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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1892 Cassell & Co. edition. + + + + + +VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE + +by Richard Hakluyt + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Thirty-five years ago I made a voyage to the Arctic Seas in what +Chaucer calls + + + A little bote +No bigger than a manne's thought; + + +it was a Phantom Ship that made some voyages to different parts of +the world which were recorded in early numbers of Charles Dickens's +"Household Words." As preface to Richard Hakluyt's records of the +first endeavour of our bold Elizabethan mariners to find North-West +Passage to the East, let me repeat here that old voyage of mine from +No. 55 of "Household Words," dated the 12th of April, 1851: The +Phantom is fitted out for Arctic exploration, with instructions to +find her way, by the north-west, to Behring Straits, and take the +South Pole on her passage home. Just now we steer due north, and +yonder is the coast of Norway. From that coast parted Hugh +Willoughby, three hundred years ago; the first of our countrymen who +wrought an ice-bound highway to Cathay. Two years afterwards his +ships were found, in the haven of Arzina, in Lapland, by some +Russian fishermen; near and about them Willoughby and his +companions--seventy dead men. The ships were freighted with their +frozen crews, and sailed for England; but, "being unstaunch, as it +is supposed, by their two years' wintering in Lapland, sunk, by the +way, with their dead, and them also that brought them." + +Ice floats about us now, and here is a whale blowing; a whale, too, +very near Spitzbergen. When first Spitzbergen was discovered, in +the good old times, there were whales here in abundance; then a +hundred Dutch ships, in a crowd, might go to work, and boats might +jostle with each other, and the only thing deficient would be +stowage room for all the produce of the fishery. Now one ship may +have the whole field to itself, and travel home with an imperfect +cargo. It was fine fun in the good old times; there was no need to +cruise. Coppers and boilers were fitted on the island, and little +colonies about them, in the fishing season, had nothing to do but +tow the whales in, with a boat, as fast as they were wanted by the +copper. No wonder that so enviable a Tom Tidler's ground was +claimed by all who had a love for gold and silver. The English +called it theirs, for they first fished; the Dutch said, nay, but +the island was of their discovery; Danes, Hamburghers, Bisayans, +Spaniards, and French put in their claims; and at length it was +agreed to make partitions. The numerous bays and harbours which +indent the coast were divided among the rival nations; and, to this +day, many of them bear, accordingly, such names as English Bay, +Danes Bay, and so forth. One bay there is, with graves in it, named +Sorrow. For it seemed to the fishers most desirable, if possible, +to plant upon this island permanent establishments, and condemned +convicts were offered, by the Russians, life and pardon, if they +would winter in Spitzbergen. They agreed; but, when they saw the +icy mountains and the stormy sea, repented, and went back, to meet a +death exempt from torture. The Dutch tempted free men, by high +rewards, to try the dangerous experiment. One of their victims left +a journal, which describes his suffering and that of his companions. +Their mouths, he says, became so sore that, if they had food, they +could not eat; their limbs were swollen and disabled with +excruciating pain; they died of scurvy. Those who died first were +coffined by their dying friends; a row of coffins was found, in the +spring, each with a man in it; two men uncoffined, side by side, +were dead upon the floor. The journal told how once the traces of a +bear excited their hope of fresh meat and amended health; how, with +a lantern, two or three had limped upon the track, until the light +became extinguished, and they came back in despair to die. We might +speak, also, of eight English sailors, left, by accident, upon +Spitzbergen, who lived to return and tell their winter's tale; but a +long journey is before us and we must not linger on the way. As for +our whalers, it need scarcely be related that the multitude of +whales diminished as the slaughtering went on, until it was no +longer possible to keep the coppers full. The whales had to be +searched for by the vessels, and thereafter it was not worth while +to take the blubber to Spitzbergen to be boiled; and the different +nations, having carried home their coppers, left the apparatus of +those fishing stations to decay. + +Take heed. There is a noise like thunder, and a mountain snaps in +two. The upper half comes, crashing, grinding, down into the sea, +and loosened streams of water follow it. The sea is displaced +before the mighty heap; it boils and scatters up a cloud of spray; +it rushes back, and violently beats upon the shore. The mountain +rises from its bath, sways to and fro, while water pours along its +mighty sides; now it is tolerably quiet, letting crackers off as air +escapes out of its cavities. That is an iceberg, and in that way +are all icebergs formed. Mountains of ice formed by rain and snow-- +grand Arctic glaciers, undermined by the sea or by accumulation +over-balanced--topple down upon the slightest provocation (moved by +a shout, perhaps), and where they float, as this black-looking +fellow does, they need deep water. This berg in height is about +ninety feet, and a due balance requires that a mass nine times as +large as the part visible should be submerged. Icebergs are seen +about us now which rise two hundred feet above the water's level. + +There are above head plenty of aquatic birds; ashore, or on the ice, +are bears, foxes, reindeer; and in the sea there are innumerable +animals. We shall not see so much life near the North Pole, that is +certain. It would be worth while to go ashore upon an islet there, +near Vogel Sang, to pay a visit to the eider-ducks. Their nests are +so abundant that one cannot avoid treading on them. When the duck +is driven by a hungry fox to leave her eggs, she covers them with +down, in order that they may not cool during her absence, and, +moreover, glues the down into a case with a secretion supplied to +her by Nature for that purpose. The deserted eggs are safe, for +that secretion has an odour very disagreeable to the intruder's +nose. + +We still sail northward, among sheets of ice, whose boundaries are +not beyond our vision from the masthead--these are "floes;" between +them we find easy way, it is fair "sailing ice." In the clear sky +to the north a streak of lucid white light is the reflection from an +icy surface; that is, "ice-blink," in the language of these seas. +The glare from snow is yellow, while open water gives a dark +reflection. + +Northward still; but now we are in fog the ice is troublesome; a +gale is rising. Now, if our ship had timbers they would crack, and +if she had a bell it would be tolling; if we were shouting to each +other we should not hear, the sea is in a fury. With wild force its +breakers dash against a heaped-up wall of broken ice, that grinds +and strains and battles fiercely with the water. This is "the +pack," the edge of a great ice-field broken by the swell. It is a +perilous and an exciting thing to push through pack ice in a gale. + +Now there is ice as far as eye can see, that is "an ice-field." +Masses are forced up like colossal tombstones on all sides; our +sailors call them "hummocks;" here and there the broken ice displays +large "holes of water." Shall we go on? Upon this field, in 1827, +Parry adventured with his men to reach the North Pole, if that +should be possible. With sledges and portable boats they laboured +on through snow and over hummocks, launching their boats over the +larger holes of water. With stout hearts, undaunted by toil or +danger, they went boldly on, though by degrees it became clear to +the leaders of the expedition that they were almost like mice upon a +treadmill cage, making a great expenditure of leg for little gain. +The ice was floating to the south with them, as they were walking to +the north; still they went on. Sleeping by day to avoid the glare, +and to get greater warmth during the time of rest, and travelling by +night--watch-makers' days and nights, for it was all one polar day-- +the men soon were unable to distinguish noon from midnight. The +great event of one day on this dreary waste was the discovery of two +flies upon an ice hummock; these, says Parry, became at once a topic +of ridiculous importance. Presently, after twenty-three miles' +walking, they had only gone one mile forward, the ice having +industriously floated twenty-two miles in the opposite direction; +and then, after walking forward eleven miles, they found themselves +to be three miles behind the place from which they started. The +party accordingly returned, not having reached the Pole, not having +reached the eighty-third parallel, for the attainment of which there +was a reward of a thousand pounds held out by government. They +reached the parallel of eighty-two degrees forty-five minutes, which +was the most northerly point trodden by the foot of man. + +From that point they returned. In those high latitudes they met +with a phenomenon, common in alpine regions, as well as at the Pole, +red snow; the red colour being caused by the abundance of a minute +plant, of low development, the last dweller on the borders of the +vegetable kingdom. More interesting to the sailors was a fat she +bear which they killed and devoured with a zeal to be repented of; +for on reaching navigable sea, and pushing in their boats to Table +Island, where some stones were left, they found that the bears had +eaten all their bread, whereon the men agreed that "Bruin was now +square with them." An islet next to Table Island--they are both +mere rocks--is the most northern land discovered. Therefore, Parry +applied to it the name of lieutenant--afterwards Sir James--Ross. +This compliment Sir James Ross acknowledged in the most emphatic +manner, by discovering on his part, at the other Pole, the most +southern land yet seen, and giving to it the name of Parry: "Parry +Mountains." + +It very probably would not be difficult, under such circumstances as +Sir W. Parry has since recommended, to reach the North Pole along +this route. Then (especially if it be true, as many believe, that +there is a region of open sea about the Pole itself) we might find +it as easy to reach Behring Straits by travelling in a straight line +over the North Pole, as by threading the straits and bays north of +America. + +We turn our course until we have in sight a portion of the ice- +barred eastern coast of Greenland, Shannon Island. Somewhere about +this spot in the seventy-fifth parallel is the most northern part of +that coast known to us. Colonel--then Captain--Sabine in the Griper +was landed there to make magnetic, and other observations; for the +same purpose he had previously visited Sierra Leone. That is where +we differ from our forefathers. They commissioned hardy seamen to +encounter peril for the search of gold ore, or for a near road to +Cathay; but our peril is encountered for the gain of knowledge, for +the highest kind of service that can now be rendered to the human +race. + +Before we leave the Northern Sea, we must not omit to mention the +voyage by Spitzbergen northward, in 1818, of Captain Buchan in the +Dorothea, accompanied by Lieutenant Franklin, in the Trent. It was +Sir John Franklin's first voyage to the Arctic regions. This trip +forms the subject of a delightful book by Captain Beechey. + +On our way to the south point of Greenland we pass near Cape North, +a point of Iceland. Iceland, we know, is the centre of a volcanic +region, whereof Norway and Greenland are at opposite points of the +circumference. In connection with this district there is a +remarkable fact; that by the agency of subterranean forces, a large +portion of Norway and Sweden is being slowly upheaved. While +Greenland, on the west coast, as gradually sinks into the sea, +Norway rises at the rate of about four feet in a century. In +Greenland, the sinking is so well known that the natives never build +close to the water's edge, and the Moravian missionaries more than +once have had to move farther inland the poles on which their boats +are rested. + +Our Phantom Ship stands fairly now along the western coast of +Greenland into Davis Straits. We observe that upon this western +coast there is, by a great deal, less ice than on the eastern. That +is a rule generally. Not only the configuration of the straits and +bays, but also the earth's rotation from west to east, causes the +currents here to set towards the west, and wash the western coasts, +while they act very little on the eastern. We steer across Davis +Strait, among "an infinite number of great countreys and islands of +yce;" there, near the entrance, we find Hudson Strait, which does +not now concern us. Islands probably separate this well-known +channel from Frobisher Strait to the north of it, yet unexplored. +Here let us recall to mind the fleet of fifteen sail, under Sir +Martin Frobisher, in 1578, tossing about and parting company among +the ice. Let us remember how the crew of the Anne Frances, in that +expedition, built a pinnace when their vessel struck upon a rock, +stock, although they wanted main timber and nails. How they made a +mimic forge, and "for the easier making of nails, were forced to +break their tongs, gridiron, and fire-shovel, in pieces." How +Master Captain Best, in this frail bark, with its imperfect timbers +held together by the metamorphosed gridiron and fire-shovel, +continued in his duty, and did depart up the straights as before was +pretended." How a terrific storm arose, and the fleet parted and +the intrepid captain was towed "in his small pinnesse, at the stern +of the Michael, thorow the raging seas; for the bark was not able to +receive, or relieve half his company." The "tongs, gridyron, and +fire-shovell," performed their work only for as many minutes as were +absolutely necessary, for the pinnesse came no sooner aboard the +ship, and the men entred, but she presently shivered and fell in +pieces, and sunke at the ship's stern with all the poor men's +furniture." + +Now, too, as we sail up the strait, explored a few years after these +events by Master John Davis, how proudly we remember him as a right +worthy forerunner of those countrymen of his and ours who since have +sailed over his track. Nor ought we to pass on without calling to +mind the melancholy fate, in 1606, of Master John Knight, driven, in +the Hopewell, among huge masses of ice with a tremendous surf, his +rudder knocked away, his ship half full of water, at the entrance to +these straits. Hoping to find a harbour, he set forth to explore a +large island, and landed, leaving two men to watch the boat, while +he, with three men and the mate, set forth and disappeared over a +hill. For thirteen hours the watchers kept their post; one had his +trumpet with him, for he was a trumpeter, the other had a gun. They +trumpeted often and loudly; they fired, but no answer came. They +watched ashore all night for the return of their captain and his +party, "but they came not at all." + +The season is advanced. As we sail on, the sea steams like a line- +kiln, "frost-smoke" covers it. The water, cooled less rapidly, is +warmer now than the surrounding air, and yields this vapour in +consequence. By the time our vessel has reached Baffin's Bay, still +coasting along Greenland, in addition to old floes and bergs, the +water is beset with "pancake ice." That is the young ice when it +first begins to cake upon the surface. Innocent enough it seems, +but it is sadly clogging to the ships. It sticks about their sides +like treacle on a fly's wing; collecting unequally, it destroys all +equilibrium, and impedes the efforts of the steersman. Rocks split +on the Greenland coast with loud explosions, and more icebergs fall. +Icebergs we soon shall take our leave of; they are only found where +there is a coast on which glaciers can form; they are good for +nothing but to yield fresh water to the vessels; it will be all +field, pack, and saltwater ice presently. + +Now we are in Baffin's Bay, explored in the voyages of Bylot and +Baffin, 1615-16. When, in 1817, a great movement in the Greenland +ice caused many to believe that the northern passages would be found +comparatively clear; and when, in consequence of this impression, +Sir John Barrow succeeded in setting afoot that course of modern +Arctic exploration which has been continued to the present day, Sir +John Ross was the first man sent to find the North-West Passage. +Buchan and Parry were commissioned at the same the to attempt the +North Sea route. Sir John Ross did little more on that occasion +than effect a survey of Baffin's Bay, and prove the accuracy of the +ancient pilot. In the extreme north of the bay there is an inlet or +a channel, called by Baffin Smith's Sound; this Sir John saw, but +did not enter. It never yet has been explored. It may be an inlet +only; but it is also very possible that by this channel ships might +get into the Polar Sea and sail by the north shore of Greenland to +Spitzbergen. Turning that corner, and descending along the western +coast of Baffin's Bay, there is another inlet called Jones' Sound by +Baffin, also unexplored. These two inlets, with their very British +titles, Smith and Jones, are of exceeding interest. Jones' Sound +may lead by a back way to Melville Island. South of Jones' Sound +there is a wide break in the shore, a great sound, named by Baffin, +Lancaster's, which Sir John Ross, in that first expedition, failed +also to explore. Like our transatlantic friends at the South Pole, +he laid down a range of clouds as mountains, and considered the way +impervious; so he came home. Parry went out next year, as a +lieutenant, in command of his first and most successful expedition. +He sailed up Lancaster Sound, which was in that year (1819) +unusually clear of ice; and he is the discoverer whose track we now +follow in our Phantom Ship. The whole ground being new, he had to +name the points of country right and left of him. The way was broad +and open, due west, a most prosperous beginning for a North-West +Passage. If this continued, he would soon reach Behring Strait. A +broad channel to the right, directed, that is to say, southward, he +entered on the Prince of Wales's birthday, and so called it the +"Prince Regent's Inlet." After exploring this for some miles, he +turned back to resume his western course, for still there was a +broad strait leading westward. This second part of Lancaster Sound +he called after the Secretary of the Admiralty who had so +indefatigably laboured to promote the expeditions, Barrow's Strait. +Then he came to a channel, turning to the right or northward, and he +named that Wellington Channel. Then he had on his right hand ice, +islands large and small, and intervening channels; on the left, ice, +and a cape visible, Cape Walker. At an island, named after the +First Lord of the Admiralty Melville Island, the great frozen +wilderness barred farther progress. There he wintered. On the +coast of Melville Island they had passed the latitude of one hundred +and ten degrees, and the men had become entitled to a royal bounty +of five thousand pounds. This group of islands Parry called North +Georgian, but they are usually called by his own name, Parry +Islands. This was the first European winter party in the Arctic +circle. Its details are familiar enough. How the men cut in three +days, through ice seven inches thick, a canal two miles and a half +long, and so brought the ships into safe harbour. How the genius of +Parry equalled the occasion; how there was established a theatre and +a North Georgian Gazette, to cheer the tediousness of a night which +continued for two thousand hours. The dreary, dazzling waste in +which there was that little patch of life, the stars, the fog, the +moonlight, the glittering wonder of the northern lights, in which, +as Greenlanders believe, souls of the wicked dance tormented, are +familiar to us. The she-bear stays at home; but the he-bear +hungers, and looks in vain for a stray seal or walrus--woe to the +unarmed man who meets him in his hungry mood! Wolves are abroad, +and pretty white arctic foxes. The reindeer have sought other +pasture-ground. The thermometer runs down to more than sixty +degrees below freezing, a temperature tolerable in calm weather, but +distressing in a wind. The eye-piece of the telescope must be +protected now with leather, for the skin is destroyed that comes in +contact with cold metal. The voice at a mile's distance can be +heard distinctly. Happy the day when first the sun is seen to graze +the edge of the horizon; but summer must come, and the heat of a +constant day must accumulate, and summer wane, before the ice is +melted. Then the ice cracks, like cannons over-charged, and moves +with a loud grinding noise. But not yet is escape to be made with +safety. After a detention of ten months, Parry got free; but, in +escaping, narrowly missed the destruction of both ships, by their +being "nipped" between the mighty mass and the unyielding shore. +What animals are found on Melville Island we may judge from the +results of sport during ten months' detention. The island exceeds +five thousand miles square, and yielded to the gun, three musk oxen, +twenty-four deer, sixty-eight hares, fifty-three geese, fifty-nine +ducks, and one hundred and forty-four ptarmigans, weighing together +three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six pounds--not quite two +ounces of meat per day to every man. Lichens, stunted grass, +saxifrage, and a feeble willow, are the plants of Melville Island, +but in sheltered nooks there are found sorrel, poppy, and a yellow +buttercup. Halos and double suns are very common consequences of +refraction in this quarter of the world. Franklin returned from his +first and most famous voyage with his men all safe and sound, except +the loss of a few fingers, frost-bitten. We sail back only as far +as Regent's Inlet, being bound for Behring Strait. + +The reputation of Sir John Ross being clouded by discontent +expressed against his first expedition, Felix Booth, a rich +distiller, provided seventeen thousand pounds to enable his friend +to redeem his credit. Sir John accordingly, in 1829, went out in +the Victory, provided with steam-machinery that did not answer well. +He was accompanied by Sir James Ross, his nephew. He it was who, on +this occasion, first surveyed Regent's Inlet, down which we are now +sailing with our Phantom Ship. The coast on our right hand, +westward, which Parry saw, is called North Somerset, but farther +south, where the inlet widens, the land is named Boothia Felix. +Five years before this, Parry, in his third voyage, had attempted to +pass down Regent's Inlet, where among ice and storm, one of his +ships, the Hecla, had been driven violently ashore, and of necessity +abandoned. The stores had been removed, and Sir John was able now +to replenish his own vessel from them. Rounding a point at the +bottom of Prince Regent's Inlet, we find Felix Harbour, where Sir +John Ross wintered. His nephew made from this point scientific +explorations; discovered a strait, called after him the Strait of +James Ross, and on the northern shore of this strait, on the main +land of Boothia, planted the British flag on the Northern Magnetic +Pole. The ice broke up, so did the Victory; after a hairbreadth +escape, the party found a searching vessel and arrived home after an +absence of four years and five months, Sir John Ross having lost his +ship, and won his reputation, The friend in need was made a baronet +for his munificence; Sir John was reimbursed for all his losses, and +the crew liberally taken care of. Sir James Ross had a rod and flag +signifying "Magnetic Pole," given to him for a new crest, by the +Heralds' College, for which he was no doubt greatly the better. + +We have sailed northward to get into Hudson Strait, the high road +into Hudson Bay. Along the shore are Esquimaux in boats, extremely +active, but these filthy creatures we pass by; the Esquimaux in +Hudson Strait are like the negroes of the coast, demoralised by +intercourse with European traders. These are not true pictures of +the loving children of the north. Our "Phantom" floats on the wide +waters of Hudson Bay--the grave of its discoverer. Familiar as the +story is of Henry Hudson's fate, for John King's sake how gladly we +repeat it. While sailing on the waters he discovered, in 1611, his +men mutinied; the mutiny was aided by Henry Green, a prodigal, whom +Hudson had generously shielded from ruin. Hudson, the master, and +his son, with six sick or disabled members of the crew, were driven +from their cabins, forced into a little shallop, and committed +helpless to the water and the ice. But there was one stout man, +John King, the carpenter, who stepped into the boat, abjuring his +companions, and chose rather to die than even passively be partaker +in so foul a crime. John King, we who live after will remember you. + +Here on aim island, Charlton Island, near our entrance to the bay, +in 1631, wintered poor Captain James with his wrecked crew. This is +a point outside the Arctic circle, but quite cold enough. Of +nights, with a good fire in the house they built, hoar frost covered +their beds, and the cook's water in a metal pan before the fire was +warm on one side and froze on the other. Here "it snowed and froze +extremely, at which time we, looking from the shore towards the +ship, she appeared a piece of ice in the fashion of a ship, or a +ship resembling a piece of ice." Here the gunner, who hand lost his +leg, besought that, "for the little the he had to live, he might +drink sack altogether." He died and was buried in the ice far from +the vessel, but when afterwards two more were dead of scurvy, and +the others, in a miserable state, were working with faint hope about +their shattered vessel, the gunner was found to have returned home +to the old vessel; his leg had penetrated through a port-hole. They +"digged him clear out, and he was as free from noisomeness," the +record says, "as when we first committed him to the sea. This +alteration had the ice, and water, and time, only wrought on him, +that his flesh would slip up and down upon his bones, like a glove +on a man's hand. In the evening we buried him by the others." +These worthy souls, laid up with the agonies of scurvy, knew that in +action was their only hope; they forced their limbs to labour, among +ice and water, every day. They set about the building of a boat, +but the hard frozen wood had broken their axes, so they made shift +with the pieces. To fell a tree, it was first requisite to light in +fire around it, and the carpenter could only labour with his wood +over a fire, or else it was like stone under his tools. Before the +boat was made they buried the carpenter. The captain exhorted them +to put their trust in God; "His will be done. If it be our fortune +to end our days here, we are as near Heaven as in England. They all +protested to work to the utmost of their strength, and that they +would refuse nothing that I should order them to do to the utmost +hazard of their lives. I thanked them all." Truly the North Pole +has its triumphs. If we took no account of the fields of trade +opened by our Arctic explorers, if we thought nothing of the wants +of science in comparison with the lives lost in supplying them, is +not the loss of life a gain, which proves and tests the fortitude of +noble hearts, and teaches us respect for human nature? All the +lives that have been lost among these Polar regions are less in +number than the dead upon a battle-field. The battle-field +inflicted shame upon our race--is it with shame that our hearts +throb in following these Arctic heroes? March 31st, says Captain +James, "was very cold, with snow and hail, which pinched our sick +men more than any time this year. This evening, being May eve, we +returned late from our work to our house, and made a good fire, and +chose ladies, and ceremoniously wore their names in our caps, +endeavouring to revive ourselves by any means. On the 15th, I +manured a little patch of ground that was bare of snow, and sowed it +with pease, hoping to have some shortly to eat, for as yet we could +see no green thing to comfort us." Those pease saved the party; as +they came up the young shoots were boiled and eaten, so their health +began to mend, and they recovered from their scurvy. Eventually, +after other perils, they succeeded in making their escape. + +A strait, called Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, leads due north out of +Hudson Bay, being parted by Southampton Island from the strait +through which we entered. Its name is quaint, for so was its +discoverer, Luke Fox, a worthy man, addicted much to euphuism. Fox +sailed from London in the same year in which James sailed from +Bristol. They were rivals. Meeting in Davis Straits, Fox dined on +board his friendly rival's vessel, which was very unfit for the +service upon which it went. The sea washed over them and came into +the cabin, so says Fox, "sauce would not have been wanted if there +had been roast mutton." Luke Fox, being ice-bound and in peril, +writes, "God thinks upon our imprisonment within a supersedeas;" but +he was a good and honourable man as wall as euphuist. His "Sir +Thomas Rowe's Welcome" leads into Fox Channel: our "Phantom Ship" +is pushing through the welcome passes on the left-hand Repulse Bay. +This portion of the Arctic regions, with Fox Channel, is extremely +perilous. Here Captain Lyon, in the Griper, was thrown anchorless +upon the mercy of a stormy sea, ice crashing around him. One island +in Fox Channel is called Mill Island, from the incessant grinding of +great masses of ice collected there. In the northern part of Fox +Channel, on the western shore, is Melville Peninsula, where Parry +wintered on his second voyage. Here let us go ashore and see a +little colony of Esquimaux. + +Their limits are built of blocks of snow, and arched, having an ice +pane for a window. They construct their arched entrance and their +hemispherical roof on the true principles of architecture. Those +wise men, the Egyptians, made their arch by hewing the stones out of +shape; the Esquimaux have the true secret. Here they are, with +little food in winter and great appetites; devouring a whole walrus +when they get it, and taking the chance of hunger for the next eight +days--hungry or full, for ever happy in their lot--here are the +Esquimaux. They are warmly clothed, each in a double suit of skins +sewn neatly together. Some are singing, with good voices too. +Please them, and they straightway dance; activity is good in a cold +climate: Play to them on the flute, or if you can sing well, sing, +or turn a barrel-organ, they are mute, eager with wonder and +delight; their love of music is intense. Give them a pencil, and, +like children, they will draw. Teach them and they will learn, +oblige them and they will be grateful. "Gentle and loving savages," +one of our old worthies called them, and the Portuguese were so much +impressed with their teachable and gentle conduct, that a Venetian +ambassador writes, "His serene majesty contemplates deriving great +advantage from the country, not only on account of the timber of +which he has occasion, but of the inhabitants, who are admirably +calculated for labour, and are the best I have ever seen." The +Esquimaux, of course, will learn vice, and in the region visited by +whale ships, vice enough has certainly been taught him. Here are +the dogs, who will eat old coats, or anything; and, near the +dwellings, here is a snow-bunting--robin redbreast of the Arctic +lands. A party of our sailors once, on landing, took some sticks +from a large heap, and uncovered the nest of a snow-bunting with +young, the bird flew to a little distance, but seeing that the men +sat down, and harmed her not, continued to seek food and supply her +little ones, with full faith in the good intentions of the party. +Captain Lyon found a child's grave partly uncovered, and a snow- +bunting had built its nest upon the infant's bosom. + +Sailing round Melville Peninsula, we come into the Gulf of Akkolee, +through Fury and Hecla Straits, discovered by Parry. So we get back +to the bottom of Regent's Inlet, which we quitted a short time ago, +and sailing in the neighbourhood of the magnetic pole, we reach the +estuary of Back's River, on the north-east coast of America. We +pass then through a strait, discovered in 1839 by Dean and Simpson, +still coasting along the northern shore of America, on the great +Stinking Lake, as Indians call this ocean. Boats, ice permitting, +and our "Phantom Ship," of course, can coast all the way to Behring +Strait. The whole coast has been explored by Sir John Franklin, Sir +John Richardson, and Sir George Back, who have earned their +knighthoods through great peril. As we pass Coronation Gulf--the +scene of Franklin, Richardson, and Back's first exploration from the +Coppermine River--we revert to the romantic story of their journey +back, over a land of snow and frost, subsisting upon lichens, with +companions starved to death, where they plucked wild leaves for tea, +and ate their shoes for supper; the tragedy by the river; the murder +of poor Hood, with a book of prayers in his hand; Franklin at Fort +Enterprise, with two companions at the point of death, himself +gaunt, hollow-eyed, feeding on pounded bones, raked from the +dunghill; the arrival of Dr. Richardson and the brave sailor; their +awful story of the cannibal Michel;--we revert to these things with +a shudder. But we must continue on our route. The current still +flows westward, bearing now large quantities of driftwood out of the +Mackenzie River. At the name of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, also, we +might pause, and talk over the bold achievements of another Arctic +hero; but we pass on, by a rugged and inhospitable coast, unfit for +vessels of large draught--pass the broad mouth of the Youcon, pass +Point Barrow, Icy Cape, and are in Behring Strait. Had we passed +on, we should have found the Russian Arctic coast line, traced out +by a series of Russian explorers; of whom the most illustrious-- +Baron Von Wrangell--states, that beyond a certain distance to the +northward there is always found what he calls the Polynja (open +water). This is the fact adduced by those who adhere to the old +fancy that there is a sea about the Pole itself quite free from ice. + +We pass through Behring Straits. Behring, a Dane by birth, but in +the Russian service, died here in 1741, upon the scene of his +discovery. He and his crew, victims of scurvy, were unable to +manage their vessel in a storm; and it was at length wrecked on a +barren island, there, where "want, nakedness, cold, sickness, +impatience, and despair, were their daily guests," Behring, his +lieutenant, and the master died. + +Now we must put a girdle round the world, and do it with the speed +of Ariel. Here we are already in the heats of the equator. We can +do no more than remark, that if air and water are heated at the +equator, and frozen at the poles, there will be equilibrium +destroyed, and constant currents caused. And so it happens, so we +get the prevailing winds, and all the currents of the ocean. Of +these, some of the uses, but by no means all, are obvious. We urge +our "Phantom" fleetly to the southern pole. Here, over the other +hemisphere of the earth, there shines another hemisphere of heaven. +The stars are changed; the southern cross, the Magellanic clouds, +the "coal-sack" in the milky way, attract our notice. Now we are in +the southern latitude that corresponds to England in the north; nay, +at a greater distance from the Pole, we find Kerguelen's Land, +emphatically called "The Isle of Desolation." Icebergs float much +further into the warm sea on this side of the equator before they +dissolve. The South Pole is evidently a more thorough refrigerator +than the North. Why is this? We shall soon see. We push through +pack-ice, and through floes and fields, by lofty bergs, by an island +or two covered with penguins, until there lies before us a long +range of mountains, nine or ten thousand feet in height, and all +clad in eternal snow. That is a portion of the Southern Continent. +Lieutenant Wilkes, in the American exploring expedition, first +discovered this, and mapped out some part of the coast, putting a +few clouds in likewise--a mistake easily made by those who omit to +verify every foot of land. Sir James Ross, in his most successful +South Pole Expedition, during the years 1839-43, sailed over some of +this land, and confirmed the rest. The Antarctic, as well as the +Arctic honours he secured for England, by turning a corner of the +land, and sailing far southward, along an impenetrable icy barrier, +to the latitude of seventy-eight degrees, nine minutes. It is an +elevated continent, with many lofty ranges. On the extreme southern +point reached by the ships, a magnificent volcano was seen spouting +fire and smoke out of the everlasting snow. This volcano, twelve +thousand four hundred feet high, was named Mount Erebus; for the +Erebus and Terror long sought anxiously among the bays, and sounds, +and creeks of the North Pole, then coasted by the solid ice walls of +the south. + +H. M. + + + +A DISCOURSE WRITTEN BY SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT, KNIGHT. +To prove a Passage by the North-West to Cathay and the East Indies. + + + +CHAPTER I.