The Voyage Of The Vega Round Asia And Europe Part 18

1676. WOOD and FLAWES were sent out from England by Charles II. to sail by the north-east pa.s.sage to the Pacific. For this purpose the English Admiralty fitted out a vessel, the _Speedwell_, while "as all exploratory voyages are exposed to the possibility of disaster,"

another small ship, the _Prosperous_, was purchased and handed over to the expedition by private gentlemen.[148] The command of the first vessel was given to Captain Wood, the chief promoter of the undertaking, and the other vessel was commanded by Captain Flawes.

The voyage was completely without result, as Wood did not penetrate so far, either to the north or east, as his predecessors or as the whalers, who appear to have at that time frequently visited North Novaya Zemlya. Wood had previously accompanied Sir John Narborough during a voyage through the dangerous Magellan Straits, in the course of which he became known as a bold and skilful seaman, but he not only wanted experience in sailing amongst ice, but also the endurance and the coolness that are required for voyages in the high north. He thereby showed himself to be quite unfit for the command which he undertook. Before his departure he was unreasonably certain of success; with the first encounter with ice his self-reliance gave way entirely; and when his vessel was wrecked on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, he knew no other way to keep up the courage of his men and prevent mutiny than to send the brandy bottle round.[149] Finally after his return he made Barents and other distinguished seafarers in the Arctic Regions answerable for all the skipper tales collected from quite other quarters, which he before his departure held to be proved undoubtedly true. This voyage would therefore not have been referred to here, if it had not been preceded and followed by lively discussions regarding the fitness of the Polar Sea for navigation, during which at least a portion of the experience which Dutch and English whalers had gained of the state of the ice between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya was rescued from oblivion, though unfortunately almost exclusively in the form of unconfirmed statements of very high lat.i.tudes, which had been occasionally reached. Three papers mainly led to Wood's voyage. These were:--

1. A letter, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,[150]

on the state of Novaya Zemlya, said to be founded on discoveries which had been made at the express command of the Czar.

The letter was accompanied by a map, drawn by an artist named Panelapoetski, who sent it from Moscow as a present to the writer.

The Kara Sea is said to be a freshwater inland lake which freezes strongly in winter, and it is stated that according to the unanimous accounts of the Samoyeds and Tartars it is quite possible to sail north of Novaya Zemlya to j.a.pan.

2. Another letter was inserted in the _Transactions_ of the Royal Society,[151] in which the statement in the former letter on the connection of Novaya Zemlya with the mainland is repeated, and the difficulties which Barents met with ascribed to the circ.u.mstance that he sailed too near the land, along which the sea is often frozen; some miles from the sh.o.r.e, on the other hand, it never freezes, even at the Pole, unless occasionally. It is also said that some Amsterdam merchants sailed more than a hundred leagues eastward of Novaya Zemlya, and on that account pet.i.tioned the States-General for privileges.[152] However, in consequence of opposition from the Dutch East India Company, their pet.i.tion was not granted, on which the merchants turned to Denmark. Here their proposal was immediately received with favour. Two vessels were fitted out, but instead of sailing to j.a.pan, they went to Spitzbergen to the whale-fishing. It is further stated in the letter that it would not be unadvisable to let some persons live for a time with the Samoyeds, in order to find out what they knew of the matter, and that, when a more complete knowledge of the navigable waters was acquired, the whole voyage from England to j.a.pan might be accomplished in five or six weeks.

Were a wintering necessary, it would not be attended with any danger, if, instead of a house of thick planks standing by itself, earth huts were used.

3. A pamphlet, whose contents are given in the long and peculiar t.i.tle: "A brief Discourse of a Pa.s.sage by the North-Pole to j.a.pan, China, etc. Pleaded by Three Experiments: and Answers to all Objections that can be urged against a Pa.s.sage that way. As: 1. By a Navigation from Amsterdam into the North-Pole, and two Degrees beyond it. 2. By a Navigation from j.a.pan towards the North-Pole. 3.

By an Experiment made by the Czar of Muscovy, whereby it appears, that to the Northwards of Nova Zembla is a free and open Sea as far as j.a.pan, China, etc. With a Map of all the Discovered Lands neerest to the Pole. By Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King's most Exellent Majesty. London, 1674."

