^^
O^. \t:
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
//
'<>",. W
1.0
i.l
11.25
150 "'"=
■^ m
III 124
if 1^
1.4
IM
1.6
iJ
/i
<^
/M
^a
/
% o-
'^C^^ o^^'
/;
/
Photographic
Sciences
Corporation
23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580
(716) 872-4503
%'
#
tv^
\^'
\\
~o'\* fj
o'^
»
%
^u
^
f/i
f/-
\
CIHM/iCMH
Microfiche
Series.
CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques
The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
original copy available for filming. Features of this
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filming, are checked below.
D
D
D
D
D
D
Coloured covers/
Couverture de couleur
Covers damaged/
Couverture endommagee
Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculde
Cover tit'e missfng/
Le titre de couverture manque
Coloured maps/
Cartes g^ographiques en couleur
Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)
□ Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur
□ Bound with other material/
Rdlid avec d'autres documents
n
n
D
Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/
Lareliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distorsion le long de la marge interieure
Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties
lors dune restauration apparaissent dans le texte,
mais, lorsque cela ^tait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas iti filmdes.
Additional comments:/
Commentaires suppldmentaires;
L'Institut a microfilme le meilleur exempiaire
qu'il lui a eti possible de se procurer. Les details
de cet exempiaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une
modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage
sont indiqu^s ci-dessous.
I I Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur
Pages damaged/
Pages endommag^es
Pages restored and/oi
Pages restauri§es et/ou pelliculees
Pages discoloured stained or foxei
Pages ddcolorees, tachet^es ou piquees
r~7] Pages damaged/
J I Pages restored and/or laminated/
~~7 Pages discoloured stained or foxed/
D
D
n
D
D
Pages detached/
Pages detachees
Showthrough/
Transparence
Quality of print varies/
Quality indgale de I'impression
Includes supplementary material/
Comprend du materiel supplementaire
Only edition available/
Seule Edition disponible
Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata. une pelure,
etc.. cnt 4t6 film^es d nouveau de facon a
obtenir la meilleure image possible.
This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/
Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessoua.
10X 14X 18X
22X
/
26X
30X
12X
16X
20X
24X
28X
32X
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:
Douglas Library
Queen's University
L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grflce d la
g6n6rosit6 de:
Douglas Library
Queen's University
The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
uf the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.
Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.
The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol —^ (meaning "CON-
TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.
Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:
1
2
3
Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettot6 de l'exemplaire film6, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.
Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est ImprimAe sont film6s en commengant
par lo premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dsrniire page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmds en commen^ant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.
Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbole — ► ignifie "A SUIVRE ", le
symbole V signifie "FIN".
Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
filmds d des taux de reduction diff6rents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir
de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nornbre
d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la m6thode.
1
2
3
4
5
6
PilfP«. ..
"* * * High Im how
Po.nis to the sky, her stern the meanwhile fixed
Within the frozen vice—"
^'<t£v 66.
THE HOLLANDERS IN
NOVA ZEMBLA
An Arctic Poem
translated from the dutch of hendrik tollens
BY
DANIEL VAN PELT, A.M.
WITH A PREFACE AND AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
BY
"^^^^■^^^^^oililf
SAMUEL RICHARD VAN CAMPEN, F.R.G S
INCLUDING NOTES
i
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK ; 27 & 29 WEST 23D ST.
LONDON: 25 HENRIETTA ST., COVENT GARDEN
18S4
LF
L
Tf^^^s- O'lf-hsi
'£.
COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1884
Press of
O. P. Putnatn's Sons
New York
«H
CONTENTS.
Preface to the Translation
Translator's Note
Historical Introijuction
The Hollandkrs in Nova Zkmbla
Canto I.^The Project .
* • • •
n.— Tempesi
in,— Shipwreck
IV. -Nova Zembla .
v.— The Building ok the Hut .
VI.— Night .
VII.— Evening Hours .
VIII.— Aurora Borealis
IX.— Death .
X.— Day .
XI. — ^Adrift ,
^11- — Homeward
Notes .
•
iii
•
•
• •
•
PAGE
• V
XV
z
• 53
58
64
68
74
81
87
91
95
100
104
lOg
"5
J
'\0\(o
!
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION.
THE interest which has ever attached to the story of
Arctic advcntures-though usually associated as
these adventures are with prose narration, and seemingly
ill-calculated through want of romance for poetic descrip
tion-may fairly render any apology for the appearance
of this li'ile work unnecessary with the reader ; however
It may not, perhaps, be out of place to explain the cir-
cumstances which have led to its appearance.
The labors of the writer, in his zeal for the renewal of
Dutch Arctic research, until lately so long abandoned
and his incident investigation as to the past work of Hoi'
land in the field of Northern enterprise, led him early
upon the story of the voyages of Barents and his com-
panions three hundred years ago, so thrilling and so
justly famous ; but the instinct of the Dutch to celebrate
poetically the eloquent passages in their history was
found to have made no exception even of this sombre
episode, and it was soon discovered that their most
vi
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
esteemed poet of the century had told the story in charm-
ing verse of the " Overwintering " of the Hollanders in
Nova Zembla.
So struck was I, indeed, with this poem of Hendrik
ToUcns, that at the time of my writing (1876) I even
sought a translation of it from a gifted hand in London.
In this endeavor, however, though encouraged at first I
was disappointed finally, and was obliged to content my-
self with the wish, expressed in the preface of my book,
•' that some poet, with the daring requisite to attempt the
translation of this chef-iVccuvre of Dutch poesy, and pos-
sessing something of my own enthusiasm for Holland,
would yet place at my disposal an English version of it
in order that it might find a place in our language as a
further contribution to this subject." '
But my efforts did not cease here ; for on returning
from England, two or three years later, the matter was
still kept in mind. Among those whom I then consulted
in confirmation of my views— both as to the merits of the
poem and the desirability of seeing it translated into
English— was that learned critical student and writer, the
Librarian of the American Geographical Society, whose
letter relating to the subject I venture to give here, and
whose encouragement of the present undertaking, in-
» " The Dutch in the Arctic Seas." (London, TrUbner & Co., 1878.) Third
Edition. Preface, p. xxxiv.
LA.
in charm-
llanders in
f Hendrik
6) I even
n London,
i at first I
)ntent my-
my book,
ttempt the
', and pos-
Holland,
irsion of it
guage as a
returning
latter was
consulted
irits of the
lated into
writer, the
ity, whose
here, and
aking, in-
1878.) Third
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION,
deed, has been agreeably the reverse of doubtful
letter was as follows ;
VII
The
American Geographical Society,
No. II West 29th Street
which you allude in fh<.„r»rn r y'^-t-muja, l)y lollens, to
with .ho groat pn,fu°/°r ''°°''' """ "'""' ' ""'^ '"0
Peopio for mal:i„B ,hom acc|„ai,uod wkh one „f ,ho r ; T "^
p* a„. .o,>. -ot::;°;^:;i:r:;rrTro:::r"^^^^
V ours very truly,
S. R. VAN CAMPEN, Esq. Leopold Lindau.
This masterpiece of Hendrik Tollens had long since
been translated into French by the accomplished BelX
!!!::i!!!:!!!^!^^ translation has go^
ologie d- Athfines, Chevalier des O dres detS N. r"'.' •'' ^'^^"^ '' "' Arch6-
Chenc. Quatri6me Edition. Ut echt 'g ^^"'^"''^' ^«' ^e la Couronnc de
Vin THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMJiLA,
through several editions in Holland alnnc, having been
prefaced with an historical introduction rendered from
the historian Van Kanipen's account of the third voyage
of Barents, in his " (lesrhiedenis der Nederlanders
lUiiten Kuropa." Likewise an anonymous English trans-
l.itioii (a translation barbarously literal, and to which Mr.