--TO PROVE BY AUTHORITY A PASSAGE TO BE ON THE NORTH SIDE +OF AMERICA, TO GO TO CATHAY AND THE EAST INDIES. + + + +When I gave myself to the study of geography, after I had perused +and diligently scanned the descriptions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +and conferred them with the maps and globes both antique and modern, +I came in fine to the fourth part of the world, commonly called +America, which by all descriptions I found to be an island environed +round about with the sea, having on the south side of it the Strait +of Magellan, on the west side the Mare de Sur, which sea runneth +towards the north, separating it from the east parts of Asia, where +the dominions of the Cathaians are. On the east part our west +ocean, and on the north side the sea that severeth it from +Greenland, through which northern seas the passage lieth, which I +take now in hand to discover. + +Plato in his Timaeus and in the dialogue called Critias, discourses +of an incomparable great island then called Atlantis, being greater +than all Africa and Asia, which lay westward from the Straits of +Gibraltar, navigable round about: affirming, also, that the princes +of Atlantis did as well enjoy the governance of all Africa and the +most part of Europe as of Atlantis itself. + +Also to prove Plato's opinion of this island, and the inhabiting of +it in ancient time by them of Europe, to be of the more credit: +Marinaeus Siculus, in his Chronicle of Spain, reporteth that there +hath been found by the Spaniards in the gold mines of America +certain pieces of money, engraved with the image of Augustus Caesar; +which pieces were sent to the Pope for a testimony of the matter by +John Rufus, Archbishop of Constantinum. + +Moreover, this was not only thought of Plato, but by Marsilius +Ficinus, an excellent Florentine philosopher, Crantor the Grecian, +Proclus, also Philo the famous Jew (as appeareth in his book De +Mundo, and in the Commentaries upon Plato), to be overflown, and +swallowed up with water, by reason of a mighty earthquake and +streaming down of the heavenly flood gates. The like thereof +happened unto some part of Italy, when by the forcibleness of the +sea, called Superum, it cut off Sicily from the continent of +Calabria, as appeareth in Justin in the beginning of his fourth +book. Also there chanced the like in Zeeland, a part of Flanders. + +And also the cities of Pyrrha and Antissa, about Palus Meotis; and +also the city Burys, in the Corinthian Gulf, commonly called Sinus +Corinthiacus, have been swallowed up with the sea, and are not at +this day to be discerned: by which accident America grew to be +unknown, of long time, unto us of the later ages, and was lately +discovered again by Americus Vespucius, in the year of our Lord +1497, which some say to have been first discovered by Christopher +Columbus, a Genoese, Anno 1492. + +The same calamity happened unto this isle of Atlantis six hundred +and odd years before Plato's time, which some of the people of the +south-east parts of the world accounted as nine thousand years; for +the manner then was to reckon the moon's period of the Zodiac for a +year, which is our usual month, depending a Luminari minore. + +So that in these our days there can no other main or island be found +or judged to be parcel of this Atlantis than those western islands, +which now bear the name of America; countervailing thereby the name +of Atlantis in the knowledge of our age. + +Then, if when no part of the said Atlantis was oppressed by water +and earthquake, the coasts round about the same were navigable, a +far greater hope now remaineth of the same by the north-west, seeing +the most part of it was since that time swallowed up with water, +which could not utterly take away the old deeps and channels, but, +rather, be many occasion of the enlarging of the old, and also an +enforcing of a great many new; why then should we now doubt of our +North-West Passage and navigation from England to India, etc., +seeing that Atlantis, now called America, was ever known to be an +island, and in those days navigable round about, which by access of +more water could not be diminished? + +Also Aristotle in his book De Mundo, and the learned German, Simon +Gryneus, in his annotations upon the same, saith that the whole +earth (meaning thereby, as manifestly doth appear, Asia, Africa, and +Europe, being all the countries then known) to be but one island, +compassed about with the reach of the Atlantic sea; which likewise +approveth America to be an island, and in no part adjoining to Asia +or the rest. + +Also many ancient writers, as Strabo and others, called both the +ocean sea (which lieth east of India) Atlanticum Pelagus, and that +sea also on the west coasts of Spain and Africa, Mare Atlanticum; +the distance between the two coasts is almost half the compass of +the earth. + +So that it is incredible, as by Plato appeareth manifestly, that the +East Indian Sea had the name of Atlanticum Pelagus, of the mountain +Atlas in Africa, or yet the sea adjoining to Africa had name Oceanus +Atlanticus, of the same mountain; but that those seas and the +mountain Atlas were so called of this great island Atlantis, and +that the one and the other had their names for a memorial of the +mighty Prince Atlas, sometime king thereof, who was Japhet, youngest +son to Noah, in whose time the whole earth was divided between the +three brethren, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. + +Wherefore I am of opinion that America by the north-west will be +found favourable to this our enterprise, and am the rather +emboldened to believe the same, for that I find it not only +confirmed by Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient philosophers, but +also by the best modern geographers, as Gemma Frisius, Munsterus, +Appianus Hunterus, Gastaldus, Guyccardinus, Michael Tramesinus, +Franciscus Demongenitus, Barnardus, Puteanus, Andreas Vavasor, +Tramontanus, Petrus Martyr, and also Ortelius, who doth coast out in +his general map (set out Anno 1569) all the countries and capes on +the north-west side of America from Hochelega to Cape de Paramantia, +describing likewise the sea-coasts of Cathay and Greenland, towards +any part of America, making both Greenland and America islands +disjoined by a great sea from any part of Asia. + +All which learned men and painful travellers have affirmed with one +consent and voice, that America was an island, and that there lieth +a great sea between it, Cathay, and Greenland, by the which any man +of our country that will give the attempt, may with small danger +pass to Cathay, the Moluccas, India, and all other places in the +east in much shorter time than either the Spaniard or Portuguese +doth, or may do, from the nearest part of any of their countries +within Europe. + +What moved these learned men to affirm thus much I know not, or to +what end so many and sundry travellers of both ages have allowed the +same; but I conjecture that they would never have so constantly +affirmed, or notified their opinions therein to the world, if they +had not had great good cause, and many probable reasons to have led +them thereunto. + +Now lest you should make small account of ancient writers or of +their experiences which travelled long before our times, reckoning +their authority amongst fables of no importance, I have for the +better assurance of those proofs set down some part of a discourse, +written in the Saxon tongue, and translated into English by Master +Noel, servant to Master Secretary Cecil, wherein there is described +a navigation which one other made, in the time of King Alfred, King +of Wessex, Anne 871, the words of which discourse were these: "He +sailed right north, having always the desert land on the starboard, +and on the larboard the main sea, continuing his course, until he +perceived that the coast bowed directly towards the east or else the +sea opened into the land he could not tell how far, where he was +compelled to stay until he had a western wind or somewhat upon the +north, and sailed thence directly east along the coast, so far as he +was able in four days, where he was again enforced to tarry until he +had a north wind, because the coast there bowed directly towards the +south, or at least opened he knew not how far into the land, so that +he sailed thence along the coast continually full south, so far as +he could travel in the space of five days, where he discovered a +mighty river which opened far into the land, and in the entry of +this river he turned back again." + +Whereby it appeareth that he went the very way that we now do yearly +trade by S. Nicholas into Muscovia, which way no man in our age knew +for certainty to be sea, until it was since discovered by our +Englishmen in the time of King Edward I., but thought before that +time that Greenland had joined to Normoria Byarmia, and therefore +was accounted a new discovery, being nothing so indeed, as by this +discourse of Ochther's it appeareth. + +Nevertheless if any man should have taken this voyage in hand by the +encouragement of this only author, he should have been thought but +simple, considering that this navigation was written so many years +past, in so barbarous a tongue by one only obscure author, and yet +we in these our days find by our own experiences his former reports +to be true. + +How much more, then, ought we to believe this passage to Cathay to +be, being verified by the opinions of all the best, both antique and +modern geographers, and plainly set out in the best and most allowed +maps, charts, globes, cosmographical tables, and discourses of this +our age and by the rest not denied, but left as a matter doubtful. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + +1. All seas are maintained by the abundance of water, so that the +nearer the end any river, bay, or haven is, the shallower it waxeth +(although by some accidental bar it is sometime found otherwise), +but the farther you sail west from Iceland, towards the place where +this strait is thought to be, the more deep are the seas, which +giveth us good hope of continuance of the same sea, with Mare del +Sur, by some strait that lieth between America, Greenland, and +Cathay. + +2. Also, if that America were not an island, but a part of the +continent adjoining to Asia, either the people which inhabit Mangia, +Anian, and Quinzay, etc., being borderers upon it, would before this +time have made some road into it, hoping to have found some like +commodities to their own. + +3. Or else the Syrians and Tartars (which oftentimes heretofore +have sought far and near for new seats, driven thereunto through the +necessity of their cold and miserable countries) would in all this +time have found the way to America and entered the same had the +passages been never so strait or difficult, the country being so +temperate, pleasant, and fruitful in comparison of their own. But +there was never any such people found there by any of the Spaniards, +Portuguese, or Frenchmen, who first discovered the inland of that +country, which Spaniards or Frenchmen must then of necessity have +seen some one civilised man in America, considering how full of +civilised people Asia is; but they never saw so much as one token or +sign that ever any man of the known part of the world had been +there. + +4. Furthermore, it is to be thought, that if by reason of mountains +or other craggy places the people neither of Cathay or Tartary could +enter the country of America, or they of America have entered Asia +if it were so joined, yet some one savage or wandering-beast would +in so many years have passed into it; but there hath not any time +been found any of the beasts proper to Cathay or Tartary, etc., in +America; nor of those proper to America in Tartary, Cathay, etc., or +in any part of Asia, which thing proveth America not only to be one +island, and in no part adjoining to Asia, but also that the people +of those countries have not had any traffic with each other. + +5. Moreover at the least some one of those painful travellers which +of purpose have passed the confines of both countries, with intent +only to discover, would, as it is most likely, have gone from the +one to the other, if there had been any piece of land, or isthmus, +to have joined them together, or else have declared some cause to +the contrary. + +6. But neither Paulus Venetus, who lived and dwelt a long time in +Cathay, ever came into America, and yet was at the sea coasts of +Mangia over against it, where he was embarked and performed a great +navigation along those seas; neither yet Veratzanus or Franciscus +Vasquez de Coronado, who travelled the north part of America by +land, ever found entry from thence by land to Cathay, or any part of +Asia. + +7. Also it appeareth to be an island, insomuch as the sea runneth +by nature circularly from the east to the west, following the +diurnal motion of the Primum Mobile, and carrieth with it all +inferior bodies movable, as well celestial as elemental; which +motion of the waters is most evidently seen in the sea, which lieth +on the south side of Africa, where the current that runneth from the +east to the west is so strong (by reason of such motion) that the +Portuguese in their voyages eastward to Calicut, in passing by the +Cape of Good Hope, are enforced to make divers courses, the current +there being so swift, as it striketh from thence, all along +westward, upon the straits of Magellan, being distant from thence +near the fourth part of the longitude of the earth: and not having +free passage and entrance through that frith towards the west, by +reason of the narrowness of the said strait of Magellan, it runneth +to salve this wrong (Nature not yielding to accidental restraints) +all along the eastern coasts of America northwards so far as Cape +Frido, being the farthest known place of the same continent towards +the north, which is about four thousand eight-hundred leagues, +reckoning therewithal the trending of the land. + +8. So that this current, being continually maintained with such +force as Jacques Cartier affirmeth it to be, who met with the same, +being at Baccalaos as he sailed along the coasts of America, then, +either it must of necessity have way to pass from Cape Frido through +this frith, westward towards Cathay, being known to come so far only +to salve his former wrongs by the authority before named; or else it +must needs strike over upon the coast of Iceland, Lapland, Finmark, +and Norway (which are east from the said place about three hundred +and sixty leagues) with greater force than it did from the Cape of +Good Hope upon the strait of Magellan, or from the strait of +Magellan to Cape Frido; upon which coasts Jacques Cartier met with +the same, considering the shortness of the cut from the said Cape +Frido to Iceland, Lapland, etc. And so the cause efficient +remaining, it would have continually followed along our coasts +through the narrow seas, which it doeth not, but is digested about +the north of Labrador by some through passage there through this +frith. + +The like course of the water, in some respect, happeneth in the +Mediterranean Sea (as affirmeth Contorenus), where, as the current +which cometh from Tanais and the Euxine, running along all the +coasts of Greece, Italy, France, and Spain, and not finding +sufficient way out through Gibraltar by means of the straitness of +the frith, it runneth back again along the coasts of Barbary by +Alexandria, Natolia, etc. + +It may, peradventure, be thought that this course of the sea doth +sometime surcease and thereby impugn this principle, because it is +not discerned all along the coast of America in such sort as Jacques +Cartier found it, whereunto I answer this: That albeit in every +part of the coast of America or elsewhere this current is not +sensibly perceived, yet it hath evermore such like motion, either +the uppermost or nethermost part of the sea; as it may be proved +true, if you sink a sail by a couple of ropes near the ground, +fastening to the nethermost corners two gun chambers or other +weights, by the driving whereof you shall plainly perceive the +course of the water and current running with such like course in the +bottom. By the like experiment you may find the ordinary motion of +the sea in the ocean, how far soever you be off the land. + +9. Also, there cometh another current from out the north-east from +the Scythian Sea (as Master Jenkinson, a man of rare virtue, great +travel, and experience, told me), which runneth westward towards +Labrador, as the other did which cometh from the south; so that both +these currents must have way through this our strait, or else +encounter together and run contrary courses in one line, but no such +conflicts of streams or contrary courses are found about any part of +Labrador or Newfoundland, as witness our yearly fishers and other +sailors that way, but is there separated as aforesaid, and found by +the experience of Barnarde de la Torre to fall into Mare del Sur. + +10. Furthermore, the current in the great ocean could not have been +maintained to run continually one way from the beginning of the +world unto this day, had there not been some through passage by the +strait aforesaid, and so by circular motion be brought again to +maintain itself, for the tides and courses of the sea are maintained +by their interchangeable motions, as fresh rivers are by springs, by +ebbing and flowing, by rarefaction and condensation. + +So that it resteth not possible (so far as my simple reason can +comprehend) that this perpetual current can by any means be +maintained, but only by a continual reaccess of the same water, +which passeth through the strait, and is brought about thither again +by such circular motion as aforesaid, and the certain falling +thereof by this strait into Mare del Sur is proved by the testimony +and experience of Barnarde de la Torre, who was sent from P. de la +Natividad to the Moluccas, 1542, by commandment of Anthony Mendoza, +then Viceroy of Nova Hispania, which Barnarde sailed 750 leagues on +the north side of the Equator, and there met with a current which +came from the north-east, the which drove him back again to Tidore. + +Wherefore this current being proved to come from the Cape of Good +Hope to the strait of Magellan, and wanting sufficient entrance +there, is by the necessity of Nature's force brought to Terra de +Labrador, where Jacques Cartier met the same, and thence certainly +known not to strike over upon Iceland, Lapland, etc., and found by +Barnarde de la Torre, in Mare del Sur, on the backside of America, +therefore this current, having none other passage, must of necessity +fall out through this strait into Mare del Sur, and so trending by +the Moluccas, China, and the Cape of Good Hope, maintaineth itself +by circular motion, which is all one in Nature with motus ab oriente +in occidentem. + +So that it seemeth we have now more occasion to doubt of our return +than whether there be a passage that way, yea or no: which doubt +hereafter shall be sufficiently removed; wherefore, in my opinion +reason itself grounded upon experience assureth us of this passage +if there were nothing else to put us in hope thereof. But lest +these might not suffice, I have added in this chapter following some +further proof thereof, by the experience of such as have passed some +part of this discovery, and in the next adjoining to that the +authority of those which have sailed wholly through every part +thereof. + + + +CHAPTER III. TO PROVE BY EXPERIENCE OF SUNDRY MEN'S TRAVELS THE +OPENING OF SOME PART OF THIS NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, WHEREBY GOOD HOPE +REMAINETH OF THE REST. + + + +1. Paulus Venetus, who dwelt many years in Cathay, affirmed that he +had sailed 1,500 miles upon the coast of Mangia and Anian, towards +the north-east, always finding the seas open before him, not only as +far as he went, but also as far as he could discern. + +2. Also Franciscus Vasquez de Coronado, passing from Mexico by +Cevola, through the country of Quiver to Sierra Nevada, found there +a great sea, where were certain ships laden with merchandise, the +mariners wearing on their heads the pictures of certain birds called +Alcatrarzi, part whereof were made of gold and part of silver; who +signified by signs that they were thirty days coming thither, which +likewise proveth America by experience to be disjoined from Cathay, +on that part, by a great sea, because they could not come from any +part of America as natives thereof; for that, so far as is +discovered, there hath not been found there any one ship of that +country. + +3. In like manner, Johann Baros testifieth that the cosmographers +of China (where he himself had been) affirm that the sea coast +trendeth from thence north-east to fifty degrees of septentrional +latitude, being the farthest part that way, which the Portuguese had +then knowledge of; and that the said cosmographers knew no cause to +the contrary, but that it might continue farther. + +By whose experiences America is proved to be separate from those +parts of Asia, directly against the same. And not contented with +the judgments of these learned men only, I have searched what might +be further said for the confirmation hereof. + +4. And I found that Franciscus Lopez de Gomara affirmeth America to +be an island, and likewise Greenland; and that Greenland is distant +from Lapland forty leagues, and from Terra de Labrador fifty. + +5. Moreover Alvarez Nunmius, a Spaniard, and learned cosmographer, +and Jacques Cartier, who made two voyages into those parts, and +sailed five hundred miles upon the north-east coasts of America. + +6. Likewise Hieronimus Fracastorius, a learned Italian, and +traveller in the north parts of the same land. + +7. Also Jacques Cartier, having done the like, heard say at +Hochelaga, in Nova Francia, how that there was a great sea at +Saguinay, whereof the end was not known: which they presupposed to +be the passage to Cathay. Furthermore, Sebastian Cabot, by his +personal experience and travel, has set forth and described this +passage in his charts which are yet to be seen in the Queen's +Majesty's Privy Gallery at Whitehall, who was sent to make this +discovery by King Henry VII. and entered the same straits, affirming +that he sailed very far westward with a quarter of the north, on the +north side of Terra de Labrador, the 11th of June, until he came to +the septentrional latitude of sixty-seven and a half degrees, and +finding the seas still open, said, that he might and would have gone +to Cathay if the mutiny of the master and mariners had not been. + +Now, as these men's experience have proved some part of this +passage, so the chapter following shall put you in full assurance of +the rest by their experiences which have passed through every part +thereof. + + + +CHAPTER IV. TO PROVE BY CIRCUMSTANCE THAT THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE +HATH BEEN SAILED THROUGHOUT. + + + +The diversity between brute beasts and men, or between the wise and +the simple, is, that the one judgeth by sense only, and gathereth no +surety of anything that he hath not seen, felt, heard, tasted, or +smelled: and the other not so only, but also findeth the certainty +of things, by reason, before they happen to be tried, wherefore I +have added proofs of both sorts, that the one and the other might +thereby be satisfied. + +1. First, as Gemma Frisius reciteth, there went from Europe three +brethren though this passage: whereof it took the name of Fretum +trium fratrum. + +2. Also Pliny affirmeth out of Cornelius Nepos (who wrote fifty- +seven years before Christ) that there were certain Indians driven by +tempest upon the coast of Germany which were presented by the King +of Suevia unto Quintus Metellus Celer, then Pro-Consul of France. + +3. And Pliny upon the same saith that it is no marvel, though there +be sea by the north, where there is such abundance of moisture; +which argueth, that he doubted not of a navigable passage that way, +through which those Indians came. + +4. And for the better proof that the same authority of Cornelius +Nepos is not by me wrested to prove my opinion of the North-West +Passage, you shall find the same affirmed more plainly in that +behalf by the excellent geographer Dominicus Marius Niger, who +showeth how many ways the Indian sea stretcheth itself, making in +that place recital of certain Indians that were likewise driven +through the north seas from India, upon the coasts of Germany, by +great tempest, as they were sailing in trade of merchandise. + +5. Also, whiles Frederick Barbarossa reigned Emperor, A.D. 1160, +there came certain other Indians upon the coast of Germany. + +6. Likewise Othon, in the story of the Goths, affirmeth that in the +time of the German Emperors there were also certain Indians cast by +force of weather upon the coast of the said country, which foresaid +Indians could not possibly have come by the south-east, south-west, +nor from any part of Africa or America, nor yet by the north-east: +therefore they came of necessity by this our North-West Passage. + + + +CHAPTER V.--TO PROVE THAT THESE INDIANS, AFORENAMED, CAME NOT BY THE +SOUTH-EAST, SOUTH-WEST, NOR FROM ANY OTHER PART OF AFRICA OR +AMERICA. + + + +1. They could not come from the south-east by the Cape of Good +Hope, because the roughness of the seas there is such--occasioned by +the currents and great winds in that part--that the greatest armadas +the King of Portugal hath cannot without great difficulty pass that +way, much less, then, a canoe of India could live in those +outrageous seas without shipwreck, being a vessel but of very small +burden, and the Indians have conducted themselves to the place +aforesaid, being men unexpert in the art of navigation. + +2. Also, it appeareth plainly that they were not able to come from +along the coast of Africa aforesaid to those parts of Europe, +because the winds do, for the most part, blow there easterly or from +the shore, and the current running that way in like sort, would have +driven them westward upon some part of America, for such winds and +tides could never have led them from thence to the said place where +they were found, nor yet could they have come from any of the +countries aforesaid, keeping the seas always, without skilful +mariners to have conducted them such like courses as were necessary +to perform such a voyage. + +3. Presupposing also, if they had been driven to the west, as they +must have been, coming that way, then they should have perished, +wanting supply of victuals, not having any place--once leaving the +coast of Africa--until they came to America, north of America, until +they arrived upon some part of Europe or the islands adjoining to it +to have refreshed themselves. + +4. Also, if, notwithstanding such impossibilities, they might have +recovered Germany by coming from India by the south-east, yet must +they without all doubt have struck upon some other part of Europe +before their arrival there, as the isles of Madeira, Portugal, +Spain, France, England, Ireland, etc., which, if they had done, it +is not credible that they should or would have departed undiscovered +of the inhabitants; but there was never found in those days any such +ship or men, but only upon the coasts of Germany, where they have +been sundry times and in sundry ages cast ashore; neither is it like +that they would have committed themselves again to sea, if they had +so arrived, not knowing where they were, nor whither to have gone. + +5. And by the south-west it is impossible, because the current +aforesaid, which cometh from the east, striketh with such force upon +the Straits of Magellan, and falleth with such swiftness and fury +into Mare de Sur, that hardly any ship--but not possibly a canoe, +with such unskilful mariners--can come into our western ocean +through that strait from the west seas of America, as Magellan's +experience hath partly taught us. + +6. And further, to prove that these people so arriving upon the +coast of Germany were Indians, and not inhabiters of any part either +of Africa or America, it is manifest, because the natives, both of +Africa and America, neither had, or have at this day, as is +reported, other kind of boats than such as do bear neither masts nor +sails, except only upon the coasts of Barbary and the Turks' ships, +but do carry themselves from place to place near the shore by the +oar only. + + + +CHAPTER VI.--TO PROVE THAT THOSE INDIANS CAME NOT BY THE NORTH-EAST, +AND THAT THERE IS NO THROUGH NAVIGABLE PASSAGE THAT WAY. + + + +1. It is likely that there should be no through passage by the +north-east whereby to go round about the world, because all seas, as +aforesaid, are maintained by the abundance of water, waxing more +shallow and shelving towards the end, as we find it doth, by +experience, in the Frozen Sea, towards the east, which breedeth +small hope of any great continuance of that sea to be navigable +towards the east, sufficient to sail thereby round about the world. + +2. Also, it standeth scarcely with reason that the Indians dwelling +under the Torrid Zone could endure the injury of the cold air, about +the northern latitude of 80 degrees, under which elevation the +passage by the north-east cannot be, as the often experiences had of +all the south part of it showeth, seeing that some of the +inhabitants of this cold climate, whose summer is to them an extreme +winter, have been stricken to death with the cold damps of the air, +about 72 degrees, by an accidental mishap, and yet the air in such +like elevation is always cold, and too cold for such as the Indians +are. + +3. Furthermore, the piercing cold of the gross thick air so near +the Pole will so stiffen the sails and ship tackling, that no +mariner can either hoist or strike them--as our experience, far +nearer the south than this passage is presupposed to be, hath taught +us--without the use whereof no voyage can be performed. + +4. Also, the air is so darkened with continual mists and fogs so +near the Pole, that no man can well see either to guide his ship or +to direct his course. + +5. Also the compass at such elevation doth very suddenly vary, +which things must of force have been their destruction, although +they had been men of much more skill than the Indians are. + +6. Moreover, all bays, gulfs, and rivers do receive their increase +upon the flood, sensibly to be discerned on the one side of the +shore or the other, as many ways as they be open to any main sea, as +the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, Sinus Bodicus, the +Thames, and all other known havens or rivers in any part of the +world, and each of them opening but on one part to the main sea, do +likewise receive their increase upon the flood the same way, and +none other, which the Frozen Sea doth, only by the west, as Master +Jenkinson affirmed unto me, and therefore it followeth that this +north-east sea, receiving increase only from the west, cannot +possibly open to the main ocean by the east. + +7. Moreover, the farther you pass into any sea towards the end of +it, of that part which is shut up from the main sea, as in all those +above-mentioned, the less and less the tides rise and fall. The +like whereof also happeneth in the Frozen Sea, which proveth but +small continuance of that sea toward the east. + +8. Also, the farther ye go towards the east in the Frozen Sea the +less soft the water is, which could not happen if it were open to +the salt sea towards the east, as it is to the west only, seeing +everything naturally engendereth his like, and then must it be like +salt throughout, as all the seas are in such like climate and +elevation. And therefore it seemeth that this north-east sea is +maintained by the river Ob, and such like freshets as the Pontic Sea +and Mediterranean Sea, in the uppermost parts thereof by the river +Nile, the Danube, Dnieper, Tanais, etc. + +9. Furthermore, if there were any such sea at that elevation, of +like it should be always frozen throughout--there being no tides to +hinder it--because the extreme coldness of the air in the uppermost +part, and the extreme coldness of the earth in the bottom, the sea +there being but of small depth, whereby the one accidental coldness +doth meet with the other; and the sun, not having his reflection so +near the Pole, but at very blunt angles, it can never be dissolved +after it is frozen, notwithstanding the great length of their day: +for that the sun hath no heat at all in his light or beams, but +proceeding only by an accidental reflection which there wanteth in +effect. + +10. And yet if the sun were of sufficient force in that elevation +to prevail against this ice, yet must it be broken before it can be +dissolved, which cannot be but through the long continue of the sun +above their horizon, and by that time the summer would be so far +spent, and so great darkness and cold ensue, that no man could be +able to endure so cold, dark, and discomfortable a navigation, if it +were possible for him then and there to live. + +11. Further, the ice being once broken, it must of force so drive +with the winds and tides that no ship can sail in those seas, seeing +our fishers of Iceland and Newfoundland are subject to danger +through the great islands of ice which fleet in the seas, far to the +south of that presupposed passage. + +12. And it cannot be that this North-East Passage should be any +nearer the south than before recited, for then it should cut off +Ciremissi and Turbi, Tartarii, with Vzesucani, Chisani, and others +from the continent of Asia, which are known to be adjoining to +Scythia, Tartary, etc., with the other part of the same continent. + +And if there were any through passage by the north-east, yet were it +to small end and purpose for our traffic, because no ship of great +burden can navigate in so shallow a sea, and ships of small burden +are very unfit and unprofitable, especially towards the blustering +north, to perform such a voyage. + + + +CHAPTER VII.