Sound killed five or six of them. It is said that
they found here some of the apparel of their five unfortunate companions
who had been seized the previous year by the natives. By means of two
captives they brought about some degree of intercourse with the Esquimaux,
and left a letter, understanding that their own sailors were still alive,
but they were never more seen. Having loaded with about 200 tons of the
supposed gold ore, they set sail for England, where they arrived safely,
to the great delight of the queen and court, who considered that there
were now great hopes of riches and profit. It was determined that a third
expedition should be despatched the following year (1578).
The fleet on this occasion consisted of no less than fifteen vessels. One
hundred persons were taken to form a settlement and remain there the
complete year, keeping three of the vessels for their own use; the others
were to bring back cargoes of the ore. Frobisher was appointed admiral and
general. From first to last the voyage was disastrous. In the straits
named after Frobisher, one of their larger barques struck so violently on
a mass of ice that she sank in sight of the whole fleet, and although all
the people on board were saved, a part of the house intended for the
settlers went down with the wreck. A violent storm next ensued, which
dispersed the fleet, some of the vessels being fixed in the ice of the
strait, others being swept away to sea. It was a severe season, and they
were bewildered by fogs, snow, and mist. After many perils, a large part
of the fleet assembled in the Countess of Warwick’s Sound, when a council
was held. It was at first determined to plant the colony on the adjoining
island, but on examination so much of the wooden house was missing, and so
great a quantity of the stores and provisions were on the ships which had
parted company, that the idea was abandoned. “A great black island,” where
so much black ore was found that it “might suffice all the gold gluttons
of the world,” was discovered by one of the captains, and was named after
him, “Best’s Blessing.” It was at length decided that each captain should
load his ship with ore and set homewards. The fleet arrived in England on
or about October 1st, having lost some forty persons. The ore being now
carefully examined proved worthless pyrites; and the Arctic gold mines
seem to have proved a “fizzle” as great as any of the worst which have
succeeded them. One Michael Lok, who had advanced money and become
security for Frobisher, was ruined, and cast into the Fleet prison. One of
the accounts mentions the fact that when the ore was first examined, one
of the assayers, “by coaxing nature, as he privately admitted to Michael
Lok,” _pretended_ to make the discovery of its precious qualities. It
seems that the Master of the Mint had reported on it adversely; but the
favourable opinion of others and the lust for wealth overcame all reason
and judgment, until queen, courtiers, and subjects were sobered by the
complete disappointment, which ended all further search for the time.
Frobisher did good service for his country afterwards, and fought with
such bravery against the Spanish Armada that he was knighted. He died from
the effect of a shot-wound received at the assault of Croyson, during the
war with Henry IV. of France.
[Illustration: MARTIN FROBISHER.]
The disastrous voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with its melancholy
termination, has been already described; but the merchants of London and
elsewhere, being still persuaded “of the likelyhood of the discoverie of
the north-west passage,” only two years later subscribed for fresh
attempts. John Davis—a name inseparably associated with arctic
enterprise—received the appointment of captain and chief pilot of the new
expedition. Two small vessels, the _Sunshine_ and _Moonshine_, were
employed, and on one of them four musicians were taken. They left
Dartmouth on the 7th of June, 1585, and on the 19th of July were off the
west coast of Greenland, where they noted “a mighty great roaring of the
sea,” which was found to proceed from the “rowling together of islands of
ice.” As they proceeded northward, the fog, which had hampered their
movements, clearing away, they observed “a rocky and mountainous land, in
form of a sugar-loaf,” its summit, covered with snow, appearing, as it
were, above the clouds. The aspect of all around was so uninviting that
Davis named it “The Land of Desolation.” He could not land there, owing to
the coast ice, and after sundry explorations to the southward, and again
to the north-westward, discovered an archipelago of islands, “among which
were many free sounds, and good roads for shipping,” to which he gave the
title of Gilbert’s Sound. Here a multitude of natives approached in their
canoes, on which the musicians began to perform, and the sailors to dance
and make signs of friendship. This delighted the “salvages,” and the
sailors obtained from them almost whatever they wished—canoes, clothing,
bows, and native implements. After other explorations they reached a fine
open passage (Cumberland Strait) between Frobisher’s Archipelago and the
land now called Cumberland’s Island, entirely free from ice, “and the
water of the colour, nature, and quality of the main ocean.” They
proceeded up it a distance of sixty leagues, when they found a cluster of
islands in the middle of the passage, and the weather being bad and the
season late, they, after a week’s further stay, determined to sail for
England, where they arrived safely on September 30th.
