The Voyage Of The Vega Round Asia And Europe Part 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: NORSE SHIP OF THE TENTH CENTURY. Drawn with reference to the vessel found at Sandefjord in 1880, under the superintendence of Ingvald Undset, a.s.sistant at the Christiania University's collection of Northern antiquities. ]

It appears from Othere's simple and very clear narrative that he undertook a veritable voyage of discovery in order to explore the unknown lands and sea lying to the north-east. This voyage was also very rich in results, as in the course of it the northernmost part of Europe was circ.u.mnavigated. Nor perhaps is there any doubt that during this voyage Othere penetrated as far as to the mouth of the Dwina or at least of the Mesen in the land of the Beormas.[27] We learn from the narrative besides, that the northernmost part of Scandinavia was already, though spa.r.s.ely, peopled by Lapps, whose mode of life did not differ much from that followed by their descendants, who live on the coast at the present day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of North Europe, from Nicholas Donis's edition of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, Ulm, 1482. ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of the North, from Jakob Ziegler's _Schondia_, Stra.s.sburg, 1532. ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of North Europe from _Olai Magni Historia de gentium septentrionalium variis conditionibus_, Basil, 1567. ]

The Scandinavian race first migrated to Finmark and settled there in the 13th century, and from that period there was naturally spread abroad in the northern countries a greater knowledge of those regions, which, however, was for a long time exceedingly incomplete, and even in certain respects less correct than Othere's. The idea of the northernmost parts of Europe, which was current during the first half of the 16th century, is shown by lithographed copies of two maps of the north, one dated 1482, the other 1532,[28] which are appended to this work. On the latter of these Greenland is still delineated as connected with Norway in the neighbourhood of Vardoehus. This map, however, is grounded, according to the statement of the author in the introduction, among other sources, on the statements of two archbishops of the diocese of Nidaro,[29] to which Greenland and Finmark belonged, and from whose inhabited parts expeditions were often undertaken both for trade and plunder, by land and sea, as far away as to the land of the Beormas. It is difficult to understand how with such maps of the distribution of land in the north the thought of the north-east pa.s.sage could arise, if voices were not even then raised for an altogether opposite view, grounded partly on a survival of the old idea, we may say the old popular belief, that Asia, Europe and Africa were surrounded by water, partly on stories of Indians having been driven by wind to Europe, along the north coast of Asia.[30] To these was added in 1539 the map of the north by the Swedish bishop OLAUS MAGNUS,[31]

which for the first time gave to Scandinavia an approximately correct boundary towards the north. Six hundred years,[32] in any case, had run their course before Othere found a successor in Sir Hugh Willoughby; and it is usual to pa.s.s by the former, and to ascribe to the latter the honour of being the first in that long succession of men who endeavoured to force a pa.s.sage by the north-east from the Atlantic Ocean to China.

Here however it ought to be remarked that while such maps as those of Ziegler were published in western Europe, other and better knowledge of the regions in question prevailed in the north. For it may be considered certain that Norwegians, Russians and Karelians often travelled in boats on peaceful or warlike errands, during the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, from the west coast of Norway to the White Sea, and in the opposite direction, although we find nothing on record regarding such journeys except the account that SIGISMUND VON HERBERSTEIN[33] gives, in his famous book on Russia, of the voyage of GREGORY ISTOMA and the envoy DAVID from the White Sea to Trondhjem in the year 1496.

The voyage is inserted under the distinctive t.i.tle _Navigatio per Mare Glaciale_[34] and the narrative begins with an explanation that Herbertstein got it from Istoma himself, who, when a youth, had learned Latin in Denmark. As the reasons for choosing the unusual, long, "but safe" circuitous route over the North Sea in preference to the shorter way that was usually taken, Istoma gives the disputes between Sweden and Russia, and the revolt of Sweden against Denmark, at the time when the voyage was undertaken (1496). After giving an account of his journey from Moscow to the mouth of the Dwina, he continues thus:--