--TO PROVE THAT THE INDIANS AFORENAMED CAME ONLY BY THE +NORTH-WEST, WHICH INDUCETH A CERTAINTY OF OUR PASSAGE BY EXPERIENCE. + + + +It is as likely that they came by the north-west as it is unlikely +that they should come either by the south-east, south-west, north- +east, or from any other part of Africa or America, and therefore +this North-West Passage, having been already so many ways proved by +disproving of the others, etc., I shall the less need in this place +to use many words otherwise than to conclude in this sort, that they +came only by the north-west from England, having these many reasons +to lead me thereunto. + +1. First, the one-half of the winds of the compass might bring them +by the north-west, veering always between two sheets, with which +kind of sailing the Indians are only acquainted, not having any use +of a bow line or quarter wind, without the which no ship can +possibly come, either by the south-east, south-west, or north-east, +having so many sundry capes to double, whereunto are required such +change and shifts of winds. + +2. And it seemeth likely that they should come by the north-west, +because the coast whereon they were driven lay east from this our +passage, and all winds do naturally drive a ship to an opposite +point from whence it bloweth, not being otherwise guided by art, +which the Indians do utterly want, and therefore it seemeth that +they came directly through this, our strait, which they might do +with one wind. + +3. For if they had come by the Cape of Good Hope, then must they, +as aforesaid, have fallen upon the south parts of America. + +4. And if by the Strait of Magellan, then upon the coasts of +Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, or England. + +5. And if by the north-east, then upon the coasts of Ciremissi, +Tartarii, Lapland, Iceland, Labrador, etc., and upon these coasts, +as aforesaid, they have never been found. + +So that by all likelihood they could never have come without +shipwreck upon the coasts of Germany, if they had first struck upon +the coasts of so many countries, wanting both art and shipping to +make orderly discovery, and altogether ignorant both of the art of +navigation and also of the rocks, flats, sands, or havens of those +parts of the world, which in most of these places are plentiful. + +6. And further, it seemeth very likely that the inhabitants of the +most part of those countries, by which they must have come any other +way besides by the north-west, being for the most part +anthropophagi, or men-eaters, would have devoured them, slain them, +or, at the leastwise, kept them as wonders for the gaze. + +So that it plainly appeareth that those Indians--which, as you have +heard, in sundry ages were driven by tempest upon the shore of +Germany--came only through our North-West Passage. + +7. Moreover, the passage is certainly proved by a navigation that a +Portuguese made, who passed through this strait, giving name to a +promontory far within the same, calling it after his own name, +Promontorium Corterialis, near adjoining unto Polisacus Fluvius. + +8. Also one Scolmus, a Dane, entered and passed a great part +thereof. + +9. Also there was one Salva Terra, a gentleman of Victoria in +Spain, that came by chance out of the West Indies into Ireland, Anno +1568, who affirmed the North-West Passage from us to Cathay, +constantly to be believed in America navigable; and further said, in +the presence of Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, in my +hearing, that a friar of Mexico, called Andre Urdaneta, more than +eight years before his then coming into Ireland, told him there that +he came from Mare del Sur into Germany through this North-West +Passage, and showed Salva Terra--at that time being then with him in +Mexico--a sea-card made by his own experience and travel in that +voyage, wherein was plainly set down and described this North-West +Passage, agreeing in all points with Ortelius' map. + +And further this friar told the King of Portugal (as he returned by +that country homeward) that there was of certainty such a passage +north-west from England, and that he meant to publish the same; +which done, the king most earnestly desired him not in any wise to +disclose or make the passage known to any nation. For that (said +the king) IF ENGLAND HAD KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE THEREOF, IT WOULD +GREATLY HINDER BOTH THE KING OF SPAIN AND ME. This friar (as Salva +Terra reported) was the greatest discoverer by sea that hath been in +our age. Also Salva Terra, being persuaded of this passage by the +friar Urdaneta, and by the common opinion of the Spaniards +inhabiting America, offered most willingly to accompany me in this +discovery, which of like he would not have done if he had stood in +doubt thereof. + +And now, as these modern experiences cannot be impugned, so, least +it might be objected that these things (gathered out of ancient +writers, which wrote so many years past) might serve little to prove +this passage by the north of America, because both America and India +were to them then utterly unknown; to remove this doubt, let this +suffice, that Aristotle (who was 300 years before Christ) named the +Indian Sea. Also Berosus (who lived 330 before Christ) hath these +words, GANGES IN INDIA. + +Also in the first chapter of Esther be these words: "In the days of +Ahasuerus, which ruled from India to Ethiopia," which Ahasuerus +lived 580 years before Christ. Also Quintus Curtius, where he +speaketh of the Conquest of Alexander, mentioneth India. Also +Arianus Philostratus, and Sidrach, in his discourses of the wars of +the King of Bactria, and of Garaab, who had the most part of India +under his government. All which assumeth us that both India and +Indians were known in those days. + +These things considered, we may, in my opinion, not only assure +ourselves of this passage by the north-west, but also that it is +navigable both to come and go, as hath been proved in part and in +all by the experience of divers as Sebastian Cabot, Corterialis, the +three brethren above named, the Indians, and Urdaneta, the friar of +Mexico, etc. + +And yet, notwithstanding all which, there be some that have a better +hope of this passage to Cathay by the north-east than by the west, +whose reasons, with my several answers, ensue in the chapter +following. + + + +CHAPTER VIII.--CERTAIN REASONS ALLEGED FOR THE PROVING OF A PASSAGE +BY THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE THE QUEEN'S MAJESTY, AND CERTAIN LORDS OF +THE COUNCIL, BY MASTER ANTHONY JENKINSON, WITH MY SEVERAL ANSWERS +THEN USED TO THE SAME. + + + +Because you may understand as well those things alleged against me +as what doth serve for my purpose, I have here added the reasons of +Master Anthony Jenkinson, a worthy gentleman, and a great traveller, +who conceived a better hope of the passage to Cathay from us to be +by the north-east than by the north-west. + +He first said that he thought not to the contrary but that there was +a passage by the north-west, according to mime opinion, but he was +assured that there might be found a navigable passage by the north- +east from England to go to all the east parts of the world, which he +endeavoured to prove three ways. + +The first was, that he heard a fisherman of Tartary say in hunting +the morse, that he sailed very far towards the south-east, finding +no end of the sea, whereby he hoped a through passage to be that +way. + +Whereunto I answered that the Tartars were a barbarous people, and +utterly ignorant in the art of navigation, not knowing the use of +the sea-card, compass, or star, which he confessed true; and +therefore they could not (said I) certainly know the south-east from +the north-east in a wide sea, and a place unknown from the sight of +the land. + +Or if he sailed anything near the shore, yet he, being ignorant, +might be deceived by the doubling of many points and capes, and by +the trending of the land, albeit he kept continually along the +shore. + +And further, it might be that the poor fisherman through simplicity +thought that there was nothing that way but sea, because he saw mine +land, which proof (under correction) giveth small assurance of a +navigable sea by the north-east to go round about the world, for +that he judged by the eye only, seeing we in this clear air do +account twenty miles a ken at sea. + +His second reason is, that there was an unicorn's horn found upon +the coast of Tartary, which could not come (said he) thither by any +other means than with the tides, through some strait in the north- +east of the Frozen Sea, there being no unicorns in any part of Asia, +saving in India and Cathay, which reason, in my simple judgment, has +as little force. + +First, it is doubtful whether those barbarous Tartars do know an +unicorn's horn, yea or no; and if it were one, yet it is not +credible that the sea could have driven it so far, it being of such +nature that it cannot float. + +Also the tides running to and fro would have driven it as far back +with the ebb as it brought it forward with the flood. + +There is also a beast called Asinus Indicus (whose horn most like it +was), which hath but one horn like an unicorn in his forehead, +whereof there is great plenty in all the north parts thereunto +adjoining, as in Lapland, Norway, Finmark, etc., as Jocobus +Zeiglerus writeth in his history of Scondia. + +And as Albertus saith, there is a fish which hath but one horn in +his forehead like to an unicorn, and therefore it seemeth very +doubtful both from whence it came, and whether it were an unicorn's +horn, yea or no. + +His third and last reason was, that there came a continual stream or +current through the Frozen Sea of such swiftness, as a Colmax told +him, that if you cast anything therein, it would presently be +carried out of sight towards the west. + +Whereunto I answered, that there doth the like from Palus Maeotis, +by the Euxine, the Bosphorus, and along the coast of Greece, etc., +as it is affirmed by Contarenus, and divers others that have had +experience of the same; and yet that sea lieth not open to any main +sea that way, but is maintained by freshets, as by the Don, the +Danube, etc. + +In like manner is this current in the Frozen Sea increased and +maintained by the Dwina, the river Ob, etc. + +Now as I have here briefly recited the reasons alleged to prove a +passage to Cathay by the north-east with my several answers +thereunto, so will I leave it unto your judgment, to hope or despair +of either at your pleasure. + + + +CHAPTER IX.--HOW THAT THE PASSAGE BY THE NORTH-WEST IS MORE +COMMODIOUS FOR OUR TRAFFIC THAN THE OTHER BY THE EAST, IF THERE WERE +ANY SUCH. + + + +1. By the north-east, if your winds do not give you a marvellous +speedy and lucky passage, you are in danger (of being so near the +Pole) to be benighted almost the one half of the year, and what +danger that were, to live so long comfortless, void of light (if the +cold killed you not), each man of reason or understanding may judge. + +2. Also Mangia, Quinzai, and the Moluccas, are nearer unto us by +the north-west than by the north-east more than two-fifths, which is +almost by the half. + +3. Also we may have by the rest a yearly return, it being at all +times navigable, whereas you have but four months in the whole year +to go by the north-east, the passage being at such elevation as it +is formerly expressed, for it cannot be any nearer the south. + +4. Furthermore, it cannot be finished without divers winterings by +the way, having no havens in any temperate climate to harbour in +there, for it is as much as we can well sail from hence to S. +Nicholas, in the trade of Muscovy, and return in the navigable +season of the year, and from S. Nicholas, Ciremissi, Tartarii, which +standeth 80 degrees of the septentrional latitude, it is at the left +400 leagues, which amounteth scarce to the third part of the way, to +the end of your voyage by the north-east. + +5. And yet, after you have doubled this Cape, if then there might +be found a navigable sea to carry you south-east according to your +desire, yet can you not winter conveniently until you come to sixty +degrees and to take up one degree running south-east you must sail +twenty-four leagues and three four parts, which amounteth to four +hundred and ninety-five leagues. + +6. Furthermore, you may by the north-west sail thither, with all +easterly winds, and return with any westerly winds, whereas you must +have by the north-east sundry winds, and those proper, according to +the lie of the coast and capes, you shall be enforced to double, +which winds are not always to be had when they are looked for; +whereby your journey should be greatly prolonged, and hardly endured +so near the Pole, as we are taught by Sir Hugh Willoughbie, who was +frozen to death far nearer the south. + +7. Moreover, it is very doubtful whether we should long enjoy that +trade by the north-east if there were any such passage that way, the +commodities thereof once known to the Muscovite, what privilege +soever he hath granted, seeing pollice with the maze of excessive +gain, to the enriching of himself and all his dominions, would +persuade him to presume the same, having so great opportunity, to +distribute the commodities of those countries by the Naruc. + +But by the north-west we may safely trade without danger or +annoyance of any prince living, Christian or heathen, it being out +of all their trades. + +8. Also the Queen's Majesty's dominions are nearer the North-West +Passage than any other great princes that might pass that way, and +both in their going and return they must of necessity succour +themselves and their ships upon some part of the same if any +tempestuous weather should happen. + +Further, no prince's navy of the world is able to encounter the +Queen's Majesty's navy as it is at this present; and yet it should +be greatly increased by the traffic ensuing upon this discovery, for +it is the long voyages that increase and maintain great shipping. + +Now it seemeth unnecessary to declare what commodities would grow +thereby if all these things were as we have heretofore presupposed +and thought them to be; which next adjoining are briefly declared. + + + +CHAPTER X.--WHAT COMMODITIES WOULD ENSUE, THIS PASSAGE ONCE +DISCOVERED. + + + +1. It were the only way for our princes to possess the wealth of +all the east parts (as they term them) of the world, which is +infinite; as appeareth by the experience of Alexander the Great in +the time of his conquest of India and the east parts of the world, +alleged by Quintus Curtius, which would be a great advancement to +our country, wonderful enriching to our prince, and unspeakable +commodities to all the inhabitants of Europe. + +2. For, through the shortness of the voyage, we should be able to +sell all manner of merchandise brought from thence far better cheap +than either the Portuguese or Spaniard doth or may do. And, +further, share with the Portuguese in the east and the Spaniard in +the west by trading to any part of America through Mare del Sur, +where they can no manner of way offend us. + +3. Also we sailed to divers marvellous rich countries, both civil +and others, out of both their jurisdictions, trades and traffics, +where there is to be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious +stones, cloth of gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, +and other kinds of merchandise of an inestimable price, which both +the Spaniard and Portuguese, through the length of their journeys, +cannot well attain unto. + +4. Also, we might inhabit some part of those countries, and settle +there such needy people of our country which now trouble the +commonwealth, and through want here at home are enforced to commit +outrageous offences, whereby they are daily consumed with the +gallows. + +5. Moreover, we might from all the aforesaid places have a yearly +return, inhabiting for our staple some convenient place of America, +about Sierra Nevada or some other part, whereas it shall seem best +for the shortening of the voyage. + +6. Beside the exporting of our country commodities, which the +Indians, etc., much esteem, as appeareth in Esther, where the pomp +is expressed of the great King of India, Ahasuerus, who matched the +coloured clothes wherewith his houses and tents were apparelled with +gold and silver, as part of his greatest treasure, not mentioning +velvets, silks, cloth of gold, cloth of silver, or such like, being +in those countries most plentiful, whereby it plainly appeareth in +what great estimation they would have the cloths of this our +country, so that there would be found a far better vent for them by +this means than yet this realm ever had; and that without depending +either upon France, Spain, Flanders, Portugal, Hamborough, Emden, or +any other part of Europe. + +7. Also here we shall increase both our ships and mariners without +burdening of the State. + +8. And also have occasion to set poor men's children to learn +handicrafts, and thereby to make trifles and such like, which the +Indians and those people do much esteem; by reason whereof, there +should be none occasion to have our country cumbered with loiterers, +vagabonds, and such like idle persons. + +All these commodities would grew by following this our discovery +without injury done to any Christian prince by crossing them in any +of their used trades, whereby they might take any just occasion of +offence. + +Thus have I briefly showed you some part of the grounds of my +opinion, trusting that you will no longer judge me fantastic in this +matter, seeing I have conceived no hope of this voyage, but am +persuaded thereunto by the best cosmographers of our age, the same +being confirmed both by reason and certain experiences. + +Also this discovery hath been divers times heretofore by others both +proposed, attempted, and performed. + +It hath been proposed by Stephen Gomez unto Carolus, the fifth +emperor in the year of our Lord 1527, as Alphonse Ullva testifieth +in the story of Carolus' life, who would have set him forth in it +(as the story mentioneth) if the great want of money, by reason of +his long wars, had not caused him to surcease the same. + +And the King of Portugal, fearing lest the emperor would have +persevered in this his enterprise, gave him, to leave the matter +unattempted, the sum of 350,000 crowns; and it is to be supposed +that the King of Portugal would not have given to the emperor such +sums of money for eggs in moonshine. + +It hath been attempted by Corterialis the Portuguese, Scolmus the +Dane, and by Sebastian Cabot in the time of King Henry VII. + +And it hath been performed by the three brethren, the Indians +aforesaid, and by Urdaneta, the friar of Mexico. + +Also divers have proposed the like unto the French king, who hath +sent two or three times to have discovered the same; the discoverers +spending and consuming their victuals in searching the gulfs and +bays between Florida and Labrador, whereby the ice is broken to the +after-comers. + +So that the right way may now be easily found out in short time, and +that with little jeopardy and less expenses. + +For America is discovered so far towards the north as Cape Frido, +which is at 62 degrees, and that part of Greenland next adjoining is +known to stand but at 72 degrees; so that we have but 10 degrees to +sail north and south to put the world out of doubt hereof; and it is +likely that the King of Spain and the King of Portugal would not +have sat out all this while but that they are sure to possess to +themselves all that trade they now use, and fear to deal in this +discovery lest the Queen's Majesty, having so good opportunity, and +finding the commodity which thereby might ensue to the commonwealth, +would cut them off and enjoy the whole traffic to herself, and +thereby the Spaniards and Portuguese with their great charges should +beat the bush and other men catch the birds; which thing they +foreseeing, have commanded that no pilot of theirs, upon pain of +death, should seek to discover to the north-west, or plat out in any +sea-card any through passage that way by the north-west. + +Now, if you will impartially compare the hope that remaineth to +animate me to this enterprise with those likelihoods which Columbus +alleged before Ferdinando, the King of Castilia, to prove that there +were such islands in the West Ocean as were after by him and others +discovered, to the great commodity of Spain and all the world, you +will think then that this North-West Passage to be most worthy +travel therein. + +For Columbus had none of the West Islands set forth unto him either +in globe or card, neither yet once mentioned of any writer (Plato +excepted, and the commentaries upon the same) from 942 years before +Christ until that day. + +Moreover, Columbus himself had neither seen America nor any other of +the islands about it, neither understood he of them by the report of +any other that had seen them, but only comforted himself with this +hope, that the land had a beginning where the sea had an ending. +For as touching that which the Spaniards do write of a Biscaine +which should have taught him the way thither, it is thought to be +imagined of them to deprive Columbus of his honour, being none of +their countryman, but a stranger born. + +And if it were true of the Biscaine, yet did he but hit upon the +matter, or, at the least, gathered the knowledge of it by +conjectures only. + +And albeit myself have not seen this passage, or any part thereof, +but am ignorant of it as touching experience as Columbus was before +his attempt was made, yet have I both the report, relation, and +authority of divers most credible men, which have both seen and +passed through some and every part of this discovery, besides sundry +reasons for my assurance thereof, all which Columbus wanted. + +These things considered and impartially weighed together, with the +wonderful commodities which this discovery may bring, especially to +this realm of England, I must needs conclude with learned Baptista +Ramusius, and divers other learned men, who said that this discovery +hath been reserved for some noble prince or worthy man, thereby to +make himself rich, and the world happy: desiring you to accept in +good part this brief and simple discourse, written in haste, which, +if I may perceive that it shall not sufficiently satisfy you in this +behalf, I will then impart unto you a large discourse, which I have +written only of this discovery. + +And further, because it sufficeth not only to knew that such a thing +there is, without ability to perform the same, I will at leisure +make you partaker of another simple discourse of navigation, wherein +I have not a little travelled, to make myself as sufficient to bring +these things to effect as I have been ready to offer myself therein. + +And therein I have devised to amend the errors of usual sea-cards, +whose common fault is to make the degrees of longitude in every +latitude of one like bigness. + +And have also devised therein a spherical instrument, with a compass +of variation for the perfect knowing of the longitude. + +And a precise order to prick the sea-card, together with certain +infallible rules for the shortening of any discovery, to know at the +first entering of any strait whether it lies open to the ocean more +ways than one, how far soever the sea stretcheth itself into the +land. + +Desiring you hereafter never to mislike with me for the taking in +hand of any laudable and honest enterprise, for if, through pleasure +and idleness, we purchase shame, the pleasure vanisheth, but the +shame remaineth for ever. + +And therefore, to give me leave without offence always to live and +die in this mind, THAT HE IS NOT WORTHY TO LIVE AT ALL THAT FOR FEAR +OR DANGER OF DEATH SHUNNETH HIS COUNTRY'S SERVICE AND HIS OWN +HONOUR, seeing death is inevitable, and the fame of virtue immortal. +Wherefore, in this behalf, Mutare vel timere sperno. + + + + +CERTAIN OTHER REASONS OR ARGUMENTS TO PROVE A PASSAGE BY THE NORTH- +WEST +Learnedly written by Master Richard Willes, Gentleman. + + + +Four famous ways there be spoken of to those fruitful and wealthy +islands, which we do usually call Moluccas, continually haunted for +gain, and daily travelled for riches therein growing. These +islands, although they stand east from the meridian, distant almost +half the length of the world, in extreme heat under the equinoctial +line, possessed of infidels and barbarians, yet by our neighbours +great abundance of wealth there is painfully sought in respect of +the voyage dearly bought, and from thence dangerously brought home +to us. Our neighbours I call the Portuguese, in comparison of the +Molucchians for nearness unto us, for like situation westward as we +have for their usual trade with us; for that the far south- +easterings do know this part of Europe by no other name than +Portugal, not greatly acquainted as yet with the other nations +thereof. Their voyage is very well understood of all men, and the +south-eastern way round about Africa, by the Cape of Good Hope, more +spoken of, better known and travelled, than that it may seem needful +to discourse thereof any farther. + +The second way lieth south-west, between the West Indies, or South +America, and the south continent, through that narrow strait where +Magellan, first of all men that ever we do read of, passed these +latter years, caving thereunto therefore his name. This way, no +doubt, the Spaniards would commodiously take, for that it lieth near +unto their dominions there, could the eastern current and Levant +winds as easily suffer men to return as speedily therewith they may +be carried thither; for the which difficulty, or rather +impossibility of striving against the force both of wind and stream, +this passage is little or nothing used, although it be very well +known. + +The third way, by the north-east, beyond all Europe and Asia, that +worthy and renowned knight Sir Hugh Willoughbie sought to his peril, +enforced there to end his life for cold, congealed and frozen to +death. And, truly, this way consisteth rather in the imagination of +geographers than allowable either in reason, or approved by +experience, as well it may appear by the dangerous trending of the +Scythian Cape set by Ortellius under the 80th degree north, by the +unlikely sailing in that northern sea, always clad with ice and +snow, or at the least continually pestered therewith, if haply it be +at any time dissolved, beside bays and shelves, the water waxing +more shallow towards the east, to say nothing of the foul mists and +dark fogs in the cold clime, of the little power of the sun to clear +the air, of the uncomfortable nights, so near the Pole, five months +long. + +A fourth way to go unto these aforesaid happy islands, the Moluccas, +Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a learned and valiant knight, discourseth of +at large in his new "Passage to Cathay." The enterprise of itself +being virtuous, the fact must doubtless deserve high praise, and +whensoever it shall be finished the fruits thereof cannot be small; +where virtue is guide, there is fame a follower, and fortune a +companion. But the way is dangerous, the passage doubtful, the +voyage not thoroughly known, and therefore gainsaid by many, after +this manner. + +First, who can assure us of any passage rather by the north-west +than by the north-east? do not both ways lie in equal distance from +the North Pole? stand not the North Capes of either continent under +like elevation? is not the ocean sea beyond America farther distant +from our meridian by thirty or forty degrees west than the extreme +points of Cathay eastward, if Ortellius' general card of the world +be true? In the north-east that noble knight--Sir Hugh Willoughbie +perished for cold, and can you then promise a passenger any better +hap by the north-west, who hath gone for trial's sake, at any time, +this way out of Europe to Cathay? + +If you seek the advice herein of such as make profession in +cosmography, Ptolemy, the father of geography, and his eldest +children, will answer by their maps with a negative, concluding most +of the sea within the land, and making an end of the world +northward, near the 63rd degree. The same opinion, when learning +chiefly flourished, was received in the Romans' time, as by their +poets' writings it may appear. "Et te colet ultima Thule," said +Virgil, being of opinion that Iceland was the extreme part of the +world habitable toward the north. Joseph Moletius, an Italian, and +Mercator, a German, for knowledge men able to be compared with the +best geographers of our time, the one in his half spheres of the +whole world, the other in some of his great globes, have continued +the West Indies land, even to the North Pole, and consequently cut +off all passage by sea that way. + +The same doctors, Mercator in other of his globes and maps, Moletius +in his sea-card, nevertheless doubting of so great continuance of +the former continent, have opened a gulf betwixt the West Indies and +the extreme northern land; but such a one that either is not to be +travelled for the causes in the first objection alleged, or clean +shut up from us in Europe by Greenland, the south end whereof +Moletius maketh firm land with America, the north part continent +with Lapland and Norway. + +Thirdly, the greatest favourers of this voyage cannot deny but that, +if any such passage be, it lieth subject unto ice and snow for the +most part of the year, whereas it standeth in the edge of the frosty +zone. Before the sun hath warmed the air and dissolved the ice, +each one well knoweth that there can be no sailing; the ice once +broken through the continual abode, the sun maketh a certain season +in those parts. How shall it be possible for so weak a vessel as a +ship is to hold out amid whole islands, as it were, of ice +continually beating on each side, and at the mouth of that gulf, +issuing down furiously from the north, safely to pass, when whole +mountains of ice and snow shall be tumbled down upon her? + +Well, grant the West Indies not to continue continent unto the Pole, +grant there be a passage between these two lands, let the gulf lie +nearer us than commonly in cards we find it set, namely, between the +sixty-first and sixty-fourth degrees north, as Gemma Frisius in his +maps and globes imagineth it, and so left by our countryman +Sebastian Cabot in his table which the Earl of Bedford hath at +Theinies; let the way be void of all difficulties, yet doth it not +follow that we have free passage to Cathay. For example's sake, you +may coast all Norway, Finmarke, and Lapland, and then bow southward +to St. Nicholas, in Moscovy. You may likewise in the Mediterranean +Sea fetch Constantinople and the mouth of the Don, yet is there no +passage by sea through Moscovy into Pont Euxine, now called Mare +Maggiore. Again, in the aforesaid Mediterranean Sea we sail to +Alexandria in Egypt, the barbarians bring their pearl and spices +from the Moluccas up the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf to Suez, scarcely +three days' journey from the aforesaid haven; yet have we no way by +sea from Alexandria to the Moluccas for that isthmus or little trait +of land between the two seas. In like manner, although the northern +passage be free at sixty-one degrees latitude, and the west ocean +beyond America, usually called Mare del Sur, known to be open at +forty degrees elevation for the island of Japan, yea, three hundred +leagues northerly of Japan, yet may there be land to hinder the +through passage that way by sea, as in the examples aforesaid it +falleth out, Asia and America there being joined together in one +continent. Nor can this opinion seem altogether frivolous unto any +one that diligently peruseth our cosmographers' doings. Josephus +Moletius is of that mind, not only in his plain hemispheres of the +world, but also in his sea-card. The French geographers in like +manner be of the same opinion, as by their map cut out in form of a +heart you may perceive as though the West Indies were part of Asia, +which sentence well agreeth with that old conclusion in the schools, +Quid-quid praeter Africum et Europam est, Asia est, "Whatsoever land +doth neither appertain unto Africa nor to Europe is part of Asia." + +Furthermore, it were to small purpose to make so long, so painful, +so doubtful a voyage by such a new found way, if in Cathay you +should neither be suffered to land for silks and silver, nor able to +fetch the Molucca spices and pearl for piracy in those seas. Of a +law denying all aliens to enter into China, and forbidding all the +inhabiters under a great penalty to let in any stranger into those +countries, shall you read in the report of Galeotto Petera, there +imprisoned with other Portuguese, as also in the Japanese letters, +how for that cause the worthy traveller Xavierus bargained with a +barbarian merchant for a great sum of pepper to be brought into +Canton, a port in Cathay. The great and dangerous piracy used in +those seas no man can be ignorant