164 NORTH 
mentable terms.' And when, at length, they got toge¬ 
ther again, they were fo bewildered by the fog, fnow, 
and mid, and fo driven about by the tides and currents, 
the noife of which was equal “ to the waterfall of London 
bridge,” that a doubt arofe among the mailers and pilots 
of the fleet where they were. In this dilemma two of the 
Ihips parted company; the reft followed Frobifher to the 
north-weft coalt of Greenland, along which he parted to 
the northward, thinking, or, as the writer of the voyage 
lays, pretending and “ perfuading the fleete always, that 
they were in their right courfe, and knowen ftraights.” 
At length, after many perils from ftorms, fogs, and float¬ 
ing ice, the general and part of the fleet affembled in the 
Countefs of Warwick’s Sound in Frobilher’s Strait, when 
a council was held on the ill of Auguft, at which it was 
determined to fend all perfons and things on-lhore upon 
Countefs of Warwick’s Sound ; and, on the 2d of Auguft, 
orders were proclaimed by found of trumpet for the gui¬ 
dance of the company during their abode thereon. It 
was found however, on examining the bills of lading, 
that the eaft fide and the fouth fide only of the houfe 
were faved, and thofe not perfedl, many pieces having 
been deftroyed when ufed as fenders againft the ice. 
There was alfo a want of drink and fuel for a hundred 
men, the greateft ftore being in the milling Ihips. For 
thefe and fun dry good and fufficient reafons, it was de¬ 
termined in council “ that no habitation lliould be there 
this yeer.” 
Captain Bell, of the Anne Francis, one of the milling (hips, 
difcovered “ a great black ifland,” where fuch plenty of 
black ore was found “ as might reafonably fuffice all the 
gold-gluttons of the world which ifland, “ forcaufe of 
his good luck,” the captain called after his own name, 
Deft's Die Ifing', He alfo afcended a high hill called Hat¬ 
ton's Headland, where he erected a column or crofs of 
Hone, in token of Chriftian pofleflion; “here alio he 
found plentee of blacke ore, and divers pretie Hones.” 
The 30th of Auguft having arrived, and all hands evi¬ 
dently dilheartened with the extreme cold and tempeftu- 
ous weather, a council was again held, at which it was 
determined, for divers good and fubllantial reafons, that 
each captain and gentleman lliould look to the lading of 
his own Ihip with ore, and be in readinefs to fet hoifie- 
ward by a certain day, which it appears was the following 
one, or 31ft of Auguft. After a ftormy paflage, in which 
it is llated that “ many of the fleete were dangeroufly 
diftreffed, and were fevered almolt all afunder,” they all 
arrived at various ports of England about the ill of 
Oftober, with the lofs by death of about forty perfons. 
It is iomewhat remarkable, that a man of Frobifher’s 
fagacity, who in his firft voyage foon difcovered that'tbe 
open and deep feadoes not freeze, but that the ice origi¬ 
nates in rivers, bays, and creeks, and floats about till it 
clings by the land, or is forced into narrow and (hallow 
ilraits, Ihould have perfevered in llruggling among llraits 
and ice, when he knew he had an open lea between Green¬ 
land and the Archipelago of iflands, among which is the 
jlrait bearing his name ; but his firft voyage was only in 
facl a voyage of difeovery ; the fecond and third had for 
their objedls golden mines and a new fettlement, and 
both ended in difappointed expectations. 
Although the fruitlefs voyages of Martin Frobilher 
had abated the zeal of the court, they did notin the leall 
damp the ardour of-private enterpriie. The Ruflia mer¬ 
chants, having madefo conliderable a progrefs in the eaft 
by land, now determined to fit out another expedition by 
fea, for the purpofe of renewing the attempt to difeover 
a north-eaft paflage to China. Two barks, the George 
and the William, under the command of Arthur Pet and 
Charles Jackman, were fitted out for this fervice. They 
left Harwich on the 30th of May, 1580, reached Ward- 
huys the 23d of June, crofted the Bay of St. Nicholas, 
parted much ice, and on the i 5 th of July made the body 
of the ifland, as they fuppofed, of Nova Zembla. On the 
17th, after palfing through much ice and Ihoal-water, 
POLE. 