"After having gone on board of four boats, they kept first along the right bank of the ocean, where they saw very high mountain, peaks;[35] and after having in this way travelled sixteen miles, and crossed an arm of the sea, they followed the western strand, leaving on their right the open sea, which like the neighbouring mountains has its name from the river Petzora. They came here to a people called Fin-Lapps, who, though they dwell in low wretched huts by the sea, and live almost like wild beasts, in any case are said to be much more peaceable than the people who are called wild Lapps. Then, after they had pa.s.sed the land of the Lapps and sailed forward eighty miles, they came to the land, Nortpoden, which is part of the dominions of the King of Sweden. This region the Rutheni call Kayenska Selma, and the people they call Kayeni. After sailing thence along a very indented coast which jutted out to the right, they came to a peninsula, called the Holy Nose,[36] consisting of a great rock, which like a nose projects into the sea. But in this there is a grotto or hollow which for six hours at a time swallows up water, and then with great noise and din casts out again in whirls the water which it had swallowed. Some call it the navel of the sea, others Charybdis. It is said that this whirlpool has such power, that it draws to itself ships and other things in its neighbourhood and swallows them. Istoma said that he had never been in such danger as at that place, because the whirlpool drew the ship in which he travelled with such force, that it was only by extreme exertion at the oars that they could escape. After pa.s.sing this _Holy Nose_ they came to a rocky promontory, which they had to sail round. After having waited here some days on account of head winds, the skipper said: 'This rock, which ye see, is called Semes, and we shall not get so easily past it if it be not propitiated by some offering.' Istoma said that he reproved the skipper for his foolish superst.i.tion, on which the reprimanded skipper said nothing more. They waited thus the fourth day at the place on account of the stormy state of the sea, but after that the storm ceased, and the anchor was weighed. When the voyage was now continued with a favourable wind, the skipper said: 'You laughed at my advice to propitiate the Semes rock, and considered it a foolish superst.i.tion, but it certainly would have been impossible for us to get past it, if I had not secretly by night ascended the rock and sacrificed.'

To the inquiry what he had offered, the skipper replied: 'I scattered oatmeal mixed with b.u.t.ter on the projecting rock which we saw.' As they sailed further they came to another great promontory, called Motka, resembling a peninsula. At the end of this there was a castle, Barthus, which means _vakthus_, watch-house, for there the King of Norway keeps a guard to protect his frontiers. The interpreter said that this promontory was so long that it could scarcely be sailed round in eight days, on which account, in order not to be delayed in this way, they carried their boats and baggage with great labour on their shoulders over land for the distance of about half a mile.

They then sailed on along the land of the Dikilopps or wild Lapps to a place which is called Dront (Trondhjem) and lies 200 miles north of[37] the Dwina. And they said that the prince of Moscow used to receive tribute as far as to this place."

The narrative is of interest, because it gives us an idea of the way in which men travelled along the north coast of Norway, four hundred years ago. It may possibly have had an indirect influence on the sending of Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition, as the edition of Herbertstein's work printed at Venice in 1550 probably soon became known to the Venetian, Cabot, who, at that time, as Grand Pilot of England, superintended with great care the fitting out of the first English expedition to the north-east.

There is still greater probability that the map of Scandinavia by Olaus Magnus, already mentioned, was known in England before 1553.

This map is an expression of a view which before that time had taken root in the north, which, in opposition to the maps of the South-European cosmographers, a.s.sumed the existence of an open sea-communication in the north, between the Chinese Sea and the Atlantic, and which even induced GUSTAF VASA to attempt to bring about a north-east expedition. This unfortunately did not come to completion, and all that we know of it is contained in a letter to the Elector August of Saxony, from the Frenchman HUBERT LANGUET, who visited Sweden in 1554. In this letter, dated 1st April 1576, Languet says:--"When I was in Sweden twenty-two years ago, King Gustaf often talked with me about this sea route. At last he urged me to undertake a voyage in this direction, and promised to fit out two vessels with all that was necessary for a protracted voyage, and to man them with the most skilful seamen, who should do what I ordered. But I replied that I preferred journeys in inhabitated regions to the search for new unsettled lands."[38] If Gustaf Vasa had found a man fit to carry out his great plans, it might readily have happened that Sweden would have contended with England for the honour of opening the long series of expeditions to the north-east.[39]

