by Giles Milton
The English were urged on in their Arctic endeavours by Samuel Purchas who called upon all intrepid and adventurous men to set sail in search of a passage, reminding them that their journey towards the 'spiceries' would shorten with every step they took towards the Pole, 'where that vast line at the Circumference itself becomes no line anymore, but a Point, but Nothing, but Vanitie'. Purchas's poetry failed to stir his English compatriots but his enthusiasm was echoed in Holland by the more practically minded Mercator who gave repeated assurances that Arctic exploration was not as dangerous as was commonly supposed. 'The voyage to Cathay by the east is doubtless very easy and short,' he wrote dismissively, 'and I have oftentimes marvelled that being so happily begun it hath been left off, and the course changed to the West, after more than half of the voyage was discovered.'
Advice of a more concrete sort came from Petrus Plancius, the man who would help to despatch the first Dutch expedition to the Indies in 1595 and who was as keen as ever on sending a fleet over the top of the North Pole. Arguing that fresh water froze more easily than salt, he maintained that the coastline of Russia was continually choked with ice because of all the water pouring into the sea from freshwater rivers such as the Ob. His advice to the Dutch explorers was to sail further north, away from the land, where they would find a sea completely free from ice.
In the wake of such demonstrable logic three fleets set sail in succession. The first, which left the Texel in 1594, was so confident of success that it carried letters in Arabic to be handed to the eastern potentates on arrival in the Spice Islands. Splitting into two groups, the first squadron was commanded by an accomplished mariner called William Barents who was destined to go down in history as one of the greatest of all polar explorers. But even his navigational skills were useless in the frozen wastes of the Arctic and it was not long before his ship reached a 'great store of ice, as much as they could descry out of the top, that lay like a plain field of ice'. He sailed more than fifteen hundred miles in search of a passage through this ice but was eventually forced to admit defeat.
Cornelis Nay, commander of the second group, was more fortunate. Sailing through the Strait of Vaygach to the south of Novaya Zemlya, he had a trouble-free passage into the Kara Sea and would have continued eastward if summer had not come to an abrupt end. He returned to Holland and boldly pronounced that he had discovered the North-East Passage, informing the Dutch merchants that it was 'ready-made and certaine'. Nay was feted as a hero. Northern Russia was renamed New Holland, the Kara Sea became the New North Sea, and the Strait of Vaygach was rechristened Strait Nassau.
There was no time to lose for other nations, particularly the English, were certain to hear such momentous news. The following summer a second fleet was sent with the full expectation of it reaching the Spice Islands by Christmas. It was not to be. Strait Nassau was choked with ice and the New North Sea was frozen solid. Morale plummeted when two men, caught stealing pelts from natives, were disciplined in accordance with the rules of the ship. This involved being keel-hauled three times in a row — a brutal enough punishment in the warm waters of the Indies but even more dangerous when performed in the glacial Arctic. The first man had his head ripped off as he was pulled under the vessel. The second survived only to be cast ashore where he froze to death. A small mutiny followed, resulting in the hanging of five men, and by the time the expedition arrived back in Holland, the crew had lost their enthusiasm for their Arctic adventure.
The States of Holland and Zeeland decided to abandon the project, arguing that they had already spent a fortune on an increasingly futile venture. But the merchants of
Amsterdam were undeterred by the repeated failures and promptly equipped a third fleet of two ships which set sail in the spring of 1596 under the overall command of William Barents, with Jacob van Heemskerck as captain. Trapped in ice somewhere to the north of Novaya Zemlya, the two men were convinced that their experience of Arctic climes would enable them to survive the winter. Building a temporary shelter out of logs and driftwood — a shelter so well constructed that it was still standing three centuries later when visited by Englishman Charles Gardiner — they hibernated for eight months. Good humour helped them win their battle for survival. In January they feasted on flour after crowning their ship's constable King of Novaya Zemlya whilst in February they shot a polar bear 'that gave us a hundred pounds of fat'. In June the ice at last began to thaw revealing that the ship had been crushed beyond repair. Two small craft were hastily built by the remaining survivors who were encouraged in their endeavours by the jocular Barents. Although desperately sick he kept everyone in good spirits: 'Our lives depend on it, boys,' he jested. 'If we cannot get the boats ready we shall have to die here as burghers of Novaya Zemlya.'
A few days later he expired, leaving Heemskerck to guide the little boats through the ice. Nearly two months passed before the survivors spied a Dutch ship close to the Kola Peninsula, which came to the rescue. When Heemskerck and his men eventually reached Holland and had an audience with their Amsterdam financiers they betrayed a considerable cynicism about any northern route to the Spice Islands. To reinforce the message that the North Pole was no place to go looking for spices, they pitched up at the meeting dressed in full Arctic clothing, including 'fur caps made of white foxes'.
