The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume III Part 10

(_After a Stamp published in 1609 at Amsterdam._)]

On the return of the second expedition from a voyage so fruitless, the General States of the United Provinces declined to repeat the experiment, but offered a large reward to any one who might make it "apparant that the sayd pa.s.sage was to be sayled." The merchants of Amsterdam thereupon prepared two vessels, and selected mostly single men for their crews, _i.e._, men unhampered by family ties, offering them great rewards if the objects they sought were accomplished. One of the vessels was commanded by Jacob Heemskerke Hendrickson, the master of the second being Cornelison Rijp; Barents was appointed chief pilot. The expedition sailed from Amsterdam on May 10th, 1596, and on June 1st was in a lat.i.tude high enough to have no night. On the 4th, in lat. 71, they observed two parahelia, or mock suns, which are thus described in the narrative:-"On each side of the sunne there was another sunne and two raine-bowes, that past cleane thorow the three sunnes, and then two raine-bowes more, the one compa.s.sing round about the sunnes, and the other crosse thorow the great rundle." On the 5th they fell in with the first floating ice, which at a distance they mistook for white swans, and on the 7th they were in lat. 74, sailing through the ice "as if betweene two lands." They found quant.i.ties of the eggs of red geese on an island. The narrator makes these birds, when flying away, cry out "Rot, rot, rot" (red), as though describing themselves. They also killed several bears, one of which they pursued in their boats while "foure gla.s.ses were run out (_i.e._, for two hours), for their weapons seemed powerless to do her hurt. One of the men struck her with an axe, which stuck fast in her back, and with which she swam away.

They followed, and at length a well-directed blow split her skull." They appear to have been much hampered in proceeding further north from the constantly acc.u.mulating ice. By their lat.i.tude at this time they were near Amsterdam Island, on which is that cape or foreland since so well known to whalers as Hakluyt's Headland. On July 1st the commanders mutually agreed to part company: Cornelison Rijp, who now disappears from the scene, being of opinion that by sailing back to Spitzbergen, which they had just left, he would find a pa.s.sage near its east side; while Barents favoured an eastward course in a lower parallel, and steered for Waigatz Strait and Nova Zembla, which latter he reached on July 17th. As far as the ice would permit they stood to the northwards, and at the end of the first week of August doubled Point Na.s.sau, where, the wind being contrary, they made the ship fast to an iceberg, thirty-six fathoms (216 feet) under water, and sixteen fathoms (96 feet) above it. This berg suddenly, without warning, broke up: "with one great cracke it burst into foure hundred pieces at the least." Ships have often been overwhelmed in this manner. Ice in all forms now surrounded them; the ship's rudder was smashed to pieces, and their boat crushed like a nutsh.e.l.l, while a similar fate was expected constantly for the vessel herself, which had become much strained. They had equally to give up all hopes of proceeding or returning that season, and with great difficulty they got to the west side of a harbour on Nova Zembla, named by them Ice Haven. Here, as we shall see, they had to pa.s.s a long winter, under circ.u.mstances of great hardship and danger.

On August 27th the ice drove with great force on the ship's bows, and lifted her up several feet. They feared that she must be capsized. Shortly afterwards the ship burst out of the ice, "with such a noyse and so great a crack" that all on board feared their last hour was come. On the 30th, during a heavy snow and boisterous weather, the ice ma.s.ses commenced driving and grinding together with greater force than before; the ship was lifted up bodily, almost upright, and then dashed into the water again. We cannot wonder to learn that the hairs of their heads also stood "vpright with feare" amid such scenes.

And so it went on from day to day, the vessel being strained and cracked in many places, and leaking badly. On September 5th they held a council, and determined to commence the work of removing the stores ash.o.r.e. They carried off their old foresail, and "other furniture" on land to make a tent; powder, lead, muskets, with bread and wine, and some tools to mend their boat. "The 11 of September," says the narrative, "it was calme wether, and 8 of vs went on land, euery man armed, to see if that were true, as our other three companions had said that there lay wood about the riuer; for that seeing we had so long wound and turned about, sometime in the ice, and then againe got out, and thereby were compelled to alter our course, and at last saw that we could not get out of the ice, but rather became faster, and could not loose our ship, as at other times we had done, as also that it began to be winter, we took counsell together what we were best to doe according to the time that we might winter there, and attend such aduenture as G.o.d would send vs; and after we had debated vpon the matter, to keepe and defend our selues both from the cold and the wild beasts, we determined to build a house vpon the land to keep vs therein as well as we could, and so to commit ourselues vnto the tuition of G.o.d." As they had little wood on board, and there were no trees on land, they were most rejoiced when they found "certaine trees, roots and all," which had been driven upon the sh.o.r.e (drift-wood, probably, brought down by one of the great rivers of Asiatic Siberia, floated out to sea, and deposited on the sh.o.r.es of Nova Zembla). "We were much comforted," says the narrator, "being in good hope that G.o.d would show vs some further fauour; for that wood serued vs not onely to build our house, but also to burne and serue vs all the winter long; otherwise, without all doubt, we had died there miserably with extreame cold."

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRANSPORTING WOOD ON SLEDGES FOR BUILDING THE HOUSE.]

