CH. VIII] 
Willoughby 
61 
habiting the north-east parts of the world toward the 
mighty empire of Cathay, commending the right valiant 
and worthy Sir Hugh Willoughby to their good offices. 
The three ships left Ratcliffe on May ioth, 1553, and 
started with the ebb. They were towed by their boats, 
the sailors being dressed in sky-coloured cloth, and 
passing Greenwich there was a great crowd on the shore, 
and the courtiers stood at the windows of the palace, 
the ships saluting. But, alas ! the young King who had 
taken great interest in the expedition, receiving news of 
it from his friend Henry Sidney, was on his deathbed. 
There was a detention at Harwich owing to some of the 
provisions being bad, but on the 23rd of June the little 
squadron stood out to sea from Orfordness. 
It was not until the 14th of July that Halgoland was 
sighted, the home of Ohthere, the first Arctic navigator. 
They visited Udrost, on the Arctic Circle and had friendly 
intercourse with the people of the Lofoten Islands. They 
also touched at Sen j en, but off the coast of Finmarken, 
Chancellor, in the Edward Bonaventure, parted company 
in a gale of wind. Sir Hugh Willoughby, with his own 
ship and the Bona Confidentia, searched for the port of 
Vardo, which he called " Wardhouse," the rendezvous. 
Rut strong breezes obliged him to shape a course to the 
eastward, and on the 14th of August he came in sight of 
land in 72°N. He hoisted out the boat, but could not 
reach the coast owing to the water being shoal. Sir Hugh 
had discovered Novaya Zemlya, at the part now called the 
"Goose Coast/' It was known to the adventurers of those 
days as " Willoughby' s Land," but was shown on some 
maps as a separate island 1 . Sir Hugh continued to work 
up along the coast for three days, but the Bona Confidentia 
was leaking badly, and it was decided to seek a harbour 
in Finmarken in order to repair her. After beating about 
for some days Sir Hugh finally brought the two vessels 
into a haven at the mouth of the river Arzina, near 
Kegor on the coast of Lapland. Here he determined to 
winter, as animals were seen both on land and sea, but 
no human dwellers could be found. 
1 Moxon (1676) places Willoughby Land near the south-east corner of 
Spitsbergen. On the map in Harris's voyage (1748) it is an island half-way 
between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya. 