of that listeth to read the +Japanese and Indian history. + +Finally, all this great labour would be lost, all these charges +spent in vain, if in the end our travellers might not be able to +return again, and bring safely home into their own native country +that wealth and riches they in foreign regions with adventure of +goods and danger of their lives have sought for. By the north-east +there is no way; the South-East Passage the Portuguese do hold, as +the lords of those seas. At the south-west, Magellan's experience +hath partly taught us, and partly we are persuaded by reason, how +the eastern current striketh so furiously on that strait, and +falleth with such force into that narrow gulf, that hardly any ship +can return that way into our west ocean out of Mare del Sur. The +which, if it be true, as truly it is, then we may say that the +aforesaid eastern current, or Levant course of waters, continually +following after the heavenly motions, loseth not altogether its +force, but is doubled rather by another current from out the north- +east, in the passage between America and the North Land, whither it +is of necessity carried, having none other way to maintain itself in +circular motion, and consequently the force and fury thereof to be +no less in the Strait of Anian, where it striketh south into Mare +del Sur beyond America (if any such strait of sea there be), than in +the strait of Magellan, both straits being of like breadth, as in +Belognine Salterius' table of "New France," and in Don Diego Hermano +de Toledo's card for navigation in that region, we do find precisely +set down. + +Nevertheless, to approve that there lieth a way to Cathay at the +north-west from out of Europe, we have experience, namely of three +brethren that went that journey, as Gemma Frisius recordeth, and +left a name unto that strait, whereby now it is called Fretum Trium +Fratrum. We do read again of a Portuguese that passed this strait, +of whom Master Frobisher speaketh, that was imprisoned therefore +many years in Lisbon, to verify the old Spanish proverb, "I suffer +for doing well." Likewise, An. Urdaneta, a friar of Mexico, came +out of Mare del Sur this way into Germany; his card, for he was a +great discoverer, made by his own experience and travel in that +voyage, hath been seen by gentlemen of good credit. + +Now if the observation and remembrance of things breedeth +experience, and of experience proceedeth art, and the certain +knowledge we have in all faculties, as the best philosophers that +ever were do affirm truly the voyage of these aforesaid travellers +that have gone out of Europe into Mare del Sur, and returned thence +at the north-west, do most evidently conclude that way to be +navigable, and that passage free; so much the more we are so to +think, for that the first principle and chief ground in all +geography, as Ptolemy saith, is the history of travel, that is, +reports made by travellers skilful in geography and astronomy, of +all such things in their journey as to geography do belong. It only +remaineth, that we now answer to those arguments that seemed to make +against this former conclusion. + +The first objection is of no force, that general table of the world, +set forth by Ortellius or Mercator, for it greatly skilleth not, +being unskilfully drawn for that point, as manifestly it may appear +unto any one that compareth the same with Gemma Frisius' universal +map, with his round quartered card, with his globe, with Sebastian +Cabot's table, and Ortellius' general map alone, worthily preferred +in this case before all Mercator's and Ortellius' other doings: for +that Cabot was not only a skilful seaman, but a long traveller, and +such a one as entered personally that strait, sent by King Henry +VII. to make this aforesaid discovery, as in his own discourse of +navigation you may read in his card drawn with his own hand, that +the mouth of the north-western strait lieth near the 318th meridian, +between 61 and 64 degrees in the elevation, continuing the same +breadth about ten degrees west, where it openeth southerly more and +more, until it come under the tropic of Cancer; and so runneth into +Mare del Sur, at the least 18 degrees more in breadth there than it +was where it first began; otherwise I could as well imagine this +passage to be more unlikely than the voyage to Moscovy, and more +impossible than it for the far situation and continuance thereof in +the frosty clime: as now I can affirm it to be very possible and +most likely in comparison thereof, for that it neither coasteth so +far north as the Moscovian passage doth, neither is this strait so +long as that, before it bow down southerly towards the sun again. + +The second argument concludeth nothing. Ptolemy knew not what was +above 16 degrees south beyond the equinoctial line, he was ignorant +of all passages northward from the elevation of 63 degrees, he knew +no ocean sea beyond Asia, yet have the Portuguese trended the Cape +of Good Hope at the south point of Africa, and travelled to Japan, +an island in the east ocean, between Asia and America; our merchants +in the time of King Edward the Sixth discovered the Moscovian +passage farther north than Thule, and showed Greenland not to be +continent with Lapland and Norway: the like our north-western +travellers have done, declaring by their navigation that way the +ignorance of all cosmographers that either do join Greenland with +America, or continue the West Indies with that frosty region under +the North Pole. As for Virgil, he sang according to the knowledge +of men in his time, as another poet did of the hot zone. + +Quarum quae media est, non est habitabilis aestu. Imagining, as +most men then did, Zonam Torridam, the hot zone, to be altogether +dishabited for heat, though presently we know many famous and worthy +kingdoms and cities in that part of the earth, and the island of S. +Thomas near Ethiopia, and the wealthy islands for the which chiefly +all these voyages are taken in hand, to be inhabited even under the +equinoctial line. + +To answer the third objection, besides Cabot and all other +travellers' navigations, the only credit of Master Frobisher may +suffice, who lately, through all these islands of ice and mountains +of snow, passed that way, even beyond the gulf that tumbleth down +from the north, and in some places, though he drew one inch thick +ice, as he returning in August did, came home safely again. + +The fourth argument is altogether frivolous and vain, for neither is +there any isthmus or strait of land between America and Asia, nor +can these two lands jointly be one continent. The first part of my +answer is manifestly allowed by Homer, whom that excellent +geographer, Strabo, followeth, yielding him in this faculty the +prize. The author of that book likewise On the Universe to +Alexander, attributed unto Aristotle, is of the same opinion that +Homer and Strabo be of, in two or three places. Dionysius, in his +Periegesis, hath this verse, "So doeth the ocean sea run round about +the world:" speaking only of Europe, Africa, and Asia, as then Asia +was travelled and known. With these doctors may you join Pomponius +Mela, Pliny, Pius, in his description of Asia. All the which +writers do no less confirm the whole eastern side of Asia to be +compassed about with the sea; then Plato doth affirm in is Timaeus, +under the name Atlantis, the West Indies to be an island, as in a +special discourse thereof R. Eden writeth, agreeable unto the +sentence of Proclus, Marsilius Ficinus, and others. Out of Plato it +is gathered that America is an island. Homer, Strabo, Aristotle, +Dionysius, Mela, Pliny, Pius, affirm the continent of Asia, Africa, +and Europe, to be environed with the ocean. I may therefore boldly +say (though later intelligences thereof had we none at all) that +Asia and the West Indies be not tied together by any isthmus or +strait of land, contrary to the opinion of some new cosmographers, +by whom doubtfully this matter hath been brought in controversy. +And thus much for the first part of my answer unto the fourth +objection. + +The second part, namely, that America and Asia cannot be one +continent, may thus be proved:- "The most rivers take down that way +their course, where the earth is most hollow and deep," writeth +Aristotle; and the sea (saith he in the same place), as it goeth +further, so is it found deeper. Into what gulf do the Moscovian +rivers Onega, Dwina, Ob, pour out their streams? northward out of +Moscovy into the sea. Which way doth that sea strike? The south is +main land, the eastern coast waxeth more and more shallow: from the +north, either naturally, because that part of the earth is higher, +or of necessity, for that the forcible influence of some northern +stars causeth the earth there to shake off the sea, as some +philosophers do think; or, finally, for the great store of waters +engendered in that frosty and cold climate, that the banks are not +able to hold them. From the north, I say, continually falleth down +great abundance of water; so this north-eastern current must at the +length abruptly bow toward us south on the west side of Finmark and +Norway, or else strike down south-west above Greenland, or betwixt +Greenland and Iceland, into the north-west strait we speak of, as of +congruence it doth, if you mark the situation of that region, and by +the report of Master Frobisher experience teacheth us. And, Master +Frobisher, the further he travelled in the former passage, as he +told me, the deeper always he found the sea. Lay you now the sum +hereof together, the rivers run where the channels are most hollow, +the sea in taking his course waxeth deeper, the sea waters fall +continually from the north southward, the north-eastern current +striketh down into the strait we speak of and is there augmented +with whole mountains of ice and snow falling down furiously out from +the land under the North Pole. Where store of water is, there is it +a thing impossible to want sea; where sea not only doth not want, +but waxeth deeper, there can be discovered no land. Finally, whence +I pray you came the contrary tide, that Master Frobisher met withal, +after that he had sailed no small way in that passage, if there be +any isthmus or strait of land betwixt the aforesaid north-western +gulf and Mare del Sur, to join Asia and America together? That +conclusion arrived at in the schools, "Whatsoever land doth neither +appertain unto Africa, nor to Europe, is part of Asia," was meant of +the parts of the world then known, and so is it of right to be +understood. + +The fifth objection requireth for answer wisdom and policy in the +traveller to win the barbarians' favour by some good means; and so +to arm and strengthen himself, that when he shall have the repulse +in one coast, he may safely travel to another, commodiously taking +his convenient times, and discreetly making choice of them with whom +he will thoroughly deal. To force a violent entry would for us +Englishmen be very hard, considering the strength and valour of so +great a nation, far distant from us, and the attempt thereof might +be most perilous unto the doers, unless their park were very good. + +Touching their laws against strangers, you shall read nevertheless +in the same relations of Galeotto Perera, that the Cathaian king is +wont to grant free access unto all foreigners that trade into his +country for merchandise, and a place of liberty for them to remain +in; as the Moors had, until such time as they had brought the Loutea +or Lieutenant of that coast to be a circumcised Saracen: wherefore +some of them were put to the sword, the rest were scattered abroad; +at Fuquien, a great city in China, certain of them are yet this day +to be seen. As for the Japanese, they be most desirous to be +acquainted with strangers. The Portuguese, though they were +straitly handled there at the first, yet in the end they found great +favour at the prince's hands, insomuch that the Loutea or President +that misused them was therefore put to death. The rude Indian canoe +voyageth in those seas, the Portuguese, the Saracens, and Moors +travel continually up and down that reach from Japan to China, from +China to Malacca, from Malacca to the Moluccas, and shall an +Englishman better appointed than any of them all (that I say no more +of our navy) fear to sail in that ocean? what seat at all do want +piracy? what navigation is there void of peril? + +To the last argument our travellers need not to seek their return by +the north-east, neither shall they be constrained, except they list, +either to attempt Magellan's strait at the south-west, or to be in +danger of the Portuguese on the south-east; they may return by the +north-west, that same way they do go forth, as experience hath +showed. + +The reason alleged for proof of the contrary may be disposed after +this manner: And first, it may be called in controversy, whether +any current continually be forced by the motion of primum mobile, +round about the world or no; for learned men do diversely handle +that question. The natural course of all waters is downward, +wherefore of congruence they fall that way where they find the earth +most low and deep: in respect whereof, it was erst said, the seas +do strike from the northern lands southerly. Violently the seas are +tossed and troubled divers ways with the winds, increased and +diminished by the course of the moon, hoisted up and down through +the sundry operations of the sun and the stars: finally, some be of +opinion that the seas be carried in part violently about the world, +after the daily motion of the highest movable heaven, in like manner +as the elements of air and fire, with the rest of the heavenly +spheres, are from the east unto the west. And this they do call +their eastern current, or Levant stream. Some such current may not +be denied to be of great force in the hot zone, for the nearness +thereof unto the centre of the sun, and blustering eastern winds +violently driving the seas westward; howbeit in the temperate climes +the sun being farther off, and the winds more diverse, blowing as +much from the north, the west, and south, as from the east, this +rule doth not effectually withhold us from travelling eastwards, +neither be we kept ever back by the aforesaid Levant winds and +stream. But in Magellan strait we are violently driven back +westward, ergo through the north-western strait or Anian frith shall +we not be able to return eastward: it followeth not. The first, +for that the north-western strait hath more sea room at the least by +one hundred English miles than Magellan's strait hath, the only want +whereof causeth all narrow passages generally to be most violent. +So would I say in the Anian Gulf, if it were so narrow as Don Diego +and Zalterius have painted it out, any return that way to be full of +difficulties, in respect of such straitness thereof, not for the +nearness of the sun or eastern winds, violently forcing that way any +Levant stream; but in that place there is more sea room by many +degrees, if the cards of Cabot and Gemma Frisius, and that which +Tramezine imprinted, be true. + +And hitherto reasons see I none at all, but that I may as well give +credit unto their doings as to any of the rest. It must be +Peregrinationis historia, that is, true reports of skilful +travellers, as Ptolemy writeth, that in such controversies of +geography must put us out of doubt. Ortellius, in his universal +tables, in his particular maps of the West Indies, of all Asia, of +the northern kingdoms, of the East Indies; Mercator in some of his +globes and general maps of the world, Moletius in his universal +table of the Globe divided, in his sea-card and particular tables of +the East Indies Zanterius and Don Diego with Fernando Bertely, and +others, do so much differ both from Gemma Frisius and Cabot among +themselves, and in divers places from themselves, concerning the +divers situation and sundry limits of America, that one may not so +rashly as truly surmise these men either to be ignorant in those +points touching the aforesaid region, or that the maps they have +given out unto the world were collected only by them, and never of +their own drawing. + + + +THE FIRST VOYAGE OF MASTER MARTIN FROBISHER +To the North-West for the search of the passage or strait to China, +written by Christopher Hall, and made in the year of our Lord 1576. + + + +Upon Monday, the thirteenth of May, the barque Gabriel was launched +at Redriffe, and upon the twenty-seventh day following she sailed +from Redriffe to Ratcliffe. + +The seventh of June being Thursday, the two barques, viz., the +Gabriel and the Michael, and our pinnace, set sail at Ratcliffe, and +bare down to Deptford, and there we anchored. The cause was, that +our pinnace burst her bowsprit and foremast aboard of a ship that +rowed at Deptford, else we meant to have passed that day by the +court, then at Greenwich. + +The eighth day being Friday, about twelve o'clock, we weighed at +Deptford and set sail all three of us and bare down by the court, +where we shot off our ordinance, and made the best show we could; +her Majesty beholding the same commended it, and bade us farewell +with shaking her hand at us out of the window. Afterwards she sent +a gentleman aboard of us, who declared that her Majesty had good +liking of our doings, and thanked us for it, and also willed our +captain to come the next day to the court to take his leave of her. + +The same day, towards night, Master Secretary Woolley came aboard of +us, and declared to the company that her Majesty had appointed him +to give them charge to be obedient, and diligent to their captain +and governors in all things, and wished us happy success. + +The ninth day about noon, the wind being westerly, having our +anchors aboard ready to set sail to depart, we wanted some of our +company, and therefore stayed and moored them again. + +Sunday, the tenth of June, we set sail from Blackwall at a south- +west and by west sun, the wind being at north-north-west, and sailed +to Gravesend, and anchored there at a west-north-west sun, the wind +being as before. + +The twelfth day, being over against Gravesend, by the Castle or +Blockhouse, we observed the latitude, which was 51 degrees 33 +minutes, and in that place the variation of the compass is 11 +degrees and a half. This day we departed from Gravesend at a west- +south-west sun, the wind at north and by east a fair gale, and +sailed to the west part of Tilbury Hope, and so turned down the +Hope, and at a west sun the wind came to the east-south-east, and we +anchored in seven fathoms, being low water. + +[Here there follows an abstract of the ship's log, showing the +navigation until the 28th of July, when they had sight of land +supposed to be Labrador.] + +July 28th. From 4 to 8, 4 leagues: from 8. to 12, 3 leagues: from +12 to 4, north and by west, 6 leagues, but very foggy; from thence +to 8 of the clock in the morning little wind, but at the clearing up +of the fog we had sight of land, which I supposed to be Labrador, +with great store of ice about the land; I ran in towards it, and +sounded, but could get no land at 100 fathoms, and the ice being so +thick I could not get to the shore, and so lay off and came clear of +the ice. Upon Monday we came within a mile of the shore, and sought +a harbour; all the sound was full of ice, and our boat rowing ashore +could get no ground at 100 fathom, within a cable's length of the +shore; then we sailed east-north-east along the shore, for so the +land lieth, and the current is there great, setting north-east and +south-west; and if we could have gotten anchor ground we would have +seen with what force it had run, but I judge a ship may drive a +league and a half in one hour with that tide. + +This day, at four of the clock in the morning, being fair and clear, +we had sight of a headland as we judged bearing from us north and by +east, and we sailed north-east and by north to that land, and when +we came thither we could not get to the land for ice, for the ice +stretched along the coast, so that we could not come to the land by +5 leagues. + +Wednesday, the first of August, it calmed, and in the afternoon I +caused my boat to be hoisted out, being hard by a great island of +ice, and I and four men rowed to that ice, and sounded within two +cables' length of it, and had 16 fathoms and little stones, and +after that sounded again within a minion's shot, and had ground at +100 fathoms, and fair sand. We sounded the next day a quarter of a +mile from it, and had 60 fathoms rough ground, and at that present +being aboard, that great island of ice fell one part from another, +making a noise as if a great cliff had fallen into the sea. And at +4 of the clock I sounded again, and had 90 fathoms, and small black +stones, and little white stones like pearls. The tide here did set +to the shore. + +We sailed this day south-south-east ofward, and laid it a tric. + +The next day was calm and thick, with a great sea. + +The next day we sailed south and by east two leagues, and at 8 of +the clock in the forenoon we cast about to the eastward. + +The sixth day it cleared, and we ran north-west into the shore to +get a harbour, and being towards night, we notwithstanding kept at +sea. + +The seventh day we plied room with the shore, but being near it it +waxed thick, and we bare off again. + +The eighth day we bended in towards the shore again. + +The ninth day we sounded, but could get no ground at 130 fathoms. +The weather was calm. + +The tenth I took four men and myself, and rode to shore, to an +island one league from the main, and there the flood setteth south- +west along the shore, and it floweth as near as I could judge so +too. I could not tarry to prove it, because the ship was a great +way from me, and I feared a fog; but when I came ashore it was low +water. I went to the top of the islands and before I came back it +was hied a foot water, and so without tarrying I came aboard. + +The eleventh we found our latitude to be 63 degrees and 8 minutes, +and this day entered the strait. + +The twelfth we set sail towards an island called the Gabriel's +Island, which was 10 leagues then from us. + +We espied a sound, and bare with it, and came to a sandy bay, where +we came to an anchor, the land bearing east-south-east of us, and +there we rode all night in 8 fathom water. It floweth there at a +south-east moon; we called it Prior's Sound, being from the +Gabriel's Island 10 leagues. + +The fourteenth we weighed and ran into another sound, where we +anchored in 8 fathoms water, fair sand, and black ooze, and there +caulked our ship, being weak from the gunwales upward, and took in +fresh water. + +The fifteenth day we weighed, and sailed to Prior's Bay, being a +mile from thence. + +The sixteenth day was calm, and we rode still without ice, but +presently within two hours it was frozen round about the ship, a +quarter of an inch thick, and that bay very fair and calm. + +The seventeenth day we weighed, and came to Thomas William's Island. + +The eighteenth day we sailed north-north-west and anchored again in +23 fathoms, and caught ooze under Bircher's Island, which is from +the former island 10 leagues. + +The nineteenth day in the morning, being calm, and no wind, the +captain and I took our boat, with eight men in her, to row us +ashore, to see if there were there any people, or no, and going to +the top of the island, we had sight of seven boats, which came +rowing from the east side toward that island; whereupon we returned +aboard again. At length we sent our boat, with five men in her, to +see whither they rowed, and so with a white cloth brought one of +their boats with their men along the shore, rowing after our boat, +till such time as they saw our ship, and then they rowed ashore. +Then I went on shore myself, and gave every of them a threaden +point, and brought one of them aboard of me, where he did eat and +drink, and then carried him on shore again. Whereupon all the rest +came aboard with their boats, being nineteen persons, and they +spake, but we understood them not. They be like to Tartars, with +long black hair, broad faces, and flat noses, and tawny in colour, +wearing seal skins, and so do the women, not differing in the +fashion, but the women are marked in the face with blue streaks down +the cheeks and round about the eyes. Their boats are made all of +seal skins, with a keel of wood within the skin: the proportion of +them is like a Spanish shallop, save only they be flat in the bottom +and sharp at both ends. + +The twentieth day we weighed, and went to the east side of this +island, and I and the captain, with four men more, went on shore, +and there we saw their houses, and the people espying us, came +rowing towards our boat, whereupon we plied to our boat; and we +being in our boat and they ashore, they called to us, and we rowed +to them, and one of their company came into our boat, and we carried +him aboard, and gave him a bell and a knife; so the captain and I +willed five of our men to set him ashore at a rock, and not among +the company which they came from, but their wilfulness was such that +they would go to them, and so were taken themselves and our boat +lost. + +The next day in the morning we stood in near the shore and shot off +a fauconet, and sounded our trumpet, but we could hear nothing of +our men. This sound we called the Five Men's Sound, and plied out +of it, but anchored again in 30 fathoms and ooze; and riding there +all night, in the morning the snow lay a foot thick upon our +hatches. + +The two-and-twentieth day in the morning we weighed, and went again +to the place where we lost our men and our boat. We had sight of +fourteen boats, and some came near to us, but we could learn nothing +of our men. Among the rest, we enticed one in a boat to our ship's +side with a bell; and in giving him the bell we took him and his +boat, and so kept him, and so rowed down to Thomas William's island, +and there anchored all night. + +The twenty-sixth day we weighed to come homeward, and by twelve of +the clock at noon we were thwart of Trumpet's Island. + +The next day we came thwart of Gabriel's Island, and at eight of the +clock at night we had the Cape Labrador west from us ten leagues. + +The twenty-eighth day we went our course south-east. + +We sailed south-east and by east, twenty-two leagues. + +The first day of September, in the morning, we had sight of the land +of Friesland, being eight leagues from us, but we could not come +nearer it for the monstrous ice that lay about it. From this day +till the sixth of this month we ran along Iceland, and had the south +part of it at eight of the clock east from us ten leagues. + +The seventh day of this month we had a very terrible storm, by force +whereof one of our men was blown into the sea out of our waste, but +he caught hold of the foresail sheet, and there held till the +captain plucked him again into the ship. + +The twenty-fifth day of this month we had sight of the island of +Orkney, which was then east from us. + +The first day of October we had sight of the Sheld, and so sailed +along the coast, and anchored at Yarmouth, and the next day we came +into Harwich. + +THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE OF META INCOGNITA. + + + +Argotteyt, a hand. Attegay, a coat. +Cangnawe, a nose. Polleuetagay, a knife. +Arered, an eye. Accaskay, a ship. +Keiotot, a tooth. Coblone, a thumb. +Mutchatet, the head. Teckkere, the foremost finger. +Chewat, an ear. Ketteckle, the middle finger. +Comagaye, a leg. Mekellacane, the fourth finger. +Atoniagay, a foot. +Callagay, a pair of breeches. Yachethronc, the little finger. + + + +THE SECOND VOYAGE OF MASTER MARTIN FROBISHER, +Made to the West and North-West Regions in the year 1577, with a +Description of the Country and People, written by Dionise Settle. + + + +On Whit Sunday, being the sixth-and-twentieth day of May, in the +year of our Lord God 1577, Captain Frobisher departed from +Blackwall--with one of the Queen's Majesty's ships called the Aid, +of nine score ton or thereabout, and two other little barques +likewise, the one called the Gabriel, whereof Master Fenton, a +gentleman of my Lord of Warwick's, was captain; and the other the +Michael, whereof Master York, a gentleman of my lord admiral's, was +captain, accompanied with seven score gentlemen, soldiers, and +sailors, well furnished with victuals and other provisions necessary +for one half year--on this, his second year, for the further +discovering of the passage to Cathay and other countries thereunto +adjacent, by west and north-west navigations, which passage or way +is supposed to be on the north and north-west parts of America, and +the said America to be an island environed with the sea, where +through our merchants might have course and recourse with their +merchandise from these our northernmost parts of Europe, to those +Oriental coasts of Asia in much shorter time and with greater +benefit than any others, to their no little commodity and profit +that do or shall traffic the same. Our said captain and general of +this present voyage and company, having the year before, with two +little pinnaces to his great danger, and no small commendations, +given a worthy attempt towards the performance thereof, is also +pressed when occasion shall be ministered to the benefit of his +prince and native country--to adventure himself further therein. As +for this second voyage, it seemeth sufficient that he hath better +explored and searched the commodities of those people and countries, +with sufficient commodity unto the adventurers, which, in his first +voyage the year before, he had found out. + +Upon which considerations the day and year before expressed, he +departed from Blackwall to Harwich, where making an accomplishment +of things necessary, the last of May we hoisted up sails, and with a +merry wind the 7th of June we arrived at the islands called +Orchades, or vulgarly Orkney, being in number thirty, subject and +adjacent to Scotland, where we made provision of fresh water, in the +doing whereof our general licensed the gentlemen and soldiers, for +their recreation, to go on shore. At our landing the people fled +from their poor cottages with shrieks and alarms, to warn their +neighbours of enemies, but by gentle persuasions we reclaimed them +to their houses. It seemeth they are often frighted with pirates, +or some other enemies, that move them to such sudden fear. Their +houses are very simply builded with pebble stone, without any +chimneys, the fire being made in the midst thereof. The good man, +wife, children, and other of their family, eat and sleep on the one +side of the house, and their cattle on the other, very beastly and +rudely in respect of civilisation. They are destitute of wood, +their fire is turf and cow shardes. They have corn, bigge, and +oats, with which they pay their king's rent to the maintenance of +his house. They take great quantity of fish, which they dry in the +wind and sun; they dress their meat very filthily, and eat it +without salt. Their apparel is after the nudest sort of Scotland. +Their money is all base. Their Church and religion is reformed +according to the Scots. The fishermen of England can better declare +the dispositions of those people than I, wherefore I remit other +their usages to their reports, as yearly repairers thither in their +courses to and from Iceland for fish. + +We departed here hence the 8th of June, and followed our course +between west and north-west until the 4th of July, all which time we +had no night, but that easily, and without any impediment, we had, +when we were so disposed, the fruition of our books, and other +pleasures to pass away the time, a thing of no small moment to such +as wander in unknown seas and long navigations, especially when both +the winds and raging surges do pass their common and wonted course. +This benefit endureth in those parts not six weeks, whilst the sun +is near the tropic of Cancer, but where the pole is raised to 70 or +80 degrees it continueth the longer. + +All along these seas, after we were six days sailing from Orkney, we +met, floating in the sea, great fir trees, which, as we judged, +were, with the fury of great floods, rooted up, and so driven into +the sea. Iceland hath almost no other wood nor fuel but such as +they take up upon their coasts. It seemeth that these trees are +driven from some part of the Newfoundland, with the current that +setteth from the west to the east. + +The 4th of July we came within the making of Friesland. From this +shore, ten or twelve leagues, we met great islands of ice of half a +mile, some more, some less in compass, showing above the sea thirty +or forty fathoms, and as we supposed fast on ground, where, with our +lead, we could scarce sound the bottom for depth. + +Here, in place of odoriferous and fragrant smells of sweet gums and +pleasant notes of musical birds, which other countries in more +temperate zones do yield, we tasted the most boisterous Boreal +blasts, mixed with snow and hail, in the months of June and July, +nothing inferior to our untemperate winter: a sudden alteration, +and especially in a place of parallel, where the pole is not +elevated above 61 degrees, at which height other countries more to +the north, yea unto 70 degrees, show themselves more temperate than +this doth. All along this coast ice lieth as a continual bulwark, +and so defendeth the country, that those which would land there +incur great danger. Our general, three days together, attempted +with the ship boat to have gone on shore, which, for that without +great danger he could not accomplish, he deferred it until a more +convenient time. All along the coast lie very high mountains, +covered with snow, except in such places where, through the +steepness of the mountains, of force it must needs fall. Four days +coasting along this land we found no sign of habitation. Little +birds which we judged to have lost the shore, by reason of thick +fogs which that country is much subject unto, came flying to our +ships, which causeth us to suppose that the country is both more +tolerable and also habitable within than the outward shore maketh +show or signification. + +From hence we departed the 8th of July, and the 16th of the same we +came with the making of land, which land our general the year before +had named the Queen's Forehand, being an island, as we judge, lying +near the supposed continent with America, and on the other side, +opposite to the same, one other island, called Halles Isle, after +the name of the master of the ship, near adjacent to the firm land, +supposed continent with Asia. Between the which two islands there +is a large entrance or strait, called Frobisher's Strait, after the +name of our general, the first finder thereof. This said strait is +supposed to have passage into the sea of Sur, which I leave unknown +as yet. + +It seemeth that either here, or not far hence, the