Voyages in Search of The North-West Passage

ert, Knight. To prove a Passage by the N

ssage to Be on the North Side of Americ

commonly called America, which by all descriptions I found to be an island environed round about with the sea, having on the south side of it the Strait of Magellan, on the west side the Mare de Sur, which sea runneth towards the north, separating it

g greater than all Africa and Asia, which lay westward from the Straits of Gibraltar, navigable round about: affirming, also,

ulus, in his Chronicle of Spain, reporteth that there hath been found by the Spaniards in the gold mines of America certain pieces of money, engr

Commentaries upon Plato), to be overflown, and swallowed up with water, by reason of a mighty earthquake and streaming down of the heavenly flood gates. The like thereof happened unto some part of Italy, when by

owed up with the sea, and are not at this day to be discerned: by which accident America grew to be unknown, of long time, unto us of the later ages, and was latel

me of the people of the south-east parts of the world accounted as nine thousand years; for the manner then w

be parcel of this Atlantis than those western islands, which now bear the name o

hat time swallowed up with water, which could not utterly take away the old deeps and channels, but, rather, be many occasion of the enlarging of the old, and also an enforcing of a great many new; why then should we now doubt of ou

(meaning thereby, as manifestly doth appear, Asia, Africa, and Europe, being all the countries then known) to be but one island, compasse

t of India) Atlanticum Pelagus, and that sea also on the west coasts of Spain and Africa, M

ad name Oceanus Atlanticus, of the same mountain; but that those seas and the mountain Atlas were so called of this great island Atlantis, and that the one and the other had their names for

geographers, as Gemma Frisius, Munsterus, Appianus Hunterus, Gastaldus, Guyccardinus, Michael Tramesinus, Franciscus Demongenitus, Barnardus, Puteanus, Andreas Vavasor, Tramontanus, Petrus Martyr, and also Ortelius, who doth coast out in his general map (set out Anno 1569) a

Cathay, and Greenland, by the which any man of our country that will give the attempt, may with small danger pass to Cathay, the Moluccas, India, and all othe

es have allowed the same; but I conjecture that they would never have so constantly affirmed, or notified their opin

ed, King of Wessex, Anne 871, the words of which discourse were these: "He sailed right north, having always the desert land on the starboard, and on the larboard the main sea, continuing his course, until he perceived that the coast bowed directly towards the east or else the sea opened into the land he could not tell how far, where he was compelled to stay until he had a western wind or somewhat upon the north, and sailed thence directly east along th

tainty to be sea, until it was since discovered by our Englishmen in the time of King Edward I., but thought before that time that Greenland had

ve been thought but simple, considering that this navigation was written so many years past, in so barbarous a tongu

best, both antique and modern geographers, and plainly set out in the best and most allowed maps, charts, globes,

pte

dental bar it is sometime found otherwise), but the farther you sail west from Iceland, towards the place where this strait is thought to be, the more deep

r the people which inhabit Mangia, Anian, and Quinzay, etc., being borderers upon it, would befor

ssages been never so strait or difficult, the country being so temperate, pleasant, and fruitful in comparison of their own. But there was never any such people found there by any of the Spaniards, Portuguese, or Frenchmen, who first discovered the inland of that co

ed, yet some one savage or wandering-beast would in so many years have passed into it; but there hath not any time been found any of the beasts proper to Cathay or Tartary, etc., in America; nor of those proper to America

ntries, with intent only to discover, would, as it is most likely, have gone from the one to the other, if there ha

gia over against it, where he was embarked and performed a great navigation along those seas; neither yet Veratzanus or Franciscus Vas

so strong (by reason of such motion) that the Portuguese in their voyages eastward to Calicut, in passing by the Cape of Good Hope, are enforced to make divers courses, the current there being so swift, as it striketh from thence, all along westward, upon the straits of Magellan, being distant from thence near the fourth part of the longitude of the earth: and not having free passage and entrance through