The party as it now stood consisted of seventeen persons, of whom one, the carpenter, who of all could least be spared at this juncture, died towards the end of September, and another was prostrated with sickness. They had to haul the wood in sledges for a considerable distance over ice and snow, and it was so intensely cold that the skin was often taken off their hands and faces. "As wee put a naile into our mouthes," says De Veer "(as carpenters use to do) there would ice hang thereon when wee took it out againe, and make the bloud follow." The present writer saw precisely the same thing happen more than once at a Russian trading post in Alaska some years ago, and knows well what it is to have his own mouth and nostrils nearly frozen up by the breath congealing about the moustache, lips, &c., more especially when camped in the "open" at night. These good Dutchmen seem to have been most resigned and philosophical during "their cold, comfortlesse, darke, and dreadful winter," determining to make the best of their hard lot. The narrative of De Veer is told in a plain, unvarnished, and manly style, and, as Dr. Beke(22) has well remarked, "we may perceive that the reliance of himself and his comrades on the Almighty was not less firm or sincere because His name was not incessantly on their lips.

Cheerfulness, and even frequent hilarity, could not fail to be the concomitants of so wholesome a tone of mind."

On September 15th two bears made their appearance, and there was great excitement, the men being anxious to shoot them. A tub or barrel of salt beef was standing on the ice near the ship, and one of the bears put his head into it to get out a joint of the meat. But "she fared therewith,"

says the narrator, "as the dog did with ye pudding;(23) for as she was s.n.a.t.c.hing at the beefe she was shot into the head, wherewith she fell downe dead and neuer stir'd (there we saw a curious sight); the other beare stood still, and lokt vpon her fellow (as if wondering why she remained so motionless), and when she had stood a good while she smelt her fellow, and perceiuing that she lay still and was dead, she ran away, and all pursuit was vain."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ATTACKED BY BEARS.]

At length their house was completed; it had been built partly from the drift-wood, and partly from the deck timbers and other portions of the ship. The original ill.u.s.tration, a very quaint picture, shows the fire in the middle of the floor, and a large chimney immediately over it. In other ill.u.s.trations in De Veer's works the chimney is surmounted by a barrel, which served the same purpose for the "look out" as the "crow's nest" or observatory in modern Arctic vessels. An oil lamp swung in the centre of the room, and a large bench, with divisions, served for resting places by night. The old Dutch clock, the works of which became frozen during the winter, is shown hanging on the wall, while the large twelve-hour sand-gla.s.s, which replaced it, is also included. A large wine-vat or barrel, standing on end, requires explanation. It was used as a vapour or steam bath, a hole in the side being cut both for air and as a door or opening for ingress or egress. The steam was in all probability made by placing hot stones in a small quant.i.ty of water at the bottom of the barrel. The writer has in Alaska (formerly Russian America) often used a steam bath of a construction almost as primitive, where in a small room the required vapour was raised by throwing water on a little furnace or fire-place, built of stones, which were kept at a white heat by a fire inside. Round the walls of the room were shelves or benches, on which one could recline, and by selecting the upper or lower ones, as the case might be, enjoy a greater or a lesser degree of heat.

On November 4th the last feeble rays of the sun took leave of them, and intense cold followed. Their wine and spruce-beer became frozen, and separated into two parts, the water being ice, and the remainder a thick glutinous liquid. Melted together again, they were nearly undrinkable.

Wood does not appear to have been scarce till later in the winter, although they had to fetch some of it a distance of several miles. They once tried a fire of coal in the middle of their room, but the experiment was not repeated, as the sulphurous smoke nearly suffocated them. Their thickest European clothing was utterly insufficient for the climate they had to endure. During the winter they killed and trapped a few bears and foxes, and some of their skins were of course utilised. The former, however, disappeared with the sun, and only reappeared when it again showed itself.

The record of their monotonous winter life, almost entirely confined to the house, would be as tedious in the recital as it was in reality. Their wretched habitation was nearly buried in snow, and they felt as much out of the world as though they had really left it. Outside, gale succeeded gale, and howling winds and drifting snow prevented the possibility of hunting, exercise, or amus.e.m.e.nt. Inside, as the record tells us, they used all the means in their power to preserve warmth: put hot stones and heated cannon-b.a.l.l.s at their feet, and smothered themselves in every article of clothing or bedding they had, but with little avail; their cots and the walls were covered with frost, and themselves as stiff and white as corpses. The narrative says quaintly that as they sat before a great fire their shins burned on the fore side, while their backs were frozen.

Nevertheless they repined not, but took everything in the spirit of calm philosophy. On December 26th De Veer, when an unusually severe day had set in, writes that they comforted themselves that the sun had gone as low as it could, and must now return. The quaintness and simplicity of this narrative is well ill.u.s.trated by the following entry for the last day of 1596:-"The 31 of December it was still foule wether, with a storme out of the north-west, whereby we were so fast shut vp into the house as if we had beene prisoners, and it was so extreame cold that the fire almost cast no heate; for as we put our feete to the fire we burnt our hose (stockings) before we could feele the heate, so that we had constantly work enough to do to patch our hose. And, which is more, if we had not sooner smelt than felt them, we should haue burnt them quite away ere we had knowne it."

On January 5th they even celebrated Twelfth Night, making merry with a small quant.i.ty of wine, pancakes, and white biscuit. They drew lots for a master of revels, and it fell to the gunner, who was made King of Nova Zembla. All this, after all, was more sensible than giving way to the despondency which they could not help feeling at times. On February 12th they shot a bear, the first for the year. The first bullet fired, pa.s.sing through her body, "went out againe at her tayle, and was as flat as a counter that had been beaten out with a hammer." This was a G.o.d-send to them, as now they were enabled to keep their lamps constantly burning, which previously they had often been unable to do for want of grease. The bear yielded a hundred pounds of fat. In the latter part of winter the bears came round the house, and attempted to break in the door, while one almost succeeded in entering by the chimney.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REPAIRING THE BOAT.]

