Northwest Passage
Last Updated      12/28/2007      12/27/2007

The English, the French, and the Dutch continued to look for another route to the Far East.
Portugal and Spain controlled the southren routes.
The others looked for the northwest passage.



John Cabot
1497, John Cabot explored the coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
This gave the English claims to land in the New World.



Giovanni de Verrazano
1523, Giovanni de Verrazano was hired by the French to find a northwest passage.
He sailed along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to New York.



1844, No contemporary portrait known
Jacques Cartier
First Voyage 1534e
1534 May 10, Cartier begins his first voyage searching for the northwest passage.
He was commisioned by Francis I of France.
He explored parts of Newfoundland, the Canadian Atlantic provinces and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
At one stop his men slaughtered 1000 of the great auk (extinct).
Traded with natives.
Took two sons of chief Donnacona back to France.

Second Voyage 1535-1536
1535 May 13, Cartier's second voyage begins.
Chief Donnacona was reunited with his sons at the Iriqouis village of Stadacona.
Cartier sailed up the St Lawerence River as far as Montreal.
They spent the winter near Stadacona.
Scurvy broke out.
Domagaya, the chief's son, show Cartier's men how to make a medicine of tree bark.
85 out of 110 men survived.
1536 July 15, Cartier returned to France with chief Donnacona.
He was to tell of the Kingdom of Saguenay, a rich kingdom to the north.

Third Voyage 1541-1542
1541 May 23, Cartier departed France with five ships.
The goals were now to find the "Kingdom of Saguenay" and its riches.
They were to establish a permanent settlement along the St. Lawrence.
He was second in command to Roberval.
He was hired as a mere pilot.
While Roberval waited for artillery and supplies, he gave permission to Cartier to sail on ahead with his ships.
1541 August 23, Cartier anchors at Stadacona.
He chooses a spot for the setlement nime miles up the river.
Today it is the site of Quebec.
The 500 convicts and other settlers were landed.
The cattle that had survived three months aboard ship were turned loose.
Ground was tilled was for a kitchen garden.
Cabbage, turnip and lettuce were planted.
A fortified settlement was created and was named Charlesbourg-Royal.
Another fort was also built on the cliff overlooking the settlement, for added protection.
The colonists thought they had found gold and diamonds.
It turned out to be quartz and iron pyrite.
1541 September 2,Two of the ships were dispatched home with some of these minerals.
1541 September 7, Cartier left with the longboats for a reconnaissance in search of "Saguenay."
The natives attacked and and killed 35 settlers.
The settlers retreated to their forts.
1942 June, Cartier departs for France.
He meets Roberval along the Newfoundland coast.
Roberval tells him to accompany him to the settlement.
Cartier slips off during the night and returns to France.
He still thinks he has sent gold and diamonds home.
1542 October, Cartier arrives in France.
Roberval took command at Charlesbourg-Royal.
In 1543 a relief expedition arrived from France and Roberval decided to repatriate his little colony to France.
1543, it was abandoned because of disease, foul weather and hostile natives.
1557 September 1, Cartier dies from an epidemic.

Legacy
Cartier made three voyages of exploration without losing a ship.
He entered and departed some 50 undiscovered harbors without serious mishap.
The only sailors he lost were victims of an epidemic ashore.
Cartier was also one of the first to acknowledge that the New World was a separate land mass.

Footnote
Canadian archaeologists had discovered the precise location of Cartier's lost first colony of Charlesbourg-Royal.
This colony was the first European settlement in modern day Canada.

Richard Chancellor 1553-1554
Richard Chancellor was the first Englishman to penetrate the White Sea and to establish relations with Russia.

First Voyage
1553 May, Willoughby and Chancellor, merchant explorers leave London.
Willoughby, the expedition's leader, has no experience at sea.
Chancellor was second-in-command in the Willoughby expedition.
He had learned
A storm separated the three ships.
Willoughby, with two ships, sailed east.
He discovered Novaya Zemlya but died with all 70 of his men on the Lapland coast.
He was not prepared for the cold.
After a few attempts to find help, he and his men were left to die, probably of freezing.
The next year, Russian fishermen found the ships with the corpses.
1553 August, Chancellor in the Edward Bonaventure, found the entrance to the White Sea.
They anchored at the port of Archangel on the Dvina River.
Chancellor travels 600 miles over ice and snow to meet Ivan IV.
Ivan IV entertained his guest to lavish dinners on gold plate.
He gave him presents of furs and jewelry.
Ivan the Terrible send back letters of trade.
In the summer of 1554, Chancellor returned to England.

1555, the Moscow Company is formed to trade with Russia.