er wrongs by the authority before named; or else it must needs strike over upon the coast of Iceland, Lapland, Finmark, and Norway (which are east from the said place about three hundred and sixty leagues) with greater force than it did from the Cape of Good Hope upon the strait of Magellan, or from the strait of Magellan to Cape Frido; upon which coas

cometh from Tanais and the Euxine, running along all the coasts of Greece, Italy, France, and Spain, and not finding sufficient way out

ast of America or elsewhere this current is not sensibly perceived, yet it hath evermore such like motion, either the uppermost or nethermost part of the sea; as it may be proved true, if you sink a sail by a couple of ropes near the ground, fastening to the nethermost corners tw

did which cometh from the south; so that both these currents must have way through this our strait, or else encounter together and run contrary courses in one line, but no such conflicts of streams or contrary courses are

, had there not been some through passage by the strait aforesaid, and so by circular motion be brought again to maintain itself, for the tides and cou

t thither again by such circular motion as aforesaid, and the certain falling thereof by this strait into Mare del Sur is proved by the testimony and experience of Barnarde de la Torre, who was sent from P. de la Natividad to the Moluccas, 1

met the same, and thence certainly known not to strike over upon Iceland, Lapland, etc., and found by Barnarde de la Torre, in Mare del Sur, on the backside of America, therefore this current, having none other passage, must of

eason itself grounded upon experience assureth us of this passage if there were nothing else to put us in hope thereof. But lest these might not suffice, I have added in this chapter following some fu

TRAVELS THE OPENING OF SOME PART OF THIS NORTH-Wes

miles upon the coast of Mangia and Anian, towards the north-east, always finding the

heads the pictures of certain birds called Alcatrarzi, part whereof were made of gold and part of silver; who signified by signs that they were thirty days coming thither, which likewise proveth America by experience to b

t trendeth from thence north-east to fifty degrees of septentrional latitude, being the farthest part that way, which the Portu

directly against the same. And not contented with the judgments of these learned

to be an island, and likewise Greenland; and that Greenland is di

, and Jacques Cartier, who made two voyages into those parts, and

, a learned Italian, and traveller

, has set forth and described this passage in his charts which are yet to be seen in the Queen's Majesty's Privy Gallery at Whitehall, who was sent to make this discovery by King Henry VII. and entered the same straits, affirming that he sailed very far westward with a quarter of t

, so the chapter following shall put you in full assurance of the re

tance that the North-West Passa

ty of anything that he hath not seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled: and the other not so only, but also findeth the certainty of things, b

from Europe three brethren though this passage:

t) that there were certain Indians driven by tempest upon the coast of Germany which wer

the north, where there is such abundance of moisture; which argueth, that he

d more plainly in that behalf by the excellent geographer Dominicus Marius Niger, who showeth how many ways the Indian sea stretcheth itself, making in that place recital

ned Emperor, A.D. 1160, there came certai

y force of weather upon the coast of the said country, which foresaid Indians could not possibly have come by the south-east, south-we

enamed, Came Not by the South-East, South-West

rt - that the greatest armadas the King of Portugal hath cannot without great difficulty pass that way, much less, then, a canoe of India could live in those outrageous sea

e, and the current running that way in like sort, would have driven them westward upon some part of America, for such winds and tides could never have led them from thence to the said place where they were

perished, wanting supply of victuals, not having any place - once leaving the coast of Africa - until they came to America

adeira, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Ireland, etc., which, if they had done, it is not credible that they should or would have departed undiscovered of the inhabitants; but there was never found in those days any such ship or men, but only

s of Magellan, and falleth with such swiftness and fury into Mare de Sur, that hardly any ship - but not possibly a canoe, with such unskilful

is manifest, because the natives, both of Africa and America, neither had, or have at this day, as is reported, other kind of boats than such as do bear nei