At the beginning of March they saw open water, and were greatly rejoiced, looking hopefully forward to the day of release. In April the ice hummocks on the coast were "risen and piled vp one vpon the other, that it was wonderfull in such manner as if there had bin whole townes made of ice, with towres and bulwarkes round about them." In May their provisions were getting very low, and they themselves were both weakened by inaction and insufficiency of food, while the scurvy had made its appearance among some of the number. Impatient of their long and dreary sojourn, the men, on the 9th and 11th of May, came to Barents, praying him to speak to "the maister (skipper) to make preparations to goe from thence." On the 15th they consulted together and decided to leave at the end of the month, if "the ship could not be loosed," which gladdened the hearts of the men. Next they began to repair their clothes; and on May 29th the boat and yawl were cleared of the snow which buried them. The narrative shows how enfeebled they had become. Ten of them went to the boat, to repair it and make it ready. When they had got it out of the snow, and thought themselves able to drag it up to the house, their united efforts were not sufficient. De Veer says, "We could not doe it because we were too weake." They became, we cannot wonder, wholly out of heart, for unless the boats could be got ready they would, as the master told them, have to remain as burghers or citizens of Nova Zembla, and make their graves there. But, as the narrative continues, there was no want of goodwill in them, but only strength. After a rest they did, by slow degrees manage to repair and heighten the gunwales of the boat. Their work was impeded by the bears, one of which they killed, and the liver of which having eaten, they were "exceeding sicke," so much so that of three of the men it is stated that "all their skins came off from the foote to the head." Although bear's meat is perfectly wholesome and far from uneatable, the same fact has very frequently been noticed in regard to the poisonous qualities of the liver, at least at certain seasons. In this case, the captain took what was left and threw it away, for as De Veer candidly admits, they "had enough of the sawce thereof."

It now became obvious that the ship, which was completely bilged, must be abandoned, and their time, after repairing and strengthening the boats, was fully employed in moving and packing their goods, including the more valuable of the merchandise they had brought for trading purposes from the house, and in stripping the ship of everything of value. On June 12th they went with hatchets, pick-axes, shovels, and all kinds of implements, to make a clear wide shoot or way from the house, pa.s.sing the ship, to the water. The ice was full of hummocks, k.n.o.bs, and hills, and this was not the lightest of their labours. Then Barents and the skipper wrote letters, detailing the circ.u.mstances of their ten months' stay, and that they were forced to abandon the ship and put to sea in two open boats, to which all of the men subscribed except four, who from sickness or inability could not write. Barents' letter was put in a place of safety in their deserted house, and each of the boats was furnished with a copy of the captain's letter, in case they should be separated or one or other lost. The yawl and boat having been launched and loaded, Barents and a man named Adrianson, both of whom had been long invalids, were carried on a sledge to the water's edge. There were now fifteen men in all, and their provisions were reduced to limited rations of bread, one barrel of Dutch cheese, one flitch of bacon, and some small runlets of wine, oil, and vinegar.

To the narrative which follows the compiler can hardly do justice, whilst an exact reprint of the quietly and unsensationally told story of Gerrit de Veer would have to be closely studied before the reader would understand and feel the adventurous and desperate nature of the exploit performed. These fifteen poor Dutchmen, gaunt and exhausted as we know they were, weakened by semi-starvation and disease, badly provisioned at this most critical time, two of their number dying, bravely encountered a voyage of some seventeen hundred miles, eleven at least of which were amongst the worst dangers of the Arctic seas. The larger of their two craft was a fishing yawl of the smallest size. For eighty days they struggled through an unknown and frozen ocean, in the ice, over the ice, and through the sea, exposed to all the ordinary dangers of wave and tempest, liable to be crushed at any moment by the grinding ice ma.s.ses, or swamped by the disintegration of icebergs, constantly having to unload, haul up, and re-launch their boats, and further, exposed to severe cold, wet, fatigue, and famine, as well as to the constant attacks of savage animals. They persevered, for although their hearts often sank within them, it was for dear life, and at length their heroic efforts were rewarded. Some few extracts from the work already so often quoted will give a faint idea of the dangers through which they pa.s.sed and over which they finally triumphed.

The boats, sailing in company, left Ice Haven on June 14th, 1597, at first slowly, making their course from one cape or headland to another. At the very start they became entangled in the floating ice, which, however, on the following day was more spa.r.s.ely scattered. On June 16th they set sail again (having stopped off Cape Desire for the night), and got to the Islands of Orange. There they went on land with two small barrels and a kettle to melt snow, as also to seek for birds and eggs for their sick men. Of the former they only obtained three. "As we came backe againe,"