Lindau alludes) was printed in Holland in r.S6o. The
manifest inferiority of the latter, however, served but to
incite mc the more to become, if possible, instrumental
in giving to the public something fairly worthy of the
original.
Having many a time taken from the shelves of the
British Museum Reading-Room Longfellow's " Poets
and I'oetry of Euroi)e," in which there are some speci-
mens from the Hutch poets, I came at length to asso-
ciate with ////// the possible performance of this task, as
one of whose competence there could be no doubt, if he
could but be got to interest himself in the matter ; while
on the other hand no i)oet in our language was more be-
loved of Hollanders. To this end, in the spring of 1S79,
I paid a visit to Longfellow, provided with a letter of
introduction kindly furnished mc by a near relation of
the poet's, and urged upon him the desirability of a
translation of the " Overwintering," asking that he might
undertake the work.
\ i
LA.
ving been
.•red from
rd voyage
Icrlaiulcrs
lish trans-
vliich Mr.
Go. The
c(l but to
Lrumcntal
ly of the
cs of tlic
> "Poets
lie speci-
i to asso-
s task, as
il)t, if he
!r ; while
more be-
; of 1S79,
letter of
elation of
lity of a
he might
PREFACE TO THE TRAXSLATIOI^.
ix
If, Iiowcver, my mission was not successful, I was at
least well repaid for my pains, and my visit to Cambridge
and its courteous and kindly poet on that spring day will
not soon be forgotten. Longfellow knew well the name
of Tollcns and the esteem in which the Dutch held this
poem ; but his literary plans were too many, and, evi-
dently to me, he regarded his remaining days too few to
admit of his taking in hand any strictly new work—work
which had not come to him in his own way and to the
I)-rformance of which he was not rather in duty pledged.
He nevertheless quite appreciated the importance of my
errand in the endeavor I was making, and though he
could not think of any one to whom he could recommend
me, he said he should " feel interested in knowing how I
succeeded." But I could not bring myself to the point
of trying further then. Indeed, with this effort the mat-
ter practically rested, though to no little extent because
of a preoccupation of mind for some time past with
things other than Hterary-ever impatient albeit to return
to my Dutch labors."
'■4
4
•»%,
S!
X r//E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
But all things are said to come to him who is able to
wait. During the time these efforts were being made on
my part, a young university graduate, reared on Amer-
ican soil but whose birthplace was Holland, and whose
" enthusiasm " for his native land is, naturally, not less
ardent than my inherited love, was employing his vaca-
tion periods in translating this Dutch masterpiece, and
pluming the wings of his youthful muse in the endeavor ;
attracted thereto by the thrilling interest of the poem
in the original, and moved by a desire similar to my own
of seeing it brought over into our language.
Completed some months since, the translator finally
sent the result of his patient love-labor to the editor of
the Nnu Amsterdam Gazette, who, both on account of the
celebrity of the poem and the merit of the rendering,
welcomed the matter for his paper. Meeting with it in
the hands of this gentleman, the MS. was shown to me,
and on glancing through the first two or three pages, I at
once thought I caught the true ring. Quickly I prophe-
sied to myself that the long-sought poet had been at last
discove-ed ; nor did the appearance of the complete
boring isla.id. He, moreover, was aw.-ire thac I proposed to submit the matter to
Longfellow, whose poetry he w.is familiar with and wliose name he revered. The
packet enclosing the MS. w.-is sent to me in London, and is pcstmarked " Texel,
19th Aug., '75." The reader will. I trust, pardon this digression, for it is .it best
but a faint tribute one can pay to the memory of an affectionate and l.ne friend in
.1 note like this.
I.
J LA.
is able to
g made on
on Amer-
and whose
', not less
his vaca-
plece, and
nideavor ;
the poem
;o my own
tor finally
editor of
unt of the
rendering,
kvith it in
m to me,
mges, I at
I prophe-
:en at last
complete
the matter to
evered. The
rked " Texel,
r it is at best
l»;>e friend in
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION. xi
translation in print change my opinion in this respect.
Through the kindly mterven^ionof my editor-friend, an
interview was in due time arranged between the translator
and myself, and this interview served only the more to
convince me of the correctness of my first impression. It
seemed to me by no means certair: that the circumstances
which had baffled my efforts for so long a time might
not after all have p-oved fortunae ones ; for who could
enter into all the niceties of the language of Tollens, or
so truly mterpret its spirit, as one who had grown up in
the knowledge of it ! And one, moreover, who was able
thus to drink in the greatness of the theme itself, might
be expected to give a rendering with much the same effect
as if the poem were his own inspiration.
Finding ourselves in full sympathy with each other in
respect to this work, and sharing each other's veneration
for Holland, the acquaintance speedily bore fruit The
translator modestly deferred to my suggestion for an edi-
tion in book-form ; while publishers were seen who, not
Ignorant of his labor, were disposed to encourage the
proposition, and accordingly the present volume was de-
cided upon.
Thus much for the circumstances which have given
rise to the book. As to the poem itself, the historical
basis of which is sketched in the Introduction, it cannot
I)
ill
Xll
77/5 HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
cease to be of interest so long as Arctic expeditions are
known and Northern research, either for commercial or
scientific ends, continues.
To-day some of our own countrymen,— performing an
important part in the grand scientific campaign which
the nations have been conducting for the past two years
within the Arctic circle-are supposed to be either lost
or passing the winter on the ice-bound shores of Green-
land ; and at the country's call an expedition is being
fitted out to proceed to their relief. Surely the bleak
and dreary kingdom of the North commands much of
our attention, and any page of its history may well be-
speak a moment's thought and interest. The moral
lessons of this voyage of Barents which the poem re-
counts, have more than once inspired men engaged in
such enterprises with encouragement and hope. Numer-
ous, indeed, as are the recorded instances of indomitable
courage, by the memory whereof the pioneers of great
enterprises in later times have fortified their promptings
to perseverance,-this it was which suggested to the
heroic Kane the comparison of his position, at one time,
with that of Barents, marvelling, however, at his own
preservation. Nor has it been remembered only in the
midst of fields of snow and ice. The immortal Livingstone,
in a clime the farthest removed in its every condition from
LA.