The reports given by Davis respecting the vast number of whales and seals
observed, and the peltries to be obtained from the Esquimaux, aroused the
enterprise of the merchants, and several persons in Exeter and other parts
of the West of England combined to add a trading vessel, the _Mermaid_, of
one hundred and twenty tons, to those which had been employed the previous
season. Davis again reached the west coast of Greenland, where much
intercourse was held with the natives, who came off to the vessels
sometimes in as many as one “hundred canoes at a time ... bringing with
them seale skinnes, stagge skinnes, white hares, seale fish, samon peale,
smal cod, dry caplin, with other fish, and birds such as the country did
yield.” The natives do not seem to have made quite so favourable an
impression as on the former occasion, and were described as thievish and
mischievous, prone to steal everything on which they could lay their
hands. After some remarks on their diet, we are gravely informed that they
“drink salt water,” and eat grass and ice as luxuries. They were found to
be extremely nimble and strong, and fond of leaping and wrestling, in
which they beat the best of the crew, who were west-country wrestlers. In
the middle of July the adventurous navigators were alarmed at the
appearance of a most “mighty and strange quantity of yce in one entire
masse,” so large that Davis was afraid to mention its dimensions, lest he
should not be believed. The same modesty and diffidence has not been
observed, to any marked degree, in the narratives of most modern voyagers
and travellers! They coasted the ice till the end of July, and the cold
was so severe, even in this month, that the shrouds, ropes, and sails were
frozen, and the air was loaded with a thick fog. Sickness prevailed among
the men, and they commenced to murmur. They “advised their captain,
through his overboldness, not to leave their widows and fatherless
children to give him bitter curses.” He therefore left the _Mermaid_ to
remain where she was, in readiness to return, while with the _Moonshine_
he would proceed round the ice. Davis made several discoveries of some
geographical importance, and thought that off the Labrador coast, in
latitude 54° N., he had actually discovered the opening to the north-west
passage. Two of his vessels, the _Sunshine_ and _North Star_, had been
despatched previously to seek a passage northward, between Greenland and
Iceland, as far as latitude 80°. They proceeded some little distance
north, being much hampered by the ice, but in effect accomplished nothing.
The latter vessel was lost on the passage home.
The second voyage of Davis had not been particularly prosperous either as
regards commerce or discovery, but his persistency and perseverance
induced the merchants to despatch a third expedition in 1587. On this
voyage he proceeded as far north as 73°, and discovered the strait which
now bears his name. The merchant adventurers would doubtless have
continued these voyages, even in part for discovery, had they been
reasonably profitable. But although Davis tried very zealously to persuade
them, they now declined most absolutely. We find him eight years after
appealing for the same object to Her Majesty’s Privy Council in a little
work entitled, “The Worlde’s Hydrographicall Discription,” a book of which
it is believed there are not over three copies in existence. Among the
headings to the various divisions is one to this effect: “That under the
Pole is the greatest place of dignitie.” Davis made no more arctic
voyages, but was employed by the Dutch in the East Indian service.
[Illustration: AN ICEBERG BREAKING UP.]
While there are so many well-authenticated voyages to record, we shall not
be blamed if those of a doubtful nature are here omitted. The so-called
voyage of Maldonado, in which he claimed to have effected a north-west
passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1588, and back again the
following year, is universally discredited, and the narrative bears every
indication of being an utter forgery. The genuine voyage of Juan de Fuca,
in 1592, who, while searching for the same imaginary “Straits of Anian,”
of which Maldonado wrote, discovered the straits which now bear his own
name, belongs properly to voyages in the Pacific Ocean, and will be
considered in its place.