says the narrator, "our maister fell into the ice, where he was in great danger of his life, for in that place there ran a great streame ('strong current' is Dr. Beke's translation); but, by G.o.d's helpe, he got out againe and came to vs, and there dryed himselfe by the fire that we had made, at which fire we drest the birds, and carried them to the scute to our sicke men." Putting to sea again, with a south-east wind and a mizzling rain, they were soon all wet to the skin. Off Ice Point, the most northerly cape or point of Nova Zembla, the skipper called to Barents to ask him how he did, to which he answered, "I still hope to run before we get to Wardhuus." Then he turned to De Veer, and said, "Gerrit, if we are near the Ice Point just lift me up again. I must see that point once more." These were almost the last words of this brave man, who undoubtedly felt at the time that not merely he should never see Ice Point again, but that he was not long for this world. He was dying fast, and his courageous words were meant for his companions' comfort. "Next day," says the narrator, "when we had broken our fastes, the ice came so frightfully upon vs that it made our haires stand vpright vpon our heades, it was so fearefull to behold; by which meanes we could not make fast our scutes, so that we thought verily that it was a foreshewing of our last end; for we draue away so hard with the ice, and were so sore prest between a flake of ice, that we thought verily the scutes would burst in a hundredth peeces, which made vs look pittifully one upon the other, for no counsell nor aduise was to be found, but every minute of an houre we saw death before our eies." At last, in desperation, De Veer managed to jump on a piece of ice, and creeping from one to another of the grinding ma.s.ses, at length secured a rope to one of the hummocks. "And when we had gotten thither,"

says he, "in all haste we tooke our sicke men out and layd them vpon the ice, laying clothes and other things vnder them, and then tooke all our goods out of the scutes, and so drew them vpon the ice, whereby for that time we were deliuered from that great danger, making account that we had escaped out of death's clawes, as it was most true."

The boats having been repaired, they were delayed some days by the ice, which shut them in. On June 20th Adrianson "began to be extreme sick," and the boatswain came to inform the others that he could not live long; "whereupon," says De Veer, "William Barents spake and said, I think I shall not liue long after him; and yet we did not ivdge William Barents to be so sicke, for we sat talking one with the other, and spake of many things, and William Barents looked at my little chart which I had made of our voyage (and we had some discussion about it). At last he laid away the chart and spake vnto me, saying, Gerrit, give me some drinke; and he had so sooner drunke but he was taken with so sodaine a qualme that he turned his eies in his head and died presently, and we had no time to call the maister out of the other scute to speak vnto him; and so he died before Claes Adrianson (who died shortly after him). The death of William Barents put us in no small discomfort, as being the chiefe guide and only pilot on whom we reposed our selues next under G.o.d; but we could not striue against G.o.d, and therefore we must of force be content." Other pa.s.sages indicate that Barents had inspired great affection in the hearts of his companions, and that his loss was felt with much poignancy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: UNLOADING, DRAGGING, AND CARRYING BOATS AND GOODS.]

The following pa.s.sage is only one of many indicating the laborious nature of their undertaking:-"The 22 of June in the morning it blew a good gale out of the south-east, and then the sea was reasonably open, but we were forced to draw our scutes ouer the ice to get vnto it, which was great paine and labour unto vs; for first we were forced to draw our scutes over a peece of ice of 50 paces long, and then put them into the water, and then againe to draw them vp vpon other ice, and after draw them at the least 300 paces more ouer the ice, before we could bring them to a good place, where we might easily get out." On the 25th and 26th of June a tempest raged, and they were driven to sea, being unable, as they had sometimes done before, to tie the boats to fast or grounded ice. They were nearly swamped at this time by the great seas which constantly broke over their open boats, and for some little time were separated in a fog, but by firing muskets at length found out each other's position and joined company. One of the boats got into a dangerous place between fixed and driving ice, and the men had to unload it, and take it and the goods bodily across the ma.s.ses to more open water. On June 28th, the narrative continues, "We laid all our goods vpon the ice, and then drew the scutes vpon the ice also, because we were so hard prest on all sides with the ice, and the wind came out of the sea vpon the land, and therefore we were in feare to be wholly inclosed with the ice, and should not be able to get out thereof againe. And being vpon the ice, we laid sailes ouer our scutes, and laie down to rest, appointing one of our men to keepe watch; and when the sun was north there came three beares towards our scutes, wherewith he that kept the watch cried out l.u.s.tily, 'Three beares! Three beares!' at which noise we leapt out of our boates with our muskets, that were laden with small shot to shoote at birds, and had no time to reload them, and therefore shot at them therewith; and although that kinde of shot could not hurt them much, yet they ranne away, and in the meane time they gaue vs leisure to lade our muskets with bullets, and by that meanes we shot one of the three dead.... The 29th of June, the sun being south-south-west, the two beares came againe to the place where the dead beare laie, when one of them tooke the dead beare in his mouth, and went a great way with it ouer the rugged ice, and then began to eate it; which we perceauing, shot a musket at her, but she, hearing the noise thereof, ran away and let the dead beare lie. Then foure of vs went thither, and saw that in so short a time she had eaten almost the halfe of her." It was as much as these four could do to carry away the half of the body left, although the bear had just before dragged the whole of it over the rough and hummocky ice with little exertion.

On July 1st they were again in great danger among the driving, grinding ice, their boats were much crushed, and they lost a quant.i.ty of goods, and, what was of vital importance at the time, a large proportion of their remaining provisions. A few days afterwards their little company was still further reduced by the death of one of the sailors. On July 11th, and a week afterwards, they were enclosed by ice, from which they could not extricate themselves. During this enforced delay they shot a bear, whose fat ran out at the holes made by the bullets, and floated on the water like oil. They obtained some seventy duck eggs on a neighbouring island, and for a time feasted royally. "The 18 of July," says the narrator, "about the east sunne, three of our men went vp vpon the highest part of the land to see if there was any open water in the sea; at which time they saw much open water, but it was so farre from the land that they were almost out of comfort, because it lay so farre from the land and the fast ice." They had on this occasion to row to an ice-field, unload, and drag and carry boats and goods at least three-fourths of a mile across; they then loaded and set sail, but were speedily entangled again, and had to repeat their previous experiences.