sea should have +more large entrance than in other parts within the frozen or +untemperate zone, and that some contrary tide, either from the east +or west, with main force casteth out that great quantity of ice +which cometh floating from this coast, even unto Friesland, causing +that country to seem more untemperate than others much more +northerly than the same. + +I cannot judge that any temperature under the Pole, being the time +of the Sun's northern declination, half a year together, and one +whole day (considering that the sun's elevation surmounteth not +twenty-three degrees and thirty minutes), can have power to dissolve +such monstrous and huge ice, comparable to great mountains, except +by some other force, as by swift currents and tides, with the help +of the said day of half a year. + +Before we came within the making of these lands, we tasted cold +storms, insomuch that it seemed we had changed with winter, if the +length of the days had not removed us from that opinion. + +At our first coming, the straits seemed to be shut up with a long +mure of ice, which gave no little cause of discomfort unto us all; +but our general (to whose diligence, imminent dangers and difficult +attempts seemed nothing in respect of his willing mind for the +commodity of his prince and country), with two little pinnaces +prepared of purpose, passed twice through them to the east shore, +and the islands thereunto adjacent; and the ship, with the two +barques, lay off and on something farther into the sea from the +danger of the ice. + +Whilst he was searching the country near the shore, some of the +people of the country showed themselves, leaping and dancing, with +strange shrieks and cries, which gave no little admiration to our +men. Our general, desirous to allure them unto him by fair means, +caused knives and other things to be proffered unto them, which they +would not take at our hands; but being laid on the ground, and the +party going away, they came and took up, leaving something of theirs +to countervail the same. At the length, two them, leaving their +weapons, came down to our general and master, who did the like to +them, commanding the company to stay, and went unto them, who, after +certain dumb signs and mute congratulations, began to lay hands upon +them, but they deliverly escaped, and ran to their bows and arrows +and came fiercely upon them, not respecting the rest of our company, +which were ready for their defence, but with their arrows hurt +divers of them. We took the one, and the other escaped. + +Whilst our general was busied in searching the country, and those +islands adjacent on the east shore, the ships and barques, having +great care not to put far into the sea from him, for that he had +small store of victuals, were forced to abide in a cruel tempest, +chancing in the night amongst and in the thickest of the ice, which +was so monstrous that even the least of a thousand had been of force +sufficient to have shivered our ship and barques into small +portions, if God (who in all necessities hath care upon the +infirmity of man) had not provided for this our extremity a +sufficient remedy, through the light of the night, whereby we might +well discern to flee from such imminent dangers, which we avoided +within fourteen bourdes in one watch, the space of four hours. If +we had not incurred this danger amongst these monstrous islands of +ice, we should have lost our general and master, and the most of our +best sailors, which were on the shore destitute of victuals; but by +the valour of our master gunner, Master Jackman and Andrew Dier, the +master's mates, men expert both in navigation and other good +qualities, we were all content to incur the dangers afore rehearsed, +before we would, with our own safety, run into the seas, to the +destruction of our said general and his company. + +The day following, being the 19th of July, our captain returned to +the ship with good news of great riches, which showed itself in the +bowels of those barren mountains, wherewith we were all satisfied. +A sudden mutation. The one part of us being almost swallowed up the +night before, with cruel Neptune's force, and the rest on shore, +taking thought for their greedy paunches how to find the way to +Newfoundland; at one moment we were racked with joy, forgetting both +where we were and what we had suffered. Behold the glory of man: +to-night contemning riches, and rather looking for death than +otherwise, and to-morrow devising how to satisfy his greedy appetite +with gold. + +Within four days after we had been at the entrance of the straits, +the north-west and west winds dispersed the ice into the sea, and +made us a large entrance into the Straits, that without impediment, +on the 19th July, we entered them; and the 20th thereof our general +and master, with great diligence, sought out and sounded the west +shore, and found out a fair harbour for the ship and barques to ride +in, and named it after our master's mate, Jackman's Sound, and +brought the ship, barques, and all their company to safe anchor, +except one man which died by God's visitation. + +At our first arrival, after the ship rode at anchor, general, with +such company as could well be spared from the ships, in marching +order entered the land, having special care by exhortations that at +our entrance thereinto we should all with one voice, kneeling upon +our knees, chiefly thank God for our safe arrival; secondly, beseech +Him that it would please His Divine Majesty long to continue our +Queen, for whom he, and all the rest of our company, in this order +took possession of the country; and thirdly, that by our Christian +study and endeavour, those barbarous people, trained up in paganry +and infidelity, might be reduced to the knowledge of true religion, +and to the hope of salvation in Christ our Redeemer, with other +words very apt to signify his willing mind and affection towards his +prince and country, whereby all suspicion of an undutiful subject +may credibly be judged to be utterly exempted from his mind. All +the rest of the gentlemen, and others, deserve worthily herein their +due praise and commendation. + +These things in order accomplished, our general commanded all the +company to be obedient in things needful for our own safeguard to +Master Fenton, Master Yorke, and Master Beast, his lieutenant, while +he was occupied in other necessary affairs concerning our coming +thither. + +After this order we marched through the country, with ensign +displayed, so far as was thought needful, and now and then heaped up +stones on high mountains and other places, in token of possession, +as likewise to signify unto such as hereafter may chance to arrive +there that possession is taken in the behalf of some other prince by +those which first found out the country. + +Whose maketh navigation to these countries hath not only extreme +winds and furious seas to encounter withal, but also many monstrous +and great islands of ice: a thing both rare, wonderful, and greatly +to be regarded. + +We were forced sundry times, while the ship did ride here at anchor, +to have continual watch, with boats and men ready with hawsers, to +knit fast unto such ice which with the ebb and flood were tossed to +and fro in the harbour, and with force of oars to hail them away, +for endangering the ship. + +Our general certain days searched this supposed continent with +America, and not finding the commodity to answer his expectations, +after he had made trial thereof, he departed thence, with two little +barques, and men sufficient, to the east shore, being he supposed +continent of Asia, and left the ship, with most of the gentlemen +soldiers and sailors, until such time as he either thought good to +send or come for them. + +The stones on this supposed continent with America be altogether +sparkled and glister in the sun like gold; so likewise doth the sand +in the bright water, yet they verify the old proverb, "All is not +gold that glistereth." + +On this west shore we found a dead fish floating, which had in his +nose a horn, straight and torquet, of length two yards lacking two +inches, being broken in the top, where we might perceive it hollow, +into which some of our sailors putting spiders they presently died. +I saw not the trial hereof, but it was reported unto me of a truth, +by the virtue whereof we supposed it to be the sea unicorn. + +After our general had found out good harbour for the ship and +barques to anchor in, and also such store of gold ore as he thought +himself satisfied withal, he returned to the Michael, whereof Master +Yorke aforesaid was captain, accompanied with our master and his +mate, who coasting along the west shore, not far from whence the +ship rode, they perceived a fair harbour, and willing to sound the +same, at the entrance thereof they espied two tents of seal skins, +unto which the captain, our said master, and other company resorted. +At the sight of our men the people fled into the mountains; +nevertheless, they went to their tents, where, leaving certain +trifles of ours as glasses, bells, knives, and such like things, +they departed, not taking anything of theirs except one dog. They +did in like manner leave behind them a letter, pen, ink, and paper, +whereby our men whom the captain lost the year before, and in that +people's custody, might (if any of them were alive) be advertised of +our presence and being there. + +On the same day, after consultation, all the gentlemen, and others +likewise that could be spared from the ship, under the conduct and +leading of Master Philpot (unto whom, in our general's absence, and +his lieutenant, Master Beast, all the rest were obedient), went +ashore, determining to see if by fair means we could either allure +them to familiarity, or otherwise take some of them, and so attain +to some knowledge of those men whom our general lost the year +before. + +At our coming back again to the place where their tents were before, +they had removed their tents farther into the said bay or sound, +where they might, if they were driven from the land, flee with their +boats into the sea. We, parting ourselves into two companies, and +compassing a mountain, came suddenly upon them by land, who, espying +us, without any tarrying fled to their boats, leaving the most part +of their oars behind them for haste, and rowed down the bay, where +our two pinnaces met them and drove them to shore. But if they had +had all their oars, so swift are they in rowing, it had been lost +time to have chased them. + +When they were landed they fiercely assaulted our men with their +bows and arrows, who wounded three of them with our arrows, and +perceiving themselves thus hurt they desperately leaped off the +rocks into the sea and drowned themselves; which if they had not +done but had submitted themselves, or if by any means we could have +taken alive (being their enemies as they judged), we would both have +saved them, and also have sought remedy to cure their wounds +received at our hands. But they, altogether void of humanity, and +ignorant what mercy meaneth, in extremities look for no other than +death, and perceiving that they should fall into our hands, thus +miserably by drowning rather desired death than otherwise to be +saved by us. The rest, perceiving their fellows in this distress, +fled into the high mountains. Two women, not being so apt to escape +as the men were, the one for her age, and the other being encumbered +with a young child, we took. The old wretch, whom divers of our +sailors supposed to be either a devil or a witch, had her buskins +plucked off to see if she were cloven-footed, and for her ugly hue +and deformity we let her go; the young woman and the child we +brought away. We named the place where they were slain Bloody +Point, and the bay or harbour Yorke's Sound, after the name of one +of the captains of the two barques. + +Having this knowledge both of their fierceness and cruelty, and +perceiving that fair means as yet is not able to allure them to +familiarity, we disposed ourselves, contrary to our inclination, +something to be cruel, returned to their tents, and made a spoil of +the same, where we found an old shirt, a doublet, a girdle, and also +shoes of our men, whom we lost the year before; on nothing else unto +them belonging could we set our eyes. + +Their riches are not gold, silver, or precious drapery, but their +said tents and boats made of the skins of red deer and seal skins, +also dogs like unto wolves, but for the most part black, with other +trifles, more to be wondered at for their strangeness than for any +other commodity needful for our use. + +Thus returning to our ship the 3rd of August, we departed from the +west shore, supposed firm with America, after we had anchored there +thirteen days, and so the 4th thereof we came to our general on the +east shore, and anchored in a fair harbour named Anne Warwick's +Sound, and to which is annexed an island, both named after the +Countess of Warwick--Anne Warwick's Sound and Isle. + +In this isle our general thought good for this voyage to freight +both the ships and barques with such stone or gold mineral as he +judged to countervail the charges of his first and this his second +navigation to these countries, with sufficient interest to the +venturers whereby they might both be satisfied for this time and +also in time to come (if it please God and our prince) to expect a +much more benefit out of the bowels of those septentrional +parallels, which long time hath concealed itself till at this +present, through the wonderful diligence and great danger of our +general and others, God is contented with the revealing thereof. It +riseth so abundantly, that from the beginning of August to the 22nd +thereof (every man following the diligence of our general) we raised +above ground 200 ton, which we judged a reasonable freight for the +ship and two barques in the said Anne Warwick's Isle. + +In the meantime of our abode here some of the country people came to +show themselves unto us sundry times from the main shore, near +adjacent to the said isle. Our general, desirous to have some news +of his men whom he lost the year before, with some company with him +repaired with the ship boat to commune or sign with them for +familiarity, whereunto he is persuaded to bring them. They at the +first show made tokens that three of his five men were alive, and +desired pen, ink, and paper, and that within three or four days they +would return, and, as we judged, bring those of our men which were +living with them. + +They also made signs or tokens of their king, whom they called +Cacough, and how he was carried on men's shoulders, and a man far +surmounting any of our company in bigness and stature. + +With these tokens and signs of writing, pen, ink, and paper were +delivered them, which they would not take at our hands, but being +laid upon the shore, and the party gone away, they took up; which +likewise they do when they desire anything for change of theirs, +laying for that which is left so much as they think will countervail +the same, and not coming near together. It seemeth they have been +used to this trade or traffic with some other people adjoining, or +not far distant from their country. + +After four days some of them showed themselves upon the firm land, +but not where they were before. Our general, very glad thereof, +supposing to hear of our men, went from the island with the boat and +sufficient company with him. They seemed very glad, and allured him +about a certain point of the land, behind which they might perceive +a company of the crafty villains to lie lurking, whom our general +would not deal withal, for that he knew not what company they were, +so with few signs dismissed them and returned to his company. + +Another time, as our said general was coasting the country with two +little pinnaces, whereby at our return he might make the better +relation thereof, three of the crafty villains with a white skin +allured us to them. Once again our general, for that he hoped to +hear of his men, went towards them; at our coming near the shore +whereon they were we might perceive a number of them lie hidden +behind great stones, and those three in sight labouring by all means +possible that some would come on land; and perceiving we made no +haste, by words nor friendly signs, which they used by clapping +their hands, and being without weapon, and but three in sight, they +sought further means to provoke us thereunto. One alone laid flesh +on the shore, which we took up with the boat-hook as necessary +victuals for the relieving of the man, woman, and child whom we had +taken, for that as yet they could not digest our meat; whereby they +perceived themselves deceived of their expectation for all their +crafty allurements. Yet once again to make, as it were, a full show +of their crafty natures and subtle sleights, to the intent thereby +to have entrapped and taken some of our men, one of them +counterfeited himself impotent and lame of his legs, who seemed to +descend to the water's side with great difficulty, and to cover his +craft the more one of his fellows came down with him, and in such +places where he seemed unable to pass, he took him on his shoulders, +set him by the water's side, and departed from him, leaving him, as +it should seem, all alone; who, playing his counterfeit pageant very +well, thought thereby to provoke some of us to come on shore, not +fearing but that one of us might make our party good with a lame +man. + +Our general, having compassion of his impotency, thought good, if it +were possible, to cure him thereof; wherefore he caused a soldier to +shoot at him with his calever, which grazed before his face. The +counterfeit villain deliverly fled without any impediment at all, +and got him to his bow and arrows, and the rest from their lurking +holes with their weapons, bows, arrows, slings, and darts. Our +general caused some calevers to be shot off at them, whereby, some +being hurt, they might hereafter stand in more fear of us. + +This was all the answer for this time we could have of our men, or +of our general's letter. Their crafty dealing at these three +several times being thus manifest unto us, may plainly show their +disposition in other things to be correspondent. We judged that +they used these stratagems thereby to have caught some of us for the +delivering of the man, woman, and child, whom we had taken. + +They are men of a large corporature, and good proportion; their +colour is not much unlike the sunburnt countryman, who laboureth +daily in sun for his living. + +They wear their hair something long, and cut before either with +stone or knife, very disorderly. Their women wear their hair long, +knit up with two loops, showing forth on either side of their faces, +and the rest faltered upon a knot. Also, some of their women tint +their faces proportionally, as chin, cheeks, and forehead and the +wrists of their hands, whereupon they lay a colour which continueth +dark azurine. + +They eat their meat all raw, both flesh, fish, and fowl, or +something parboiled with blood, and a little water, which they +drink. For lack of water, they will eat ice that is hard frozen as +pleasantly as we will do sugar-candy, or other sugar. + +If they, for necessity's sake, stand in need of the premises, such +grass as the country yieldeth they pluck up and eat, not daintily, +or saladwise, to allure their stomachs to appetite, but for +necessity's sake, without either salt, oils, or washing, like brute +beasts devouring the same. They neither use table, stool, or table- +cloth for comeliness: but when they are imbrued with blood, knuckle +deep, and their knives in like sort, they use their tongues as apt +instruments to lick them clean; in doing whereof they are assured to +lose none of their victuals. + +They keep certain dogs, not much unlike wolves, which they yoke +together, as we do oxen and horses, to a sled or trail, and so carry +their necessaries over the ice and snow, from place to place, as the +captain, whom we have, made perfect signs. And when those dogs are +not apt for the same use, or when with hunger they are constrained +for lack of other victuals, they eat them, so that they are as +needful for them, in respect of their bigness, as our oxen are for +us. + +They apparel themselves in the skins of such beasts as they kill, +sewed together with the sinews of them. All the fowl which they +kill they skin, and make thereof one kind of garment or other to +defend them from the cold. + +They make their apparel with hoods and tails, which tails they give, +when they think to gratify any friendship shown unto them; a great +sign of friendship with them. The men have them not so syde as the +women. + +The men and women wear their hose close to their legs, from the +waist to the knee, without any open before, as well the one kind as +the other. Upon their legs they wear hose of leather, with the fur +side inward, two or three pair on at once, and especially the women. +In those hose they put their knives, needles, and other things +needful to bear about. They put a bone within their hose, which +reacheth from the foot to the knee, whereupon they draw their said +hose, and so in place of garters they are holden from falling down +about their feet. + +They dress their skins very soft and supple with the hair on. In +cold weather or winter they wear the fur side inward, and in summer +outward. Other apparel they have none but the said skins. + +Those beasts, fishes, and fowls which they kill are their meat, +drink, apparel, houses, bedding, hose, shoes, thread, and sails for +their boats, with many other necessaries, whereof they stand in +need, and almost all their riches. + +The houses are tents made of seal skins, pitched up with four fir +quarters, four-square, meeting at the top, and the skins sewed +together with sinews, and laid thereupon; they are so pitched up, +that the entrance into them is always south, or against the sun. + +They have other sort of houses, which we found not to be inhabited, +which are raised with stones and whalebones, and a skin laid over +them to withstand the rain, or other weather; the entrance of them +being not much unlike an oven's mouth, whereunto, I think, they +resort for a time to fish, hunt, and fowl, and so leave them until +the next time they come thither again. + +Their weapons are bows, arrows, darts, and slings. Their bows are +of wood, of a yard long, sinewed on the back with firm sinews, not +glued to, but fast girded and tied on. Their bow strings are +likewise sinews. Their arrows are three pieces, nocked with bone +and ended with bone; with those two ends, and the wood in the midst, +they pass not in length half a yard, or little more. They are +feathered with two feathers, the pen end being cut away, and the +feathers laid upon the arrow with the broad side to the wood, +insomuch, that they seem, when they are tied on, to have four +feathers. They have likewise three sorts of heads to those arrows; +one sort of stone or iron, proportioned like to a heart; the second +sort of bone much like unto a stopt head, with a hook on the same, +the third sort of bone likewise, made sharp at both sides, and sharp +pointed. They are not made very fast, but lightly tied to, or else +set in a nocke, that, upon small occasion, the arrow leaveth these +heads behind them; they are of small force except they be very near +when they shoot. + +Their darts are made of two sorts: the one with many forks of bones +in the fore end, and likewise in the midst; their proportions are +not much unlike our toasting-irons, but longer; these they cast out +of an instrument of wood very readily. The other sort is greater +than the first aforesaid, with a long bone made sharp on both sides, +not much unlike a rapier, which I take to be their most hurtful +weapon. + +They have two sorts of boats made of leather, set out on the inner +side with quarters of wood, artificially tied together with thongs +of the same; the greater sort are not much unlike our wherries, +wherein sixteen or twenty men may sit; they have for a sail dressed +the guts of such beasts as they kill, very fine and thin, which they +sew together; the other boat is but for one man to sit and row in, +with one oar. + +Their order of fishing, hunting, and fowling, are with these said +weapons; but in what sort or how they use them we have no perfect +knowledge as yet. + +I can suppose their abode or habitation not to be here, for that +neither their houses nor apparel are of such force to withstand the +extremity of cold that the country seemeth to be infected withal; +neither do I see any sign likely to perform the same. + +Those houses, or rather dens, which stand there, have no sign of +footway, or anything else trodden, which is one of the chiefest +tokens of habitation. And those tents, which they bring with them, +when they have sufficiently hunted and fished, they remove to other +places; and when they have sufficiently stored them of such victuals +as the country yieldeth, or bringeth forth, they return to their +winter stations or habitations. This conjecture do I make for the +infertility which I perceive to be in that country. + +They have some iron, whereof they make arrow-heads, knives, and +other little instruments, to work their boats, bows, arrows, and +darts withal, which are very unapt to do anything withal, but with +great labour. + +It seemeth that they have conversation with some other people, of +whom for exchange they should receive the same. They are greatly +delighted with anything that is bright or giveth a sound. + +What knowledge they have of God, or what idol they adore, we have no +perfect intelligence. I think them rather anthropophagi, or +devourers of man's flesh, than otherwise; that there is no flesh or +fish which they find dead (smell it never so filthily), but they +will eat it as they find it without any other dressing. A loathsome +thing, either to the beholders or the hearers. There is no manner +of creeping beast hurtful, except some spiders (which as many affirm +are signs of great store of gold), and also certain stinging gnats, +which bite so fiercely that the place where they bite shortly after +swelleth, and itcheth very sore. + +They make signs of certain people that wear bright plates of gold in +their foreheads and other places of their bodies. + +The countries on both sides the straits lie very high, with rough +stony mountains, and great quantity of snow thereon. There is very +little plain ground, and no grass except a little, which is much +like unto moss that groweth on soft ground, such as we get turfs in. +There is no wood at all. To be brief, there is nothing fit or +profitable for the use of man which that country with root yieldeth +or bringeth forth; howbeit there is great quantity of deer, whose +skins are like unto asses, their heads or horns do far exceed, as +well in length as also in breadth, any in these our parts or +countries: their feet likewise are as great as our oxen's, which we +measure to be seven or eight inches in breadth. There are also +hares, wolves, fishing bears, and sea-fowl of sundry sorts. + +As the country is barren and unfertile, so are they rude, and of no +capacity to culture the same to any perfection; but are contented by +their hunting, fishing, and fowling, with raw flesh and warm blood, +to satisfy their greedy paunches, which is their only glory. + +There is great likelihood of earthquakes or thunder, for there are +huge and monstrous mountains, whose greatest substance are stones, +and those stones so shapen with some extraordinary means, that one +is separated from another, which is discordant from all other +quarries. + +There are no rivers or running springs, but such as through the heat +of the sun, with such water as descendeth from the mountains and +hills, whereon great drifts of snow do lie, are engendered. + +It argueth also that there should be none; for that the earth, which +with the extremity of the winter is so frozen within, that that +water which should have recourse within the same to maintain springs +hath not his motion, whereof great waters have their origin, as by +experience is seen otherwhere. Such valleys as are capable to +receive the water, that in the summer time, by the operation of the +sun, descendeth from great abundance of snow, which continually +lieth on the mountains, and hath no passage, sinketh into the earth, +and so vanisheth away, without any runnel above the earth, by which +occasion or continual standing of the said water the earth is opened +and the great frost yieldeth to the force thereof, which in other +places, four or five fathoms within the ground, for lack of the said +moisture, the earth even in the very summer time is frozen, and so +combineth the stones together, that scarcely instruments with great +force can unknit them. + +Also, where the water in those valleys can have no such passage +away, by the continuance of time in such order as is before +rehearsed, the yearly descent from the mountains filleth them full, +that at the lowest bank of the same they fall into the next valley, +and so continue as fishing ponds, in summer time full of water, and +in the winter hard frozen, as by scars that remain thereof in summer +may easily be perceived; so that the heat of summer is nothing +comparable or of force to dissolve the extremity of cold that cometh +in winter. + +Nevertheless, I am assured, that below the force of the frost, +within the earth, the waters have recourse, and empty themselves out +of sight into the sea, which, through the extremity of the frost, +are constrained to do the same; by which occasion, the earth within +is kept the warmer, and springs have their recourse, which is the +only nutriment of gold and minerals within the same. + +There is much to be said of the commodities of these countries, +which are couched within the bowels of the earth, which I let pass +till more perfect trial be made thereof. + +Thus conjecturing, till time, with the earnest industry of our +general and others (who, by all diligence, remain pressed to explore +the truth of that which is unexplored, as he hath to his everlasting +praise found out that which is like to yield an innumerable benefit +to his prince and country), offer further trial, I conclude. + +The 23rd August, after we had satisfied our minds with freight +sufficient for our vessels, though not our covetous desires, with +such knowledge of the country, people, and other commodities as are +before rehearsed, the 24th thereof we departed there hence: the +17th of September we fell with the Land's End of England, and so to +Milford Haven, from whence our general rowed to the court for order +to what port or haven to conduct the ship. + +We lost our two barques in the way homeward, the one the 29th of +August, the other the 31st of the same month, by occasion of great +tempest and fog; howbeit, God restored the one to Bristol, and the +other making his course by Scotland to Yarmouth. In this voyage we +lost two men, one in the way by God's visitation, and the other +homeward, cast overboard with a surge of the sea. + +I could declare unto the readers the latitude and longitude of such +places and regions as we have been at, but not altogether so +perfectly as our masters and others, with many circumstances of +tempests and other accidents incident to seafaring men, which seem +not altogether strange, but I let them pass to their reports as men +most apt to set forth and declare the same. I have also left the +names of the countries on both the shores untouched for lack of +understanding the people's language, as also for sundry respects not +needful as yet to be declared. + +Countries new explored, where commodity is to be looked for, do +better accord with a new name given by the explorers than an +uncertain name by a doubtful author. + +Our general named sundry islands, mountains, capes, and harbours +after the names of divers noblemen, and other gentlemen his friends, +as well on the one shore as also on the other. + + + +THE THIRD AND LAST VOYAGE INTO META INCOGNITA, +Made by Master Martin Frobisher, in the year 1578, written by Thomas +Ellis. + + + +These are to let you know, that upon the 25th May, the Thomas Allen, +being vice-admiral, whose captain was Master Yorke; Master Gibbes, +master; Master Christopher Hall, pilot, accompanied with the rear- +admiral, named the Hopewell, whose captain was Master Henry Carew, +the Master Andrew Dier, and certain other ships, came to Gravesend, +where we anchored, and abode the coming of certain other of our +fleet, which were not yet come. + +The 27th of the same month, our fleet being now come together, and +all things pressed in a readiness, the wind favouring and tide +serving, we being of sails in number eight, weighed anchors, and +hoisted our sails towards Harwich, to meet with our admiral and the +residue, which then and there abode our arrival, where we safely +arrived the 28th thereof; finding there our admiral, whom we, with +the discharge of certain pieces, saluted (according to order and +duty), and were welcomed with the like courtesy, which being +finished we landed, where our general continued mustering his +soldiers and miners, and setting things in order appertaining to the +voyage, until the last of the said month of May, which day we +hoisted our sails, and committing ourselves to the conducting of +Almighty God, we set forward toward the West Country, in such lucky +wise and good success, that by the 5th June we passed the Dursies, +being the utmost part of Ireland, to the westward. + +And here it were not much amiss, nor far from our purpose, if I +should a little discourse and speak of our adventures and chances by +the way, as our landing at Plymouth, as also the meeting of certain +poor men, which were robbed and spoiled of all that they had by +pirates and rovers; amongst whom was a man of Bristol, on whom our +general used his liberality, and sent him away with letters into +England. + +But because such things are impertinent to the matter, I will return +(without any more mentioning of the same) to that from which I have +digressed and swerved, I mean our ships, now sailing on the surging +seas, sometimes passing at pleasure with a wished eastern wind, +sometimes hindered of our course again by the western blasts, until +the 20th day of the foresaid month of June, on which day in the +morning we fell in with Friesland, which is a very high and cragged +land, and was almost clean covered with snow, so that we might see +nought but craggy rocks and the tops of high and huge hills, +sometimes (and for the most part) all covered with foggy mists. +There might we also perceive the great isles of ice lying on the +seas like mountains, some small, some big, of sundry kinds of +shapes, and such a number of them, that we could not come near the +shore for them. + +Thus sailing along the coast, at the last we saw a place