Second Voyage
1555, Chancellor made a second voyage to Russia.
1556 July 20, Chancellor departs with a Russian ambassador, Osip Nepeya, to England.
He also had gifts for the Queen of England.
Chancellor's ship was caught in a storm near Scotland.
1556, Chancellor and his son perished while saving the ambassador.
The ship was smashed into driftwood.
Her valuable goods and the gifts to the English monarchs, were pillaged by the rude people of the coast
The Russian treasure was never found.
1557, regular trade with Russia is established.
The townspeople were threatened if the Russian gifts were not returned.

    
Sir Martin Frobisher 1576
He made three voyages searching for the Northwest Passage.

First Voyage
1576, Frobisher got the Moscow Company to back him.
1576, Frobisher sailed the coast of Greenland.
The expedition lost one of the ships in a storm.
The Michael was abandoned.


Discovered the bay that bears his name.
On Baffin Island, five crew members were taken hostage by the Inuit.
Frobisher tried to get them back, but the five were never seen again.
Inuit legends say they lived with them for years.
They perished trying to leave in a home-made boat.
Frobisher brought back some ore that looked like gold.
Only one of four assayers said it had any value.
The Moscow Company used this assessment to finanace another expedition.

Second Voyage
Frobisher was appointed high admiral of all lands and waters that might be discovered by him.
1577 May 25, the ex-Royal Navy ship Ayde, Gabriel, and Michael set sail.
There were 150 men including miners and refiners.
Several weeks were spent collecting ore.
Frobisher took 200 tons home.
Frobisher was received and thanked by the queen.
There were disputes about the value of the ore.

Third Voyage
The faith of the queen sent a larger expedition.
There were suplies for 100 men to start a settlement.
1578 June 3, fifteen ships leave England.
1578, June 20 Frobisher lands at southern Greenland.
An attempt was made to establish a settlement.
It was unsuccessful.
1578 August 31, Frobisher departs for home with the settlers and ore.
The ore was taken to a smelting plant, but it was found to be worthless.
The ore was used for road construction.

Later Life
1585, Frobisher was vice admiral for Sir Francis Drake's voyage to the West Indies.
He was knighted for his efforts in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1591, Frobisher remarried
1592, took charge of the fleet fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Frobisher went to the Spanish coast, returning with a rich prize.
1594 November 15, Frobisher was mortally wounded in battle with the Spanish.



Sir Francis Drake
1577-1580, Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert 1583
Gilbert was the half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh.
1570, Gilbert was knighted.
1571, he was elected to Parliament from Plymouth.
In 1578, Gilbert obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter to plant a colony in North America.
This attempt failed, and he lost all of his money.
In 1583, after further service in Ireland, he sailed again for Newfoundland.
In August of 1583, Gilbert took possesion of the harbor of St. John.
Gilbert founded his colony.
August 29, Delight, Gilbert's 120 ton flagship wrecked.
100 lives were lost and many of Gilbert's records.
Gilbert stayed on the Squirrel, a 10 ton ship.
Monday, September 9th, Gilbert's ship was lost near the Azores.
It was swallowed by the sea.
The other ship the Golden Hinde was following the Squirrel.

John Davis
1585, Davis explored the west coast of Greenland.
He was searching for a northwest passage to Asia.
Invented the backstaff quadrant.
1593, he published a valuable treatise on practical navigation in The Seaman's Secrets (1594).
His second book was The World's Hydrographical Description (1595).

Henry Hudson
1607, the Moscow Company hired Hudson to find the northeast passage to China
1608, Hudson make a second attempt to go across the top of Russia.
1609, the Dutch East India Company sent Henry Hudson to locate the northwest passage.
He explored the Hudson River.
He sailed as far as Albany.
His first voyage gave the Dutch their claim to the New World.
1610, he went on a second voyage.
This voyage was funded by the Virginia Company and the British East India Company.
Hudson spent months mapping and exploring the eastern shores.
In November, however, the ship became trapped in the ice in James Bay.
The crew moved ashore for the winter.
1611 Spring, the ice cleared and Hudson planned to keep exploring.
1611 June, the crew mutinied.
They set Hudson, his teenage son John, and seven crewmen loyal to Hudson adrift in a small open boat.
The castaways were provided with no food, water or weapons and were clearly meant to die.
Hudson was never seen again

Bibliography
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"Giovanni de Verrazano."  Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 27 Dec. 2007.  28 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_da_Verrazzano.

Greenblatt, Miriam, and Lemmo, Peter. Human Heritage A World History. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

"Henry Hudson." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 28 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hudson.

"Jacques Cartier." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 25 Dec. 2007.  28 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cartier.

"John Cabot." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 27 Dec. 2007.  28 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot.

"John Davis." NNDB Tracking the Entire World. 2007. 28 Dec. 2007. http://www.nndb.com/people/101/000096810/.

"Martin Frobisher." Empire of the Bay. 28 Dec. 2007. http://www.pbs.org/empireofthebay/profiles/frobisher.html.

"Martin Frobisher." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 28 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frobisher.

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