xvi INTRODUCTION 



The French sent an expedition to Spitz- 

 bergen in 1693. The result reflects so much 

 to our credit that I must mention it here. Four 

 frigates took part in the expedition under the 

 command of M. de la Varenne, who remained 

 in the Bay of Smeerenberg with two vessels, 

 while two others commanded by two Basques, 

 MM. de Suhigaraichipe and de Harrismendy, 

 and probably manned by Basques accustomed 

 to the Arctic, pushed their way north to 

 cross the ice along the northern shores of 

 Spitzbergen. 



They overtook the Dutch whaling fleet, 

 which sought sanctuary in Treurenberg Bay 

 near the northern entrance to Hinlopen Strait, 

 a dangerous point always threatened by ice, 

 where Nordenskjold was ice-bound and com- 

 pelled to pass a winter at the risk of dying of 

 hunger. I myself have experienced the dis- 

 comfort of an eight days' imprisonment amid 

 the ice. But the Basques knew no fear. Ignor- 

 ing the fire directed at them from an elevated 

 fort at the entrance of the bay, the two French 

 frigates, towed by their own boats, approached 

 the Dutch vessels, which, to the number of forty, 

 were ranged in a semicircle, each carrying from 

 ten to eighteen guns and manned by crews of 

 fifty men. 