litions are
tnercial or
orming an
ign which
two years
either lost
of Green-
i is being
the bleak
much of
'• well be-
lie moral
poem re-
gaged in
Numer-
lomitable
of great
3mptings
1 to the
)ne time,
his own
ly in the
ngstone,
ion from
PJ^J^FACM TO THE TRANSLATION. ' xiii
Barents- career, and .o..^^ ^^Z^T "'
-ounain, in .He ™id,s. or i fever Jl:" "Li:
heroism, the extraordinary patienee and tl
faj. in Providence, on JdUnX"""^^^"™^
lation, vet Hip ^uTf • ^"^^^st spiat to emu-
have ;:: Vr'nTor*' '' ''-'' ^"'^'''"•-
••"• pitying s«; ;„ C JaTtf"*^ ''"'°'^'"^'
thusiasm m„,t ever be ,, . ' *." """ ^^™'™g »-
- read their annls In tlf-"' ^^"'""™' -
highest perfection ^f sci L '! eLTt: r '■"'?' '"= '"'
tage over the rude and ins- 4 e„ "° '''™"-
with our forefather, J "''"^""'* appointments where-
'"-vingt;:t::r::;rc'°;T'r'r^^"-^
expedition, though its prolonged lei: c'^r"'""
sohcitude, affords a happy exception . '"'""
cantiy alone in its good fort neT 1 h " " "■^"'"-
Jol>n Frankh-„ needs neith e" letTl; ''"'' °^ ''^
We have been just freshly remin Td l"" '°™""'-
details of J.icut. He Lon„'. / , , "^ "^" -'eart-rending
fate, and the tears are '"""'^'^ '"^ ^^^
tears are scarce dry upon the cheeks of
u
I .
I
XIV r/fE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
those who were called more immediately to mourn the
calamity to his party. Some in our midst, moreover,
may even now be preparing to mourn lost loved ones
whose fate is but too uncertain and most deplorably
doubtful.
It is a tale of woes similar to those experienced in the
Lena. Delta three or four years ago ; a tale of death en-
dured after horrible privations and untold agonies of
mind ; a tale of life spared through a thousand threaten-
ing dangers, that comes to us from three centuries ago
in this poem, and is here told in enthusiastic strains by a
countryman of the brave men who so nobly suffered and
left so ineffaceable and worthy a record to the world.
S. R. VAN CAMPEN.
Gramercy Park, New York,
March 22, 1884.
I
if I
mourn the
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
IT ENDRIK TOLLENS, the author of the poem
1 1 of which a translation is here given, was born
■n the year ,780. at Rotterdam. No poet enjoyed a
greater popularity in h,s native country, the favo, with
w .ch he met being due to the happy and attracti
measure m wh.ch his verse combines the qualities of
power and sweetness, no less than to the patriotic fervor
and ,e force w.th which he has depicted numerous
str ktng ep,sodes m the history of the Fatherland
greeted than the one now introduced to the English
reader. It was published in :8r,, and its enthusif t c
reception at that time has been repeated by every s
cessive generation. Everyone in Holland Low' t
hear from the school-boy, just beginning to be st red by
he g onous htstory of the past, to the mature and rudi e
sa7'a;?t m the hiehest senfQ r.f i • eruaite
^ ^ °^ learning, it may be intPr
-ng to add that Tollens was also the autho of tie
noble and sptnted national hymn of Holland, famml
n
\V
I
■ I
XVI T//E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
known as the ** Wicn Neerlands Bloed." Tollcns died in
1 85 6, and his admiring countrymen, soon after his de-
cease, reared to his memory a marble statue, conspicu-
ously placed in the public park of Rotterdam, which was
the city not only, as already said, of his birth, but also of
his life-long residence.
The translator may be permitted a word as to the
reproduction of the poem in an English form. He has
endeavored to give a faithful and honest rendering of
the original ; but, as will be readily admitted, it is in
some instances necessary to convey the thought, and
catch and pursue the spirit of the original, rather than
strictly to follow the words. In some cases liberties had
to be taken with the text, to make the production suit-
able to readers not thoroughly acquainted with matters
which are perfectly familiar to the poet's compatriots.
With a view to lessen the labor of perusal— if that should
prove at all burdensome in the translation— the poem,
which is of one continuous piece in the original, has
been divided into twelve cantos, under appropriate titles.'
A few passages of a dozen or more original lines were
deemed advisable, which will be found duly indicated and
accounted for in note 14, at the end of the volume.
» The French translation mentioned in Mr. Van Campen's Preface is divided
into four cantos : " The Departure " ; " Xova-Zcmbla " ; " The Wintering
(/' Hivernage) " ; and " The Return."
BLA.
ens died in
tcr his de-
, conspicu-
which was
but also ot
as to the
. He has
ndering of
i, it is in
•light, and
ithcr than
)erties had
:ction suit-
th matters
impatriots.
hat should
the poem,
ginal, has
iate titles.'
lines were
icated and
-ime.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. xvli
It may be added that the original poem is written in
the Dutch heroic metre, the lines being of twelve sylla-
bles, or six iambic feet, and rhymed in couplets. The
translator deemed that the English heroic, of ten syl-
lables, or five iambic feet, would fairly represent the
Dutch metre, and he adopted blank verse as makin^^
possible a much more ready and exact rendering of the
original ; besides, in long poems, the couplet of Pope
becomes exceedingly monotonous.
Finally, the translator wishes to state that his aim all
along has been to eliminate as much as possible the air
of a translation from his production. He has sought to
present the Dutch original not only in an English dress
(which seems to have been the simple and unpretending
desire of his anonymous predecessor, referred to in the
Preface), but he has endeavored as far as possible to make
an English poem of it. This may have been an attempt
too hazardous, and an aim too ambitious. But if he has
succeeded to any extent, it is humbly believed that this
will have secured the higher and more essential fidelity
to the original.
D. V. P.
Face is divided
he Wintering
fli
M P B i a» i& .- 'Sr-r'.-i'i-n'T-ri iwi^nrrfriiiTiimHiiti iriilBtOWi'tWiili
>jj^,.aL.^^.-^Y''. j.—.-.^. -„-.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
T^HAT man should wish to inform h.mself concern-
X .ng every portion of the globe whereon he dwells is
natural ; but these grim northern climes, hidden i„ snow
barred agamst mtrusion by their frozen seas, seem to have'
had a strange fascination for him during the last three
centunes Until within a comparatively recent period,
however, the objects which have prompted men to Arctic
discovery were almost exclusively based on self-interest
or, m other words, were merely incidental in their char'
acer. The hope of shortening the passage to "Far
Cathay by sa.hng to the Northwest or to the North
east has, induced by far the greater number of Arctic
expeditions; and the story of these attempts would in
ac.-at least until within the last forty years,-con'sti.
lute the real history of Arctic exploration
It was with this aim that the three Northern voyages
of the Dutch were undertaken toward the end of the
sixteenth century, one of which forms the theme of the
following poem. These voyages are deservedly ranked
I
If
t ;
• i 1-
3 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
among the most remarkable exploits of that enterprising
nation ; and the ten months' residence of the adventu-
rous seamen, in the course of the third voyage, at the
farthest extremity of the inhospitable region of Nova
Zembla, within fourteen degrees of the North Pole, and
their homeward journey of upward of seventeen hundred
geographical miles in two small open boats, are events
full of romantic interest.
