Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-07


centuries In the middle OF the strait he
discovered an island which did not exist.
As the result Of certain specimens of ore
which his men carried home, he COM
manded two other expeditions, in 1877 and
1873, in search Of gold but the ore OBJ
tained proved worthless.
John Davis, or Davys, 1535-1592
Far the most important of these early
voyages was that made by John Davis in
1856 Again the goal sought was the
Northwest Passage Born in Sandridge.
Devonshire, in 1890 Davis was one Of the
finest types of the "old seadog." The
pedition. which utilized two ships-the
Sunshine. Of fifty tons, and the Moon
shine, Of thirty-fve tons-was fitted out
by a number Of merchants headed by
William Sanderson.
BY July 49, after starting June 1, the
adventurers were off tho southeast coast
of Greenland, where Davis heard for the
first time the grinding together Of the
great ice packs. The shore looked so
barren and forbidding that he named the
land ''Desolation. Rounding the southern
point of Greenland and bearing north
ward, he reached latitude Ga degrees,
where he moored his ships among some
green and pleasant Islands," inhabited
by natives who were very friendly. Learn
ing that there was a great sea toward the
north and west, he shaped his further
course west-northwest, expecting to get
to China Crossing the strait which bears
his name today, he sighted land in &C de-
grees 90 minutes. and anchored in Exeter
sound. The hill above them was named
Mount Raleigh, the foreland to the south
Cape Dyer, and that to the south Cape
Walsingham, names which they still bear.
On May Z, 1886, Davis headed a second
expedition, his fleet strengthened by the
addition Of the Merimade, a ship OF
twelve hundred tons. He merely coasted
southward to Hudson strait, deserting the
larger vessel in latitude &C degrees and
going home without her. His third expe-
dition, on May 10, 1857, consisted of three
ships. On reaching latitude 81 degrees 40
minutes he left two vessels to prosecute
fishing and sailed on by himself He came,
so he has said. ito the latitude of 75 de-
grees. in a great sea, free from ice,
coasting the western shore of Desola-
tim ="
Sought North Trails
Then 1 departed from that coast, think
ing to discover the north parts Of Ameri-
ca After I had sailed toward the west
near forty leagues 1 fell upon a great
bank of Ice. The wind being north, and
blew much, 1 was constrained to coast
west of me. Neither was there any ice
toward the north, but a great sea, free,
large, very salt and blue and OF an un-
searchable depth. So coasting toward the
south I came TO the place where l left
the ships to fish, but found them not.
Thus being forsaken and left in this dis
trict, referring myself to the merciful
God I shaped my course for England,
and unhoped for Of any, God alone re-
lieving me, I arrived at Dartmouth By
this last discovery It seemed most mani
> fest that the passage was free and
without impediment toward the north"
So ended the Arctic voyages of John
Davis. And it was Sir John Ross who
said:
''The discoveries which he made proved
of great commercial Importance, since to
him more than to any preceding or sub
sequent navigator has the whale fishery
been indebted"
William Sarents, 1594-1597
1t was William Barents, Dutch Arctic
navigator, who first succeeded in pene-
trating beyond the eightieth degree of
latitude. He commanded several explor-
ing expeditions to Nova Zembia and spitz-
bergen from 1894 to 1897, in his first voy-
= age, which was an attempt to discover a
passage to China through the Arctic
ocean, reaching latitude seventy y-seven or
seventy-eight degrees. On his last voy-
age, 1596-1597. in which spitzbergen was
discovered, he reached latitude so de-
grees IL minutes. This voyage involved
terrible trials, his ship time after time
narrowly escaping destruction by the
crashing together Of ice foes. He and his
men were forced TO pass q winter in the
Arctic regions, which no other previous
voyager had done, and they were wholly
unprepared for such an emergency.
They built a house near the bay which
bears his name today, and the chronicler
of the expedition, Gerrit de Veer. wrote
that at blew so hard and showed so fast
that we should have smothered If we had
gone out into the air, and to speake
TRUTH It had not been possible for US to
go out of the house. 1t frose so hard
that as we put nayle into our mouths
(as when men worke carpenters worke
they use to do), there would ice hang
thereon when we tooHe it out againe, and
made the blood follow" The ship be-
came so badly damaged that she could
not make the voyage home, and the men
set about repairing the small boats with
a view to crossing the thousand miles Of
sea that lay between them and Lapland.
A few Of the men survived the voyage
to Lapland, but Barents died in the
country he had discovered.
Henry Hudson, 15o7-1611
That gallant voyager who discovered the
river which bears his name, Henry Hud-
son, also contributed to arctic conquest.
In 1907 he was sent by the Muscovy COM
pany, a concern engaged in trading pur-
suits, in the Hopeful in an effort to sail
across the North Pole to the Spice
Islands. He reached the east coast OF
Greenland, latitude 50 degrees 70 minutes,
in June, sailed southwark along the Ice
barrier to spitzbergen, reaching latitude
50 degrees 23 minutes thus exceeding
Barents' record. He returned to England,
discovering Jan Mayen, which he named
Hudson's Touches, on the way. In 1908
he attempted to find a northeast passage.
In 1910 after his discoveries In America,
he sailed in the Discovery to find a north
west passage on the return his crew
mutinied, and on June 2s 1911, he was
bound and, with eight others. set ahoat
ir a small boat on Hudson Bay, no trace
of him thereafter being discovered.
William 5affin, 1915
william Bafhn, an English navigator
and explorer, who later was killed while
serving with the allied English and Per-
sian armies against the Portuguese on the
Island Of Kishim. in the Persian gulf,
was despatched in 1915 by the Muscovy
company as the pilot of the Discovery,
Captain Robert Bylot, which sailed to
North America in the search for north
west passage. This expedition resulted in
the discovery of the bay between Green
land and British America. which since
has received the name Bafin's bay The
original manuscript recording the events
of the exepditon-the printed version
which was made by Purchas having
shown many liberties taken with the Or
iginal text-and the map drafted at the
same time still are preserved in the
British Museum.