somewhat +void of ice, where our general (accompanied with certain other) went +ashore, where they saw certain tents made of beasts' skins, and +boats much like unto theirs of Meta Incognita. The tents were +furnished with flesh, fish, skins, and other trifles: amongst the +which was found a box of nails, whereby we did conjecture that they +had either artificers amongst them, or else a traffic with some +other nation. The men ran away, so that we could have no conference +or communication with them. Our general (because he would have them +no more to flee, but rather encouraged to stay through his courteous +dealing) gave commandment that his men should take nothing away with +them, saving only a couple of white dogs, for which he left pins, +points, knives, and other trifling things, and departed, without +taking or hurting anything, and so came aboard, and hoisted sails +and passed forwards. + +But being scarce out of the sight thereof, there fell such a fog and +hideous mist that we could not see one another; whereupon we struck +our drums, and sounded our trumpets to the end we might keep +together; and so continued all that day and night, till the next +day, that the mist brake up; so that we might easily perceive all +the ships thus sailing together all that day, until the next day, +being the 22nd of the same, on which day we saw an infinite number +of ice, from the which we cast about to shun the danger thereof. + +But one of our small barques named the Michael, whose captain was +Master Kinderslie, the master, Bartholomew Bull, lost our company, +insomuch that we could not obtain the sight of her many days after, +of whom I mean to speak further anon, when occasion shall be +ministered, and opportunity served. Thus we continued on our course +until the 2nd of July, on which day we fell with the Queen's +Foreland, where we saw so much ice, that we thought it impossible to +get into the straits, yet at the last we gave the adventure, and +entered the ice. + +Being in amongst it, we saw the Michael, of whom I spake before, +accompanied with the, Judith, whose captain was Master Fenton, the +master, Charles Jackman, bearing into the aforesaid ice, far distant +from us, who in a storm that fell that present night (whereof I will +at large, God willing, discourse hereafter), were severed from us, +and being in, wandered up and down the straits amongst the ice, many +days in great peril, till at the last (by the providence of God) +they came safely to harbour in their wished port in the Countess of +Warwick's Sound the 20th July aforesaid, ten days before any of the +other ships; who going on shore, found where the people of the +country had been, and had hid their provision in great heaps of +stone, being both of flesh and fish, which they had killed, whereof +we also found great store in other places after our arrival. They +found also divers engines, as bows, slings, and darts. They found +likewise certain pieces of the pinnace which our general left there +the year before; which pinnace he had sunk, minding to have it again +the next year. + +Now, seeing I have entreated so much of the Judith and the Michael, +I will return to the rest of the other ships, and will speak a +little of the storm which fell, with the mishaps that we had, the +night that we put into the ice, whereof I made mention before. + +At the first entry into the ice, in the mouth of the straits, our +passage was very narrow and difficult; but being once gotten in, we +had a fair, open place without any ice for the most part; being a +league in compass, the ice being round about us, and enclosing us, +as it were, within the pales of a park. In which place (because it +was almost night) we minded to take in our sails and lie a hull all +that night. But the storm so increased, and the waves began to +mount aloft, which brought the ice so near us, and coming in so fast +upon us, that we were fain to bear in and out, where ye might espy +an open place. Thus the ice coming on us so fast we were in great +danger, looking every hour for death, and thus passed we on in that +great danger, seeing both ourselves and the rest of our ships so +troubled and tossed amongst the ice, that it would make the +strongest-heart to relent. + +At the last, the barque Dionyse, being but a weak ship, and bruised +afore amongst the ice, being so leak that she no longer could carry +above water, sank without saving any of the goods which were in her: +the sight so abashed the whole fleet, that we thought verily we +should have tasted of the same sauce. But nevertheless, we seeing +them in such danger, manned our boats, and saved all the men, in +such wise that not one perished. (God be thanked.) + +The storm still increased and the ice enclosed us, that we were fain +to take down top and topmasts; for the ice had so environed us, that +we could see neither land nor sea as far as we could ken; so that we +were fain to cut our cables to hang overboard for fenders, somewhat +to ease the ship's sides from the great and dreary strokes of the +ice; some with capstan bars, some fending off with oars, some with +planks of two inches thick, which were broken immediately with the +force of the ice, some going out upon the ice, to bear it off with +their shoulders from the ships. But the rigorousness of the tempest +was such, and the force of the ice so great, that not only they +burst and spoiled the foresaid provision, but likewise so raised the +sides of the ships that it was pitiful to behold, and caused the +hearts of many to faint. + +Thus continued we all that dismal and lamentable night, plunged in +this perplexity, looking for instant death; but our God (who never +leaveth them destitute which faithfully call upon Him), although He +often punisheth for amendment's sake, in the morning caused the +winds to cease, and the fog, which all that night lay on the face of +the water, to clear, so that we might perceive about a mile from us +a certain place clear from any ice, to the which with an easy breath +of wind, which our God sent us, we bent ourselves, and furthermore +He provided better for us than we deserved, or hoped for; for when +we were in the foresaid clear place, He sent us a fresh gale at +west, or at west-south-west, which set us clear without all the ice. +And further He added more, for He sent us so pleasant a day, as the +like we had not of a long time before, as after punishment +consolation. + +Thus we joyful whites, being at liberty, took in all our sails, and +lay a hull, praising God for our deliverance, and stayed to gather +together our fleet; which once being done, we seeing that none of +them had any great hurt, neither any of them wanted, saving only +they of whom I spake before, and the ship which was lost, then at +the last we hoisted our sails, and lay bulting off and on, till such +time as it would please God to take away the ice, that we might get +into the straits. + +As we thus lay off and on, we came by a marvellous huge mountain of +ice, which surpassed all the rest that ever we saw, for we judged it +to be near four score fathoms above water, and we thought it to be +aground for anything that we could perceive, being there nine score +fathoms deep, and of compass about half a mile. + +Also the fifth of July there fell a hideous fog and mist, that +continued till the nineteenth of the same, so that one ship could +not see another. Therefore we were fain to bear a small sail, and +to observe the time, but there ran such a current of tide, that it +set us to the north-west of the Queen's Forehand, the back side of +all the straits, where (through the contagious fog having no sight +either of sun or star) we scarce knew where we were. In this fog +the 10th July we lost the company of the Vice-Admiral, the Anne +Francis, the Busse of Bridgewater, and the Francis of Foy. + +The sixteenth day, one of our small barques, named the Gabriel, was +sent by our general to bear in with the land, to descry it, where, +being on land, they met with the people of the country, which seemed +very humane and civilised, and offered to traffic with our men, +proffering them fowls and skins for knives and other trifles, whose +courtesy caused us to think that they had small conversation with +the other of the straits. Then we bare back again, to go with the +Queen's Forehand, and the 18th day we came by two islands, whereon +we went on shore, and found where the people had been, but we saw +none of them. This day we were again in the ice, and like to be in +as great peril as we were at the first. For through the darkness +and obscurity of the foggy mist we were almost run on rocks and +islands before we saw them: but God (even miraculously) provided +for us, opening the fogs that we might see clearly, both where and +in what danger we presently were, and also the way to escape; or +else, without fail we had ruinously run upon the rocks. + +When we knew perfectly our instant case, we cast about to get again +on sea board, which (God be thanked) by might we obtained, and +praised God. The clear continued scarce an hour, but the fog fell +again as thick as ever it was. + +Then the Rear-Admiral and the Bear got themselves clear without +danger of ice and rocks, struck their sails and lay a hull, staying +to have the rest of the fleet come forth, which as yet had not found +the right way to clear themselves from the danger of rocks and ice, +until the next morning, at what time the Rear-Admiral discharged +certain warning pieces, to give notice that she had escaped, and +that the rest (by following of her) might set themselves free, which +they did that day. Then having gathered ourselves together, we +proceeded on our purposed voyage, bearing off, and keeping ourselves +distant from the coast, until the 19th day of July, at which time +the fogs brake up and dispersed, so that we might plainly and +clearly behold the pleasant air which had so long been taken from us +by the obscurity of the foggy mists; and, after that time, we were +not much encumbered therewith until we had left the confines of the +country. + +Then we, espying a fair sound, supposed it to go into the straits, +between the Queen's Foreland and Jackman's Sound, which proved as we +imagined. For our general sent forth again the Gabriel to discover +it, who passed through with much difficulty, for there ran such an +extreme current of a tide, with so horrible a gulf, that with a +fresh gale of wind they were scarce able to stem it, yet at the +length with great travel they passed it, and came to the straits, +where they met with the Thomas Allen, the Thomas of Ipswich, and the +Busse of Bridgewater, who all together adventured to bear into the +ice again, to see if they could obtain their wished port. But they +were so encumbered, that with much difficulty they were able to get +out again, yet at the last they escaping the Thomas Allen and the +Gabriel, bear in with the western shore, where they found harbour, +and they moored their ships until the 4th of August, at which time +they came to us, in the Countess of Warwick's Sound. The Thomas of +Ipswich caught a great leak, which caused her to cast again to sea +board, and so was mended. + +We sailed along still by the coast until we came to the Queen's +Forehand, at the point whereof we met with part of the gulf +aforesaid, which place or gulf (as some of our masters do credibly +report) doth flow nine hours and ebbs but three. At that point we +discovered certain lands southward, which neither time nor +opportunity would serve to search. Then being come to the mouth of +the straits, we met with the Anne Francis, who had lain bulting up +and down ever since her departure alone, never finding any of her +company. We met then also the Francis of Foy, with whom again we +intended to venture and get in, but the ice was yet so thick, that +we were compelled again to retire and get us on sea board. + +There fell also the same day, being the 26th July, such a horrible +snow, that it lay a foot thick upon the hatches, which froze as fast +as it fell. + +We had also at other times divers cruel storms, both snow and hail, +which manifestly declared the distemperature of the country: yet +for all that we were so many times repulsed and put back from our +purpose, knowing that lingering delay was not profitable for us, but +hurtful to our voyage, we mutually consented to our valiant general +once again to give the onset. + +The 28th day, therefore, of the same July we assayed, and with +little trouble (God be praised) we passed the dangers by daylight. +Then night falling on the face of the earth, we hulled in the clear, +till the cheerful light of the day had chased away the noisome +darkness of the night, at which the we set forward toward our wished +port; by the 30th day we obtained our expected desire, where we +found the Judith and the Michael, which brought no small joy unto +the general, and great consolation to the heavy hearts of those +wearied wights. + +The 30th day of July we brought our ships into the Countess of +Warwick's Sound, and moored them, namely these ships, the Admiral, +the Rear-Admiral, the Francis of Foy, the Bear, Armenel, the +Salomon, and the Busse of Bridgewater, which being done, our general +commanded us all to come ashore upon the Countess Island, where he +set his miners to work upon the mine, giving charge with expedition +to despatch with their lading. + +Our general himself, accompanied with his gentleman, divers times +made roads into sundry parts of the country, as well to find new +mines as also to find out and see the people of the country. He +found out one mine, upon an island by Bear's Sound, and named it the +Countess of Sussex Island. One other was found in Winter's Fornace, +with divers others, to which the ships were sent sunderly to be +laden. In the same roads he met with divers of the people of the +country at sundry times, as once at a place called David's Sound, +who shot at our men, and very desperately gave them the onset, being +not above three or four in number, there being of our countrymen +above a dozen; but seeing themselves not able to prevail, they took +themselves to flight, whom our men pursued, but being not used to +such craggy cliffs, they soon lost the sight of them, and so in vain +returned. + +We also saw them at Bear's Sound, both by sea and land, in great +companies; but they would at all times keep the water between them +and us. And if any of our ships chanced to be in the sound (as they +came divers times), because the harbour was not very good, the ship +laded, and departed again; then so long as any ships were in sight, +the people would not be seen. But when as they perceived the ships +to be gone, they would not only show themselves standing upon high +cliffs, and call us to come over unto them, but also would come in +their boats very near to us, as it were to brag at us; whereof our +general, having advertisement, sent for the captain and gentlemen of +the ships to accompany and attend upon him, with the captain also of +the Anne Francis, who was but the night before come unto us. For +they and the fleet-boat, having lost us the 26th day, in the great +snow, put into a harbour in the Queen's Forehand, where they found +good ore, wherewith they laded themselves, and came to seek the +general; so that now we had all our ships, saving one barque, which +was lost, and the Thomas of Ipswich who (compelled by what fury I +know not) forsook our company, and returned home without lading. + +Our general, accompanied with his gentlemen (of whom I spake), came +altogether to the Countess of Sussex Island, near to Bear's Sound, +where he manned out certain pinnaces and went over to the people, +who, perceiving his arrival, fled away with all speed, and in haste +left certain darts and other engines behind them which we found, but +the people we could not find. + +The next morning our general, perceiving certain of them in boat +upon the sea, gave chase to them in a pinnace under sail, with a +fresh gale of wind, but could by no means come near unto them, for +the longer he sailed the farther off he was from them, which well +showed their cunning and activity. Thus time wearing away, and the +day of our departure approaching, our general commanded to lade with +all expedition, that we might be again on sea board with our ship; +for whilst we were in the country we were in continual danger of +freezing in, for often snow and hail, often the water was so much +frozen and congealed in the night, that in the morning we could +scarce row our boats or pinnaces, especially in Dier's Sound, which +is a calm and still water, which caused our general to make the more +haste, so that by the 30th day of August we were all laden, and made +all things ready to depart. But before I proceed any further +herein, to show what fortune befell at our departure, I will turn my +pen a little to Master Captain Fenton, and those gentlemen which +should have inhabited all the year in those countries, whose valiant +minds were much to be commended, that neither fear of force, nor the +cruel nipping storms of the raging winter, neither the intemperature +of so unhealthful a country, neither the savageness of the people, +neither the sight and show of such and so many strange meteors, +neither the desire to return to their native soil, neither regard of +friends, neither care of possessions and inheritances, finally, not +the love of life (a thing of all other most sweet), neither the +terror of dreadful death itself, might seem to be of sufficient +force to withdraw their prowess, or to restrain from that purpose, +thereby to have profited their country; but that with most willing +hearts, venturous minds, stout stomachs, and singular manhood, they +were content there to have tarried for the time, among a barbarous +and uncivilised people, infidels and miscreants, to have made their +dwelling, not terrified with the manifold and imminent dangers which +they were like to run into; and seeing before their eyes so many +casualties, whereto their life was subject, the least whereof would +have made a milksop Thersites astonished and utterly discomfited; +being, I say, thus minded and purposed, they deserved special +commendation, for, doubtless, they had done as they intended, if +luck had not withstood their willingness, and if that fortune had +not so frowned upon their intents. + +For the bark Dionyse, which was lost, had in her much of their +house, which was prepared and should have been builded for them, +with many other implements. Also the Thomas of Ipswich, which had +most of their provision in her, came not into the straits at all, +neither did we see her since the day we were separated in the great +snow (of which I spake before). For these causes, having not their +house nor yet provision, they were disappointed of their pretence to +tarry, and therefore laded their ships and so came away with us. + +But before we took shipping, we builded a little house in the +Countess of Warwick's Island, and garnished it with many kinds of +trifles, as pins, points, laces, glasses, combs, babes on horseback +and on foot, with innumerable other such fancies and toys, thereby +to allure and entice the people to some familiarity against other +years. + +Thus having finished all things we departed the country (as I said +before); but because the Busse had not lading enough in her, she put +into Bear's Sound to take a little more. In the meanwhile, the +Admiral, and the rest without the sea, stayed for her. And that +night fell such an outrageous tempest, beating on our ships with +such vehement rigour that anchor and cable availed nought, for we +were driven on rocks and islands of ice, insomuch that had not the +great goodness of God been miraculously showed to us, we had been +cast away every man. This danger was more doubtful and terrible +than any that preceded or went before, for there was not any one +ship (I think) that escaped without damage. Some lost anchor, and +also gables, some boats, some pinnaces, some anchor, gables, boats, +and pinnaces. + +This boisterous storm so severed us one from another, that one ship +knew not what was become of another. The Admiral knew not where to +find the Vice-Admiral or Rear-Admiral, or any other ship of our +company. Our general, being on land in Bear's Sound, could not come +to his ship, but was compelled to go aboard the Gabriel, where he +continued all the way homewards, for the boisterous blasts continued +so extremely, and so long a time, that it sent us homeward (which +was God's favour towards us), will we, nill we, in such haste, as +not any one of us were able to keep in company of other, but were +separated. And if by chance any one ship did overtake other by +swiftness of sail, or met (as they often did), yet was the rigour of +the wind so hideous, that they could not continue company together +the space of one whole night. + +Thus our journey outward was not so pleasant, but our coming +thither, entering the coasts and country by narrow straits, perilous +ice, and swift tides, our times of abode there in snow and storms, +and our departure from thence, the 3rd of August, with dangerous +blustering winds and tempest's, which that night arose, was as +uncomfortable, separating us so, as we sailed, that not any of us +met together until the 28th of September, which day we fell on the +English coasts, between Scilly and the Land's End, and passed the +Channel, until our arrival in the river Thames. + + + +THE REPORT OF THOMAS WIARS, +Passenger in the "Emmanuel," otherwise called the "Busse of +Bridgewater," wherein James Leeche was Master, one of the ships in +the last voyage of Master Martin Frobisher, 1578, concerning the +discovery of the great island in their way homeward, the 12th of +September. + + + +The Busse of Bridgewater was left in Bear's Sound, at Meta +Incognita, the 2nd day of September, behind the fleet, in some +distress, through much wind riding near the lee shore, and forced +there to ride it out upon the hazard of her cables and anchors, +which were all aground but two. The 3rd of September being fair +weather, and the wind north-north-west, she set sail, and departed +thence and fell with Friesland, on he 8th day of September, at six +of the clock at night, and then they set off from the south-west +point of Friesland, the wind being at east and east-south-east; but +that night the wind veered southerly, and shifted oftentimes that +night. But on the 10th day, in the morning, the wind at west-north- +west, fair weather, they steered south-east and by south, and +continued that course until the 12th day of September, when about 11 +o'clock before noon they descried a land, which was from them about +five leagues, and the southernmost part of it was south-east-by-east +from them, and the northernmost next north-north-east, or north- +east. The master accounted that Friesland, the south-east point of +it, was from him at that instant, when he first descried this new +island, north-west-by-north fifty leagues. They account this island +to be twenty-five leagues long, and the longest way of it south-east +and north-west. The southern part of it is in the latitude of +fifty-seven degrees and one second part, or thereabout. They +continued in sight of it from the twelfth day at eleven of the clock +till the thirteenth day three of the clock in the afternoon, when +they left it; and the last part they saw of it bare from them north- +west-by-north. There appeared two harbours upon that coast, the +greatest of them seven leagues to the northwards of the southernmost +point, the other but four leagues. There was very much ice near the +same land, and also twenty or thirty leagues from it, for they were +not clear of ice till the 15th day of September, afternoon. They +plied their voyage homeward, and fell with the west part of Ireland, +about Galway, and had first sight of it on the 25th day of +September. + + + +THE FIRST VOYAGE OF MASTER JOHN DAVIS, +Undertaken in June, 1585, for the discovery of the North-West +Passage, written by John James Marchant, servant to the Worshipful +Master William Sanderson. + + + +Certain honourable personages and worthy gentlemen of the Court and +country, with divers worshipful merchants of London and of the West +Countrie, moved with desire to advance God's glory, and to seek the +good of their native country, consulting together of the likelihood +of the discovery of the North-West Passage, which heretofore had +been attempted, but unhappily given over by accidents unlooked for, +which turned the enterprisers from their principal purpose, +resolved, after good deliberation, to put down their adventures, to +provide for necessary shipping, and a fit man to be chief conductor +of this so hard an enterprise. The setting forth of this action was +committed by the adventurers especially to the care of Master +William Sanderson, merchant of London, who was so forward therein, +that besides his travel, which was not small, he became the greatest +adventurer with his purse, and commended unto the rest of the +company one Master John Davis, a man very well grounded in the +principles of the art of navigation, for captain and chief pilot of +this exploit. + +Thus, therefore, all things being put in a readiness, we departed +from Dartmouth the 7th of June towards the discovery of the +aforesaid North-West Passage with two barques, the one being of +fifty tons, named the Sunshine, of London, and the other being +thirty-five tons, named the Moonshine, of Dartmouth. In the +Sunshine we had twenty-three persons, whose names are these +following: Master John Davis, captain; William Eston, master; +Richard Pope, master's mate; John Jane, merchant; Henry Davie, +gunner; William Crosse, boatswain; John Bagge, Walter Arthur, Luke +Adams, Robert Coxworthie, John Ellis, John Kelly, Edward Helman, +William Dicke, Andrew Maddocke, Thomas Hill, Robert Wats, carpenter, +William Russell, Christopher Gorney, boy; James Cole, Francis +Ridley, John Russel, Robert Cornish, musicians. + +The Moonshine had nineteen persons, William Bruton, captain; John +Ellis, master; the rest mariners. + +The 7th of June the captain and the master drew out a proportion for +the continuance of our victuals. + +The 8th day, the wind being at south-west and west-south-west, we +put in for Falmouth, where we remained until the 13th. + +The 13th the wind blew at north, and being fair weather we departed. + +The 14th, with contrary wind, we were forced to put into Scilly. + +The 15th we departed thence, having the wind north and by east, +moderate and fair weather. + +The 16th we were driven back again, and were constrained to arrive +at New Grimsby, at Scilly; here the wind remained contrary twelve +days, and in that space the captain, the master, and I went about +all the islands, and the captain did plan out and describe the +situation of all the islands, rocks, and harbours to the exact use +of navigation, with lines and scale thereunto convenient. + +The 28th, in God's name, we departed, the wind being easterly, but +calm. + +The 29th very foggy. + +The 30th foggy. + +The 1st of July we saw great store of porpoises, the master called +for a harping-iron, and shot twice or thrice; sometimes he missed, +and at last shot one and struck him in the side, and wound him into +the ship; when we had him aboard, the master said it was a darley +head. + +The 2nd we had some of the fish boiled, and it did eat as sweet as +any mutton. + +The 3rd we had more in sight, and the master went to shoot at them, +but they were so great, that they burst our irons, and we lost both +fish, irons, pastime, and all; yet, nevertheless, the master shot at +them with a pike, and had well-nigh gotten one, but he was so +strong, that he burst off the bars of the pike and went away. Then +he took the boat-hook, and hit one with that; but all would not +prevail, so at length we let them alone. + +The 6th we saw a very great whale, and every day after we saw whales +continually. + +The 16th, 17th, and 18th we saw great store of whales. + +The 19th of July we fell into a great whirling and brustling of a +tide, setting to the northward; and sailing about half a league we +came into a very calm sea, which bent to the south-south-west. Here +we heard a mighty great roaring of the sea, as if it had been the +breach of some shore, the air being so foggy and full of thick mist, +that we could not see the one ship from the other, being a very +small distance asunder; so the captain and the master, being in +distrust how the tide might set them, caused the Moonshine to hoist +out her boat and to sound, but they could not find ground in three +hundred fathoms and better. Then the captain, master, and I went +towards the breach to see what it should be, giving charge to our +gunners that at every blast they should shoot off a musket shot, to +the intent we might keep ourselves from losing them; then coming +near to the breach, we met many islands of ice floating, which had +quickly compassed us about. Then we went upon some of them, and did +perceive that all the roaring which we heard was caused only by the +rolling of this ice together. Our company seeing us not to return +according to our appointment, left off shooting muskets and began to +shoot falconets, for they feared some mishap had befallen us; but +before night we came aboard again, with our boat laden with ice, +which made very good fresh water. Then we bent our course toward +the north, hoping by that means to double the land. + +The 20th, as we sailed along the coast, the fog brake up, and we +discovered the land, which was the most deformed, rocky, and +mountainous land that ever we saw, the first sight whereof did show +as if it had been in form of a sugar loaf, standing to our sight +above the clouds, for that it did show over the fog like a white +liste in the sky, the tops altogether covered with snow, and the +shore beset with ice a league off into the sea, making such irksome +noise as that it seemed to be the true pattern of desolation, and +after the same our captain named it the land of desolation. + +The 21st the wind came northerly and overblew, so that we were +constrained to bend our course south again, for we perceived that we +were run into a very deep bay, where we were almost compassed with +ice, for we saw very much towards the north-north-east, west, and +south-west; and this day and this night we cleared ourselves of the +ice, running south-south-west along the shore. + +Upon Thursday, being the 22nd of this month, about three of the +clock in the morning, we hoisted out our boat, and the captain, with +six sailors, went towards the shore, thinking to find a landing- +place, for the night before we did perceive the coast to be void of +ice to our judgment; and the same night we were all persuaded that +we had seen a canoe rowing along the shore, but afterwards we fell +in some doubt of it, but we had no great reason so to do. The +captain, rowing towards the shore, willed the master to bear in with +the land after him; and before he came near the shore, by the space +of a league, or about two miles, he found so much ice that he could +not get to land by any means. Here our mariners put to their lines +to see if they could get any fish, because there were so many seals +upon the coast, and the birds did beat upon the water, but all was +in vain: the water about this coast was very black and thick, like +to a filthy standing pool; we sounded, and had ground in 120 +fathoms. While the captain was rowing to the shore our men saw +woods upon the rocks, like to the rocks of Newfoundland, but I could +not discern them; yet it might be so very well, for we had wood +floating upon the coast every day, and the Moonshine took up a tree +at sea not far from the coast, being sixty foot of length and +fourteen handfuls about, having the root upon it. After, the +captain came aboard, the weather being very calm and fair, we bent +our course toward the south with intent to double the land. + +The 23rd we coasted the land which did lie east-north-east and west- +south-west. + +The 24th, the wind being very fair at east, we coasted the land, +which did lie east and west, not being able to come near the shore +by reason of the great quantity of ice. At this place, because the +weather was somewhat cold by reason of the ice, and the better to +encourage our men, their allowance was increased. The captain and +the master took order that every mess, being five persons, should +have half a pound of bread and a can of beer every morning to +breakfast. The weather was not very cold, but the air was moderate, +like to our April weather in England. When the wind came from the +land or the ice it was somewhat cold, but when it came off the sea +it was very hot. + +The 25th of this month we departed from sight of this land at six of +the clock in the morning, directing our course to the north- +westward, hoping in God's mercy to find our desired passage, and so +continued above four days. + +The 29th of July we discovered land in 64 degrees 15 minutes of +latitude, bearing north-east from us. The wind being contrary to go +to the north-westward, we bear in with this land to take some view +of it, being utterly void of the pester of ice, and very temperate. +Coming near the coast we found many fair sounds and good roads for +shipping, and many great inlets into the land, whereby we judged +this land to be a great number of islands standing together. Here, +having moored our barque in good order, we went on shore upon a +small island to seek for water and wood. Upon this island we did +perceive that there had been people, for we found a small shoe and +pieces of leather sewed with sinews and a piece of fur, and wool +like to beaver. Then we went upon another island on the other side +of our ships, and the captain, the master, and I, being got up to +the top of a high rock, the people of the country having espied us +made a lamentable noise, as we thought, with great outcries and +screechings; we, hearing them, thought it had been the howling of +wolves. At last I halloed again, and they likewise cried; then we, +perceiving where they stood--some on the shore, and one rowing in a +canoe about a small island fast by them--we made a great noise, +partly to allure them to us and partly to warn our company of them. +Whereupon Master Bruton and the master of his ship, with others of +their company, made great haste towards us, and brought our +musicians with them from our ship, purposing either by force to +rescue us, if needs should so require, or with courtesy to allure +the people. When they came unto us we caused our musicians to play, +ourselves dancing and making many signs of friendship. At length +there came ten canoes from the other islands, and two of them came +so near the shore where we were that they talked with us, the other +being in their boats a pretty way off. Their pronunciation was very +hollow through the throat, and their speech