The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (1594, 1595, and 1596)Veer, Gerrit de
History
The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (1594, 1595, and 1596)
Veer, Gerrit de
Barentsz, Willem, approximately 1550-1597; Northeast Passage
Early in the morning of the 26th they weighed the anchor, made sail,
and arrived at noon between the mountainous cape and the terra firma.
[14] After sailing about 20 miles in a southerly direction, they saw
much ice aground, and on sounding they found only 5 fathoms. These
shallows [15] obliged them to return, but having to strive with foul
winds, and being becalmed, they only, on the 28th, rounded the
mountainous cape, which they called “Cape Bird”, “because there were so
many birds upon it and in the neighbourhood.” This cape lay in 79° 5′
N. latitude. [16] Steering about 60 miles in a southerly course, they
came close to a large bay, which ran into the land E.N.E. [17] Twenty
miles farther they passed another large bay, [18] in which was “much
ice under the land.” To keep clear of the ice the course now became
more westerly, and at noon on the 29th, in latitude 76° 50′, they lost
sight of the land. [19] Sailing S. and S.S.E. they, on the 1st of July,
returned to Bear Island, where they agreed to separate.
Barendsz, as we know, went to Novaya Zemlya, and Rijp steered again
towards the north.
In deciding whether Rijp steered along the west, or went north along
the east coast, opinions are again at variance. Hessel Gerritsz, in the
same work, “Histoire de Spitsbergen, etc.”, speaking on this question,
says:—
“Rijp and Barendsz, anchoring at Bear Island on the first of July,
differed much in their opinions. Rijp calculated that the spot
where they were lay N.E. of the North Cape in Norway, whilst
Barendsz, on the contrary, maintained that it was N.W. Whilst the
calculations of Barendsz led him to believe that he was 1000 miles
distant from the Ice Cape of Novaya Zemlya, Rijp pretended to be
only 250 miles distant from the same point, and because Barendsz
thought it better to extend his knowledge of a land already
somewhat known, and thus render easier the passage to the Strait of
Anian, they resolved to separate. They both agreed that Rijp should
investigate towards the north-west and Barendsz towards the N.E. So
that Rijp again set sail towards the north, and came, after
marvellous accidents from ice and winds, to the spot where they had
anchored for the first time in 80°. He had also been up again to
Cape Bird, and he returned from thence with the intention of
rejoining Barendsz.”
This statement of Hessel Gerritsz that Rijp proceeded to the same spot
in 80°, where he had already been in company with Barendsz, agrees with
the account of Pontanus in his work on Amsterdam, published in 1614; as
well as with the information of Rijp himself, found in the old records
by Mr. De Jonge.
Pontanus (p. 168), says: “That Rijp pretended they ought to retrace
their steps till 80°.” Whilst Rijp himself says “that they returned to
the same spot where they had first been” (et prévient au lieu où ils
avoyent esté premièrement).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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