And so it went on for forty-four days, until, in St. Laurence Bay, behind a projecting point, they suddenly came on two Russian vessels with which they had met the previous year, and the crews of which wondered to see them in their present plight, "so leane and bare" and broken down. They exchanged courtesies, and provided them with a trifling supply of rye bread and smoked fowls, then sailing away on their own affairs. For thirty-five days longer they sailed westward, repeating many of their previous experiences, till at length, on September 2nd, they arrived at Kola, in Russian Lapland, and their troubles were really over.

Cornelison's ship happened to be in the port, and they rejoiced and made merry with their old companions, who had long given them up for lost.

Thus ended this remarkable voyage of nearly eighty days in two small open boats. It would seem nowadays utter madness to think of making a long voyage in such frail and unsuitable craft, and our adventurers had had the special perils of the Arctic seas superadded to the more ordinary dangers of the ocean. Eight weeks later they were enjoying the calm pleasures of their own firesides, after having been entertained at the Hague by the Prince of Orange.

A further interest attaches to the voyage from the recent discovery made by Captain Carlsen, while circ.u.mnavigating Nova Zembla, of the very house erected at Ice Haven by these adventurers, with many interesting relics, which had remained in tolerable preservation, and had been evidently unvisited for this great length of time. "No man," says Mr. Markham, "had entered the lonely dwelling where the famous discoverer of Spitzbergen had sojourned during the long winter of 1596 for nearly three centuries. There stood the cooking-pans over the fireplace, the old clock against the wall, the arms, the tools, the drinking-vessels, the instruments, and the books that had beguiled the weary hours of that long night, 278 years ago....

Perhaps the most touching is the pair of small shoes. There was a little cabin-boy among the crew, who died, as Gerrit de Veer tells us, during the winter. This accounts for the shoes having been left behind. There is a flute, too, once played by that poor boy, which will still give out a few notes."(24) The relics brought home by Carlsen were eventually taken to the Hague, where they are now preserved with jealous care.

In chronological order, a voyage of which there is little record left comes next. There is little doubt that William Adams-who, afterwards cast away on the coast of j.a.pan, is inseparably connected with the history of that country, and whose adventures will be considered in the proper place-did, in 1595 or 1596, make an attempt at the north-east pa.s.sage. The Prince of Orange had ordered him to try for a northern route to j.a.pan, China, and the Moluccas, considering that it would be shorter, and safer from the attacks of the pirates and corsairs who infested the more southern seas. Adams averred that he had reached 82 N., but that "the cold was so excessive, with so much sleet and snow driving down those straits, that he was compelled to return." And he a.s.serted that if he had kept close to the coast of Tartary, and had run along it to the eastward, to the opening of Anian, between the land of Asia and America, he might have succeeded in his undertaking.

Next comes the attempt of George Weymouth in 1602. He was despatched by the worshipful merchants of the Muscovy and Turkey Companies to attempt a north-west pa.s.sage to China. This voyage was an utter failure, and he never reached a higher lat.i.tude than 63 53' N. While proceeding to the north-west they pa.s.sed four islands of ice "of a huge bignesse," and about this time the fog was so thick that they could not see two ships' lengths before them, and the sails, shrouds, and ropes were frozen so stiff that they could not be handled. On July 19th the crew mutinied, and conspired to keep the captain confined to his cabin, while they reversed the ship's course and bore for England. Weymouth discovered this, and punished the ringleaders. The boats were on one occasion sent to an iceberg, to load some of it for fresh water, and as the men were breaking it "the great island of ice gave a mightie cracke two or three times, as though it had been a thunderclappe; and presently the island began to overthrow," which nearly swamped the boats. The whole account of Weymouth's voyage is confused and indefinite, but he evidently did nothing beyond cruising among the islands north of Hudson's Strait, and off Labrador.

In 1605, 1606, and 1607, three expeditions, of which James Hall, an Englishman, was pilot, were despatched to the Greenland coasts by the King of Denmark. They fancied on the first voyage that they had discovered a silver mine in Cunningham's Fiord, Greenland, and the second voyage was instigated in the hopes of filling the royal coffers with the precious metal. These voyages were in effect most fruitless. Several natives were carried off by Hall, who in return left three Danish malefactors on the Greenland coasts, a severe mode of banishment. While these voyages were in progress, the Muscovy and East India merchants had despatched a small barque, under the command of John Knight, for the discovery of the north-west pa.s.sage. Near Cape Guinington, on the coast of Labrador, a northerly gale, which brought down large quant.i.ties of drift ice, did much damage to the vessel, and she lost her rudder. Knight took the vessel into the most accessible cove in order to repair her, and went ash.o.r.e with the mate and four sailors, all well armed, to endeavour to find some more suitable harbour. On landing, Knight, the mate, and another, went up towards the highest part of the island, leaving the others to take charge of the boat. The latter waited some thirteen hours, but the captain and his companions did not return. Next day, a well-armed party from the ship went in search of them, but were unable to reach the island on account of the ice. No tidings were ever gleaned concerning their fate, but it was concluded that the savage natives had killed them, as later a number of these people came down and attacked the crew with great ferocity. They had large canoes, and the narrator describes them as "very little people, tawnie coloured, thin or no beards, and flat-nosed, and man-eaters." After patching up their vessel, they steered for Newfoundland, and later for England, which they reached in safety.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW ON THE HUDSON.]

