THE FIRST NORTH-EAST VOYAGE 5 



adding that Launcelot had already received 20 " as 

 preste " for his ship going there. 



It is evident that the fisheries were found to be 

 worth working, for no less than fifty Spanish, French, 

 and Portuguese ships were engaged in them in 1517, 

 the year of Sebastian Cabot's disputed voyage to 

 Hudson Bay. Ten years afterwards Robert Thorne, of 

 Bristol, wrote to the King, mentioning this voyage and 

 suggesting three sea routes to Cathay by the north- 

 west, as Sebastian had attempted, by the north over 

 the Pole, and by the north-east and, in 1547, when 

 Sebastian returned to England for good, after his long 

 service with Spain, he again, as the first Governor of 

 the Company of Merchant Adventurers, took up this 

 Cathay question, which had frequently been raised, 

 and fitted out, as a commencement, an expedition to 

 the north-east. 



The ships were built at Bristol specially for the 

 purpose, and they were sheathed with lead, the first 

 so treated in this country. This sheathing of ships was 

 not the only innovation we owe to the most scientific 

 seaman of his time, for in his famous ordinances for the 

 voyage many excellent new things are enjoined, in- 

 cluding the keeping of a log and journal, which date 

 from this expedition. There were three vessels, the 

 Bona Espcranza, of one hundred and twenty tons, 

 Captain Sir Hugh Willoughby ; the JEdivard Bona- 

 venture, one hundred and sixty tons, Captain Richard 

 Chancellor ; and the Bona Confidcntia, ninety tons, 

 Captain Durfourth. In Chancellor's ship, as master, 

 was the best navigator of the fleet, whose monu- 

 mental brass in Chatham Church is noteworthy for its 



