no A rctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
two great failings of his country, and set himself to work 
with patriotic zeal to remedy them. The first was the 
ignorance of our seamen as regards the scientific part of 
their profession. The second was the absence of records, 
and the way in which important voyages and travels were 
allowed to fall into oblivion. He strove during a long life, 
with great ability and untiring perseverance, to remedy 
these defects. 
Hakluyt 's first public service was the delivery of 
lectures on the construction and use of maps, spheres, 
and nautical instruments, " to the singular pleasure and 
general contentment of his auditory," as he tells us. 
He constantly urged on the attention of those in authority 
the importance of establishing a permanent lectureship 
on navigation in the port of London. He looked upon 
the loss of journals, narratives, and similar documents 
as a great national calamity, and he devoted his life to 
the application of a remedy. His first book, published 
in 1582, was entitled Divers Voyages touching the Dis- 
coveries of America. It was the first impetus to colonisa- 
tion. Virtually, Raleigh and Hakluyt were the founders 
of those colonies which eventually formed the United 
States. 
Hakluyt entered holy orders, and went to Paris for 
five years 1583-1588, as chaplain to the English Embassy, 
during which time he worked assiduously at the object 
of his life. Returning to England he was made a Canon 
of Bristol Cathedral and rector of Wetheringsett in 
Suffolk. His Principall Navigations, a folio volume, was 
published in 1589, as soon as he returned from Paris. 
In 1598 the first volume of his more complete work 
appeared, the two others following in the two succeeding 
years, and later several other books were brought out 
under his auspices. 
The great work of Hakluyt, the Principall Navigations 
in three folio volumes, is a monument of useful labour. 
Nothing could stop or daunt him when there was a chance 
of obtaining new information. He rode 200 miles to 
have an interview with the last survivor of Hore's expe- 
dition to America in 1536. He saved many journals 
and narratives from destruction, and the deeds they 
record from oblivion. His work gave a stimulus to 