England's navigation is at present greater beyond comparison than that of any other country, but it is not of old date. In the middle of the sixteenth century it was still very inconsiderable, and mainly confined to coast voyages in Europe, and a few fishing expeditions to Iceland and Newfoundland.[40] The great power of Spain and Portugal by sea, and their jealousy of other countries rendered it impossible at that period for foreign seafarers to carry on traffic in the East-Asiatic countries, which had been sketched by Marco Polo with so attractive accounts of unheard-of richness in gold and jewels, in costly stuffs, in spices and perfumes. In order that the merchants of northern Europe might obtain a share of the profit, it appeared to be necessary to discover new routes, inaccessible to the armadas of the Pyrenean peninsula. Here lies the explanation of the zeal with which the English and the Dutch, time after time, sent out vessels, equipped at great expense, in search of a new way to India and China, either by the Pole, by the north-west, along the north coast of the new world, or by the north-east, along the north coast of the old. The voyages first ceased when the maritime supremacy of Spain and Portugal was broken.

By none of them was the intended object gained, but it is remarkable that in any case they gave the first start to the development of England's ocean navigation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY. (After a portrait in the Great Picture Hall, Greenwich.) ]

Sir HUGH WILLOUOUGHBY's in 1553 was thus the first maritime expedition undertaken on a large scale, which was sent from England to far distant seas. The equipment of the vessels was carried out with great care under the superintendence of the famous navigator, Sebastian Cabot, then an old man, who also gave the commander precise instructions how he should behave in the different incidents of the voyage. Some of these instructions now indeed appear rather childish,[41] but others might still be used as rules for every well-ordered exploratory expedition. Sir Hugh besides obtained from Edward VI. an open letter written, in Latin, Greek, and several other languages, in which it was stated that discoveries and the making of commercial treaties were the sole objects of the expedition; and the people, with whom the expedition might come in contact, were requested to treat Sir Hugh Willoughby as they themselves would wish to be treated in case they should come to England. So sanguine were the promoters of the voyage of its success in reaching the Indian seas by this route, that they caused the ships that were placed at Sir Hugh Willoughby's disposal to be sheathed with lead in order to protect them from the attacks of the teredo and other worms.[43] These vessels were:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: SEBASTIAN CABOT. After a portrait in E. Vale Blake's Arctic Experiences, London. 1874.[42] ]

1. The _Bona Esperanza_, admiral of the fleet, of 120 tons burden, on board of which was Sir Hugh Willoughby, himself, as captain general of the fleet. The number of persons in this ship, including Willoughby, the master of the vessel, William Gefferson, and six merchants, was thirty-five.

2. The _Edward Bonaventure_, of 160 tons burden, the command of which was given to Richard Chancelor, captain and pilot major of the fleet. There were on board this vessel fifty men, including two merchants. Among the crew whose names are given in Hakluyt we find the name of Stephen Burrough, afterwards renowned in the history of the north-east pa.s.sage, and that of Arthur Pet.

3. The _Bona Confidentia_, of ninety tons, under command of Cornelius Durfoorth, with twenty-eight men, including three merchants.

The expense of fitting out the vessels amounted to a sum of 6,000 pounds, divided into shares of 25 pounds. Sir Hugh Willoughby was chosen commander "both by reason of his goodly personage (for he was of tall stature) as also for his singular skill in the services of warre."[44] In order to ascertain the nature of the lands of the east, two "Tartars" who were employed at the royal stables were consulted, but without any information being obtained from them. The ships left Ratcliffe the 20/10th May 1553.[45] They were towed down by the boats, "the mariners being apparelled in watchet or skie coloured cloth," with a favourable wind to Greenwich, where the court then was. The King being unwell could not be present, but "the courtiers came running out, and the common people flockt together, standing very thicke upon the sh.o.a.re; the Privie Consel, they lookt out at the windowes of the court, and the rest ran up to the toppes of the towers; the shippes hereupon discharge their ordinance, and shoot off their pieces after the maner of warre, and of the sea, insomuch that the tops of the hilles sounded therewith, the valleys and the waters gave an echo, and the mariners they shouted in such sort, that the skie rang again with the noise thereof."[46] All was joy and triumph; it seemed as if men foresaw that the greatest maritime power, the history of the world can show, was that day born.