Although these essays to shorten the passage to India
by sailing North involve incidentally almost the whole
work of Holland in the Arctic field, yet in this com-
mendable but futile struggle to force a passage to the
East by the northward England has borne a conspicuous
part above that of any other country, and as hers was
the earliest work, it is impossible not to give it a passing
mention in this prefatory survey. Almost from the hour
when Columbus i)romised a way to the East ''by the
West " England tenaciously held to the possibility of
finding a navigable passage in that direction. Nor this
only. She willingly employed in the great quest men of
foreign birth, for the Venetian Cabots, sailing from Bris-
tol, were the first to attempt a Northwest passage, unless
we except the rather indefinite essay of Columbus, made
only a little earlier.
Englishmen, it is true, have sought to reach this goal
I
I.
R wiwj t aiw^ s m.4j B »<uj« ^
AU AKCTIC Por.M. »
of early mcrcantilo endeavor by sailing co the northeast.
Indeed, some lime before Holland awoke to commercial
r.valry with Kngland, Sebastian Cabot himself-pen-
s.oned and appointed "Grand Pilot "of Kngland after
■548, m recognition of his great services to his a<Io,„c-,l
country-brought about the despatch of Sir Hu-h Wii
loughhy and Richard Chancellor on the first voya". ever
projected to discover a Northeast passage; and the same
venerable seaman cheered brave Stephen Purrough
when, three years later, he sailed on his Northeastern
voyage of discovery for the Muscovy Company of Lon-
don, which resulted in the partial exploration of Nova
/embia and the contiguous coasts and islands ; while
i et and Jackman, sailing from Harwich in 1580, for the
■same company, made a voyage with a like object lie
gmnmg with the expedition of Willoughby in i.c, and
ending with the essay of Captain John Wood, in \<..b
to discover a passage to India by the Northeast-
he latter mainly prompted by the signal hopes which
.he .ntervening Dutch Northern voyages had inspired,
- he long sertes of attempts by that course, undertaken
w.th purely commercial aims, practically ceased Yet it
^ a noteworthy fact, as applicable to Holland, that brave
Henry Hudson, nearly two hundred and eighty years
ago, m the employ of the Dutch East India Company
■- f
4 T//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
made the attempt to reach the long-sought goal of
Cathay by pushing his way through the ice-dogged
waters round Nova Zemhla, but, abandoning tiiat en-
terprise, turned his bark southward, and founded in the
New World another Netherland, u[)on which arose a
second Amsterdam.
If, however, the Dutch were not the first in the field of
Arctic exploration, it should be remembered that, at the
time the English were pushing their way Poleward, in
the first atteni[)ts to find some new route to the far East
the Netherlanders had graver business before them.
When, for instance, Sebastian Cabot was cruising along
the American coast, going as far north as latitude 67°
30', and as far south as the peninsula of Florida, " ever
with intent," Hakluyt makes him say, " to find the said
passage to India," the sun of maritime and commercial
prosperity had not risen over Holland, and the opulent
manufacturing Flemings did not greatly push their en-
terprises seaward. The intolerable tyranny of the brutal
Alva, with the consequent transference of the wealth of
Bruges and of Antwerp to the banks of the Y and the
shores of the Zuyder Zee — in other words, the utter im-
poverishment of the submissive South at the same time
that the North threw off the yoke and emerged with
l)rofit from the conflict—all this was necessary to the
BLA,
;ht goal of
ice-dogged
ig that en-
nded in the
ch arose a
the field of
that, at the
oleward, in
le far East,
fore them,
;ising along
ititude 67°
rida, " ever
id the said
commercial
he opulent
li their en-
■ the brutal
s wealth of
Y and the
2 utter im-
same time
srged with
ary to the
A^r ARCTIC POEM.
5
9
development of the maritime greatness of the Dutch
provmces. *^uii-n
Again in .„e middle of tl,c six.cen.h cen.ury, when
tU. Merchant Adventurers of London were essaying the
.naugt,ra.,„n of direct intercourse with Muscovy .,' Z
Sea of Kara, and sending out the expeditions of WiU
ughby .„d Chancellor, and of stout Stephen Burrough
he Netherlands, with the rest of a magnificent inherit-'
»c were actually passing out of the hands of Charles
a out the ,n,e of the northern voyages of Sir Martin
F Ob sher, John Davis, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and othe
ere long to lead the way, with Middleburg, i„ Dutch
Arct,e enterprise, had just raised the standard of Vethlr
land bbertyand, with Hoorn, had captured on the Zuyder
Zee the sword of Bossu. -^"/uer
But out of the supreme struggle arose a nation Hoi
'and, toward the close of the century, was r'adf t
engage herself in ocean work, and to clpe e th h
former oppressor for the rich traffic of the Eas b he
-yo the North Pole or any route whatever C-
.\at a 2 '""'• °'"' '" '"^ '"""^"'^'^ ~tion,
that at the very con uncture of the vovi^« ^f n
inwhicHHollandwastoprepareaHeenXrC::::
fli
§^\
t! (
6 ri/E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
of Arctic service to battle to the death in Spanish waters
with the enemy of her people— as England, two centuries
later, was to fit a Nelson to efface both France and Spain
for generations from the ranks of maritime powers off
Cape Trafalgar ; demonstrating thus in what way Arctic
voyaging may conduce to the formation of a true naval
character— the Dutch nation, not withholding their hands,
from other enterprises, were able to lend material aid to
Queen Elizabeth in one of her expeditions against Spain,
following up Uie destruction of the Grand Armada.
But to state the condition of the Netherlands a little
more in detail at the particular period in question : The
United Provinces, with Holland at their head, were still
in the midst of their conflict with Philip II., the head of
the Catholic world, as William of Orange was the con-
ceded head of the Protestant world. Elizabeth, who may
be said to have succeeded William in this great office after
his assassination,— and as if to render the services of
Holland to which we have alluded above but the recipro-
cation of her own ten years before— lent to the Dutch
cause the Earl of Leicester, and the brilliant hero Sir
Philip Sidney, no less great as a man than as a courtier
and scholar, and the latter consecrated it with his blood
as William had done by martyrdom. Employing re-
sources such as no other prince of the time possessed,
1
h I
AN ARCTIC POEM. y
...pporeed by the greatest captains of the age, and aided
by the rehgious fanaticism of his subjects, Philip II was
nevertheless unable to maintain his hold over the Dutch
provinces, which sought to render their land independent
of Span, as they had formerly freed it from the sea
The armies of the little Republic were now led by
Maunce, Pnnce of Orange, son of the martyred Willian'
i- he m,l,tary gouius of this young patriot-prince
.ded by the political sagacity of the sage, John van
Olden Barneveld, made hin, i„ spite of his iLted rl
smnces, more than a match for the overwhelming hosts
of Spa,n. The incredible swiftness of his marches the
.rres.s.,ble science of his methods in conducting s^Jes
enabled hun to wrest from the enemy in .uick successi r'
a num er of strong and important towns ; and by I
marvellous operations-being victorious in no lefs tha
:~ro;r'"^-^^"'- '-'-- "- ^<^™'-'»
Elated though they were by these numerous successes
e woes of warfare weighed with galling effect upon the'
berty-lovmg race and their devoted land : L the
^.ghty years' War was not yet half over. But the s
Dutch Repubhc cannot be said to have been without
reward ; nor d,d Netherlanders begrudge the cost Surely
,1 '
ii
)B
i
' 4
8
THE HOL..AMDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
V
I
in these patriots we cannot but recognize our next of
kin — for are we not the heirs of the bold thoughts which
they were the first to thunder into the ears of monarch-
ical Europe, as well by the mouths of their cannon as by
the eloquence of their statesmen ; and the liberties which
they purchased with their blood have been transmitted
to us, either directly or through English forefathers
who studied the lessons of independence in their school.
