The Northern Passage #1
Journal 1: The Northern Passage
- I am the commander of the ship Hopewell for the Muscovy (Russia) Company.
- It is a 40-ton bark, with a small crew.
- My aim is discover a sea route over the North Pole, and to reach the Spice Islands.
- Petrus Plancius believed the pole region became milder and warmer during five months of constant sunshine.
- I agreed that by sailing north we would be able to navigate through open seas across the pole.
- January
- Thanks to Richard Hakluyt, I Henry Hudson got recommended as the commander of the expedition.
- Also by the help of Thorne’s Plan, King Henry VIII agreed to the proposal of this expedition.
- I visited Hakluyt in Bristol, who showed me a letter written by Samuel Purchas, another believer of the polar route.
- I argued over the agreed fee of 100 pounds, as I wanted more money, and they finally re-agreed on 130 pounds.
- We chose a three-year-old, square-rigged 80-ton ship with three masts for this expedition.
- Purcas thought that the voyage over the North Pole would be easy.
- April
- 19: Me, my son john, and my ten crew members prayed at St. Ethelburga’s church, near London Bridge.
- 23: We left London, but bad weather delayed us from getting much further for the first week.
- May
- 1: So finally the weather cleared, and we left Gravesend at the mouth of River Thames, heading for open water.
- 26: We arrived at the Shetland Islands. I commanded to sail northwest instead of north.
- 30: My crew saw the compass needle deflected and thought the voyage was under an evil spell, and soon something bad will happen. I had to settle them down to avoid mutiny.
- June
- 13: After six weeks, we saw the east coast of Greenland. The weather was bad, but I spent two weeks mapping the coast.
- Early-mid June: The weather became freezing, snowy, and foggy, but I proceeded blindly ahead.
- 20: The weather cleared and I steered northeast.
- 21: I reached 73 degree latitude N, saw a land, and named it Hold with Hope.
- 25: My crew spied three dolphins swimming towards our ship, also considered a bad omen.
- 27: So ice continued to block our way, but I forced the crew to further northeast, and we reached the western shores of West Spitzbergen Island.
- July
- 1: We arrived at a great inlet.
- 6: Our ship entered a very green sea.
- 8: My crew spotted many sea-horses, seals, and walrus.
- 11: Several of the crew got sick from eating unsalted bear meat.
- 12: I quoted, “A sea setting us upon the ice has brought us close to danger, but a small gale saved us.”
- 13: We reached 80 degree and 23 minutes N, which was about 577 miles from the pole, but the way was blocked by ice.
- 14: I reached North East land and found the island blooming in flowers, but was a very warm area.
- 15: Then we sailed northeast along the coast little wind and warm weather.
- 16: The ship was surrounded by ice; I attempted to get closer to the land but failed and turned southwest to Collin’s Cape.
- 22: I then veered northwest again.
- 23: I thought that we were at 80 degree 23 minutes N, but we weren’t past 79 degree 23 minutes N.
- 25: We were now at 81 degree N.
- 27: The ship was under a collision with an iceberg, but I put some crew in the boat and had them row to pull the ship out just in time: then we headed southeast.
- 31: I realized that the bad weathering season was about to start, so I decided to return to England.
- August
- 1: I noted that our ship was opposite Chererie’s Island, at 74 30 degree N and 19 degree E.
- 15: The ship put in at the Faeroe Islands on its way home.
- September
- 15: We returned to Tilbury, England, after 3 and ½ months, and the same day the company asked me to lead a new whaling venture to the Spitzbergens, and after hearing the good news I started to prepare for another voyage to the north.
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