CHAPTER XV.

Henry Hudson's Voyages-Projected Pa.s.sage over the Pole-Second Expedition-A Mermaid Sighted-Third Voyage in the Dutch Service-Discovery of the Hudson River-Last Voyage-Discovery of Hudson's Bay-Story of an Arctic Tragedy-Abacuk p.r.i.c.ket's Narrative-Their Winter Stay-Rise of a Mutiny-Hudson and Nine Companions Set Adrift and left to Die-Retribution-Four of the Mutineers Killed-Sufferings from Starvation-Death of a Ringleader-Arrival in Ireland-Suspicious Circ.u.mstances-Baffin's Voyages-Danish Expeditions to Greenland-Jens Munk and his Unfortunate Companions-Sixty-one Persons Starved to Death-Voyage of three Survivors Across the Atlantic-An unkingly King-Death of Munk-Moxon's Dutch Beer-house Story-Wood and Flawes-Wreck of Wood's Vessel-Knight's Fatal Expedition-Slow Starvation and Death of the whole Company-The Middleton and Dobbs' Agitation-20,000 offered for the Discovery of the North-west Pa.s.sage.

So many previous failures do not seem to have discouraged the London merchants, who, in 1607, renewed the search for a northern route to China and j.a.pan. Hitherto neither the north-east nor north-west had held out much hopes of success, and they now determined on a bold and novel attempt at _sailing over the Pole itself_. For this expedition Henry Hudson-already known as an experienced and intrepid seaman, and well-skilled in nautical science-was chosen commander. This adventurous navigator left Gravesend on May 1st, in a small barque, with only ten men and a boy. The very name and tonnage of the vessel have been forgotten, but it is known to have been of the tiniest description. In the second week of June Hudson fell in with land-a headland of East Greenland-the weather at the time being foggy, and the sails and shrouds frozen. He examined other parts of this coast, feeling doubtful whether he might not reach open water to the northward, and sail round Greenland, a voyage never made up to this day. Later he reached Spitzbergen, where the ice to the north utterly baffled all his efforts to force a pa.s.sage, and being short of supplies, he set sail for England. Next year we find him attempting a north-east pa.s.sage. He landed on Nova Zembla, and as he says himself, his "purpose was by the Waygats (Strait) to pa.s.se by the mouth of the river Ob (or Obi), and to double that way the north cape of Tartaria, or to give reasons wherefore it will not be." Finding quant.i.ties of morse or walrus, he delayed somewhat, hoping to defray part of the expenses of the voyage by obtaining ivory. Meantime he despatched a party up a large river flowing from the north-eastward, fancying, apparently, that it was an arm of the sea, which might lead them to the solution of the problem they sought. On this voyage, "one of our company," says Hudson, "looking overboard, saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the companie to see her once more come up, and by that time shee was come close to the ship's side, looking earnestly on the men; a little after a sea came and overturned her; from the navill upwards her backe and b.r.e.a.s.t.s were like a woman's (as they say that saw her), her body as big as one of us; her skin very white, and long haire hanging down behind, of colour blacke; in her going downe they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a porposse, and speeckled like a macrell. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner." All this is only another version of some walrus story.

On this as on the previous voyage, Hudson made some observations on the inclination or "dip" of the magnetic needle, and he is probably the first Englishman who had done so.

The following year (1609) we find Hudson on a third voyage of discovery, in the service of the Dutch. His movements were very erratic, and the only record left us does not explain them. He first doubled the North Cape, as though again in quest of the north-east pa.s.sage; then turned westward to Newfoundland; thence again south as far as Charleston (South Carolina); then north to Cape Cod, soon after which he discovered the beautiful Hudson River, at the mouth of which New York is now situated. Hudson's fourth and last voyage is that most intimately a.s.sociated with his name on account of the cruel tragedy which terminated his life, and lost England one of her bravest and most energetic explorers.

Several gentlemen of influence, among them Sir John Wolstenholme and Sir Dudley Digges, were so satisfied of the feasibility of making the north-west pa.s.sage, that they fitted out a vessel at their own expense, and gave the command to Henry Hudson. For reasons which will appear as we proceed, the accounts of the voyage itself are meagre. We know, however, that he discovered the Strait and "Mediterranean" Sea (the latter of which has since been called a bay, although somewhat improperly), and both of which still bear his name. The vessel appropriated for this service had the same name as one of those on Captain Nares' late expedition-_The Discovery_-and was of fifty-five tons burden, victualled only, as it seems, for six months. She left the Thames on April 17th, 1610, and on June 9th was off the entrance of Frobisher's Strait, where Hudson was compelled to ply to the westward, on account of the ice and contrary winds. During July and the early part of August several islands and headlands were sighted and named, and at length they discovered a great strait formed by the north-west point of Labrador and a cl.u.s.ter of islands, which led them into an extensive sea. Here Hudson's own testimony ends, and we are dependent on the narrative of one Abacuk p.r.i.c.ket, which is perfectly useless as regards any discoveries made, but which is probably correct as regards the mutiny about to be described, and the circ.u.mstances which preceded and followed it. The reader will, we imagine, form his own conclusions very speedily in regard to p.r.i.c.ket's own share in this brutal transaction, in spite of his constant protestations. The story in its sequel furnishes a significant example of the condition to which mutiny and lawlessness on board ship may bring the perpetrators.