Even in the darkest hours of this long war, the final
issue of the conflict — waged thus between the bold spirit
and fresh life of liberal ideas and free institutions and
the growing decrepitude of superstition and despotism
from which Europe was awakening — was seen to be
inevitable. In the very midst of war, with the country's
resources strained to the utmost for the maintenance of
the patriotic struggle, Europe beheld with amazement
that Holland was taking her place, and a foremost place,
among the commercial and maritime powers of the earth.
Her ships had traversed, or were traversing every known
and unknown sea. The bold Van Noord, equalling Da
Gama's feat of opening up a way round the stormy Cape
of Good Hope, sailed through the Straits of Magellan
and made the second circuit of the globe. Pushing their
adventurous crafts past the coasts of Spain, eluding or
defeating her ponderous fleets, Dutch mariners seized
AN- ARCTIC POEM,
9
upon h r far-off Spice islands, east and .est, or discov
ered and appropriated other tropic isles on which Z
'ard or Portuguese had never set foot. ^
In the train of this ever restlpc;^ ^r.A • • •, ,
on.1 * • restless and invincible activifv
vrcuc zone. It was believed bv the D,ifr-i,
to speak of danger from interference of rivals "w,
of the norft ; nor were Hollanders prepared Llr
that the possibilities of a Northeasfn! l '™
tested in nnv , «ortlieast passage had been
eff ts " 2 J"'!, r"" '^ *' l-ckly-abandoned
ettorts of the Enghsh ,n that direction after failing t„
find a route by the Northwest. Accordingly IT'
.593, there wasprojected by the Dutch thet to '-thr::
voyages so strange and woonderful that the like hath
been heard of before." ' "^""^
It is impossible not to give some account of the firs,
and second of these thr« ,.„ '''
far, tl,.,, ,. f ^^Ses, notwithstanding the
at that the poem finds its incidents almost wholly i! .1
t>.rd, su^ce the names of the chief participants are
cated with them all, and since the^hi ' '''°'
the natural corollary of the wo nr '"'''"' '"'
ff.TTP,! ;„ .1 r previous ones. En-
f Sed^m^he^rs^^^^ ,,,^^^^^^^_ ^^^^^ ^_^^ ^ En^
• Phillip's t,a„.i„i„„ or De v«, (,&,, , i,;,;::;;;;; ^ —
! ;t
I il
II
10 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
westerly provinces of the country ; but the towns of
Enkhuyzen in the north and Middleburg in the south
were the prime movers in the enterprise. Enkhuyzen
was represented by the syndic of West Friesland and
pensionary of the town, Dr. Francis Maalson, and John
Huygen van Linschoten, a native of Haarlem, but resi-
dent during the greater part of his youth, and in later
life, at Enkhuyzen, and who, by his travels and writings,
had done much to inspire his countrymen to compete
for the lucrative commerce which had hitherto been
engrossed by Spam ; while Middleburg had for its
moving spirit in this enterprise the eminent Zealand mer-
chant, Balthasar de Moucheron— prompted by the experi-
enced White-Sea trader, Olivier Brunei, to whom and to
Moucheron, more than any others, the conception of this
undertaking was due ; Moucheron, moreover, enlisting
the cooperation of other merchants of the province.
The necessary perr^.ission of the State authorities was
obtained, while the enterprise had the willing assistance
of the Courts of the Admiralty of the two provinces, who
provided for half of the expense, with instructions to
attempt the passage into the Sea of Tartary ihrough the
Waigats between Nova Zembla and Russia.
Two vessels, of about one hundred tons each, were
fitted out and provisioned for eight months. These were
AN ARCTIC POEM. n
the "Swan" of Ter Veer, in Zealand, under command of
Cornelius Corneliuszoon Nai, a burgher of Enkhuyzen
and the "Mercurius" of Eni-huyzen, under command of
Brant Ybrantzoon, otherwise Brant Tetgales, a skilful
and experienced seaman, with Nicholas Corneliuszoon
as his mate ; while the accomplished Linschoten was
supercargo of the latter ship, and engaged likewise as
journalist of the voyage.
But the merchants of Amsterdam, catching the spirit
of the Middleburgers and Enkhuyzeners, desired to par-
ticipate in the enterprise, or rather in their own way to
cooperate for the same general end, by sending out a
ship. Most influential in enlisting this city had been the
efforts of Petrus Plancius, a Flemish refugee and Calvin-
ist divine, a devoted lover ot the sciences, and especially
well known for his cosm.ographic and astronomic lore.
Plancius prevailed upon the leading merchants of Am-
sterdam to unite, with the active aid of the Admiralty,
in the expedition. A third vessel was accordingly fitted
out by Amsterdam, of the same size and character as the
other two, and, like Tetgales', was named the " Mercu-
rius," its command being entrusted to Wi^'iam Barents,
a burgher of Amsterdam, - a notable, skilfull, and wise
pilote," who took with him also a fishing yacht belong-
mg to his native place, Ter Schelling.
m
' \
I
i- i
I
i f
I
'StZ
12
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
On Whitsunday, the 4th June, 1594, the little fleet had
assembled at the Texcl. Cornelius Nai, of the **Swan,"
was named admiral or commodore. An agreement was
made that the three ships should keep company as far as
Kildin on the coast of Lapland, when the Enkhuyzen
and Ter Veer vessels should take the course proposed
by Maalson by the Waigats ; while that of the Amster-
damers under Barents, following the advice of the
learned Plancius, would sail to the north of Nova Zcm-
bla, deeming it probable that to the north would be
found a more open sea than in the straits, and regard-
ing that route in every way as far the easier and more
preferable one. On the following morning the admiral
set sail, commanding the others to follow. Having
passed the North Cape, the weather was found as warm
as in Holland in dog-days, and mosquitoes were exceed-
ingly troublesome, The island of Waigats was covered
with verdure, and embellished with every variety of
beautiful flowers. The idols f.een by Burrough and his
men years before were also seen by the Dutch, to the
number of chree hundred or four hundred. They named
that part of the island Afgodenhoek, or Idol Point ; and
the Straits of Waigats, which had been legitimately
enough baptized with the name of Burrough, these
faithful Dutchmen, remembering the house to whom
AN ARCTIC POEM.