The voyage itself was, however, very disastrous for Sir Hugh and many of his companions. After sailing along the east coast of England and Scotland the three vessels crossed in company to Norway, the coast of which came in sight the 24/14th July in 66 N.L.

A landing was effected and thirty small houses were found, whose inhabitants had fled, probably from fear of the foreigners. The region was called, as was afterwards ascertained, "Halgeland," and was just that part of Norway from which Othere began his voyage to the White Sea. Hence they sailed on along the coast. On the 6th Aug/27th July they anch.o.r.ed in a harbour, "Stanfew" (perhaps Steenfjord on the west coast of Lofoten), where they found a numerous and friendly population, with no articles of commerce, however, but dried fish and train oil. In the middle of September the _Edward Bonaventure_, at Senjen during a storm, parted company with the two other vessels. These now endeavoured to reach Vardoehus, and therefore sailed backwards and forwards in different directions, during which they came among others to an uninhabited, ice-encompa.s.sed land, along whose coast the sea was so shallow that it was impossible for a boat to land. It was said to be situated 480' east by north from Senjen, in 72 N.L.[47] Hence they sailed first to the north, then to the south-east. Thus they reached the coast of Russian Lapland, where, on the 28/18th September they found a good harbour, in which Sir Hugh determined to pa.s.s the winter. The harbour was situated at the mouth of the river Arzina "near Kegor." Of the further fate of Sir Hugh Willoughby and his sixty-two companions, we know only that during the course of the winter they all perished, doubtless of scurvy. The journal of the commander ends with the statement that immediately after the arrival of the vessels three men were sent south-south west, three west, and three south-east to search if they could find people, but that they all returned "without finding of people or any similitude of habitation." The following year Russian fishermen found at the wintering station the ships and dead bodies of those who had thus perished, together with the journal from which the extract given above is taken, and a will witnessed by Willoughby,[48] from which it appeared that he himself and most of the company of the two ships were alive in January, 1554.[49] The two vessels, together with Willoughby's corpse, were sent to England in 1555 by the merchant George Killingworth.[50]

With regard to the position of Arzina it appears from a statement in Anthony Jenkinson's first voyage (_Hakluyt_, p. 335) that it took seven days to go from Vardoehus to Swjatoinos, and that on the sixth he pa.s.sed the mouth of the river where Sir Hugh Willoughby wintered.

At a distance from Vardoehus of about six-sevenths of the way between that town and Swjatoinos, there debouches into the Arctic Ocean, in 68 20' N.L. and 38 30' E.L. from Greenwich, a river, which in recent maps is called the Varzina. It was doubtless at the mouth of this river that two vessels of the first North-east Pa.s.sage Expedition wintered with so unfortunate an issue for the officers and men.

The third vessel, the _Edward Bonaventure_, commanded by Chancelor, had on the contrary a successful voyage, and one of great importance for the commerce of the world. As has been already stated, Chancelor was separated from his companions during a storm in August. He now sailed alone to Vardoehus. After waiting there seven days for Sir Hugh Willoughby, he set out again, resolutely determined "either to bring that to pa.s.se which was intended, or else to die the death;"

and though "certaine Scottishmen" earnestly attempted to persuade him to return, "he held on his course towards that unknown part of the world, and sailed so farre that hee came at last to the place where hee found no night at all, but a continuall light and brightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and mighty sea."[51] In this way he finally reached the mouth of the river Dwina in the White Sea, where a small monastery was then standing at the place where Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he soon won the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with great hospitality. They, however, immediately sent off a courier to inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. The result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at Moscow, where he and his companions pa.s.sed a part of the winter, well entertained by the Czar. The following summer he returned with his vessel to England. Thus a commercial connection was brought about, which soon became of immense importance to both nations, and within a few years gave rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any account, as they have no connection with the history of the North-east Pa.s.sage.[52]

[Ill.u.s.tration: VARDOE IN 1594. After Linschoten. ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: VARDOE IN OUR DAYS. After a photograph. ]

Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly was not, but his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and undaunted courage have a strong claim on our admiration. Incalculable also was the influence which the voyages of Willoughby and Chancelor had upon English commerce, and on the development of the whole of Russia, and of the north of Norway. From the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina a flourishing commercial town has arisen, and a numerous population has settled on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate.