With the failure of this third expedition, enthusiasm for the northern project waned. Although a prize of 25,000 guilders awaited anyone who did break through the ice, more than a decade was to pass before any ship, Dutch or English, ventured further east than the White Sea port of Archangel. The Reverend Purchas was distraught: 'That which I most grieve at,' he wrote, 'is the detention of further discovery of the Pole and beyond.' He believed that it was the duty of rich merchants to finance polar exploration, for 'they might get the world and give us the world better if Charitie were their Needle, Grace their Compasse, Heaven their Haven, and if they would take the height by observing the Sun of Righteousness in the
Scripture-astrolabe, and sounding their depth by a Leading Faith, and not by a leaden bottomless Covetousness.'
In 1608, word reached Purchas that an English explorer by the name of Henry Hudson had made two journeys northwards, setting sail with the intention of crossing the pole and continuing on to the 'islands of spicerie'. Although he had failed in both these aims he had covered considerable distances, touching land at Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen and even the eastern coastline of Greenland. But what really excited Purchas was that Hudson had travelled further north than any mariner before him; sailing, indeed, to within less than ten degrees of the Pole.
The London merchants expressed interest in Hudson's findings but were too preoccupied with bringing their ships home around the Cape of Good Hope to entertain the idea of equipping a new expedition to the north. Not so their Dutch counterparts; learning of Hudson's voyage and fearing that the North-East Passage might be discovered by their English rivals, they instructed their wise old consul in London, Emanuel van Meteren, to make contact with Hudson and bring him back to Holland.
Hudson arrived in Amsterdam in the winter of 1608 and was immediately granted an audience with the directors of the Dutch East India Company, to whom he presented his discoveries as the eighth wonder of the world. He told them of his conviction that there was an open sea at the North Pole, as Plancius had suggested, explaining that the further north he had sailed the warmer the climate became; and that instead of being confronted with ice and snow he had found land covered with grasses and wild flowers as well as many different species of animals living solely from the produce of the land.
The merchants were intrigued and asked Hudson why their own mariners had failed to find this temperate land. To this the English explorer had a ready explanation. In order to reach the mild climate of the North Pole, he said, it was necessary to push beyond 74 degrees latitude — the point at which the Dutch ships had always found their path blocked by ice - into the open sea where the great depth of the water and the swell of the waves prevented a
ny ice from forming. Furthermore, he confidently asserted that if 83 degrees latitude was reached — somewhere to the north of Franz Josef Land — it would be possible to turn eastwards and break through to the warm seas of the East Indies.
Hudson's theory sounded plausible but the merchants had suffered so many failures in their Arctic exploits that they demanded further evidence. Summoning Petrus Plancius to their meeting, they asked for his opinion of Hudson's findings. Not only did Plancius concur with every word, he actually reinforced the Englishman's claims with his own evidence. He argued that although the heat of the sun is extremely weak at the North Pole, the fact that it shines uninterrupted for almost five months of the year enables a permanent warmth to build up at the top of the world. To prove his point he reminded the directors that a small fire kept alight for a long time in the same place gives out considerably more heat than a large fire that is constantly extinguished.
The Amsterdam directors were impressed with this explanation but hesitated in equipping a fleet immediately, largely because Company rules dictated that an expedition to the Spice Islands could only set sail with the unanimous consent of the Council of Seventeen. Since that only met two or three times a year they would not be able to agree to any project until its next meeting which was scheduled for late spring 1609. Unfortunately this would be too late in the season to send an expedition across the Arctic, so Hudson would have to wait a further year before he could set sail.
This uncharacteristic hesitation nearly cost the directors dear. The charter of the Dutch East India Company gave them a monopoly on any trade passing by way of the Cape of Good Hope or the Magellan Straits, but there was no mention of any northern route to the Spice Islands, leaving the inescapable conclusion that if any dissident merchant were to go in search of the North-East Passage it would be beyond the power of the Seventeen to stop him. By the time Hudson visited Amsterdam just such a situation had arisen. Isaac Lemaire, one of the city's wealthiest merchants, had grown increasingly dissatisfied with what he considered to be Holland's overly cautious approach to trade and, in 1605, promptly withdrew his support. He was now their enemy, and a dangerous one at that, for he vowed to do everything in his power to undermine his former partners. When he heard that they had effectively turned down Hudson's proposal for an immediate voyage to the North he made contact with the English navigator and suggested the two men form a partnership. Lemaire had powerful backing: King Henry IV of France had watched with growing jealousy the Dutch ships sail up the Channel and was anxious to have his share of the riches of the East Indies. When he learned of Lemaire s rift with his erstwhile partners the King made contact with the Dutchman through his ambassador, Pierre Jeannin.
The ensuing negotiations had to be conducted in the utmost secrecy lest the Seventeen, who were 'fearful above all things of being forestalled in this design', should learn of the plan. A meeting was sought with Hudson, and the English explorer, irritated that the Seventeen were dragging their feet, placed his Arctic research at the disposal of the two men.