such as we could not +understand, only we allured them by friendly embracings and signs of +courtesy. At length one of them, pointing up to the sun with his +hand, would presently strike his breast so hard that we might hear +the blow. This he did many times before he would any way trust us. +Then John Ellis, the master of the Moonshine, was appointed to use +his best policy to gain their friendship, who shook his breast and +pointed to the sun after their order, which when he had divers times +done they began to trust him, and one of them came on shore, to whom +we threw our caps, stockings, and gloves, and such other things as +then we had about us, playing with our music, and making signs of +joy, and dancing. So the night coming we bade them farewell, and +went aboard our barques. + +The next morning, being the 30th of July, there came thirty-seven +canoes rowing by our ships calling to us to come on shore; we not +making any great haste unto them, one of them went up to the top of +the rock, and leaped and danced as they had done the day before, +showing us a seal skin, and another thing made like a timbrel, which +he did beat upon with a stick, making a noise like a small drum. +Whereupon we manned our boats and came to them, they all staying in +their canoes. We came to the water's side, where they were, and +after we had sworn by the sun after their fashion they did trust us. +So I shook hands with one of them, and he kissed my hand, and we +were very familiar with them. We were in so great credit with them +upon this single acquaintance that we could have anything they had. +We bought five canoes of them; we bought their clothes from their +backs, which were all made of seal skins and birds' skins; their +buskins, their hose, their gloves, all being commonly sewed and well +dressed, so that we were fully persuaded that they have divers +artificers among them. We had a pair of buskins of them full of +fine wool like beaver. Their apparel for heat was made of birds' +skins with their feathers on them. We saw among them leather +dressed like glover's leather, and thick thongs like white leather +of good length. We had of their darts and oars, and found in them +that they would by no means displease us, but would give us +whatsoever we asked of them, and would be satisfied with whatsoever +we gave them. They took great care one of another, for when we had +bought their boats then two other would come, and carry him away +between them that had sold us his. They are a very tractable +people, void of craft or double dealing, and easy to be brought to +any civility or good order, but we judged them to be idolaters, and +to worship the sun. + +During the time of our abode among these islands we found reasonable +quantity of wood, both fir, spruce, and juniper; which, whether it +came floating any great distance to these places where we found it, +or whether it grew in some great islands near the same place by us +not yet discovered, we know not. But we judge that it groweth there +farther into the land than we were, because the people had great +store of darts and oars which they made none account of, but gave +them to us for small trifles as points and pieces of paper. We saw +about this coast marvellous great abundance of seals sculling +together like sculls of small fish. We found no fresh water among +these islands, but only snow-water, whereof we found great pools. +The cliffs were all of such ore as Master Frobisher brought from +Meta Incognita. We had divers shewes of study or Moscovie glass, +shining not altogether unlike to crystal. We found an herb growing +upon the rocks whose fruit was sweet, full of red juice, and the +ripe ones were like currants. We found also birch and willow +growing like shrubs low to the ground. These people have great +store of furs as we judged. They made shows unto us the 30th of +this present, which was the second time of our being with them, +after they perceived we would have skins and furs, that they would +go into the country and come again the next day with such things as +they had; but this night the wind coming fair the captain and the +master would by no means detract the purpose our discovery. And so +the last of this month, about four of the clock in the morning, in +God's name we set sail, and were all that day becalmed upon the +coast. + +The 1st of August we had a fair wind, and so proceeded towards the +north-west for our discovery. + +The 6th of August we discovered land in 66 degrees 40 minutes of +latitude altogether void from the pester of ice; we anchored in a +very fair road, under a very brave mount, the cliffs whereof were as +orient as gold. This mount was named Mount Raleigh; the road where +our ships lay at anchor was called Totnes Road; the sound which did +compass the mount was named Exeter Sound; the foreland towards the +north was called Dier's Cape; the foreland towards the south was +named Cape Walsingham. So soon as we were come to an anchor in +Totnes Road under Mount Raleigh we espied four white bears at the +foot of the mount. We, supposing them to be goats or wolves, manned +our boats and went towards them, but when we came near the shore we +found them to be white bears of a monstrous bigness; we, being +desirous of fresh victual and the sport, began to assault them, and +I being on land, one of them came down the hill right against me. +My piece was charged with hail-shot and a bullet; I discharged my +piece and shot him in the neck; he roared a little, and took the +water straight, making small account of his hurt. Then we followed +him with our boat, and killed him with boars' spears, and two more +that night. We found nothing in their maws, but we judged by their +dung that they fed upon grass, because it appeared in all respects +like the dung of a horse, wherein we might very plainly see the very +straws. + +The 7th we went on shore to another bear, which lay all night upon +the top of an island under Mount Raleigh, and when we came up to him +he lay fast asleep. I levelled at his head, and the stone of my +piece gave no fire; with that he looked up and laid down his head +again; then I shot, being charged with two bullets, and struck him +in the head; he, being but amazed, fell backwards, whereupon we ran +all upon him with boar spears and thrust him in the body, yet for +all that he gripped away our boar spears and went towards the water, +and as he was going down he came back again. Then our master shot +his boar spear and struck him in the head, and made him to take the +water, and swim into a cove fast by, where we killed him and brought +him aboard. The breadth of his fore foot from one side to the other +was fourteen inches over. They were very fat, so as we were +constrained to cast the fat away. We saw a raven upon Mount +Raleigh. We found withies, also, growing low like shrubs, and +flowers like primroses in the said place. The coast is very +mountainous, altogether without wood, grass, or earth, and is only +huge mountains of stone, but the bravest stone that ever we saw. +The air was very moderate in this country. + +The 8th we departed from Mount Raleigh, coasting along the shore +which lieth south-south-west and east-north-east. + +The 9th our men fell in dislike of their allowance because it was so +small as they thought. Whereupon we made a new proportion, every +mess, being five to a mess, should have four pound of bread a day, +twelve wine quarts of beer, six new land fishes, and the flesh days +a gin of pease more; so we restrained them from their butter and +cheese. + +The 11th we came to the most southerly cape of this land, which we +named the Cape of God's Mercy, as being the place of our first +entrance for the discovery. The weather being very foggy we coasted +this north land; at length when it brake up we perceived that we +were shot into a very fair entrance or passage, being in some places +twenty leagues broad and in some thirty, altogether void of any +pester of ice, the weather very tolerable, and the water of the very +colour, nature, and quality of the main ocean, which gave us the +greater hope of our passage. Having sailed north-west sixty leagues +in this entrance, we discovered certain islands standing in the +midst thereof, having open passages on both sides. Whereupon our +ships divided themselves, the one sailing on the north side, the +other on the south side of the said isles, where we stayed five +days, having the wind at south-east, very foggy, and foul weather. + +The 14th we went on shore and found signs of people, for we found +stones laid up together like a wall, and saw the skull of a man or a +woman. + +The 15th we heard dogs howl on the shore, which we thought had been +wolves, and therefore we went on shore to kill them. When we came +on land the dogs came presently to our boat very gently, yet we +thought they came to prey upon us, and therefore we shot at them and +killed two, and about the neck of one of them we found a leathern +collar, whereupon we thought them to be tame dogs. There were +twenty dogs like mastiffs, with pricked ears and long bushed tails; +we found a bone in the pizels of their dogs. Then we went farther +and found two sleds made like ours in England. The one was made of +fir, spruce, and oaken boards, sawn like inch boards; the other was +made all of whalebone, and there hung on the tops of the sleds three +heads of beasts which they had killed. We saw here larks, ravens, +and partridges. + +The 17th we went on shore, and in a little thing made like an oven +with stones I found many small trifles, as a small canoe made of +wood, a piece of wood made like an image, a bird made of bone, beads +having small holes in one end of them to hang about their necks, and +other small things. The coast was very barbarous, without wood or +grass. The rocks were very fair, like marble, full of veins of +divers colours. We found a seal which was killed not long before, +being flayed and hid under stones. + +Our captain and master searched still for probabilities of the +passage, and first found that this place was all islands with great +sounds passing between them. + +Secondly, the water remained of one colour with the main ocean +without altering. + +Thirdly, we saw to the west of those isles three or four whales in a +scull, which they judged to come from a westerly sea, because to the +eastward we saw not any whale. + +Also, as we were rowing into a very great sound lying south-west +from whence these whales came, upon the sudden there came a violent +countercheck of a tide from the south-west against the flood which +we came with, not knowing from whence it was maintained. + +Fifthly, in sailing 20 leagues within the mouth of this entrance we +had sounding in 90 fathoms, fair, grey, oozy sand, and the farther +we run into the westwards the deeper was the water, so that hard +aboard the shore among these isles we could not have ground in 330 +fathoms. + +Lastly, it did ebb and flow six or seven fathom up and down, the +flood coming from divers parts, so as we could not perceive the +chief maintenance thereof. + +The 18th and 19th our captain and master determined what was best to +do, both for the safe guard of their credits and satisfy of the +adventurers, and resolved if the weather brake up to make further +search. + +The 20th, the wind came directly against us, so they altered their +purpose, and reasoned both for proceeding and returning. + +The 21st, the wind being north-west, we departed from these islands, +and as we coasted the south shore we saw many fair sounds, whereby +we were persuaded that it was no firm land but islands. + +The 23rd of this month the wind came south-east, very stormy and +foul weather. So we were constrained to seek harbour upon the south +coast of this entrance, where we fell into a very fair sound, and +anchored in 25 fathoms of green, oozy sand, where we went on shore, +where we had manifest signs of people, where they had made their +fire, and laid stones like a wall. In this place we saw four very +fair falcons, and Master Bruton took from one of them his prey, +which we judged by the wings and legs to be a snipe, for the head +was eaten off. + +The 24th, in the afternoon, the wind coming somewhat fair, we +departed from this road, purposing by God's grace to return for +England. + +The 26th we departed from sight of the north land of this entrance, +directing our course homewards, until the 10th of the next month. + +The 10th September we fell with the Land of Desolation, thinking to +go on shore, but we could get never a good harbour. That night we +put to sea again thinking to search it the next day; but this night +arose a very great storm, and separated our ships so that we lost +the sight of the Moonshine. + +The 13th about noon (having tried all the night before with a goose +wing) we set sail, and within two hours after we had sight of the +Moonshine again. This day we departed from this land. + +The 27th of this month we fell with sight of England. This night we +had a marvellous storm, and lost the Moonshine. + +The 30th September we came into Dartmouth, where we found the +Moonshine, being come in not two hours before. + + + +THE SECOND VOYAGE ATTEMPTED BY MASTER JOHN DAVIS, +With others, for the discovery of the North-West Passage, in Anno +1586. + + + +The 7th day of May I departed from the port of Dartmouth for the +discovery of the North-West Passage with a ship of a 120 tons, named +the Mermaid; a barque of 60 tons, named the Sunshine; a barque of 35 +tons named the Moonlight; and a pinnace of 10 tons named the North +Star. + +And the 15th June I discovered land, in the latitude of 60 degrees, +and in longitude from the meridian of London westward 47 degrees, +mightily pestered with ice and snow, so that there was no hope of +landing; the ice lay in some places 10 leagues, in some 20, and in +some 50 leagues off the shore, so that we were constrained to bear +into 57 degrees to double the same, and to recover a free sea, which +through God's favourable mercy we at length obtained. + +The nine-and-twentieth day of June, after many tempestuous storms, +we again discovered land in longitude from the meridian of London 58 +degrees 30 minutes, and in latitude 64 being east from us, into +which course, since it pleased God by contrary winds to force us, I +thought it very necessary to bear in with it, and there to set up +our pinnace, provided in the Mermaid to be our scout for this +discovery, and so much the rather, because the year before I had +been in the same place and found it very convenient for such a +purpose, well stored with float wood, and possessed by a people of +tractable conversation; so that the nine-and-twentieth of this month +we arrived within the isles which lay before this land, lying north- +north-west and south-south-east we know not how far. This land is +very high and mountainous, having before it on the west side a +mighty company of isles full of fair sounds and harbours. This land +was very little troubled with snow, and the sea altogether void of +ice. + +The ships being within the sounds we sent our boats to search for +shallow water, where we might anchor, which in this place is very +hard to find; and as the boat went sounding and searching, the +people of the country having espied them, came in their canoes +towards them with many shouts and cries; but after they had espied +in the boat some of our company that were the year before here with +us, they presently rowed to the boat and took hold in the oar, and +hung about the boat with such comfortable joy as would require a +long discourse to be uttered; they came with the boats to our ships, +making signs that they knew all those that the year before had been +with them. After I perceived their joy and small fear of us, myself +with the merchants and others of the company went ashore, bearing +with me twenty knives. I had no sooner landed, but they leapt out +of their canoes and came running to me and the rest, and embraced us +with many signs of hearty welcome. At this present there were +eighteen of them, and to each of them I gave a knife; they offered +skins to me for reward, but I made signs that it was not sold, but +given them of courtesy, and so dismissed them for that time, with +signs that they should return again after certain hours. + +The next day, with all possible speed, the pinnace was landed upon +an isle there to be finished to serve our purpose for the discovery, +which isle was so convenient for that purpose, as that we were very +well able to defend ourselves against many enemies. During the time +that the pinnace was there setting up, the people came continually +unto us, sometimes a hundred canoes at a time, sometimes forty, +fifty, more and less as occasion served. They brought with them +seal skins, stags' skins, white hares, seal fish, salmon peel, small +cod, dry caplin, with other fish and birds such as the country did +yield. + +Myself, still desirous to have a farther search of this place, sent +one of the ship boats to one part of the land, and myself went to +another part to search for the habitation of this people, with +straight commandment that there should be no injury offered to any +of the people, neither any one shot. + +The boats that went from me found the tents of the people made with +seal skins set up upon timber, wherein they found great store of +dried caplin, being a little fish no bigger than a pilchard. They +found bags of train oil, many little images cut in wood, seal skins +in tan tubs with many other such trifles, whereof they diminished +nothing. + +They also found ten miles within the snowy mountains a plain +champion country, with earth and grass, such as our moory and waste +grounds of England are. They went up into a river (which in the +narrowest place is two leagues broad) about ten leagues, finding it +still to continue they knew not how far; but I with my company took +another river, which although at the first it offered a large inlet, +yet it proved but a deep bay, the end whereof in four hours I +attained, and there leaving the boat well manned, went with the rest +of my company three or four miles into the country, but found +nothing, nor saw anything, save only gripes, ravens, and small +birds, as lark and linnet. + +The 3rd of July I manned my boat, and went with fifty canoes +attending upon me up into another sound, where the people by signs +willed me to go, hoping to find their habitation; at length they +made signs that I should go into a warm place to sleep, at which +place I went on shore, and ascended the top of high hill to see into +the country, but perceiving my labour vain, I returned again to my +boat, the people still following me and my company very diligent to +attend us, and to help us up the rocks, and likewise down; at length +I was desirous to have our men leap with them, which was done, but +our men did overleap them; from leaping they went to wrestling; we +found them strong and nimble, and to have skill in wrestling, for +they cast some of our men that were good wrestlers. The 4th of July +we launched our pinnace, and had forty of the people to help us, +which they did very willingly. At this time our men again wrestled +with them, and found them as before, strong and skilful. This 4th +of July, the master of the Mermaid went to certain islands to store +himself with wood, where he found a grave with divers buried in it, +only covered with seal skins, having a cross laid over them. The +people are of good stature, well in body proportioned, with small, +slender hands and feet, with broad visages, and small eyes, wide +mouths, the most part unbearded, great lips, and close toothed. +Their custom is, as often as they go from us, still at their return, +to make a new truce, in this sort: holding his hand up to the sun, +with a loud voice crieth "Ylyaoute," and striketh his breast, with +like signs being promised safety, he giveth credit. These people +are much given to bleed, and therefore stop their noses with deer +hair or the hair of an elan. They are idolaters, and have images +great store, which they wear about them, and in their boats, which +we suppose they worship. They are witches, and have many kinds of +enchantments, which they often used, but to small purpose, thanks be +to God. + +Being among them at shore, the 4th of July, one of them, making a +long oration, began to kindle a fire, in this manner: he took a +piece of a board, wherein was a hole half through; unto that hole he +puts the end of a round stick, like unto a bed staff, wetting the +end thereof in train, and in fashion of a turner, with a piece of +leather, by his violent motion doth very speedily produce fire; +which done, with turfs he made a fire, into which, with many words +and strange gestures, he put divers things which we suppose to be a +sacrifice. Myself and divers of my company standing by, they were +desirous to have me go into the smoke; I willed them likewise to +stand in the smoke, in which they by no means would do. I then took +one of them, and thrust him into the smoke, and willed one of my +company to tread out the fire, and to spurn it into the sea, which +was done to show them that we did contemn their sorcery. These +people are very simple in all their conversation, but marvellous +thievish, especially for iron, which they have in great account. +They began through our lenity to show their vile nature; they began +to cut our cables; they cut away the Moonlight's boat from her +stern; they cut our cloth where it lay to air, though we did +carefully look unto it, they stole our oars, a calliver, a boat's +spear, a sword, with divers other things, whereat the company and +masters being grieved, for our better security desired me to +dissolve this new friendship, and to leave the company of these +thievish miscreants; whereupon there was a calliver shot among them, +and immediately upon the same a falcon, which strange noise did sore +amaze them, so that with speed they departed; notwithstanding, their +simplicity is such, that within ten hours after they came again to +us to entreat peace; which, being promised, we again fell into a +great league. They brought us seal skins and salmon peel, but, +seeing iron, they could in nowise forbear stealing; which, when I +perceived it, did but minister unto me an occasion of laughter to +see their simplicity, and willed that in no case they should be any +more hardly used, but that our own company should be the more +vigilant to keep their things, supposing it to be very hard in so +short time to make them know their evils. They eat all their meat +raw, they live most upon fish, they drink salt water, and eat grass +and ice with delight; they are never out of the water, but live in +the nature of fishes, but only when dead sleep taketh them, and then +under a warm rock, laying his boat upon the land, he lieth down to +sleep. Their weapons are all darts, but some of them have bow and +arrows and slings. They make nets to take their fish of the fin of +a whale; they do all their things very artfully, and it should seem +that these simple, thievish islanders have war with those of the +main, for many of them are sore wounded, which wounds they received +upon the main land, as by signs they gave us to understand. We had +among them copper ore, black copper, and red copper; they pronounce +their language very hollow, and deep in the throat; these words +following we learned from them:- + + +Kesinyoh, eat some. Mysacoah, wash it. +Madlycoyte, music. Lethicksaneg, a seal-skin. +Aginyoh, go, fetch. Canyglow, kiss me. +Yliaoute, I mean no harm. Ugnera, my son. +Ponameg, a boat. Acu, shot. +Conah, leap. Aba, fallen down. +Maatuke, fish. Icune, come hither. +Sambah, below. Awennye, yonder. +Maconmeg, will you have Nugo, no. + this? +Cocah, go to him. Tucktodo, a fog. +Paaotyck, an oar. Lechiksah, a skin. +Asanock, a dart. Maccoah, a dart. +Sawygmeg, a knife. Sugnacoon, a coat. +Uderah, a nose. Gounah, come down. +Aoh, iron. Sasobneg, a bracelet. +Blete, an eye. Ugnake, a tongue. +Unvicke, give it. Ataneg, a meal. +Tuckloak, a stag or elan. Macuah, a beard. +Panygmah, a needle. Pignagogah, a thread. +Aob, the sea. Quoysah, give it to me. + + +The 7th of July, being very desirous to search the habitation of +this country, I went myself with our new pinnace into the body of +the land, thinking it to be a firm continent, and passing up a very +large river a great flaw of wind took me, whereby we were +constrained to seek succour for that night, which being had, I +landed with the most part of my company, and went to the top of a +high mountain, hoping from thence to see into the country; but the +mountains were so many and so mighty as that my purpose prevailed +not, whereupon I again returned to my pinnace, and willing divers of +my company to gather mussels for my supper, whereof in this place +there was great store, myself having espied a very strange sight, +especially to me, that never before saw the like, which was a mighty +whirlwind, taking up the water in very great quantity, furiously +mounting it into the air, which whirlwind was not for a puff or +blast, but continual for the space of three hours, with very little +intermission, which since it was in the course that I should pass, +we were constrained that night to take up our lodging under the +rocks. + +The next morning, the storm being broken up, we went forward in our +attempt, and sailed into a mighty great river, directly into the +body of the land, and in brief found it to be no firm land, but +huge, waste, and desert isles with mighty sounds and inlets passing +between sea and sea. Whereupon we returned towards our ships, and +landing to stop a flood, we found the burial of these miscreants; we +found of their fish in bags, plaices, and caplin dried, of which we +took only one bag and departed. The 9th of this month we came to +our ships, where we found the people desirous in their fashion of +friendship and barter: our mariners complained heavily against the +people, and said that my lenity and friendly using of them gave them +stomach to mischief, for "they have stolen an anchor from us. They +have cut our cable very dangerously, they have cut our boats from +our stern, and now, since your departure, with slings they spare us +not with stones of half a pound weight. And will you still endure +these injuries? It is a shame to bear them." I desired them to be +content, and said I doubted not but all should be well. The 10th of +this month I went to the shore, the people following me in their +canoes; I tolled them on shore, and used them with much courtesy, +and then departed aboard, they following me and my company. I gave +some of them bracelets, and caused seven or eight of them to come +aboard, which they did willingly; and some of them went into the top +of our ship, and thus courteously using them I let them depart. The +sun was no sooner down but they began to practise their devilish +nature, and with slings threw stones very fiercely into the +Moonlight and struck one of her men, the boatswain, that he +overthrew withal: whereat being moved, I changed my courtesy and +grew to hatred; myself in my own boat well manned with shot, and the +barques boat likewise pursued them, and gave them divers shot, but +to small purpose, by reason of their swift rowing; so small content +we returned. + +The 11th of this month there came five of them to make a new truce; +the master of the Admiral came to me to show me of their coming, and +desired to have them taken and kept as prisoners until we had his +anchor again; but when he saw that the chief ring-leader and master +of mischief was one of the five, then was vehement to execute his +purpose, so it was determined to take him; he came crying "Yliaout," +and striking his breast offered a pair of gloves to sell; the master +offered him a knife for them: so two of them came to us; the one +was not touched, but the other was soon captive among us; then we +pointed to him and his fellows for our anchor, which being had we +made signs that he should he set at liberty within one hour that he +came aboard; the wind came fair, whereupon we weighed and set sail, +and so brought the fellow with us. One of his fellows still +following our ship close aboard, talked with him, and made a kind of +lamentation, we still using him well, with "Yliaout," which was the +common course of courtesy. At length this fellow aboard us spoke +four or five words unto the other and clapped his two hands upon his +face, whereupon the other doing the like, departed, as we supposed, +with heavy cheer. We judged the covering of his face with his +hands, and bowing of his body down, signified his death. At length +he became a pleasant companion among us. I gave him a new suit of +frieze after the English fashion, because I saw he could not endure +the cold, of which he was very joyful; he trimmed up his darts, and +all his fishing tools, and would make oakum, and set his hand to a +rope's end upon occasion. He lived with the dry caplin that I took +when I was searching in the pinnace, and did eat dry new land fish. + +All this while, God be thanked, our people were in very good health, +only one young man excepted, who died at sea the 14th of this month, +and the 15th, according to the order of the sea, with praise given +to God by service, was cast overboard. + +The 17th of this month, being in the latitude of 63 degrees 8 +minutes, we fell upon a most mighty and strange quantity of ice, in +one entire mass, so big as that we knew not the limits thereof, and +being withal so very high, in form of a land, with bays and capes, +and like high cliff land as that we supposed it to be land, and +therefore sent our pinnace off to discover it; but at her return we +were certainly informed that it was only ice, which bred great +admiration to us all, considering the huge quantity thereof +incredible to be reported in truth as it was, and therefore I omit +to speak any further thereof. This only, I think that the like +before was never seen, and in this place we had very stickle and +strong currents. + +We coasted this mighty mass of ice until the 30th of July, finding +it a mighty bar to our purpose: the air in this time was so +contagious, and the sea so pestered with ice, as that all hope was +banished of proceeding; for the 24th of July all our shrouds, ropes, +and sails were so frozen, and encompassed with ice, only by a gross +fog, as seemed to be more than strange, since the last year I found +this sea free and navigable, without impediments. + +Our men through this extremity began to grow sick and feeble, and +withal hopeless of good success; whereupon, very orderly, with good +discretion they entreated me to regard the state of this business, +and withal advised me that in conscience I ought to regard the +safety of mine own life with the preservation of theirs, and that I +should not, through my overboldness, leave their widows and +fatherless children to give me bitter curses. This matter in +conscience did greatly move me to regard their estates, yet +considering the excellency of the business, if it might be obtained, +the great hope of certainty by the last year's discovery, and that +there was yet a third way not put in practice, I thought it would +grow to my disgrace if this action by my negligence should grow into +discredit: whereupon seeking help from God, the fountain of all +mercies, it pleased His Divine Majesty to move my heart to prosecute +that which I hope shall be to His glory, and to the contentation of +every Christian mind. Whereupon, falling into consideration that +the Mermaid, albeit a very strong and sufficient ship, yet by reason +of her burden not so convenient and nimble as a smaller barque, +especially in such desperate hazards; further, having in account how +great charge to the adventurers, being at 100 livres the month, and +that in doubtful service, all the premises considered, with divers +other things, I determined to furnish the Moonlight with +revictualing and sufficient men, and to proceed in this action as +God should direct me; whereupon I altered our course from the ice, +and bore east-south-east to the cover of the next shore, where this +thing might be performed; so with favourable wind it pleased God +that the 1st of August we discovered the land in latitude 66 degrees +33 minutes, and in longitude from the meridian of London 70 degrees, +void of trouble, without snow or ice. + +The 2nd of August we harboured ourselves in a very excellent good +road, where with all speed we graved the Moonlight, and revictualled +her; we searched this country with our pinnace while the barque was +trimming, which William Eston did: he found all this land to be +only islands, with a sea on the east, a sea on the west, and a sea +on the north. In this place we found it very hot, and we were very +much troubled with a fly which is called mosquito, for they did +sting grievously. The people of this place at our first coming in +caught a seal, and, with bladders fast tied to him sent him in to us +with the flood, so as he came right with our ships, which we took as +a friendly present from them. + +The 5th of August I went with the two masters and others to the top +of a hill, and by the way William Eston espied three canoes lying +under a rock, and went unto them: there were in them skins, darts, +with divers superstitious toys, whereof we diminished no thing, but +left upon every boat a silk point, a bullet of lead, and a pin. The +next day, being the 6th of August, the people came unto us without +fear, and did barter with us for skins, as the other people did: +they differ not from the other, neither in their canoes nor apparel, +yet is their pronunciation more plain than the others, and nothing +hollow in the throat. Our miscreant aboard of us kept himself +close, and made show that he would fain have another companion. +Thus being provided, I departed from this land the 12th of August at +six of the clock in the morning, where I left the Mermaid at anchor; +the 14th sailing west about 50 leagues we discovered land, being in +latitude 66 degrees 19 minutes: this land is 70 leagues from the +other from whence we came. This 14th day, from nine o'clock at +night till three o'clock in the morning, we anchored by an island of +ice 12 leagues off the shore, being moored to the ice. + +The 15th day, at three o'clock in the morning, we departed from this +land to the south, and the 18th of August we discovered land north- +west from us in the morning, being a very fair promontory, in +latitude 65 degrees, having no land on the south. Here we had great +hope of a through passage. + +This day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we again discovered +land south-west and by south from us, where at night we were +becalmed. The 19th of this month at noon, by observation, we were +in 64 degrees 20 minutes. From the 18th day at noon until the 19th +at noon, by precise ordinary care, we had sailed fifteen leagues +south and by west, yet by art and more exact observation we found +our course to be south-west, so that we plainly perceived a great +current striking to the west. + +This land is nothing in sight but isles, which increaseth our hope. +This 19th of August, at six o'clock in the afternoon, it began to +snow, and so continued all night, with foul weather and much wind, +so that we were constrained to lie at hull all night, five leagues +off the shore: in the morning, being the 20th of August, the fog +and storm breaking up, we bore in with the land, and at nine o'clock +in the morning we anchored in a very fair and safe road and locket +for all weathers. At ten o'clock I went on shore to the top of a +very high hill, where I perceived that this land was islands; at +four o'clock in the afternoon we weighed anchor, having a fair +north-north-east wind, with very fair weather; at six o'clock we +were clear without the land, and so shaped our course to the south, +to discover the coast whereby the passage may be through God's mercy +found. + +We coasted this land till the 28th day of August, finding it still +to continue towards the south, from the latitude of 67 to 57 +degrees; we found marvellous great store of birds, gulls and mews, +incredible to be reported, whereupon being calm weather we lay one +glass upon the lee to prove for fish, in which space we caught one +hundred of cod, although we were but badly provided for fishing, not +being our purpose. This 28th, having great distrust of the weather, +we arrived in a very fair harbour in the latitude of 56 degrees, and +sailed ten leagues in the same, being two leagues broad, with very +fair woods on both sides; in this place we continued until the 1st +of September, in which time we had two very great storms. I landed, +and went six miles by guess into the country, and found that the +woods were fir, pine-apple, alder, yew, withy, and birch; here we +saw a black bear; this place yieldeth great store of birds, as +pheasant, partridge, Barbary hens, or the like, wild geese, ducks, +blackbirds, jays, thrushes, with other kinds of small birds. Of the +partridge and pheasant we killed great store with bow and arrows in +this place; at the harbour-mouth we found great store of cod. + +The 1st of September at ten o'clock we set sail, and coasted the +shore with very fair weather. The third day being calm, at noon we +struck sail, and let fall a cadge anchor to prove whether we could +take any fish, being in latitude 54 degrees 30 minutes, in which +place we found great abundance of cod, so that the hook was no +sooner overboard but presently a fish was taken. It was the largest +and best refet fish that ever I saw, and divers fishermen that were +with me said that they never saw a more suaule, or better skull of +fish in their lives, yet had they seen great abundance. + +The 4th of September, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored in +a very good road among great store of isles, the country low land, +pleasant, and very full of fair woods. To the north of this place +eight leagues we had a perfect hope of the passage, finding a mighty +great sea passing between two lands west. The south land to our +judgment being nothing but isles, we greatly desired to go into this +sea, but the wind was directly against us. We anchored in four +fathom fine sand. + +In this place is fowl and fish mighty store. + +The 6th of September, having a fair north-north-west wind, having +trimmed our barque, we purposed to depart, and sent five of our +sailors, young men, ashore to an island to fetch certain fish which +we purposed to weather, and therefore left it all night covered upon +the isle; the brutish people of this country lay secretly lurking in +the wood, and upon the sudden assaulted our men, which when we +perceived, we presently let slip our cables upon the halse, and +under our foresail bore into the shore, and with all expedition +discharged a double musket upon them twice, at the noise whereof +they fled; notwithstanding, to our very great grief, two of our men +were slain with their arrows, and two grievously wounded, of whom, +at this present, we stand in very great doubt; only one escaped by +swimming, with an arrow shot through his arm. These wicked +miscreants never offered parley or speech, but presently executed +their cursed fury. This present evening it pleased God farther to +increase our sorrows with a mighty tempestuous storm, the wind being +north-north-east, which lasted unto the 10th of this month very +extreme. We unrigged our ship, and purposed to cut-down our masts; +the cable of our shut anchor broke, so that we only expected to be +driven on shore amongst these cannibals for their prey. Yet in this +deep distress the mighty mercy of God, when hope was past, gave us +succour, and sent us a fair lee, so as we recovered our anchor +again, and new-moored our ship; where we saw that God manifestly +delivered us, for the strains of one of our cables were broken; we +only rode by an old junk. Thus being freshly moored, a new storm +arose, the wind being west-north-west, very forcible, which lasted +unto the 10th day at night. + +The 11th day, with a fair west-north-west wind, we departed with +trust in God's mercy, shaping our course for England, and arrived in +the West Country in the beginning of October. + + +Master Davis being arrived, wrote his letter to Master William +Sanderson of London, concerning his voyage, as followeth. + + +Sir,--The Sunshine came into Dartmouth the 4th of this month: she +hath been at Iceland, and from thence to Greenland, and so to +Estotiland, from thence to Desolation, and to our merchants, where +she made trade with the people, staying in the country twenty days. +They have brought home 500 seal-skins, and 140 half skins and pieces +of skins. I stand in great doubt of the pinnace; God be merciful +unto the poor men and preserve them if it be His blessed will. + +I have now full experience of much of the north-west part of the +world, and have brought the passage to that certainty, as that I am +sure it must be in one of four places, or else not at all. And +further, I can assure you upon the peril of my life, that this +voyage may be performed without further charge, nay, with certain +profit to the adventurers, if I may have but your favour in the +action. Surely it shall cost me all my hope of welfare and my +portion of Sandridge, but I will, by God's mercy, see an end of +these businesses. I hope I shall find favour with you to see your +card. I pray God it be so true as the card shall be which I will +bring to you, and I hope in God that your skill in navigation shall +be gainful unto you, although at the first it hath not proved so. +And thus with my most humble commendations I commit you to God, +desiring no longer to live than I shall be yours most faithfully to +command. From this 14th of October, 1586. + +Yours with my heart, body and life to command, + +JOHN DAVIS. + + +The relation of the course which the "Sunshine," a barque of fifty +tons, and the "North Star," a small pinnace, being two vessels of +the fleet of Master John Davis, held after he had sent them from him +to discover the passage between Greenland and Iceland. Written by +Henry Morgan, servant to Master William Sanderson of London. + + +The 7th day of May, 1586, we departed out of Dartmouth Haven four +sails, to wit, the Mermaid, the Sunshine, the Moonshine, and the +North Star. In the Sunshine were sixteen men, whose names were +these: Richard Pope, master; Mark Carter, master's mate; Henry +Morgan, purser; George Draward, John Mandie, Hugh Broken, Philip +Jane, Hugh Hempson, Richard Borden, John Filpe, Andrew Madocke, +William Wolcome, Robert Wagge, carpenter, John Bruskome, William +Ashe, Simon Ellis. + +Our course was west-north-west the 7th and 8th days; and the ninth +day in the morning we were on head of the Tarrose of Scilly. Thus +coasting along the south part of Ireland, the 11th day we were on +the head of the Dorses, and our course was south-south-west until +six of the clock the 12th day. The 13th day our course was north- +west. We remained in the company of the Mermaid and the Moonshine +until we came to the latitude of 60 degrees, and there it seemed +best to our general, Master Davis, to divide his fleet, himself +sailing to the north-west, and to direct the Sunshine, wherein I +was, and the pinnace called the North Star, to seek a passage +northward between Greenland and Iceland to the latitude of 80 +degrees, if land did not let us. So the 7th day of June we departed +from them, and the 9th of the same we came to a firm land of ice, +which we coasted along the 9th, the 10th, and the 11th days of June; +and the 11th day at six of the clock at night we saw land, which was +very high, which afterwards we knew to be Iceland, and the 12th day +we harboured there, and found many people; the land lieth east and +by north in 66 degrees. + +Their commodities were green fish and Iceland lings and stock fish, +and a fish which is called catfish, of all which they had great +store. They had also kine, sheep, and horses, and hay for their +cattle and for their horses. We saw also of their dogs. Their +dwelling-houses were made on both sides with stones, and wood laid +across over them, which was covered over with turfs of earth, and +they are flat on the tops, and many of these stood hard by the +shore. Their boats were made with wood, and iron all along the keel +like our English boats; and they had nails for to nail them withal, +and fish-hooks, and other things for to catch fish as we have here +in England. They had also brazen kettles, and girdles and purses +made of leather, and knops on them of copper, and hatchets, and +other small tools as necessary as we have. They dry their fish in +the sun; and when they are dry they pack them up in the top of their +houses. If we would go thither to fishing more than we do, we +should make it a very good voyage, for we got a hundred green fishes +in one morning. We found here two Englishmen with a ship, which +came out of England about Easter Day of this present year, 1586; and +one of them came aboard of us and brought us two lambs. The +Englishman's name was Master John Royden, of Ipswich, merchant; he +was bound for London with his ship. And this is the sum of that +which I observed in Iceland. We departed from Iceland the 16th day +of June, in the morning, and our course was north-west; and saw on +the coast two small barques going to a harbour; we went not to them, +but saw them afar off. Thus we continued our course unto the end of +this month. + +The 3rd day of July we were in between two firm lands of ice, and +passed in between them all that day until it was night, and then the +master turned back again, and so away we went towards Greenland. +And the 7th day of July we did see Greenland, and it was very high, +and it looked very blue; but we could not come to harbour in the +land because we were hindered by a firm land, as it were, of ice, +which was along the shore's side; but we were within three leagues +of the land, coasting the same divers days together. The 17th day +of July we saw the place which our captain, Master John Davis, the +year before had named the Land of Desolation, where we could not go +on shore for ice. The 18th day we were likewise troubled with ice, +and went in amongst it at three of the clock in the morning. After +we had cleared ourselves thereof we ranged all along the coast of +Desolation until the end of the aforesaid month. + +The 3rd day of August we came in sight of Gilbert's Sound in the +latitude of 64 degrees 15 minutes, which was the place where we were +appointed to meet our general and the rest of our fleet. Here we +came to a harbour at six of the clock at night. + +The 4th day, in the morning, the master went on shore with ten of +his men, and they brought us four of the people rowing in their +boats, aboard of the ship. And in the afternoon I went on shore +with six of our men, and there came to us seven of them when we were +on land. We found on shore three dead people, and two of them had +their staves lying by them, and their old skins wrapped about them, +and the other had nothing lying by, wherefore we thought it was a +woman. We also saw their houses, near the seaside, which were made +with pieces of wood on both sides, and crossed over with poles and +then covered over with earth. We found foxes running upon the +hills. As for the place, it is broken land all the way that we +went, and full of broken islands. The 21st of August the master +sent the boat on shore for wood, with six of his men, and there were +one-and-thirty of the people of the country, which went on shore to +them, and they went about to kill them as we thought, for they shot +their darts towards them, and we that were aboard the ship did see +them go on shore to our men, whereupon the master sent the pinnace +after them; and when they saw the pinnace coming towards them they +turned back, and the master of the pinnace did shoot off a culliver +to them the same time, but hurt none of them, for his meaning was +only to put them in fear. Divers times they did wave us on shore to +play with them at the football, and some of our company went on +shore to play with them, and our men did cast them down as soon as +they did come to strike the ball. And thus much of that which we +did see and do in that harbour where we arrived first. + +The 23rd day we departed from the merchants where we had been first, +and our course from thence was south and by west, and the wind was +north-east, and we ran that day and night about five or six leagues +until we came to another harbour. + +The 24th, about eleven of the clock in the forenoon, we entered into +the aforesaid new harbour, and as we came in we did see dogs running +upon the islands. When we were come in, there came to us four of +the people which were with us before in the other harbour; and where +we rowed we had sandy ground. We saw no wood growing, but found +small pieces of wood upon the islands, and some small pieces of +sweet wood among the same. We found great harts' horns, but could +see none of the stags where we went, but we found their footings. +As for the bones which we received of the savages, I cannot tell of +what beasts they be. The stones that we found in the country were +black, and some white; as I think, they be of no value; nevertheless +I have brought examples of them to you. + +The 30th of August we departed from this harbour towards England, +and the wind took us contrary, so that we were fain to go to another +harbour the same day at eleven of the clock. And there came to us +thirty-nine of the people and brought us thirteen seal-skins, and +after we received these skins of them the master sent the carpenter +to change one of our boats which we had bought of them before; and +they would have taken the boat from him perforce, and when they saw +they could not take it from us they shot with their darts at us, and +struck one of our men with one of their darts, and John Filpe shot +one of them in the breast with an arrow. And they came to us again, +and four of our men went into the ship boat, and they shot with +their darts at our men; but our men took one of their people in his +boat, into the ship boat, and he hurt one of them with his knife, +but we killed three of them in their boats, two of them were hurt +with arrows in the breast, and he that was aboard our boat was shot +with an arrow, and hurt with a sword, and beaten with staves, whom +our men cast overboard; but the people caught him and carried him on +shore upon their boats, and the other two also, and so departed from +us. And three of them went on shore hard by us where they had their +dogs, and those three came away from their dogs, and presently one +of their dogs came swimming towards us hard aboard the ship, +whereupon our master caused the gunner to shoot off one of the great +pieces--towards the people, and so the dog turned back to land, and +within an hour after there came of the people hard aboard the ship, +but they would not come to us as they did before. + +The 31st of August we departed from Gilbert's Sound for England, and +when we came out of the harbour there came after us seventeen of the +people looking which way we went. + +The 2nd of September we lost sight of the land at twelve of the +clock at noon. + +The 3rd day at night we lost sight of the North Star, our pinnace, +in a very great storm, and lay a-hull tarrying for them the 4th day, +but could hear no more of them. Thus we shaped our course the 5th +day south-south-east, and sailing unto the 27th of the said month, +we came in sight of Cape Clear in Ireland. + +The 30th day we entered into our own Channel. + +The 2nd of October we had sight of the Isle of Wight. + +The 3rd we coasted all along the shore, and the 4th and 5th. + +The 6th of the said month of October we came into the River of +Thames as high as Ratcliffe in safety, God be thanked! + + + +THE THIRD VOYAGE NORTH-WESTWARD, MADE BY JOHN DAVIS, +Gentleman, as chief captain and pilot general for the discovery of a +passage to the Isles of the Molucca, or the coast of China, in the +year 1587. Written by John Janes, servant to the aforesaid Master +William Sanderson. + + + +May.--The 19th of this present month, about midnight, we weighed our +anchors, set sail and departed from Dartmouth with two barques and a +clincher, the one named the Elizabeth, of Dartmouth, the other the +Sunshine, of London, and the clincher called the Ellin, of London; +thus, in God's name, we set forwards with wind at north-east, a good +fresh gale. About three hours after our departure, the night being +somewhat thick with darkness, we had lost the pinnace. The captain, +imagining that the men had run away with her, willed the master of +the Sunshine to stand to seawards and see if we could descry them, +we bearing in with the shore for Plymouth. At length we descried +her, bore with her, and demanded what the cause was; they answered +that the tiller of their helm was burst, so shaping our course west- +south-west, we went forward, hoping that a hard beginning would make +a good ending; yet some of us were doubtful of it, failing in +reckoning that she was a clincher; nevertheless, we put our trust in +God. + +The 21st we met with the Red Lion of London, which came from the +coast of Spain, which was afraid that we had been men-of-war; but we +hailed them, and after a little conference we desired the master to +carry our letters for London, directed to my uncle Sanderson, who +promised us safe delivery. And after we had heaved them a lead and +a line, whereunto we had made fast our letters, before they could +get them into the ship they fell into the sea, and so all our labour +and theirs also was lost; notwithstanding, they promised to certify +our departure at London, and so we departed, and the same day we had +sight of Scilly. The 22nd the wind was at north-east by east, with +fair weather, and so the 23rd and 24th the like. The 25th we laid +our ships on the lee for the Sunshine, who was a-rummaging for a +leak; they had 500 strokes at the pump in a watch, with the wind at +north-west. + +The 26th and 27th we had fair weather, but this 27th the pinnace's +foremast was blown overboard. The 28th the Elizabeth towed the +pinnace, which was so much bragged of by the owner's report before +we came out of England, but at sea she was like a cart drawn with +oxen. Sometimes we towed her, because she could not sail for scant +wind. + +The 31st day our captain asked if the pinnace were staunch. Peerson +answered that she was as sound and staunch as a cup. This made us +something glad when we saw she would brook the sea, and was not +leaky. + +June.--The first six days we had fair weather; after that for five +days we had fog and rain, the wind being south. + +The 12th we had clear weather. The mariners in the Sunshine and the +master could not agree; the mariners would go on their voyage a- +fishing, because the year began to waste; the master would not +depart till he had the company of the Elizabeth, whereupon the +master told our captain that he was afraid his men would shape some +contrary course while he was asleep, and so he should lose us. At +length, after much talk and many threatenings, they were content to +bring us to the land which we looked for daily. + +The 13th we had fog and rain. + +The 14th day we discovered land at five of the clock in the morning, +being very great and high mountains, the tops of the hills being +covered with snow. Here the wind was variable, sometimes north- +east, east-north-east, and east by north; but we imagined ourselves +to be 16 or 17 leagues off from the shore. + +The 15th we had reasonably clear weather. + +The 16th we came to an anchor about four or five of the clock in the +afternoon. The people came presently to us, after the old manner, +with crying "Il y a oute," and showed us seal-skins. + +The 17th we began to set up the pinnace that Peerson framed at +Dartmouth, with the boards which he brought from London. + +The 18th, Peerson and the carpenters of the ships began to set on +the planks. + +The 19th, as we went about an island, were found black pumice +stones, and salt kerned on the rocks, very white and glistering. +This day, also, the master of the Sunshine took one of the people, a +very strong, lusty young fellow. + +The 20th, about two of the clock in the morning, the savages came to +the island where our pinnace was built ready to be launched, and +tore the two upper strakes and carried them away, only for the love +of the iron in the boards. While they were about this practice, we +manned the Elizabeth's boat to go ashore to them. Our men, being +either afraid or amazed, were so long before they came to shore, +that our captain willed them to stay, and made the gunner give fire +to a saker, and laid the piece level with the boat, which the +savages had turned on the one side because we could not hurt them +with our arrows, and made the boat their bulwark against the arrows +which we shot at them. Our gunner, having made all things ready, +gave fire to the piece, and fearing to hurt any of the people, and +regarding the owner's profit, thought belike he would save a saker's +shot, doubting we should have occasion to fight with men-of-war, and +so shot off the saker without a bullet, we looking still when the +savages that were hurt should run away without legs; at length we +could perceive never a man hurt, but all having their legs, could +carry away their bodies. We had no sooner shot off the piece but +the master of the Sunshine manned his boat, and came rowing towards +the island, the very sight of whom made each of them take that he +had gotten, and fly away as fast as they could to another island +about two miles off, where they took the nails out of the timber, +and left the wood on the isle. When we came on shore, and saw how +they had spoiled the boat, after much debating of the matter, we +agreed that the Elizabeth should have her to fish withal; whereupon +she was presently carried aboard and stowed. Now after this +trouble, being resolved to depart with the first wind, there fell +out another matter worse than all the rest, and that was in this +manner: John Churchyard, one whom our captain had appointed as +pilot in the pinnace, came to our captain and Master Bruton, and +told them that the good ship which we must all hazard our lives in +had three hundred strokes at one time as she rode in the harbour. +This disquieted us all greatly, and many doubted to go in her. At +length our captain, by whom we were all to be governed, determined +rather to end his life with credit than to return with infamy and +disgrace; and so, being all agreed, we purposed to live and die +together, and committed ourselves to the ship. + +Now the 21st, having brought all our things aboard, about eleven or +twelve of the clock at night we set sail and departed from those +isles, which lie in 64 degrees of latitude, our ships being now all +at sea, and we shaping our course to go coasting the land to the +northwards, upon the eastern shore, which we called the shore of our +merchants, because there we met with people which traffic with us; +but here we were not without doubt of our ship. + +The 22nd and 23rd we had close fog and rain. + +The 24th, being in 67 degrees and 40 minutes, we had great store of +whales, and a kind of sea-birds which the mariners call cortinous. +This day, about six of the clock at night, we espied two of the +country people at sea, thinking at the first they had been two great +seals, until we saw their oars, glistering with the sun. They came +rowing towards us as fast as they could, and when they came within +hearing they held up their oars and cried "Il y a oute," making many +signs, and at last they came to us, giving us birds for bracelets, +and of them I had a dart with a bone in it, or a piece of unicorn's +horn, as I did judge. This dart he made store of, but when he saw a +knife he let it go, being more desirous of the knife than of his +dart. These people continued rowing after our ship the space of +three hours. + +The 25th, in the morning, at seven of the clock, we descried thirty +savages rowing after us, being by judgment ten leagues off from the +shore. They brought us salmon peels, birds, and caplin, and we gave +them pins, needles, bracelets, nails, knives, bells, looking- +glasses, and other small trifles; and for a knife, a nail, or a +bracelet, which they call ponigmah, they would sell their boat, +coats, or anything they had, although they were far from the shore. +We had but few skins of them, about twenty; but they made signs to +us that if we would go to the shore, we should have more store of +chicsanege. They stayed with us till eleven of the clock, at which +time we went to prayer, and they departed from us. + +The 26th was cloudy, the wind being at south. + +The 27th fair, with the same wind. + +The 28th and 29th were foggy, with clouds. + +The 30th day we took the height, and found ourselves in 72 degrees +and 12 minutes of latitude, both at noon and at night, the sun being +five degrees above the horizon. At midnight the compass set to the +variation of 28 degrees to the westward. Now having coasted the +land which we called London Coast from the 21st of this present till +the 30th, the sea open all to the westwards and northwards, the land +on starboard side east from us, the wind shifted to the north, +whereupon we left that shore, naming the same Hope Sanderson, and +shaped our course west, and ran forty leagues and better without the +sight of any land. + +July.--The 2nd we fell in with a mighty bank of ice west from us, +lying north and south, which bank we would gladly have doubled out +to the northwards, but the wind would not suffer us, so that we were +fain to coast it to the southwards, hoping to double it out that we +might have run so far west till we had found land, or else to have +been thoroughly resolved of our pretended purpose. + +The 3rd we fell in with the ice again, and putting off from it we +sought to the northwards, but the wind crossed us. + +The 4th was foggy, so was the 5th; also with much wind at north. + +The 6th being very clear, we put our barque with oars through a gap +in the ice, seeing the sea free on the west side, as we thought, +which falling out otherwise, caused us to return after we had stayed +there between the ice. + +The 7th and the 8th, about midnight, by God's help we recovered the +open sea, the weather being fair and calm; and so was the 9th. + +The 10th we coasted the ice. + +The 11th was foggy, but calm. + +The 12th we coasted again the ice, having the wind at west-north- +west. The 13th, bearing off from the ice, we determined to go with +the shore, and come to an anchor, and to stay five or six days for +the dissolving of the ice, hoping that the sea from continually +beating it, and the sun with the extreme force of heat, which it had +always shining upon it, would make a quick despatch, that we might +have a further search upon the western shore. Now when we were come +to the eastern coast, the water something deep, and some of our +company fearful withal, we durst not come to an anchor, but bore off +into sea again. The poor people, seeing us go away again, came +rowing after us into the sea, the waves being somewhat lofty. We +trucked with them for a few skins and darts, and gave them beads, +nails, needles, and cards, they pointing to the shore as though they +would show us great friendship; but we, little regarding their +courtesy, gave them the gentle farewell, and so departed. + +The 14th we had the wind at south. The 15th there was some fault +either in the barque or the set of some current, for we were driven +six points out of our course. The 16th we fell in with the bank of +ice, west from us. The 17th and 18th were foggy. The 19th, at one +o'clock afternoon, we had sight of the land which we called Mount +Raleigh, and at twelve of the clock at night we were athwart the +straits which we discovered the first year. The 20th we traversed +in the mouth of the strait, the wind being at west with fair and +clear weather. The 21st and 22nd we coasted the northern coast of +the straits. The 23rd, having sailed 60 leagues north-west into the +straits at two o'clock afternoon, we anchored among many isles in +the bottom of the gulf, naming the same the Earl of Cumberland's +Isles, where, riding at anchor, a whale passed by our ship and went +west in among the isles. Here the compass set at 30 degrees +westward variation. The 24th we departed, shaping our course south- +east to recover the sea. The 25th we were becalmed in the bottom of +the gulf, the air being extremely hot. Master Bruton and some of +the mariners went on shore to course dogs, where they found many +graves, and trains spilt on the ground, the dogs being so fat that +they were scant able to run. + +The 26th we had a pretty storm, the wind being at south-east. The +27th and 28th were fair. The 29th we were clear out of the straits, +having coasted the south shore, and this day at noon we were in 64 +degrees of latitude. The 30th in the afternoon we coasted a bank of +ice which lay on the shore, and passed by a great bank or inlet +which lay between 63 and 62 degrees of latitude, which we called +Lumley's Inlet. We had oftentimes, as we sailed along the coast, +great roots, the water as it were whirling and overfalling, as if it +were the fall of some great water through a bridge. The 31st as we +sailed by a headland, which we named Warwick's Forehand, we fell +into one of those overfalls with a fresh gale of wind, and bearing +all our sails, we looking upon an island of ice between us and the +shore, had thought that our barque did make no way, which caused us +to take marks on the shore. At length we perceived ourselves to go +very fast, and the island of ice which we saw before was carried +very forcibly with the set of the current faster than our ship went. +This day and night we passed by a very great gulf, the water +whirling and roaring as it were the meeting of tides. + +August.--The 1st, having coasted a bank of ice which was driven out +at the mouth of this gulf, we fell in with the southernmost cape of +the gulf, which we named Chidlie's Cape, which lay in 6 degrees and +10 minutes of latitude. The 2nd and 3rd were calm and foggy, so +were the 4th, 5th, and 6th. The 7th was fair and calm, so was the +8th, with a little gale in the morning. The 9th was fair, and we +had a little gale at night. The 10th we had a frisking gale at +west-north-west; the 11th fair. The 12th we saw five deer on the +top of an island, called by us Darcie's Island. And we hoisted out +our boat, and went ashore to them, thinking to have killed some of +them. But when we came on shore and had coursed them twice about +the island they took the sea, and swain towards islands distant from +that three leagues. When we perceived that they had taken the sea, +we gave them over, because our boat was so small that it could not +carry us and row after them, they swam so fast; but one of them was +as big as a good pretty cow, and very fat; their feet as big as ox- +feet. Here upon this island I killed with my piece a grey hare. + +The 13th in the morning we saw three or four white bears, but durst +not go on shore unto them for lack of a good boat. This day we +struck a rock seeking for a harbour, and received a leak, and this +day we were in 54 degrees of latitude. The 14th we stopped our leak +in a storm not very outrageous at noon. + +The 15th, being almost in 51 degrees of latitude, and not finding +our ships, nor (according to their promise) being any mark, token, +or beacon, which we willed to set up, and they protested to do so +upon every headland, sea, island, or cape, within 20 leagues every +way off from their fishing place, which our captain appointed to be +between 54 and 55 degrees--this 15th, I say, we shaped our course +homeward for England, having in our ship but little wood, and half a +hogshead of fresh water. Our men were very willing to depart, and +no man more forward than Peerson, for he feared to be put out of his +office of stewardship; he was so insatiate that the allowance of two +men was scant sufficient to fill his greedy appetite; but because +every man was so willing to depart, and considering our want, I +doubted the matter very much, fearing that the seething of our men's +victuals in salt water would breed diseases, and being but few (yet +too many for the room, if any should be sick), and likely that all +the rest might be infected therewith, we consented to return for our +own country, and so we had the 16th there with the wind at south- +west. + +The 17th we met a ship at sea, and as far as we could judge it was a +Biscayan; we thought she went a-fishing for whales, for in 52 +degrees or thereabout we saw very many. + +The 18th was fair with a good gale at west. + +The 19th fair also, but with much wind at west and by south. + +And thus, after much variable weather and change of winds, we +arrived the 15th of September in Dartmouth, Anno 1587, giving thanks +to God for our safe arrival. + + +A letter of the said Master John Davis, written to Master Sanderson +of London, concerning his fore-written voyage. + + +Good Master Sanderson,--With God's great mercy I have made my safe +return in health with all my company, and have sailed 60 leagues +farther than my determination at my departure. I have been in 73 +degrees, finding the sea all open, and 40 leagues between laud and +land; the passage is most certain, the execution most easy, as at my +coming you shall fully know. Yesterday, the 15th of September, I +landed all weary, therefore I pray you pardon my shortness. + +Sandridge, this 16th of September, Anno 1587. +Yours equal as mine own, which by trial you shall best know, +JOHN DAVIS. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The North-West Passage, by Richard Hakluyt + |