Abacuk p.r.i.c.ket says that Hudson, being closely beset in the ice, and doubtful whether he should ever escape from it, brought out his chart, and showed the company that he had entered the strait a hundred leagues further than any Englishman before him, and, in spite of the dangers, very naturally wished to follow up his discoveries. He, however, put it to them whether they should sail forward or turn the ship's head towards England.

No decision appears to have been obtained, some wishing themselves at home, and others, sailor-like, saying they cared not where they were so long as they were out of the ice. The narrator admits, however, that "there were some who then spake words which were remembered a great while after."

The slumbering embers of mutiny appear to have been first fanned into a flame when Hudson displaced the mate and boatswain "for words spoken when in the ice," and appointed others. Still sailing southward, they entered a bay on Michaelmas day, and here the discontent was increased by Hudson insisting on weighing the anchor, while the crew was desirous of remaining there. Having voyaged for three months "in a labyrinth without end," they at length, on November 1st, found a suitable place to winter, and were soon frozen in. Hudson had taken into his house in London, apparently from sheer kindheartedness, a young man named Greene, of good and respectable parentage, but of a very dissolute and abandoned life, and had brought him to act as a kind of captain's clerk on this voyage. Greene was most undoubtedly an irreclaimable vagabond, as well as a most ungrateful person. He quarrelled with the surgeon and others on board, and was the leading conspirator in the mutinous proceedings against his benefactor, which were now fast ripening to a conclusion. p.r.i.c.ket speaks well of his "manhood"-which it is to be hoped he meant only as regarded his physical qualifications-"but for religion, he would say he was cleane paper, whereon he might write what he would." Although the ship's provisions were nearly exhausted, they obtained, during the first three months, as many as a hundred dozen white partridges, and, with more difficulty, in the early spring, a few swans, geese, and ducks. A little later these failed them, and they were reduced to eating moss and frogs. Later again, when the ice broke up, seven men were sent out with the boat, and returned with five hundred fish as big as good herrings. They were, however, unsuccessful afterwards, and when the ship left the bay in which they had wintered, had nothing left but short rations of bread for a fortnight, and five cheeses which gave three pounds and a half to each man. These were carefully and fairly divided by Hudson, and, as we are told in the narrative, "he wept when he gave it unto them."

The vessel stood to the north-west, and on June 21st, 1611, while entangled in the drift ice, p.r.i.c.ket says that Wilson the boatswain and Greene came to him and told him that they and the crew meant to turn the master and all the sick into the boat, and leave them to shift for themselves; that they had not eaten anything for three days, that there were not fourteen days' provisions left for the whole crew, and that they were determined "either to mend or end; and what they had begun they would go through with it or die." p.r.i.c.ket says that he attempted to dissuade them, but that they threatened him, and Greene bade him hold his tongue, for he himself would rather be hanged at home than starved abroad. A little later, five or six of the mutineers came to p.r.i.c.ket-he lying, as he says, lame in his cabin-and administered the following oath to him:-"You shall swear truth to G.o.d, your prince, and country; you shall do nothing but to the glory of G.o.d, and the good of the action in hand, and harm to no man." The signification of all this soon appeared, for on Hudson coming out of the cabin they seized him, and bound his arms behind him. He demanded what they meant, when he was told that he would find out when he was in the boat. The boat was hauled alongside, and Hudson, his son, and seven "sicke and lame men" were hustled into it; a fowling-piece, some powder and shot, a few pikes, an iron pot, a little meal, and some other articles, were thrown in at the same time. Only one man, John King, the carpenter, had the courage to face these fiends in human shape, and remonstrate with them. He wasted his words and efforts, and, determining not to abandon his captain, jumped into the boat, and the mutineers cut it adrift among the ice. We know the horrors that have overtaken strong and hearty men when obliged to trust to the boats in mid-ocean; in this case, of ten persons seven at least were helpless and crippled; and sad as is the fact, we can hardly wonder to find that nothing was ever gleaned concerning their fate. One shudders to think of their hopeless and inevitable doom, and that among them was lost one of the bravest and most intrepid of England's seamen.

But to this Arctic tragedy there was a sequel. As soon as the boat was out of sight p.r.i.c.ket says that Greene came to him and told him that he, p.r.i.c.ket, had been elected captain, and that he should take the master's cabin, which he pretends that he did with great reluctance. The mutineers soon began to quarrel about their course, and were for a whole fortnight shut in the ice, at the end of which time their provisions were all gone.

They had to subsist on c.o.c.kle-gra.s.s, which they found on some neighbouring islands. They now began to fear that England would be no safe place for them, and bl.u.s.tering "Henry Greene swore the shippe should not come into any place but keep the sea still, till he had the king's majesties hand and seale to shew for his safety." Greene shortly after dispossessed p.r.i.c.ket, and became captain, a position he did not enjoy long. Going ash.o.r.e on an island near Cape Digges to get some more gra.s.s and shoot some gulls, a quarrel ensued with a number of the natives, wherein Greene was killed, and three others died shortly afterwards from wounds received in the scuffle. p.r.i.c.ket, after fighting bravely, according to his own statement, was also severely wounded. The survivors were now in a fearful plight, and, except some sea-fowl which they managed to procure, were almost entirely without provisions. They, however, stood out to sea, shaping their course for Ireland. At length all their supplies were gone, and they were reduced to eating candles and fried skins and bones. Just before reaching Galloway Bay one of the chief mutineers died of sheer starvation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN SMITH'S SOUND.]