The most remarkable pa.s.sage in this scarce little book is the following:--

"Being about twenty-two years ago in Amsterdam, I went into a drinking-house to drink a cup of beer for my thirst, and sitting by the public fire, among several people, there happened a seaman to come in, who, seeing a friend of his there, whom he knew went in the Greenland voyage, wondered to see him, because it was not yet time for the Greenland fleet to come home, and asked him what accident brought him home so soon; his friend (who was the steer-man aforsaid in a Greenland ship that summer) told him, that their ship went not out to fish that summer, but only to take in the lading of the whole fleet, to bring it to an early market. But, said he, before the fleet had caught fish enough to lade us, we, by order of the Greenland Company, sailed unto the north pole and back again. Whereupon (his relation being novel to me) I entered into discourse with him, and seemed to question the truth of what he said; but he did ensure me it was true, and that the ship was then in Amsterdam, and many of the seamen belonging to her to justify the truth of it; and told me, moreover, that they had sailed two degrees beyond the pole. I asked him if they found no land or islands about the pole? He told me, No, they saw no ice; I asked him what weather they had there? He told me fine warm weather, such as was at Amsterdam in the summer time and as hot."[153]

In addition to these stories there were several contributions to a solution of the problem, which Wood himself collected, as a statement by Captain Goulden, who had made thirty voyages to Spitzbergen, that two Dutchmen had penetrated eastward of that group of islands to 89 N.L.; the observation that on the coast of Corea whales had been caught with European harpoons in them;[154]

and that driftwood eaten to the heart by the sea-worm was found on the coasts of the Polar lands, &c.[155]

When Wood failed, he abandoned the views he had before maintained, declaring that the statements on which he had founded his plans were downright lies and delusions. But the belief in a polar sea that is occasionally navigable is not yet given up. It has since then been maintained by such men as DAINES BARRINGTON,[156] FERDINAND VON WRANGEL, AUGUSTUS PETERMANN,[157] and others. Along with nearly all Polar travellers of the present day, I had long been of an opposite opinion, believing the Polar Sea to be constantly covered with impenetrable ma.s.ses of ice, continuous or broken up, but I have come to entertain other views since in the course of two winterings--the first in 7953', that is to say, nearer the Pole than any other has wintered in the old world, the second in the neighbourhood of the Asiatic Pole of cold--I have seen that the sea does not freeze completely, even in the immediate neighbourhood of land. From this I draw the conclusion that the sea scarcely anywhere permanently[158] freezes over where it is of any considerable depth, and far from land. If this be the case, there is nothing unreasonable in the old accounts, and what has happened once we may expect to happen another time.

However this may be, it is certain that the ignominious result of Wood's voyage exerted so great a deterring influence from all new undertakings in the same direction, that nearly two hundred years elapsed before an expedition was again sent out with the distinctly declared intention, which was afterwards disavowed, of achieving a north-east pa.s.sage. This was the famous Austrian expedition of PAYER and WEYPRECHT in 1872-74, which failed indeed in penetrating far to the eastward, but which in any case formed an epoch in the history of Arctic exploration by the discovery of Franz-Josef's Land and by many valuable researches on the natural conditions of the Polar lands. Considered as a North-east voyage, this expedition was the immediate predecessor of that of the _Vega_.

It is so well known through numerous works recently published, and above all by Payer's spirited narrative, that I need not go into further detail regarding it.

But if the North-east voyages proper thus almost entirely ceased during the long interval between Wood's and Payer's voyages, a large number of other journeys for the purpose of research and hunting were instead carried out during this period, through which we obtained the first knowledge founded on actual observations of the natural conditions of Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea. Of these voyages, mainly made by Russians and Scandinavians, I shall give an account in the next chapter. It was these that prepared the way for the success which we at last achieved.

[Footnote 102: In Bosworth's translation this name is replaced by _White Sea_, an unnecessary modernising of the name, and incorrect besides, as the White Sea is only a bay of the ocean which bounds Europe on the north. ]

[Footnote 103: The Russian chronicles state that the land between the Dwina and the Petchora (Savolotskaja Tchud) was made tributary under the Slavs in Novgorod during the first half of the ninth century. A monastery is spoken of in the beginning of the twelfth century at the mouth of the Dwina, whence we may conclude that the land was even then partly peopled by Russians, but we want trustworthy information as to the time when the Russian-Finnish Arctic voyages began (compare F. Litke, _Viermalige Reise durch das nordliche Eismeer_. Berlin, 1835, p. 3). ]

[Footnote 104: The voyage is described in _Hakluyt_, 1st Edition, p.

