The Russians also made expeditions to Spitsbergen. Their plan was to form a depôt in Bell Sound, and Lieutenant Nemtinoff built five houses there in 1764, where stores were landed. In May 1765 Captain Vassili Tchitschakoff sailed from Archangel in command of three small vessels, did battle with the ice during two months, but could never get further north than 80° 26′. He returned to Archangel, and was sent to make another attempt in the following year. He reached a latitude of 80° 30′ and then gave it up. The Russians had passed two winters in Bell Sound, in charge of the stores. The praise which Baron Wrangell bestows on the gallant Russian officers and sailors, who faced and overcame hardships and dangers of no ordinary kind, and did such splendid exploring work during more than two centuries, is justly their due. It is satisfactory to reflect that the Arctic discoveries of the Russians led to no barren results. They were the direct causes of the establishment of a lucrative fur trade, and of an equally flourishing trade in fossil ivory. Such have been the almost inevitable results of Arctic enterprises, which enrich communities while they confer great benefits on science. CHAPTER XXI THE BRITISH WHALE FISHERY AND THE SCORESBYS A history of polar discovery would be incomplete without some notice of the whaling trade in the Spitsbergen Seas and in Davis Strait, for scientific observations were taken by some of the whaling captains, and many discoveries were made. Their duties, of course, obliged them to give the first place to the work on which they were employed. Sir Martin Conway puts it very well when he says of Scoresby that “he never neglected business in the cause of science, but was always mindful of science when business permitted.” The Dutch, at first our rivals, were for a long series of years far superior to the English as successful whale-fishers. While the English continued to fish round Bell Sound and the number of their vessels decreased year by year, the Dutch, when the whales ceased to come to the bays, sought them by facing the dangers of the open sea, abandoned Smeerenburg, adopted new methods, and became very expert. When the learned Frederik Martens of Hamburg made a voyage to Spitsbergen in 1671, on board a whaling ship called the _Jonah in the Whale_, he found Smeerenburg quite deserted. His history of the voyage contains the first detailed account of Spitsbergen, with notices of the fauna and flora[106]. Although Smeerenburg was so early abandoned, the Dutch fishery continued to flourish for another century, enriching the communities of the Netherlands with products annually yielding great wealth. In 1709 their fishery in Davis Strait was commenced. In the unsuccessful whaling captain Zorgdrager the Dutch found a diligent historian[107].