and a whole fleet of English, Portuguese, Basque and Breton
fishermen was soon met with in these waters, and they probably
went along the Labrador coast northward as far as Hudson
Strait, without having left any report of their discoveries.
It is believed, on good grounds, that expeditions (combined
English-Portuguese) were sent out to the newly discovered
regions from Bristol in 1501 and 1502. It is unknown what
their discoveries were, but they may possibly have sailed along
the coast of Labrador.
It is possible that John Cabot’s son, Sebastian Cabot, made an Arctic expedition in 1508–1509, in search of a short passage to China towards the north-west, and later, in 1521, King Henry VIII. made an attempt to persuade the merchants of London to support him in sending out an expedition, under Sebastian Cabot, to the north-westernSebastian Cabot. counties. It is uncertain whether it ever started, but it is certain that it achieved nothing of importance.
John Rut sailed from Plymouth in 1527, in order to seek a passage to China through the Arctic seas towards the north-west, following the suggestion of Robert Thorne of Bristol. He met ice in 53° N. lat. and returned to Newfoundland. Several other expeditions were sent out from various countries towards the north-west and west during this period, but no discoveries of importance are known to have been made in the Arctic regions.
There are rumours that the Portuguese, as early as 1484, under King John II., had sent out an expedition towards Novaya Zemlya in search of a north-east passage to India. The Genovese Paolo Centurione probably proposed to King Henry VIII. of England, in 1525, to make an expedition in search of such a passage to India Centurione.north of Russia, and there is evidence to show that there had been much talk about an undertaking of this kind in England and at the English court during the following period, as it was hoped that a new market might be found for English merchandise, especially cloth. But it led to nothing until 1553, when Sebastian Cabot was one of the chief promoters. Three ships and 112 men under Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from Ratcliffe on the 10thWilloughby. (20th) May 1553. Richard Chancelor commanded one of the ships, which was separated from the two others in a gale off northern Norway on the 3rd (13th) August. Willoughby, after having sighted land in various places, probably Kolguev Island, where they landed, the coast near the Pechora river and Kanin Nos, came on the 14th (24th) September to a good harbour on the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula. His one ship being leaky, Willoughby resolved to winter there, but he and all his men perished. Chancelor, after hisChancelor. separation from the two other ships, rounded the North Cape, to which he or his sailing-master, Stephen Borough, gave this name. He reached Vardohus, and after having waited there in vain for Willoughby, he followed the route of the Norsemen to the White Sea and reached the bay of St Nicholas, with a monastery of this name, near the mouth of the Dvina river, where Archangel was built later. Chancelor undertook a journey to Moscow, made arrangements for commercial intercourse with Russia, and returned next year with his ship, which was, however, plundered by the Flemings, but he reached London safely with a letter from the tsar. In spite of the disaster of Willoughby and his men this expedition became of fundamental importance for the development of English trade. Chancelor’s success and his so-called discovery of the passage to the White Sea, which was well known to the Norwegian traders in that region, proved to people in England the practical utility of polar voyages. It led to a charter being granted to the Association of Merchant Adventurers, also called the Muscovy or Russia Company, and gave a fresh impulse to Arctic discovery. Chancelor undertook a new expedition to the White Sea and Moscow in 1555; on his way home in the following year he was wrecked on the coast of Scotland and perished.
In 1556 Stephen Borough (Burrough), who had served with Chancelor, was sent out by the Muscovy Company in a small pinnace called the “Search-thrift,” in order to try to reach the river Ob, of which rumours had been heard. Novaya Zemlya, Vaigach Island, and the Kara Strait leading into the Kara Sea, were discovered. Borough kept a carefulBorough. journal of his voyage. In 1580 the company fitted out two vessels under Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, with orders to sail eastwards north of Russia and Asia to the lands of the emperor of Cathay (China). They penetrated through the Kara Strait into the Kara Sea; they possibly saw the west coast of Yalmal, but met with much ice and were compelled to return. The two ships were separatedPet. on the way home, Pet reached London on December 26th in safety; Jackman wintered with his ship in Norway and sailed thence in February, but was never heard of again.
About 1574 the Portuguese probably made an attempt to find the north-west passage under Vasqueanes Corte-Real. They reached “a great entrance,” which may have been Hudson Strait, and they “passed above twentie leagues” into it, “without all impediment of ice,” “but their victailes fayling them, . . . theyVasqueanes Corte-Real. returned backe agayne with ioy.”
After the expeditions in search of the north-east passage achieved the success of opening up a profitable trade with Russia, via the White Sea, new life was inspired in the undertakings of England on the sea, at the same time the power of the Hanseatic merchants, called the Easterlings, was much reduced. It was therefore only natural that the plan of seeking a north-west passage to China and India should again come to the front in England, and it was much discussed. It was Sir Martin Frobisher who opened that long series of Frobisher. expeditions all of which during three hundred years were sent from England in search of the north-west passage until the last expedition, which actually accomplished it, sailed from Norway. “Being persuaded of a new and neerer passage to Cataya” (China) towards the north-west, Frobisher “determined and resolved wyth himselfe, to go make full proofe thereof . . . or else never to retourne againe, knowing this to be the onely thing of the worlde that was left yet undone, whereby a notable mind mighte be made famous and fortunate, ”After having attempted in vain for fifteen years to find support for his enterprise, he at last obtained assistance from Ambrose Dudley, earl of Warwick, and through him the interest of Queen Elizabeth was also secured. The Muscovy Company was now obliged to give a licence for the voyage in 1574, and the necessary money was found by London merchants. Aided especially by Michael Lok, an influential merchant and diligent student of geography, Frobisher sailed, on the 7th (17th) of June 1576, from Deptford with two small vessels of 20 and 25 tons, called the “Gabriel” and “Michael,” and a small pinnace of 10 tons; the crews amounted to 35 men all told. On the 8th (18th) of July they lost sight of the pinnace, which was seen no more. On the 11th (21st) of July they sighted a high, rugged land, but could not approach it for ice. This was the east coast of Greenland, but, misled by his charts, Frobisher assumed it to be the fictitious Frisland, which was the fabrication of a Venetian, Niccolo Zeno, who in 1558 published a spurious narrative and map (which he pretended to have found) as the work of an ancestor and his brother in the 14th century. The Zeno map was chiefly fabricated on the basis of a map by the Swede Olaus Magnus of 1537 and the map by the Dane Claudius Clavus of the 15th century. It was accepted at the time as a work of high authority, and its fictitious names and islands continued to appear on subsequent maps for at least a century, and have puzzled both geographers at home and explorers in the field. These islands had also been introduced on the charts of Mercator of 1 569 and of Ortelius of 1570 which were probably used by Frobisher. Evidently frightened by the sight of the great quantities of ice off the Greenland coast, one ship, the “Michael,” left him secretly, “and returned home wyth greate reporte that he was cast awaye.” The gallant Frobisher continued his voyage towards the north-west in the “Gabriel” alone, although his mast was sprung, his topmast blown overboard, and his “mizen-mast” had had to be cut away in a gale. On the 29th of July (Aug. 8) he sighted high
