A.D. 



1577- 



The Islands 

 O trades, or 

 Orkney. 



TheOrcadiam 



upon smal occa- 

 sion f.ee their 

 home. 



THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



and the other, The Michael, whereof Master Yorke, a 

 Gentleman of my Lord Admirals was Captaine, accom- 

 panied with seven score Gentlemen, souldiers, and 

 sailers, well furnished with victuals, and other provision 

 necessarie for one halfe yeere, on this his second voyage, 

 for the further discovering of the passage to Cathay, and 

 other Countreys, thereunto adjacent, by West and North- 

 west navigations : which passage or way, is supposed to 

 bee on the North and Northwest part of America : and 

 the said America to be an Island invironed with the sea, 

 where through our Merchants may have course and 

 recourse with their merchandize, from these our Northern- 

 most parts of Europe, to those Orientall coasts of i\sia, 

 in much shorter time, and with greater benefite then any 

 others, to their no little commoditie and profite that do 

 or shall frequent the same. Our said Captaine and 

 General of this present voyage and company having the 

 yeere before, with two little pinnesses, to his great danger, 

 and no small commendations, given a worthy attempt 

 towards the performance thereof, is also prest, when 

 occasion shall be ministred (to the benefite of his Prince, 

 and native Countrey) to adventure himselfe further 

 therein. As for this second voyage, it seemeth sufficient, 

 that he hath better explored and searched the commodities 

 of those people and Countreys, which in his first voyage 

 the yeere before he had found out. 



Upon which considerations, the day and yeere before 

 expressed, we departed from Blacke Wall to Harwich, 

 where making an accomplishment of things necessary, the 

 last of May we hoised up sailes, and with a merrie wind 

 the 7. of June we arrived at the Islands called Orcades, 

 or vulgarly Orkney, being in number 30. subject and 

 adjacent to Scotland, where we made provision of fresh 

 water; in the doing whereof our Generall licensed the 

 Gentlemen and souldiers for their recreation, to goe on 

 shore. At our landing, the people fled from their poore 

 cottages, with shrikes and alarms, to warne their neigh- 

 bours of enemies, but by gentle perswasions we reclamed 



