IN THE YEAR 1613. 
9 
The most striking instance of an unwarrantable 
claim is perhaps that of the discovery of Spitzbergen 
by Sir Hugh Willoughby, which a very slight examina¬ 
tion of Willoughby’s own journal would seem sufficient 
to refute. * * * * * 6 But the presumption of prior discovery, 
added to the fact of prior occupancy, was required to 
sustain the English pretense of an exclusive right 
to the fisheries on those shores, very fairly, and with 
ultimate success, disputed by the Dutch. 
In this connection, the value of the labors of the 
Hakluyt Society should be duly recognized. The cha¬ 
racter and purpose of that association are indicated by 
the name it bears. Among its publications are two 
important volumes, — one of them entitled “ Narratives 
of Voyages towards the North-west in Search of a 
Passage to Cathay; ” 7 the other, a revised publication 
of De Veer’s “ True Description of Three (Dutch) 
Voyages by the North-east towards Cathay,” &c.; 8 in 
which the correction of past errors by means of present 
light, and the establishment of truths before uncertain, 
are happily combined. 
before it should have been visible according to the rules of science then known; and 
were astonished at the seeming miracle. The oblate form of the earth at the poles 
had not then been demonstrated, affording another element of error in nautical 
estimates. Baffin was killed in the East Indies in 1622, at the siege of Ormuz, by a 
shot, “ as he was trying his mathematical projects and conclusions ” ( Purchas , vol. 
iii. p. 848). Purchas calls him “that learned-unlearned mariner and mathematician, 
who, wanting art of words, so really employed himself to those industries whereof here 
you see so eminent fruits” {ibid.: p. 847). 
Sir John Ross bears repeated testimony to the general accuracy of Baffin in noting 
positions and distances. — Voyage of the Isabella and Alexander , 1818. 
6 See analysis of Willoughby’s track, by Thomas Rundall. Hakluyt Society’s 
Publications, 1849. 
7 Hakluyt Society’s Publications, 1849. 
8 Ibid., 1853. 
2 
