Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the Arctic Ocean, through the Northwest Passage (from the Davis Strait, through the
Channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and then along the coast of Alaska), and
through the Northeast Passage (along the Eurasian coast, also known as the Northern Sea
Route) (
Figure 1.1
). Although the motives of the explorers and their backers were some-
times complex, the promise of a shortcut to the mythical riches of the Orient deluded
European traders and financiers for almost three centuries (Saladin d'Anglure,
1984
).
Arctic geography, as represented by early cartographers, was a mixture of myth and
hypothesis. Most charts identified the northern ocean as the
Mare Glaciale
, or
congela-
tum
(frozen ocean). Prevailing views ingrained from maps like those drafted by Nicolo
Zeno (1558) and Gerhard Mercator (1569 and 1595), arguably hindered the incorpo-
ration of observations from early explorers such as Martin Frobisher (1576-1578) and
John Davis (1585-1587) (Wallis,
1984
).
Knowledge gained from subsequent expeditions complemented reports from
fishermen, whale and walrus hunters, traders of the Hudson's Bay and English
Muscovy companies, as well as Dutch and Russian merchants in the Northeast
Passage (Mirny,
1934
; Kirwan,
1962
; Armstrong,
1984
). According to W. Barr
(
1991
), Russia had a trade route from the White Sea to Western Europe by AD 1500.
In the 1550s to 1580s, the English Company of Merchant Adventures mounted expe-
ditions in search of a Northeast Passage (Mansir,
1989
). After Richard Chancellor
reached the White Sea in 1553, trading through the Muscovy Company soon fol-
lowed (Okhuizen,
1995
). Europeans soon “discovered” Novaya Zemlya and an
open passage to the Kara Sea. The name Novaya Zemlya (“new land”) was already
in use by the local coastal inhabitants, although it then referred only to the southern
island. Its origin is uncertain, according to Bulatov and Popov (
1996
).
Between 1565 and 1584, the Dutch White Sea Trading Company under Oliver
Brunei established a station on the Kola Peninsula. Traveling overland, Brunei then
reached the Ob River. Already by this time Russian fishing vessels were sailing east
of the Pechora river into the Kara Sea. During subsequent Dutch expeditions, ships,
led by Willem Barents, sailed into an ice-free Kara Sea in 1594. In 1596, they dis-
covered Spitzbergen and sailed along its west coast beyond 80°N. Unfortunately,
their ship was beset by ice off Novaya Zemlya and they were obliged to over-winter
on the northeast coast at Ice Haven. A group of hardy survivors reached Kola in
small boats in the summer of 1597 (De Veer,
1876
). The remnants of their hut and
possessions were found in 1781.
Henry Hudson also sailed northward to the west of Spitzbergen in 1607, reach-
ing 80.38°N, a latitude that was not exceeded until 1773. In 1609-1610, he dis-
covered and explored Hudson Bay until the crew mutinied and he and a number of
others were cast adrift. Despite this setback, the discoveries made by Hudson and
his successors led to the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company in London
in 1670. In 1616, William Baffin followed the west coast of Greenland and worked
through pack ice to Melville Bay and the entrance to Smith Sound. On his south-
ward voyage, he sighted both Jones Sound and Lancaster Sound opening westward.
Regrettably, Baffin's map and tables were discarded by Samuel Purchas, a successor