Came Not by the North-East, and that There

tained by the abundance of water, waxing more shallow and shelving towards the end, as we find it doth, by experience, in the Frozen Sea, towards the e

assage by the north-east cannot be, as the often experiences had of all the south part of it showeth, seeing that some of the inhabitants of this cold climate, whose summer is to them an extreme winter

hip tackling, that no mariner can either hoist or strike them - as our experience, far nearer the south t

s and fogs so near the Pole, that no man can well s

which things must of force have been their destruction, altho

e Persian Gulf, Sinus Bodicus, the Thames, and all other known havens or rivers in any part of the world, and each of them opening but on one part to the main sea, do likewise receive their increase upon the flood the same way, and no

m the main sea, as in all those above-mentioned, the less and less the tides rise and fall. The like wh

, seeing everything naturally engendereth his like, and then must it be like salt throughout, as all the seas are in such like climate and elevation. And therefore it seemeth that this nor

oldness of the earth in the bottom, the sea there being but of small depth, whereby the one accidental coldness doth meet with the other; and the sun, not having his reflection so near the Pole, but at very blunt angles, it ca

h cannot be but through the long continue of the sun above their horizon, and by that time the summer would be so far spent, and so great darkness an

hip can sail in those seas, seeing our fishers of Iceland and Newfoundland are subject to danger thr

en it should cut off Ciremissi and Turbi, Tartarii, with Vzesucani, Chisani, and others from the continent o

r traffic, because no ship of great burden can navigate in so shallow a sea, and ships of small burd

enamed Came Only by the North-West, which Ind

Africa or America, and therefore this North–West Passage, having been already so many ways proved by disproving of the others, etc., I shall the less need in this

sailing the Indians are only acquainted, not having any use of a bow line or quarter wind, without the which no ship can possibly come, eithe

sage, and all winds do naturally drive a ship to an opposite point from whence it bloweth, not being otherwise guided by art, which the

od Hope, then must they, as aforesaid, ha

hen upon the coasts of Africa, Spain,

missi, Tartarii, Lapland, Iceland, Labrador, etc., and up

e coasts of so many countries, wanting both art and shipping to make orderly discovery, and altogether ignorant both of the art of

they must have come any other way besides by the north-west, being for the most part anthropophagi, or m

ou have heard, in sundry ages were driven by tempest upon the

o passed through this strait, giving name to a promontory far within the same, calling

Dane, entered and passe

the presence of Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, in my hearing, that a friar of Mexico, called Andre Urdaneta, more than eight years before his then coming into Ireland, told him there that he came from Mare del Sur into Germany through this Nor

lose or make the passage known to any nation. For that (said the king) IF ENGLAND HAD KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE THEREOF, IT WOULD GREATLY HINDER BOTH THE KING OF SPAIN AND ME. This friar (as Salva Terra reported) was the greatest discoverer by sea that hath been in our

s past) might serve little to prove this passage by the north of America, because both America and India were to them then utterly unknown; to remove this doubt, le

Also Quintus Curtius, where he speaketh of the Conquest of Alexander, mentioneth India. Also Arianus Philostratus, and Sidrach, in his discourses of the wars of

lso that it is navigable both to come and go, as hath been proved in part and in all by the experience of divers a

hope of this passage to Cathay by the north-east than by the west, wh

e North-East Before the Queen's Majesty, and Certain Lords of the Council,

have here added the reasons of Master Anthony Jenkinson, a worthy gentleman, and a great traveller, who

ording to mime opinion, but he was assured that there might be found a navigable passage by the north

the morse, that he sailed very far towards the south-east, finding

knowing the use of the sea-card, compass, or star, which he confessed true; and therefore they could not (said I

ght be deceived by the doubling of many points and capes, and by th

use he saw mine land, which proof (under correction) giveth small assurance of a navigable sea by the north-east to go ro

thither by any other means than with the tides, through some strait in the north-east of the Frozen Sea, there being

horn, yea or no; and if it were one, yet it is not credible that the sea

have driven it as far back with the ebb

like an unicorn in his forehead, whereof there is great plenty in all the north parts thereunto adj