As soon as Jeannin had read these findings he wrote to the French King urging him to finance a Hudson-led expedition to the Arctic. He predicted that the return journey to the Spice Islands would take just six months, with the added advantage that not a single foreign carrack would be met en route. 'It is true,' wrote Jeannin, 'that the success of this undertaking cannot be promised with certainty, but Lemaire has long been making inquiries as to what results could be expected from this enterprise and he is regarded as a prudent and industrious man.' He added that it is the opinion of Plancius and other geographers that there are other lands which have not yet been discovered and which God may be reserving for the glory and advantage of other princes ... Even if nothing should come of it, it will always be a laudable thing, and the regret will not be great since so little will be risked.'
The King acted promptly on receipt of this letter. Although sceptical about the project he was sufficiently enthused to send a draft for four thousand crowns. Unfortunately the money arrived too late. Learning of Lemaire's secret meetings with Hudson, the Seventeen urgently recalled the Englishman and this time acted swiftly. A contract was drawn up in which Hudson was named as captain of an expedition to discover the northern route to the Spice Islands and which included details of the route he was to take, the payment he would receive, and the obligations placed upon him. 'The above named Hudson shall about the first of April, sail, in order to search for a passage by the North, around by the North side of Nova Zembla, and shall continue thus along that parallel until he shall be able to sail Southward to the latitude of sixty degrees .'Throughout the voyage he was to 'obtain as much knowledge of the lands as can be done without any considerable loss of time and, if it is possible, return immediately in order to make a faithful report and relation of his voyage to the Directors, and to deliver over his journals, log-books and charts, together with an account of everything whatsoever which shall happen to him during the voyage without keeping anything back'. In return for his services, 'the Directors shall pay to the said Hudson ... the sum of eight hundred guilders; and in case (which God prevent) he do not come back or arrive hereabouts within a year, the Directors shall further pay to his wife two hundred guilders in cash; and thereupon they shall not be further liable to him or his heirs.'
The contract throws light on the considerable risks that explorers like Hudson were prepared to take. The vessel he was to sail in was tiny — sixty tons is scarcely bigger than a modern yacht - and poorly equipped for seas littered with icebergs. The financial reward, too, was paltry, whilst payment for any success was left entirely in the hands of his employers who 'will reward the before named Hudson for his dangers, trouble and knowledge in their discretion'. Nor was he offered any assurance of future employment; the contract was for a single exploratory voyage only. Even more surprising is that Hudson should agree to such a pitiful sum being paid to his wife in the event of him dying while at sea. Possibly he could not persuade the Seventeen to part with any more money, but more probably he had supreme confidence in his own abilities.
A curious set of additional instructions were handed to Hudson shortly before he set sail. These stated in even greater detail the route that he was to take and explicitly ordered him 'to think of discovering no other routes or passages, except the route around by the North and North- East above Nova Zembla'.Why the Seventeen added this last clause remains a mystery but perhaps, even now, they had an inkling that Hudson would ignore all their instructions once he had set sail. Certainly there was some disquiet about this headstrong Englishman for one of the Company letters, referring to a dispute over the crew's wages, states:'If he begins to rebel here under our eyes what will he do if he is away from us?'
Subsequent events were to prove that they were right to be concerned about Hudson's behaviour and were fully justified in mistrusting his leadership. But what the Dutch merchants could never have imagined was that his 1609 voyage would have such a profound and lasting consequence on the spice race.
The Half Moon set sail in March of that year with a mixed crew of Dutch and English mariners. The vessel was built with a high forecastle and poop, and resembled in appearance the shallow-bottomed vlie boats used in the calm waters of the Zuider Zee. Few who watched its slow progress towards the North Sea, and fewer still among its crew, could have guessed that Hudson had no intention of sailing along the northern coastline of Russia; and that unbeknown to anyone he had set sail with his cabin piled high with charts and maps relating not to the North-East Passage, but to the North-West Passage, and it was this western waterway that he now wished to research.
Hudson's own account of the voyage has been lost but two contemporary journals have survived. One, written by Robert Juet, Hudson's mate, is a colourful and personal account of events on board; whilst the other, by Emanuel van Meteren, is drawn from conversations with Hudson's crew on their return. Juet provides little information about the early weeks of the voyage and records scant de
tail until the Half Moon had edged her way towards the Arctic pack- ice. He does mention a 'black fortnight' and refers to 'much trouble' although whether this is due to the crew or the 'close stormie weather, with much wind and snow', is not clear.
Emanuel van Meteren tells a more intriguing story. He relates that even in these early weeks there were bitter quarrels between the Dutch and English sailors and that some of the crew staged an abortive mutiny against their captain. The appalling weather only increased their discomfort for some of the Dutch crew were only recently returned from the Indies and were used to sailing in the languid heat of the tropics. Now they were heading into altogether colder climes where it was necessary to chip
blocks of ice off the ropes before they could be hauled through the pulleys.
At exactly noon on 21 May 1609, the crew of the Half Moon were called on deck to watch something peculiar happening to the sun. 'We observed the sunne having a slake', says Juet,'and found our height to be 70 degrees, 30 minutes.' The word 'slake' means 'an accumulation of mud or slime', suggesting that Juet was describing a sun spot. If so, this is the earliest recorded sighting, for the observation of astronomer Thomas Hariot — usually considered the first on record — was not until the winter of 1610.
