92 SANDFOED FLEMING ON 



cosmography. G-reat privation was experienced, and but for the timely appearence and 

 assistance of a French vessel the whole crew would have perished miserably. 



In 1553, an expedition of which the then aged Sebastian Cabot was the chief pro- 

 moter, sailed iiuder Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, to end in disaster. 

 The three ships followed an easterly course, and overtaken by winter Willoughby and all 

 his men perished by famine and cold. Three years later another A'^essel was sent out in a 

 north-easterly direction under the command of Stephen Burroughs. In midsummer, the 

 ship was beset on all sides by masses of ice, and was in danger of being annihilated, so 

 that all efforts to proceed were unavailing. 



(3) Efforts in the Sixteenth Century to discover a Nortli-ivest Passage. 



Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1498, and established 

 the possibility of reaching Asia by sea ; but the navigators of European nations remained 

 in their belief of a western passage to what was then designated the " East." Having 

 this discovery in view, examinations were made on behalf of Portugal, Spain, France, 

 Holland and England, in every parallel of latitude between Darieu and the extreme north. 



Cathay continued to be the object of many adventurous A^oyages. The discoveries of 

 Columbus and his Spanish followers, the expeditions of Cabot, Cartier and others, having 

 established the existence of a large continent extending north, on the eastern coast, as high 

 as latitude 6*7° 30, it was plain that the much desired navigable route to Asia must be 

 sought northward of this limit. It is at this stage in the history of maritime discovery 

 that there began a series of expeditions, having generally in view the discovery of a 

 " North-west Passage," which were continued with but short intermission over a period 

 of more than three centixries. Great enthusiasm long continued to be felt for the estab- 

 lishment of trade directly with the marts of India and China ; and voyages Avere 

 undertaken by the most celebrated mariners of the age mainly Avith this end in view. 



Influenced by national considerations, Martin Frobisher one of England's heroes, 

 who afterwards took part in the defeat of the luAancible Armada, embarked in a series of 

 expeditions. In ISTG, he set sail with three ships, and in 157V and 15*78, other expeditions 

 followed under the same commander. In 1578, he sailed with fifteen Aa^ssels. Frobisher 

 was followed by John Davis, who made three successive voyages in the same direction 

 in the years 1585, 1586 and 1587. Davis Strait received the name of this commander. 



(4) Attempts to find a North-ioest Passage in the Seventeenth Cenltiry. 



In 1602, the enterprise was renewed by some patriotic merchants of London and 

 by the Muscovy Company ; two ships were fitted out under the command of G-eorge 

 "Waymouth, Avho made for Greenland; after reaching a high latitude they encountered 

 such obstructions from ice and dense fogs, that the crew apprehensive of safety mutinied. 

 The ships returned without adding to previous discoveries. In 1605, the King of 

 Denmark caused three A^ssels to be despatched under command of John Cunningham. 

 They coasted Greenland and reached latitude 66° 30' ; but the seamen refused to proceed 

 further. A smaller expedition went out the following year in command of John Knight, 

 with no better result. 



