History of the United Netherlands, 1598-99 | Page 8

from Amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be
despatched homeward with the news, so soon as the expedition should
have passed through the straits of Nassau, forced its way through the
frozen gulf of Tartary, doubled Cape Tabin, and turned southward on
its direct course to China. The sublime credulity which accepted
Linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma as conclusive was fairly
matched by the sedateness with which the authorities made the
preparations for the new voyage. So deliberately were the broadcloths,
linens, tapestries, and other assorted articles for this first great
speculation to Cathay, via the North Pole, stowed on board the fleet,
that nearly half the summer had passed before anchor was weighed in
the Meuse. The pompous expedition was thus predestined to an almost
ridiculous failure. Yet it was in the hands of great men, both on shore
and sea. Maurice, Barneveld, and Maalzoon had personally interested

themselves in the details of its outfitting, Linschoten sailed as chief
commissioner, the calm and intrepid Barendz was upper pilot of the
whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined to achieve an
immortal name in the naval history of his country, Jacob Heemskerk,
was supercargo of the Amsterdam ship. In obedience to the plans of
Linschoten and of Maalzoon, the passage by way of the Waigats was of
course attempted. A landing was effected on the coast of Tartary.
Whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a
source was imparted by the wandering Samoyedes. On the 2nd of
September a party went ashore on Staten Island and occupied
themselves in gathering some glistening pebbles which the journalist of
the expedition describes with much gravity as a "kind of diamonds,
very plentiful upon the island." While two of the men were thus
especially engaged in a deep hollow, one of them found himself
suddenly twitched from behind. "What are you pulling at me for,
mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he supposed. But his
companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in another instant the
head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and the bear was
sucking his blood. The other man escaped to his friends, and together a
party of twenty charged upon the beast. Another of the combatants was
killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a fortunate
bullet struck him in the head. But even then the bear maintained his
grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains were fairly
beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of the party
that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades and give
them a hurried kind of Christian burial. They flayed the bear and took
away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply of the
diamonds of Staten Island, was the only merchandize obtained upon the
voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. For,
by the middle of September, it had become obviously hopeless to
attempt the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition
returned, having accomplished nothing. It reached Amsterdam upon the
18th of November, 1595.
The authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result,
refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic
explorations. The States-General however offered a reward of
twenty-five thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in

discovering the northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those
whose efforts in that direction might be deemed commendable, even if
not crowned with success.
Stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more
than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted Barendz,
who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of Nova
Zembla and across the pole to farthest Ind, determined to renew the
attempt the following summer. The city of Amsterdam accordingly,
early in the year 1596, fitted out two ships. Select crews of entirely
unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. John Cornelisz van der
Ryp, an experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the
vessels, William Barendz was upper pilot of the other, and Heemskerk,
"the man who ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper
and supercargo.
The ships sailed from the Vlie on the 18th May. The opinions of Peter
Plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both
Ryp and Barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged Waigats.
Although identical in this determination, their views as to the
configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be
steered, were conflicting. They however sailed in company mainly in a
N.E. by N. direction, although Barendz would have steered much more
to the east.
On the