they reached the Bay of Petchora, and the following day 
came to Waigatz, where they found great ftore of wood 
and water. To the eaftward of Waigatz they were fo 
hampered with the ice, that they refolved to return, a tafit 
which with difficulty they effected, the fea being fo thickly 
covered with ice, that they were enclofed in it for fixteen 
or eighteen days, and the air was conllantly loaded with 
thick fog. On the 17th of Auguft they repaffed the Strait 
of Waigatz, among much ice, fnow, and fog ; and on 
the 22d the (hips parted company. On the 27th th-e 
George was oppofite Kegor, on the 31ft doubled the 
North Cape, and on the 26th of October they reached 
Ratcliffe, “ and praifed God for their fafe returne.” 
The William was lefs fortunate. She arrived at a port 
in Norway, to the fouthward of Drontheim, in Oftober, 
and wintered there. In the February following Hie de¬ 
parted from thence, in company with a Ihip belonging to 
the king of Denmark, towards Iceland ; and from that 
time was never more heard of. 
From the meagre narrative of this voyage, it is fuffi- 
ciently evident that Pet and Jackman were but indiffe¬ 
rent navigators, and that they never trufted themfelves 
from the ihore and out of (hallow water, whenever the 
ice would fuller them to approach it; a fituation of all 
others where they might have made themfelves certain of 
being hampered with ice, though only in the 68H1 and 
69th degrees of latitude. From this time the Engliftt 
merchants, trading to Ruflia, were fatisfied with fending 
their Ihips to the Bay of St. Nicholas, or Archangel, and 
of committing their enterprifes of eajlern difcoveries to 
journeys by land. 
The fuccefsful efforts of the Ruffia company by land 
gave new vigour to a fpirit for foreign traffic and difco¬ 
veries, and turned men’s minds once more to the norih- 
weftward. The indefatigable exertions of fir Humphrey 
Gilbert, his great talents and powerful interell, had pro¬ 
cured for him letters patent, dated in 1578, authorifing 
him to undertake weftern dilcoveries, and to poffefs lands 
mj'ettled by Chriftian princes or their fubje&s ; and tire 
fame year lie is faid to have made a voyage to Newfound¬ 
land, of which, however, no detailed account appears to 
have been publiffied. The grant in the patent was made 
perpetual, 6ut at the fame time declared void in cafe no 
pofleflion was a&ually taken within the fpace of fix years. 
Sir Humphrey, therefore, the year before its expiration, 
prepared for a new expedition ; and, in the very fame 
year, being 1583, queen Elizabeth granted another pa¬ 
tent to his younger brother, Adrian Gilbert, of Sandridge, 
in the county of Devon, and his affociates, conferring on 
them the privilege of “ making dilcoveries of a paflage to 
China and the Moluccas, by the north-weftward, north- 
eaftward, or northward ;” to be incorporated by the name 
of “ The Colleagues of the Fellowlhip for the Difcoverie 
of the North-Weft Railage.” 
Sir Humphrey, in the mean time, fet out to take pof- 
feffion of the northern parts of America and Newfound¬ 
land. The fleet confided of five Ihips of different bur¬ 
dens, from 200 to 10 tons, in which were embarked about 
260 men, including fliipwrights, mafons, fmiths, and 
carpenters, befides “ minerall-men and refiners ;” and, 
“ for the folace of our people,” fays Mr. Hayes, “ and 
allurement of the lavages, we were provided of muficke in 
good varietie; not omitting the lead toyes, as morris- 
dancers, hobby-horffes, and maylike conceits, to delight 
the lavage people, whom we intended to winne by all 
faire meanes poffible.” This little fleet left Cawfand Bay 
on the nth of June. In lat. 60. N. they found themfelves 
oppoled by mountains of ice driving about on the fea; 
having pafted which, they fell in with the land on the 
30th of July. It is noticed that, at this early period, 
“ the Portugals and French chiefly have a notable trade 
of filhing on the Newfoundland banke, where there are 
fometimes more than a hundred fail of Ihips." Hayes's 
Narrative of the Voyage, in Hakluyt, vol. iii. 
On entering the harbour of St. John’s, the general and 
his 