13
I olland was so greatly indebted for her liberty and
glory hastened ,0 rename the "Straits of Nassau"
Whtle Barents was pushing his sturdy bark even to
he northernmost point of Nova Zembla, and performing
he almost m.raeulous sailing feats whieh geographers
have noted also withstanding immeasurable difficultie
the adnural s sh,p passed the straus we have mentioned'
pushed ,ts way through the ice into the Sea of Kara, and'
arrived in an open blue sea from which the Ru sian
coast, trending toward the northeast, was visible T
d,rect.on of the coast made them believe that the vessel
had passed beyond Cape Tabin, designated by p:;
(then an uncontested authority) as the northern extrem'
■ty of As.a, and that, therefore, they could from here by
a short voyage, reach the eastern and southern part's of
e contment. It was not known that, beyond t e Gu
of Ob,, Asta st.ll extended for one hundred and twenty
degrees w.thtn the Polar circle. The supposed faclw
have mentioned, the direction of the coast, and the dpTh
and openness of the sea gave our navigators such con
dent hopes of a passage to Cathay being practicable tha
return to Holland w.th the happy tidings • while too
doubts as to their provisions holding out'tili the luld
reach so distant a country admonished them that thl^
'J
3 -
1/ \
!
!
4 i^'l
m
m
14
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
'0-
I /.
I ,
p.
course was really expedient. In this politic resolution the
commander of the southerly squadron was not alone, for
he soon, to his rejoicing, fell in with the baffled voyagers
to the " more open sea " of Plancius, who were also
returning, and the whole fleet sailed to Holland, arriving
at the Dogger-bank on the 14th September, and dispersing
from thence to their several ports.
The principal discoveries which resulted from this
expedition in particular — much the most important of
the three as to number of discoveries — have been care-
fully enumerated by a revered national authority, Nicho-
las Godfried Van Kampen, who makes the voyages of
Barents the initiatory theme in his important history of
the operations of the Dutch without Europe. The
names, however, of points, capes, straits, and islands,
upon which then for the first time, so far as we have
record of observations, the gaze of civilized men rested,
have been transferred to the thrilling pages of Motley,
and that historian pertinently asks : ** Where are Cape
Nassau, William's Island, Admiralty Island, Cape Plan-
cius, Black-hook, Cross-hook, Ice-hook, Consolation-
hook, Cape Desire, the Straits of Nassau, Maurice Island,
Staten Island, Enkhuyzen Island, and many other simi-
lar appelations ? " We fear the nations whose represent-
atives on the seas have placed upon the chart of the
.s .
AK ARCTIC POEM.
IS
Nova Zambia and Spitsbergen region the names of
Cher,e Island and Alderman Freeman's Strait (the
Bear Island and Walter Tymans' Strait of the Dutch)
Swedish Foreland and Ice Fjord-nay, and Capes Bis-'
mark and Petermann,_may be held mainly answerable
for this work of cosmographical sacrilege. But Hoi
land's recent labors, going to show that she is deter
mmed to assert her presence in the Arctic seas, may
do somethmg toward restoring her northern land-raarks
-nay more, by means of new discoveries she may yet
grattfy the yearning of one of her distinguished geogra-
Phers, " to give to some great unnamed spot in those
.ce-bound regions the designation of ■ Prins Hendrik's
i_/3.ncl.
The reports made by Barents and Linschoten as to
the results of this expedition-.he latter keeping with
the admtral's ship.-differed to a degree not altogether
creduable to the over-sanguine supercargo. However
under the st„„ulus of Linschoten's narrative, the adven-'
turers who fitted out the former expedition, with others
who now joined them, determined to despatch in the
followmg year a well-appointed fleet. This, moreover
assumed the importance of a government expedition'
havtng received the sanction and support of the States-
General, and being projected, not merely with the hope
«
l6
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
of accomplishing the passage to China, which promised
so fairly, but also with a view to the establishment of an
advantageous trade with that kingdom and the other
countries that might be discovered and visited in the
course of the voyage.
The fleet consisted of seven ships : two from Enkhuy-
zen, two from Zeland, two from Amsterdam, and a sort
of reporting yacht from Rotterdam. The latter was in-
tended to merely accompany the squadron until it had
sailed beyond the suppositious Cape Tabin, when it was
to return with the news to Holland. As connected with
this expedition we recognize nearly all the names ren-
dered familiar to us by their association with the former
voyage. Associated with this Government expedition,
however, there are three important additions to the offi-
cial list — namely, the annalist of these voyages, Gerrit
de Veer ; the experienced sea-captain, John Cornelisz
van der Ryp, supercargo of ol: of the Zeland ships; and
the future hero of Gibraltar, Jacob van Heemskerck.
The first of these names, it may be observed, was des-
tined to gain a fame, if of a somewhat different kind,
only second, perhaps, to that of the master pilot who
constitutes the central figure in his quaint and faithful
picture — certainly a literary celebrity which the frank
and honest Hollander could never have dreamed of ;
AN ARCTIC POEM.
17
and the last, whose name is the most conspicuous one in
the poem of Tollens', was to prove himself no less indis-
pensable to the Arctic expeditions he joined than to the
nation at large in upholding the honor of the Dutch flag
on the seas, and not less undaunted when - battling with
the elements in Nova Zembla " than in his combat
with the ancient enemy on the Spanish main, " when he
dies, Nelson-like, in the arms of his conquering com-
rades." '
On this second voyage Barents went as pilot-major of
the fleet, and Linschoten and Heemskerck as principal
supercargoes. Linschoten and De la Dale were further
appointed as Chief Commissioners on behalf of his Ex-
cellency Prince Maurice and the States-General, from
whom they received credentials, signed by the celebrated
Arsens, of which the following is the confident heading •
'' Instructions to Jan Huygen van Linschoten and Fran-
9oys de la Dale, Chief Commissioners, for the regulation
of their conduct in the kingdom of China, and other
kingdoms and countries which shall be visited by the
ships and yachts destined for the voyage round by the
north, through the Vaigats or Strait of Nassau."
This great expedition, however, merely sailed to the
entrance of the Sea o f Kara and back again, finding the
» N. O. V^.n Kampen : " Vaderlandsche Karakterkunde • of vZZ. \
van Tydperken en Personen, uit de ^^^^r^..,..^:^Zi:Ly:!^rCX
I
»«i
S}'
In
)'i
''\
i V
hi
I
i
I8
77/i? HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMHLA.