orehead like to an unicorn, and therefore it seemeth very doubtful both

hrough the Frozen Sea of such swiftness, as a Colmax told him, that if you cas

st of Greece, etc., as it is affirmed by Contarenus, and divers others that have had experience of the same; and y

he Frozen Sea increased and maintai

to Cathay by the north-east with my several answers thereunto, so will I l

h-West is More Commodious for Our Traffic than

of being so near the Pole) to be benighted almost the one half of the year, and what danger that were, to live

er unto us by the north-west than by the north-east

as you have but four months in the whole year to go by the north-east, the passage bein

ell sail from hence to S. Nicholas, in the trade of Muscovy, and return in the navigable season of the year, and from S. Nicholas, Ciremissi, Tartarii, which standeth 8

ng to your desire, yet can you not winter conveniently until you come to sixty degrees and to take up one degree running s

s, and those proper, according to the lie of the coast and capes, you shall be enforced to double, which winds are not always to be had when they are looked for; whereb

reof once known to the Muscovite, what privilege soever he hath granted, seeing pollice with the maze of excessive gain, to the enriching of himself an

danger or annoyance of any prince living, Christ

rinces that might pass that way, and both in their going and return they must of necessity succo

s it is at this present; and yet it should be greatly increased by the traffic ensuing u

thereby if all these things were as we have heretofore presupposed

ities Would Ensue, this

reth by the experience of Alexander the Great in the time of his conquest of India and the east parts of the world, alleged by Quintus Curtius, w

etter cheap than either the Portuguese or Spaniard doth or may do. And, further, share with the Portuguese in the east and

e is to be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, cloth of gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, and other kinds

le of our country which now trouble the commonwealth, and through want here at home are

biting for our staple some convenient place of America, about Sierra Nevada or

parelled with gold and silver, as part of his greatest treasure, not mentioning velvets, silks, cloth of gold, cloth of silver, or such like, being in those countries most plentiful, whereby it plainly appeareth in what great estimation they would have

both our ships and mariners w

es and such like, which the Indians and those people do much esteem; by reason whereof, there should

out injury done to any Christian prince by crossing them in any of th

udge me fantastic in this matter, seeing I have conceived no hope of this voyage, but am persuaded thereu

rs times heretofore by others both

phonse Ullva testifieth in the story of Carolus' life, who would have set him forth in it (as the story me

ave him, to leave the matter unattempted, the sum of 350,000 crowns; and it is to be supposed that

Portuguese, Scolmus the Dane, and by Seb

ree brethren, the Indians aforesaid,

have discovered the same; the discoverers spending and consuming their victuals in searching

ly found out in short time, and that

uld not have sat out all this while but that they are sure to possess to themselves all that trade they now use, and fear to deal in this discovery lest the Queen's Majesty, having so good opportunity, and finding the commodity which thereby might ensue to the commonwealth, would cut them off and enjoy the whole traffic to hers

d before Ferdinando, the King of Castilia, to prove that there were such islands in the West Ocean as were after by him and others discove

be or card, neither yet once mentioned of any writer (Plato excepted, and

but only comforted himself with this hope, that the land had a beginning where the sea had an ending. For as touching that which the Spaniards do write of a Biscaine wh

e but hit upon the matter, or, at the least, g

fore his attempt was made, yet have I both the report, relation, and authority of divers most credible men, which have both seen a

nd divers other learned men, who said that this discovery hath been reserved for some noble prince or worthy man, thereby to make himself rich, and the world happy: desiring you to accept in good part this brief a

e, I will at leisure make you partaker of another simple discourse of navigation, wherein I have not a little tra

al sea-cards, whose common fault is to make the degre

instrument, with a compass of variation

shortening of any discovery, to know at the first entering of any strait whether it lies o

ny laudable and honest enterprise, for if, through pleasure and idleness, w

IVE AT ALL THAT FOR FEAR OR DANGER OF DEATH SHUNNETH HIS COUNTRY'S SERVICE AND HIS OWN HONOUR, seeing death is