311. It is inserted in the list of contents in the following terms: "The voyage of Steven Burrough towarde the river Ob, intending the discoverie of the north-east pa.s.sage. An. 1556." It appears from the introduction to Hakluyt's work that the narrative was revised by Burrough himself. In the text Burrowe is written instead of Burrough. ]

[Footnote 105: As I have already mentioned, von Herbertstein states that the Russians (Istoma and others) as early as 1496 sailed round the northern extremity of Norway in boats, which when necessary could be carried over land. North Cape, or rather Nordkyn, was called at that time Murmanski Nos (the Norman Cape). When Hulsius in his collection of travels gives von Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage, he considers Swjatoi Nos on the Kola peninsula to be North Cape (Harnel, _Tradescant_, St. Petersburg, 1847, p. 40). ]

[Footnote 106: This must be a slip of the pen or an error of the press; it was probably intended to be 68 48'. Kola lies in 68 51' N.L. ]

[Footnote 107: This statement is very remarkable. For it shows that the vessels, that were then used by the Russians and Fins, were not very inferior as compared with those of the West-Europeans, which is confirmed by the fact, among others, that, nowhere in accounts of the voyages of the English or Dutch in former times to Novaya Zemlya, do we find it stated that in respect to navigation they were very superior to the Kola men. As the Russian-Finnish _lodjas_ of the time were probably beyond the influence of the shipbuilding art of Western Europe, it is of importance to collect all that is known about the way in which these vessels were built. Several drawings of them occur in the accounts of the Dutch voyages, but it is uncertain how far they are accurate. According to these the _lodja_ was klinker-built, with boards not riveted together but bound fast with willows, as is still occasionally practised in these regions. The form of the craft besides reminds us of that of the present walrus-hunting sloop. ]

[Footnote 108: Cape Voronov, on the west side of the mouth of the river Mesen. ]

[Footnote 109: Probably mountain foxes. Remains of these fox-traps are still frequently met with along the coast of the Polar Sea, where the Russians have carried on hunting. ]

[Footnote 110: Kanin Nos is in 68 30' N.L. ]

[Footnote 111: This was the first meeting between West-Europeans and Samoyeds. ]

[Footnote 112: The capes which bound the mouth of the Petchora--Cape Ruski Savorot and Cape Medinski Savorot,--are very nearly in lat.

69. ]

[Footnote 113: See above, page 168. ]

[Footnote 114: Evidently islands near the southern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. ]

[Footnote 115: Probably he was of Finnish race. The Quaens in North Norway are still the most skilful harpooners. In recent times they have found rivals in skill with the harpoon and gun in the Lapps. ]

[Footnote 116: The information Burrough obtained regarding the Samoyeds is given above at page 100. ]

[Footnote 117: From the context, and the circ.u.mstance that "much ice was drifting in the sea," we may conclude that this haven was situated on the north side of the island at the entrance to the Kara Port. ]

[Footnote 118: Probably the river which on Ma.s.sa's map is called Narontza, and debouches on the west coast of Yalmal. ]

[Footnote 119: All the three vessels that were employed in the first English expedition to the North-east had an unfortunate fate, viz.:

The _Edward Bonaventure_, commanded by Chancelor and Burrough, sailed in 1553 from England to the White Sea, returned to England in 1554 and was on the way plundered by the Dutch (_Purchas_, iii. p.

250); started again with Chancelor for the Dwina in 1555, and returned the same year to England under Captain John Buckland; accompanied Burrough in 1556 to the Kola peninsula; went thence to the Dwina to convey to England Chancelor and a Russian emba.s.sy, consisting of the amba.s.sador Ossip Gregorjevitsch Nepeja and a suite of sixteen men; the vessel besides being laden with goods to the value of 20,000_l_. It was wrecked in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen (Aberdour Bay) on the 20th (10th) November. Chancelor himself, his wife, and seven Russians were drowned, and most of the cargo lost.

The _Bona Esperanza_, admiral of the fleet during the expedition of 1553. Its commander and whole crew perished, as has been already stated, of disease at Arzina on the coast of Kola in the beginning of 1554. The vessel was saved and was to have been used in 1556 to carry to England the Russian emba.s.sy already mentioned. After having been driven by a storm into the North Sea, it reached a harbour in the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, but after leaving that harbour disappeared completely, nothing being known of its fate.