Straits of Waigats all encumbered with ice and a
passage through impossible. And the only marvel
connected with it is what the historian of the United
Netherlands calls the "sublime credulity" which ac-
cepted Linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma,
and made it conclusive with his countrymen ; while pro-
ceeding so deliberately in lading their ships with broad-
cloths, linens, and tapestries for the anticipated China
trade, as to lose nearly half the summer before weighing
anchor in Maas Dicp on the morning of Sunday, July 2,
1595. Yet this very case of flattering self-persuasion
was not a trait peculiar to the Hollanders, as the reader
may be reminded by a passage in Froude's essay on
" England's Forgotten Worthies." " There was no
nation so remote," observes this acute living writer, " h^\
what some one or other was found ready to undertake
an expedition there, in the hope of opening a trade ; and,
let them go where they would, they were sure of Eliza-
beth's countenance. We find letters written by her, for
the benefit of nameless adventurers," in the same era
which marks the stupendous faith of the Dutch naviga-
tors, " to every potentate of whom she had ever heard —
to the Emperor of China, Japan, and India, the Persian
* Sofee,' and other unheard of Asiatic and African prin-
ces ; whatever was to be done in England, or by English-
■ m r
■I!'
If'
AN ARCTIC POEM.
'9
(I
men. Elizal.eth asskcd when she could, and ,j„i,ed
»iiL-n she coul<l not." '"niirea
The Nc<I,cri.,ndcrs did, however, effect . landing on
he -oast of Tartar,, and such geographical information
could he der,ved from such a source was imparted to
. e con dent voyagers by wandering Samoyedel. They
al^ohad some startling ..,„„„,„ ,!„, ^,, J
"■enty v.al,ant Dutchmen fai, to overcome one slg
ferocous mhabitant of those wilds (two of their follow
meanwhde being eaten alive), these Arctic ex rl
knew how to reinforce their numbers (by .en adll
men) „d compass his destruction. And the practica
summinsof theresnU«nf fK; j- • <= pr'iriicai
i'. .Hat they " L :7 "r "" '"" ''•™''™
. ^ °7 "'" 'I*'" '" f'umph to Amsterdam "
the : y 't'L"":" "'""'"^ ^°""' ''"^- '-'"--^ 'Han
he way th s prom,sn,g ,f somewhat pretentious expedi-
.n t rn d .„ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ped
of the Dutch ; and it did have the effect to cause the
Go..er„me„t to withdraw, with this single attemp , rl
Arctic enterprise. The Stnf^c r«^ i l
States-Genera , however rlnc^ri
>vo«h,ly the public record in this resp;ct by olril a
Ztht^e'"""""'"""^"^"-'^^'-'^^-''™'^-
comphsh the voyage to China by the desired route and
» pro,K>rt,onate sum to those whose efforts mi ht be
darned commendable, even though not crowned" wi^h
11
i I I
.-t
20
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Yet, with 1 aspect to this expedition, it is but just to
say that these worthy Hollanders did not return without
putting on record a memorable protest, which shows
that they did not lightly estimate the responsibilities im-
posed upon them as servants of the Republic, nor wil-
lingly relinquish their hopes of reaching their intended
goal. It speaks well for the conscious purity of motive
and integrity of conduct which marked the enterprises
of the Netherlanders in those days, when men could thus
express themselves : " The Admirals, Captains, and
Pilots, consulting togethei as to what is best and most
advantageous to be done and undertaken in respect to
the voyage which they have commenced round by the
North toward China, Japan, etc. ; and they having ma-
turely and most earnestly considered and examined the
subject, and also desiring strictly to carry out, as far as
is practicable and possible, the instructions of His Ex-
cellency and the Lords the States, for the welfare and
preservation of the ships, their crews, and merchandise.
It is found that they have all of them hitherto done their
utmost duty and their best, with all zeal and diligence,
not fearing to hazard and sometimes to pat in peril the
ships and their own persons (whenever need required it)
in order to preserve their honor in every thing, and so as
to be able with a clear conjcience to answer for the same
'm
AN ARCTIC POEM.
21
%
to God and the whole world. But inasmuch as it has
pleased the Lord God not to permit it on the present voy-
age, they find themselves most unwillingly compelled,
because of the time that has elapsed, to discontinue the
same navigation for this time. * * * Protest-
ing before God and the whole world, that they have
acted in this matter as they wish God may act in the
salvation of their souls, and as they hope and trust can-
not be contradicted by any of those who have accompa-
nied them," etc. It is clear, however, that Barents did
not himself cheerfully sign even this paper, but rather
desired to go on.
Baron Nordenskiold, however, comes to the defence of
the Dutch voyagers in the following positive language :
"While this expedition did not yield any new contribu-
tion to the knowledge of our globe, it deserves to be
noted that we can state with certainty, with the knowl-
edge we now possess of the ice-conditions of the Kara
Sea, that the Dutch, during both their first and second
voyages, had the way open to the Obi and Yenisei. If
they had availed themselves of this, and continued their
voyage till they came to inhabited regions on either of
these rivers, a considerable commerce would certainly
have arisen between Middle Asia and Europe by this route
as^rly as the beginning of the seventeen ih century." '
' " The Voyage of the ' Vega,' " vol. II., pp. o^.,, ~^^ "
(M
UP
i
\
st
f
>
'I
22 7V/E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
Happily for the credit of Dutch pertinacity, there still
existed a faithful few, like Barents, Plancius, and Heem-
skerck, who adhered firmly to the conviction that spirited
enterprise, persevered in, would speedily be crowned
with success. Moreover, the (lovernment itself, as we
have seen, unwilling altogether to relinquish the hope of
yet achieving a passage, and aware of the benefits that
must accrue to the State from fostering a maritime spirit
among the peoi)le by distant voyaging, offered a specific
and liberal reward to such persons as should accomplish
the desired end.
We now come to the enterprise which furnishes the
main incidents of the poem. The merchants of Am-
sterdam were thus encouraged to organize, early in
the year 1596, a third expedition. It consisted of only
two vessels, the names and tonnage of which are not
cited. Jacob van Heemskerck— 'Uhe man who ever
steered his way through ice or iron " (according to his
epitaph) — was again supercargo and nominal commander
of one of the vessels ; William Barents being chief pilot
of the same ship, and John Cornelisz van der Ryp cap-
tain and superintendent of the other. With Heemskerck
and Barents sailed also Gerrit de Veer. Select crews as
far as possible of unmarried men, were secured for the
enterprise, and the expedition was thus got in order for
despatch, through which —
A,
there still
id Heem-
t spirited
crowned
If, as we
i hope of
efits that
me spirit
I specific
complish
shes the
of Am-
early in
of only
are not
'ho ever
g to his
inlander
ief pilot
Lyp cap-
mskerck
;rews, as
for the
rder for
^A' ARCTIC POEM.
" HoUancrs flag shall show tho .langerous way
I o wondering Europe."