Already there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to the confines of Russia. The people of Vardoe can thus in a few hours get accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or London, but also in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, Brazil, &c., while a hundred years ago the post came thither only once a year. It was then that a journal-loving commandant took the step, giving evidence of strong self-command, of not "devouring" the post at once, but reading the newspapers day by day a year after they were published.

All this is now different, and yet men are not satisfied. The interests of commerce and the fisheries require railway communication with the rest of Europe. That will certainly come in a few years, nor will it be long before the telegraph has spun its net, and regular steam communication has commenced along the coast of the Arctic Ocean far beyond the sea which was opened by Chancelor to the commerce of the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COAST LANDSCAPE FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR. After Svenske. ]

[Footnote 15: In many Polar expeditions, sealskin has been used as clothing instead of reindeer skin. The reindeer skin, however, is lighter and warmer, and ought therefore to have an unconditional preference as a means of protection against severe cold. In mild weather, clothing made of reindeer skin in the common way has indeed the defect that it is drenched through with water, and thereby becomes useless, but in such weather it is in general unnecessary to use furs. The coast Chukchis, who catch great numbers of seals, but can only obtain reindeer skins by purchase, yet consider clothing made of the latter material indispensable in winter. During this season they wear an overcoat of the same form as the Lapps' _pesk_, the suitableness of whose cut thus appears to be well proved. On this account I prefer the old-world Polar dress to that of the new, which consists of more closely fitting clothes. The Lapp shoes of reindeer skin (_renskallar, komager_) are, on the other hand, if one has not opportunity to change them frequently, nor time to take sufficient care of them, quite unserviceable for Arctic journeys. ]

[Footnote 16: Haugan had formerly for a long series of years carried his own vessel to Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, and was known as one of the most fortunate walrus-hunters of the Norwegian Polar Sea fleet. ]

[Footnote 17: The original of this drawing, for which I am indebted to Councillor of Justice H. Rink, of Copenhagen, was painted by a German painter at Beigen, in 1654. The painting has the following inscription:--

Mit Ledern Schifflein auff dem Meer De gronleinder fein bein undt her Bon Thieren undt Bogelen haben see Ire tracht Das falte lands bon winter nacht ]

[Footnote 18: The birch which grows here is the sweet-scented birch (_Betula odorata_, Bechst.), not the dwarf birch (_Betula nana_, L.), which is found as far north as Ice Fjord in Spitzbergen (78 degree 7' N.L.), though there it only rises a few inches above ground. ]

[Footnote 19: According to Latkin, _Die Lena und ihr Flussgebiet_ (_Petermann's Mittheilungen_, 1879, p. 91). On the map which accompanies Engehardt's reproduction of Wrangel's _Journey_ (Berlin, 1839), the limit of trees at the Lena is placed at 71 N.L. ]

[Footnote 20: On the Kola Peninsula, and in the neighbourhood of the White Sea, as far as to Ural, the limit of trees consists of a species of pine (_Picea obovata_, Ledeb.), but farther east in Kamschatka again of birch.--Th. von Middendorff, _Reise in dem aussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens_, vol. iv. p. 582. ]

[Footnote 21: An idea of the influence exerted by the immediate neighbourhood of a warm ocean-current in making the climate milder may be obtained from the following table of the mean temperatures of the different months at

1. Tromsoe (69 30' N.L.); 2. Fruholm, near North Cape (71 6' N.L.); 3. Vardoe (70 22' N.L.); 4. Enontekis and Karesuando, on the river Muonio, in the interior of Lapland (68 26' N.L.).

