VOYAGE IN SEARCH OF A NORTHEAST PASSAGE. 89 III. for a peaceful intercourse only by the discovery of a CHAP. new and nearer passage to Southern Asia. Thrice at least, perhaps thrice by Cabot alone, the attempt at a northwestern passage had been made; and always in vain. A northeast passage was now pro- 1553. posed; the fleet of Willoughby and Chancellor was to reach the rich lands of Cathay by doubling the northern promontory of Lapland. The ships parted company. The fate of Willoughby was as tragical, as the issue of the voyage of Chancellor was successful. The admiral with one of the ships was driven, by the severity of the polar autumn, to seek shelter in a Lapland harbor, which afforded protection against storms, but not against the rigors of the season. When search was made for him in the following spring, Willoughby himself was found dead in his cabin; and his journal, detailing his suf- 1554. ferings from the polar winter, was complete probably to the day, when his senses were suspended by the intolerable cold. His ship's company lay dead in various parts of the vessel, some alone, some in groups. The other ship reached the harbor of Archangel. This was "the discovery of Russia," and the commencement of maritime commerce with that empire. A Spanish writer calls the result of the voyage, "a discovery of new Indies.” The Russian nation, one of the oldest and least mixed in Europe, now awakening from a long lethargy, emerged into political distinction. We have seen 1 Hakluyt, v. i. p. 251-284; -301; Purchas, v. iii. p. 462, Turner's England, v. iii. p. 298 463. III. CHAP. that, about eleven years from this time, the first town in the United States' territory was permanently built. So rapid are the changes on the theatre of nations! One of the leading powers of the age but about two and a half centuries ago became known to Western Europe; another had not then one white man within its limits. The principle of joint-stock companies, so favorable to every enterprize of uncertain result, by dividing the risks, and by nourishing a spirit of emulous zeal in behalf of an inviting scheme, was applied to the purposes of navigation; and a compa1555. ny of merchant adventurers was incorporated for the discovery of unknown lands.1 to 1553, For even the intolerance of Queen Mary could 1558. not check the passion for maritime adventure. The sea was becoming the element on which English valor was to display its greatest boldness; English sailors neither feared the sultry heats and consuming fevers of the tropics, nor the intense severity of northern cold. The trade to Russia, now that the port of Archangel had been discovered, gradually increased and became very lucrative; and a regular 1553. and as yet an innocent commerce was carried on with 1554. Africa. The marriage of Mary with the king of July 25. Spain, tended to excite the emulation, which it was designed to check. The enthusiasm, awakened by the brilliant pageantry, with which king Philip was introduced into London, excited Richard Eden3 to 2 1 Hakluyt, v. i. p. 298-304. 3 Eden's Decades, first published 2 The Viage to Guinea in 1553, in in 1555. Eden and Willes, fol.336,337-353 ELIZABETH FAVORS ENGLISH COMMERCE. 91 III. gather into a volume the history of the most memo- CHAP. rable maritime expeditions. Religious restraints, the thirst for rapid wealth, the desire of strange adventure, had driven the boldest spirits of Spain to the New World; their deeds had been commemorated by the copious and accurate details of the Spanish historians; and the English, through the alliance of their sovereign made familiar with the Spanish language and literature, became emulous of Spanish success beyond the ocean. The firmness of Elizabeth seconded the enterprize 1558. of her subjects. They were rendered the more proud and intractable for the short and unsuccessful effort to make England an appendage to Spain; and the triumph of protestantism, quickening the spirit of nationality, gave a new impulse to the people. England, no longer the ally, but the antagonist of Philip, claimed the glory of being the mistress of the northern seas, and prepared to extend its commerce to every clime. The queen strengthened her navy; filled her arsenals; and encouraged the building of ships in England; she animated the adventurers to Russia and to Africa by her special protection; and while her subjects were en- 1561, deavoring to penetrate into Persia by land, and 1568. enlarge their commerce with the east by combining the use of ships and caravans, the harbors of Spanish America were at the same time visited by their privateers in pursuit of the rich galleons of 1 Eden and Willes. The voy-merchantes of London, &c. in ages of Persia, traveiled by the 1561, 1567, 1568, fol. 321, and ff. to III. CHAP. Spain, and at least from thirty to fifty English ships came annually to the bays and banks of New1574-8 foundland.' The possibility of effecting a northwest passage had ever been maintained by Cabot. The study of geography had now become an interesting pursuit ; the press teemed with books of travels, maps and descriptions of the earth; and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, reposing from the toils of war, engaged deeply in the science of cosmography. A judicious and well written argument in favor of the possibility of a northwestern passage was the fruit of his literary industry. 1576. The same views were entertained by one of the boldest men, who ever ventured upon the ocean. For fifteen years, Martin Frobisher, an Englishman, well versed in various navigation, had revolved the design of accomplishing the discovery of the northwestern passage; esteeming it "the only thing of the world, that was yet left undone, by which a notable minde might be made famous and fortunate." Too poor himself to provide a ship, it was in vain, that he conferred with friends; in vain he offered his services to merchants. After years of desire, his representations found a hearing at court; and Dudley, earl of Warwick, liberally promoted his design. Two small barks of twenty-five and of twenty tuns, with a pinnace of ten tuns burden, 4 1 Parkhurst, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 171. 2 Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 32—47. 4 Willes' Essay for M. Frobisher's voyage, in Eden and Willes, fol. 230, and ff.; in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 47-52. FROBISHER RETURNS WITHOUT SUCCESS. 93 III. June 8. composed the whole fleet, which was to enter gulfs, CHAP. that none but Cabot had visited. As they dropped down the Thames, Queen Elizabeth waved her hand 1576. in token of favor, and, by an honorable message, transmitted her approbation of an adventure, which her own treasures had not contributed to advance. During a storm on the voyage, the pinnace was swallowed up by the sea; the mariners in the Michael became terrified and turned their prow homewards; but Frobisher, in a vessel, not surpassing in tunnage the barge of a man-of-war, made his way, fearless and unattended, to the shores of Labrador, and to a passage or inlet, north of the entrance of Hudson's bay. A strange perversion has transferred the scene of his discoveries to the eastern coast of Greenland; it was among a group of American islands, in the latitude of sixty-three degrees and eight minutes, that he entered what seemed to be a strait. Hope suggested that his object was obtained, that the land on the south was America, on the north was the continent of Asia; and that the strait opened into the immense Pacific. Great praise is due to Frobisher, even though he penetrated less deeply than Cabot into the bays and among the islands of this Meta Incognita, this unknown goal of discovery. Yet his voyage was a failure. To land upon an island, and, perhaps, on the main, to gather up stones and rubbish, in token of having taken possession of the country for Elizabeth, to seize one of 1 Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 274-284; Hist. des Voyages, t. xv. p. 94-100. |