On this day, the 15th of September, 1595, in the country and in the
roads of the Cross Point, in the Strait of Nassau, where the ships
are now lying at anchor all together, by desire and command of the
admiral, Cornelis Cornelisz., the captains or pilots of all the
aforesaid ships being assembled and met together in the cabin of
the ship of the said admiral, in order that, jointly and each of
them severally, they may without dissimulation and freely declare
their opinion and final decision, and so consult together as to
what is best and most advantageous to be done and undertaken in
respect of the voyage which they have commenced round by the north
towards China, Japan, etc.; and they having maturely and most
earnestly considered and examined the subject, and also desiring
strictly to carry out, as far as is practicable and possible, the
instructions of His Excellency and the Lords the States, for the
welfare and preservation of the same ships, their crews and
merchandize: It is found that they have all of them hitherto done
their utmost duty and their best, with all zeal and diligence, not
fearing to hazard and sometimes to put in peril the ships and their
own persons (whenever need required it), in order to preserve their
honour in everything, and so as to be able with a clear conscience
to answer for the same to God and to the whole world. But inasmuch
as it has pleased the Lord God not to permit it on the present
voyage, they find themselves most unwillingly compelled, because of
the time that has elapsed, to discontinue the same navigation for
this time, being prevented by the ice caused by the severe and
unusually long frost, which, from what they have heard on the
information of others and from their own experience, has this year
been very hard and extraordinary in these parts. All which having
been well considered and discussed by them together, they find no
better means, being forced by necessity, than, with the first fit
weather and favourable wind, to take their course homewards, all
together and in the order in which they came, using every diligence
so as if possible to preserve themselves from the frost which is
momentarily expected to set in, and with God’s help to bring the
ships, before all the perils of winter, into a safe harbour;
inasmuch as at the present time no other better means can be found
to lead them to a better judgment. Protesting before God and the
whole world, that they have acted in this matter as they wish God
may act in the salvation of their souls, and as they hope and trust
cannot be gainsaid or controverted by any of those who have
accompanied them; and they willingly submit themselves to defend
this at all times, if requisite, by means of the fuller and more
detailed journals and notes, which each of them, separately and
without communication with the others, has kept thereof. And in
order that there may be no disorder or idle talking unjustly spread
abroad, to the disadvantage or derogation of those who with such
good will have braved so many perils for the honour and advantage
of our country, whereby they might be deprived of their merited
reward, they have, for their defence and in order to provide before
hand against the same, unanimously signed this Act, which I, Ian
Huyghen van Linschoten, have drawn up at their request, and
together with Françoys de la Dale, as chief commissioners of the
said fleet, have, with the like affirmation and in further
corroboration, in like manner signed, the day and date above
written.
Cornelis Cornelisz.
Brant Ysbrantsz.
Willem Barentsz.
Lambert Gerritsz.
Thomas Willemsz.
Harmen Ianssz.
Hendrick Hartman.
Ian Huyghen van Linschoten.
Françoys de la Dale.
It may well be conceived that it was no easy task for a bold and
resolute sailor, and at the same time a devout and conscientious man,
as William Barents undoubtedly was, to “protest before God, as he
wished He might act in the salvation of his soul”, that it was
impossible for him to do more than he had done, so long as his ship was
staunch and he had a crew willing to go forward with him, or even to
brave a winter residence in those inhospitable regions. Linschoten
speaks of the dissentient Amsterdammers in the plural number; whence it
is to be inferred that Barents did not stand alone, but that Harmen
Ianszoon, the master of the other Amsterdam vessel, was at first of the
same opinion; and, most probably, it was only when he yielded, that
Barents saw himself, however reluctantly, forced to give in.
After the protest had been so signed, the fleet proceeded on its
homeward voyage, and on the 30th of September reached Wardhuus, where
it remained till the 10th of the following month. The vessels then
again set sail all together; but the vice-admiral’s ship, the Hope, on
board of which was Linschoten, managed to get the start of the rest,
arriving at the Texel on the 26th of October. It was not till the 18th
of the following month that Barents’s vessel arrived in the river Maas.
The journal of the proceedings of the fleet, which was kept by
Linschoten in pursuance of his instructions, was communicated by him to
the Government immediately on his arrival; but it was not till six
years afterwards that he published his very interesting and valuable
narrative of this voyage, as well as of that of the preceding year so
far as concerns the Enkhuysen vessels, which had sailed through
Yugorsky Shar—“Pet’s Strait” or the “Strait of Nassau”—into the Sea of
Kara.
So little appears to be known by bibliographers respecting Linschoten’s
narrative of these voyages, that we have scarcely the means of
describing any other editions than those which happen to exist in the
British Museum.
The earliest of these appeared in Dutch, in 1601, in folio, under the
following title:—
Voyagie, ofte Schip-vaert, van Ian Hvyghen van Linschoten, van by
Noorden om langes Noorwegen, de Noortcaep, Laplant, Vinlant,
Ruslandt, de Witte Zee, de Custen van Candenoes, Swetenoes,
Pitzora, &c. door de Strate ofte Engte van Nassau tot voorby de
Revier Oby. Waer inne seer distinctelicken Verbaels-ghewijse
beschreven ende aenghewesen wordt, alle t’ghene dat hem op de selve
Reyse van dach tot dach bejeghent en voorghecomen is. Met de af
beeldtsels van alle de Custen, Hoecken, Landen, Opdoeningen,
Streckinghen, Coursen, Mijlen, ende d’ander merckelicke dingen
meer: Gelijc als hy’t alles selfs sichtelicken en̄ waerachtelicken
nae’t leven uytgeworpen ende gheannoteert heeft, &c. Anno 1594 en̄
1595.
Ghedruct tot Franeker, by Gerard Ketel.