CHAPTER VIII 
FIRST ENGLISH VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-EAST. 
WILLOUGHBY. CHANCELLOR. BURROUGH. PET 
Many reasons led English seamen to turn northward. 
East and west were occupied by Portugal and by Spain, 
and our own adventurers, rather later in the field, sought 
the discovery of routes to Cathay and the Spice Islands 
by northern ways. Our seamen had long traded with 
Norway and Iceland. The more northern voyages re- 
ceived hearty encouragement from our Plantagenet kings, 
who granted charters in 1404, 1432, and 1463 for trade 
with the Scandinavian nations. Richard III specially 
favoured the Iceland voyages. William of Worcester, 
in his chronicle, tells us of the enterprises of William 
Canynge of Bristol, who sent his ships not only to the 
Mediterranean and the Baltic, but so far as Iceland, 
where one of his vessels of 160 tons was lost. Ships 
also went northward from Lynn and other ports, and 
before long the commercial ventures led to voyages of 
discovery. It must always be remembered that the 
notices of voyages to be met with in the 15th century 
chronicles, few and far between, represented but a small 
fraction of English maritime activity and of the voyages 
actually undertaken. England was preparing silently, 
but actively and strenuously, for her supremacy of the 
sea, and for her great work in the Arctic regions. 
Land was reported beyond the ocean to the westward 
of Bristol, and as early as July 1480 we are told by 
William of Worcester that a seaman named Thylde — 
the most scientific seaman, it is added, in all England — 
led an expedition in search of the unknown land, and was 
absent for 64 days. Others followed in his wake. At 
last the crew of the Bristol ship Matthew did actually 
discover Newfoundland, or rather re-discover it, for it 