The _Bona Confidentia_ was saved like the _Bona Esperanza_ after the disastrous wintering at Arzina; was also used in conveying the Russian emba.s.sy from Archangel in 1556, but stranded on the Norwegian coast, every man on board perishing and the whole cargo being lost.

Of the four vessels that left the Dwina on the 2nd August, 1556, only the _Philip and Mary_ succeeded, after wintering at Trondhjem, in reaching the Thames on the 28th (18th) April, 1557. (A letter of Master Henrie Lane to the worshipfull Master William Sanderson, containing a brief discourse of that which pa.s.sed in the north-east discoverie, for the s.p.a.ce of three and thirtie yeeres, _Purchas_, iii. p. 249.) ]

[Footnote 120: Hamel, _Tradescant der altere_, p. 106. Hakluyt, 1st Edition, p. 326. _The voiage of the foresaid M. Stephen Burrough An_. 1557 _from Colmogro to Wordhouse, &c._ This voyage of Burrough has attracted little attention; from it however we learn that the Dutch even at that time carried on an extensive commerce with Russian Lapland. In the same narrative there is also a list of words with statements of prices and suitable goods for trade with the inhabitants of the Kola peninsula. ]

[Footnote 121: Two accounts of this voyage are to be found in Hakluyt's collection (pp. 466 and 476). A copy of Pet's own journal was discovered some years ago, along with other books, frozen in among the remains of Barents' wintering on the north-east side of Novaya Zemlya. It has not been published, but is in the possession of Consul Rein at Hammerfest. ]

[Footnote 122: The Russians had thus landmarks on Novaya Zemlya 300 years ago. ]

[Footnote 123: It is commonly a.s.sumed that Pet sailed into the Kara Sea through Yugor Schar, but that this was not the case is shown partly by the fact that he never speaks of sailing through a long and narrow sound, partly by the account of the many islands which he saw in his voyage, and partly by the statement that coming from the south he sailed round the westernmost promontory of Vaygats Island.

If we except small rocks near the sh.o.r.e, there are no islands off the southern part of Vaygats Island. In sailing east of Medinski Savorot, Pet took the land south of Yugor Schar for Vaygats, and the soundings on the 29th (19th) July were carried out undoubtedly in the mouth of some small river debouching there. ]

[Footnote 124: Of Jackman Hakluyt says (2nd Edition, i. p. 453): "William with Charles Jackman came to a haven in Norway between Tronden and Rostock in October, 1580, and wintered there. Thence the following February he went with a vessel, belonging to the king of Denmark, to Iceland, and since then nothing has been heard of him."

About that time an English ship stranded at the Ob, and the crew were killed by the Samoyeds. It has been conjectured that it possibly was Jackman (compare _Purchas_, iii. p. 546; _Hamel_, p.

238). It is more probable that the vessel which suffered this fate was that which, two years before Pet and Jackman's voyage, appears to have been sent out by the Muscovy Company to penetrate eastwards from the Petchora. The members of this expedition were James Ba.s.sendine, James Woodc.o.c.ke, and Richard Brown, but we know nothing concerning it except the very sensible and judicious rules that were drawn up for the expedition (_Hakluyt_, 1st Edition, p. 406). ]

[Footnote 125: I have not been able to find any name resembling this on modern maps. ]

[Footnote 126: _A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions._ London, 1818, p. 99. ]

[Footnote 127: His proper name was Willem Barentszoon; it was also written Barentz, Barendsz, Bernardsson, &c. Barents' three voyages formed the subject of a work by GERRIT DE VEER, which was published for the first time in 1598 at Amsterdam in a Dutch, a Latin, and a French edition. The last-mentioned has the following t.i.tle: _Vray Description de Trois Voyages des Mer tres admirables faicis_ ...

_par les navires d'Hollande &c. Zelande au nord_ ... _vers les Royaumes de China &c. Catay, etc._ Afterwards this work was frequently reprinted in different languages, both singly and in DE BEY'S, PURCHAS', and other collections of Travels. See on this point P.A. Tiele, _Memoire bibliographique sur les journaux des navigateurs Neerlandais_. Amsterdam, 1867. ]

[Footnote 128: From two large crosses which were found erected on the island. This shows that the Russians had also explored the north part of Novaya Zemlya before the West-Europeans. ]