Tromsoe Fruholm Vardoe Enontekis January........... -4.2 -2.7 -6.0 -13.7 February.......... -4.0 -4.7 -6.4 -17.1 March............. -3.8 -3.2 -5.1 -11.4 April............. -0.1 -0.9 -1.7 -6.0 May............... +3.2 +2.7 +1.8 +0.9 June.............. +8.7 +7.5 +5.9 +8.0 July.............. +11.5 +9.3 +8.8 +11.6 August........... +10.4 +9.9 +9.8 +12.0 September......... +7.0 +5.8 +6.4 +4.5 October........... +2.0 +2.5 +1.3 -4.0 November.......... -1.7 -1.1 -2.1 -9.9 December.......... -3.2 -1.9 -4.0 -11.3

The figures are taken from H. Mohn's _Norges Klima_ (reprinted from O.F. Schubeler's _Voextlivet i Norge_, Christiania, 1879), and A.

J. ngstrom, _Om lufttemperaturen i Enontekis_ (ofvers. af Vet. Akad.

Forhandl, 1860). ]

[Footnote 22: Orosius was born in Spain in the fourth century after Christ, and died in the beginning of the fifth. He was a Christian, and wrote his work to show that the world, in opposition to the statements of several heathen writers, had been visited during the heathen period by quite as great calamities as during the Christian.

This is probably the reason why his monotonous sketch of all the misfortunes and calamities which befell the heathen world was long so highly valued, was spread in many copies and printed in innumerable editions, the oldest at Vienna in 1471. In the Anglo-Saxon translation now in question, Othere's account of his journey is inserted in the first chapter, which properly forms a geographical introduction to the work written by King Alfred. This old Anglo-Saxon work is preserved in England in two beautiful ma.n.u.scripts from the ninth and tenth centuries. Orosius' history itself is now forgotten, but King Alfred's introduction, and especially his account of Othere's and Wulfstan's travels, have attracted much attention from inquirers, as appears from the list of translations of this part of King Alfred's Orosius, given by Joseph Bosworth in his _King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of the Compendious History of the World by Orosius_. London, 1859. ]

[Footnote 23: By Fins are here meant Lapps; by Terfins the inhabitants of the Tersk coast of Russian Lapland. ]

[Footnote 24: Walruses are still captured yearly on the ice at the mouth of the White Sea, not very far from the sh.o.r.e (cf. A.E.

Nordenskiold, _Redogorelse for en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej och Sibirien r_ 1875, p. 23; _Bihang till Vetenskaps-A kad.

Handl_. B. iv. No. 1). Now they occur there indeed only in small numbers, and, it appears, not in the immediate neighbourhood of land; but there is scarcely any doubt that in former days they were common on the most northerly coasts of Norway. They have evidently been driven away thence in the same way as they are now being driven away from Spitzbergen. With what rapidity their numbers at the latter place are yearly diminished, may be seen from the fact that during my many Arctic journeys, beginning in 1858, I never saw walruses on Bear Island or the west coast of Spitzbergen, but have conversed with hunters who ten years before had seen them in herds of hundreds and thousands. I have myself seen such herds in Hinloopen Strait in July 1861, but when during my journeys in 1868 and 1872-3 I again visited the same regions, I saw there not a single walrus. ]

[Footnote 25: As it appears to be impossible for six men to kill sixty great whales in two days, this pa.s.sage has caused the editors of Othere's narrative much perplexity, which is not wonderful if great whales, as the _Balaena mysticetus_ are here meant. But if the narrative relates to the smaller species of the whale, a similar catch may still, at the present day, be made on the coasts of the Polar countries. For various small species go together in great shoals; and, as they occasionally come into water so shallow that they are left aground at ebb, they can be killed with ease.

Sometimes, too, a successful attempt is made to drive them into shallow water. That whales visit the coast of Norway in spring in large shoals dangerous to the navigator is also stated by Jacob Ziegler, in his work, _Quae intus continentur Syria, Palestina, Arabia, aegyptus, Schondia, &c._ Argentorati, 1532, p. 97. ]

[Footnote 26: In this case is meant by "whale" evidently the walrus, whose skin is still used for lines by the Norwegian walrus-hunters, by the Eskimo, and the Chukchis. The skin of the true whale might probably be used for the same purpose, although, on account of its thickness, perhaps scarcely with advantage without the use of special tools for cutting it up. ]