Such are the main points of p.r.i.c.ket's story, and possibly out of compa.s.sion for the sufferings they had undoubtedly endured, no inquiry or punishment followed their arrival. But a very suspicious circ.u.mstance has to be related: Hudson's journal, instead of terminating at the date, June 21st, on which he was thrust into the boat, finished on August 3rd of the previous year. p.r.i.c.ket had charge of the master's chest, and there can be little doubt but that all portions of the journal which might have implicated them had been destroyed. A subsequent navigator shrewdly remarks of these transactions: "Well, p.r.i.c.ket, I am in great doubt of thy fidelity to Master Hudson." Nevertheless, his character seems not to have suffered in the eyes of the merchant adventurers; for we find him employed next year in a voyage under Captain (afterwards Sir) Thomas b.u.t.ton, one object of which seems to have been to follow Hudson's track. They discovered and wintered in Hudson's River, but found no traces of the great navigator or his unfortunate companions. James Hall, who in 1612 left England on a voyage of northern discovery, and was mortally wounded by the dart of a Greenland Esquimaux, was accompanied by William Baffin, one of the most scientific navigators of his time. This expedition is noteworthy for having been the first on record where _longitudes_ were taken by observation of the heavenly bodies. Baffin accompanied Bylot in 1615 on a voyage to the north-west. After sighting and leaving Greenland, many enormous icebergs were met, some upwards of two hundred feet out of the water. Baffin records one two hundred and forty feet high above the sea, and says that on the usual computation,(25) it must have been "one thousand sixe hundred and eightie foote from the top to the bottome." A voyage made by the same navigators in 1616 is princ.i.p.ally interesting on account of the discovery of Sir Thomas Smythe's (now-a-days abbreviated to "plain" Smith) Sound. About this period also the pursuit of the whale and walrus was creating great attention from the large profits accruing to the merchants and companies engaged in it. Baffin accompanied an expedition sent out by the Muscovy Company, consisting of six ships and a pinnace, and off Spitzbergen they encountered no less than eight Spanish, four French, two Dutch, and some Biscayan vessels. Nevertheless, "the English having taken possession of the whole country in the name of his Majesty, prohibited all the others from fishing, and sent them away, excepting such as they were pleased to grant leave to remain." Baffin expected that the Spanish would, at all events, have objected to this rather high-handed course, and "fought with us, but they submitted themselves unto the generall." About this period there was a very large number of more or less important voyages made, which may be termed of a mixed character. Although sent out for purely commercial purposes, they were the means of adding something to our knowledge of geography. Baffin made more than one voyage after this, accompanying one whaling expedition which consisted of ten ships and two pinnaces. The results of some of these voyages will be more particularly mentioned when we come to consider the inhabitants of the Sea.

In 1619 Christian IV. of Denmark sent out an expedition to Greenland, and for northern discovery generally, under the command of Jens Munk, an experienced seaman. The two vessels employed were mainly manned by English sailors who had served on previous Arctic voyages. Munk left Elsinore on May 18th, and a month afterwards made Cape Farewell. He endeavoured to stand up Davis's Strait, but the ice preventing he retraced his course, eventually pa.s.sing through Hudson's Strait, to which, with the northern part of Hudson's Bay, he attached new names, in apparent ignorance of previous discoveries. He made the coast of America in lat.i.tude 63 20', where he was compelled to seek shelter in an opening of the land, which he named Munk's Winter Harbour. To the surrounding country he gave the name of New Denmark. The year being advanced-it was now September 7th-huts were immediately constructed, and his company were at first very successful in obtaining game-partridges, hares, foxes, and white bears. Several mock suns were observed, and on December 18th an eclipse of the moon occurred, during which this luminary was surrounded by a transparent circle, within which was a cross quartering the moon. This phenomenon was regarded with alarm, and as a harbinger of the misfortunes which soon followed. The weather was intensely cold; their wine, beer, and brandy, were frozen, and the casks burst. The scurvy made its appearance in virulent form, and a Danish authority states it was mostly occasioned by the too free use of spirituous liquors. Their bread and provisions became exhausted, and none of them had strength to hunt or seek other supplies. One by one they succ.u.mbed, till out of sixty-four persons hardly one remained. When Munk, who, reduced to a skeleton, had remained for some time alone in a little hut in an utterly hopeless and broken-hearted condition, ventured to crawl out, he found only two others alive. But the spring had come, and, making one last effort, they went forth, and removing the snow found some roots and plants, which they eagerly devoured. They succeeded in obtaining a few fish, and, later, killed some birds. Their strength returning, they equipped the smaller vessel as well as they were able, and set sail on an apparently hopeless voyage, but in spite of storms and other perils succeeded at length in reaching Norway, where they were received as men risen from the grave. Munk must have possessed an undaunted spirit, for we find him almost immediately proposing to make an attempt at the north-west pa.s.sage, in spite of all the sufferings he had just undergone. A subscription was raised, and a vessel prepared. On taking leave of the court, the king, in admonishing him to be more cautious, appeared to ascribe the loss of his crew to some mismanagement. Munk replied hotly, and the king, forgetting his own proper dignity, struck the brave navigator with a cane. The old sailor left the presence of this unkingly king, smarting under a sense of outrage which he could not forget; and we are told that he took to his bed and died of a broken heart very shortly afterwards. The story, however, is discredited by some authorities. Some thirty years later Denmark again furnished an expedition, under the command of Captain Danells, to explore East Greenland. He could rarely approach the ice-girt coast nearer than eighteen or twenty miles, and subsequent attempts have been little more successful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOCK SUNS.]