23
One lesson was learned from the previous expedition
which admonished them not to delay their departure til!
too late. These two vessels got away in good season •
for, as early as the 5th of May, the men of both ships
were mustered, and on the loth they sailed from Amster-
dam, reaching the Vlie at the island of Texel on the
13th. The 16th they set sail out of the Vlie, but the
unfavorable state of the tide and a strong northeast wind
compelled them to put back again, when Ryp's ship ran
aground on a treacherous bar. This furnished ominous
m.sg,vmgs enough for the outset of an enterprise of this
kmd ; but the delay, if vexatious, was not for long and
on the i8th the ships successfully put out again to' sea
sa.hng northwest. On the ..d May they sighted Fair
Island, between the Orkney and Shetland Isles. Sailing
now to the northeast, they made the first use, accordin.^
to I)e Veer, of '<our cross-staffe," by which they took
the sun's zenith distance, and also put on record for th^
first tune their latitude, showing them to be in 6./ 24' N
On the ist June the voyagers reached so high a lati-
tude that they had no night ; on the 4th, sailing still
northeast, ^' and when," to quote the narrative 'Hhe
sunne was about south southeast, y, past 9 a. m., we saw
'ii I
111
' ^i
Ti i
P'l,
24
TB£: HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
a wonderful phenomenon in the heavens : for on each
side of the sunne there was another sunne, and two rain-
bows more, passing at a distance round about the sunnes,
right through th? great circle ; the great circle standing
with its lower edge elevated above the horizon 28 de-
grees. At noon, the sunne being at the highest, the
height thereof was measured, and we found by the as-
trolabium that it was elevated above the horizon 48 de-
grees and 43 minutes ; his declination was 22 degrees
and 17 minutes, the which being added to 48 degrees
43 minutes, it was found that we were under 71 de-
grees of the height of the Pole."
With a minuteness of narration fairly illustrated by the
passage quoted above, the worthy chronicler takes us
through some two* hundred closely-printed octavo pages
in the translation, when relating the adventures, perilous
or otherwise, of the next seventeen months. But he dwells
with little more particularity on the death of Barents than
when noting an observation of the sun, or, perchance, re-
counting many a trivial incident which, however, only goes
to show the faithfulness of the narrative.'
! H
* It may be here observed that William Phillip's translation of De Veer (first pub-
lished in 1609), which even adds qiiaintness to the ancient Dutch, would be many
times very misleading had it not itself been translated, so to speak, in the learned
and pains-taking edition of Dr. Charles T. Beke. Dr. Beke's edition, with an ex-
tended introduction by the learned editor, but besides this whose laborr, are evident
on every page, was first published in 1853, by the Hakluyt Society, while a second
AN ARCTIC POEM.
25
At this point, when, as De Veer states, they " had the
North Cape in sight," though some two hundred and
forty miles to the seaward, a diversity of opinions arose
as to the route best to be taken. Eventually the course
to which Barents inclined, and which had the recom-
mendation of Plancius, was chosen, the special concern
of both Barents and Ryp being to keep clear of the fatal,
ice-clogged Straits of Waigats. Though this was accom-
plished, the chief pilot, - not being able with many hard
words " to avoid doing so, yielded to the suasion of Ryp
so far as to take a course more directly to the north
than he had himself designed. This brought them pres-
ently upon numerous icebergs, first seen on June sth,
and taken for the moment for immense flocks of '' white
swannes " swimming toward the ship. Not so harmless
an illusion did this prove to be, as the experience of the
next four days in particular attested. But they managed
to elude the constantly threatening danger, guiding their
ship in safety amid the moving pack. In latitude 70°
they "found so great store of ice that it was admirable ";
it was as if they h ad passed '' betweene two lands," the'
edition of the same, giving ^"b^^^^i^^^^^iiii^i^^
plying some results of later researches, was published in .876 ; and the Hak LT^
Society deserve the thanks of English readers for having RiJen to the let J
communities of Europe and America this elaborate and valu b e work on thl
celebrated voyages. For the loan of a copy of the latter ed! Ln J .
the well-stocked library of the American JTeograpMS'Lt^Lr::^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
to express h.s sincere obligation, to the courteous Librarian of Ihat Society
\\
il>
it !i^
Wk
26
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
%mi.
;»i
ii
! :
'w r
I
f
water being " greene as grasse," which led our naviga-
tors now to think that they were near Greenland.
On the 9th June, in latitude 74° 30' N., they came to
a small island, which they thought to be about twenty
miles in circumference, and which presented f- ^''\^
nothing but steep, pointed cliffs. To this they ga
name of Bear Island — so baptized from their contest of
two hours' duration with a huge polar bear, the success-
ful killing and flaying of which rendered it an event
worthy, perhaps, of being thus signalized. In the neigh-
borhood of this island they spent four days and made
two landings.
Leaving Bear Island on the 13th the two ships bore
northerly, with some easting ; on the i8th land was
sighted again, and on the 19th June t'^e navigators
reached, according to their reckoning, latitude 80°
11' N., where they perceived the land to be "very
great." Barred against further passage northward, as
it would seem, they now sailed "westward along by it "
till they were under 79°, and here, on the longest day of
the year, they cast anchor. To this newly discovered
land, whose jagged and precipitous peaks are clad in
eternal snows, where intensest winter holds almost per-
petual reign, and the sun is hidden for four months of
the year beneath the horizon, they subsequently gave
the appropriate and vernacular name of Spitzbergen.
AN ARCTIC POEM.
^7
In regard to the latitude 80° 11' noted above, some
doubts have been expressed as to the accuracy of the
calculation ; Professor Moll, in particular, an eminent
national authority of fifty years ago, doubting it, owing,
as he considers, to the defective nature of the instru-
ments employed. Dr. Beke, however, shows it to be
rather an error in reckoning (here and in some other
instances), placing the navigators himself in latitude
79° 49' N., while commending Barents generally for his
extiaordinary accuracy. In any event, this was not only
the now universally conceded discovery of Spitzbergen,
but it was the highest latitude, so far as known, attained
down to that time by civilized men.'
Along this land they coasted until the 29th June,
making numerous discoveries and occasional landings.
They were perplexed at certain features of the island,
lying thus several degrees north of Nova Zembla, yet
revealing animals associated Avith the presence of vege-
tation ; while in Nova Zembla they had found on the
first voyage a country so totally bald and barren.
Here in this new land were existing in harmonious
companionship numerous deer and reindeer, white
» Hessel Gerritsz, in his " Kistoire du Pays, nominfi Spitsbergen " (1613),
asssmes to give u portion of the log ot Barents. In this " log " the date on
which the highest latitude was attained is put down as June 17th, but the latitude
is given as 80" 10' N., wliich bears out, practically, De Veer's statement in this
respect.
I
I %
S'\
>l
28
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
\ I')
I't
11
bears, walruses, and seals. Rowing up a wide inlet
they came upon great numbers of wild geese sitting
on their eggs, which they found to he the same geese
we are told, that were in the habit of visiting Hoi'
land every summer, but until now it had not been
discovered where they laid and hatched their eggs
The high latitude gave them, day and night, the sun
whose oblique rays, however, were insufficient to convey
warmth to the ever-frozen ground, so that the presence
of so many deer merited remark. But the sea was only
richer in living creatures than the land ; nowhere else
indeed, did the cetacean tribe or seals and walruses at-
tain such an enormous size ; and the abundance of those
creatures in the Spitzbergen waters afforded, years after-
ward, a source of no little controversy between the Dutch
and English fishermen.
Tliey were now on the west coast of the island ; with
a view of extricating themselves from the ice which was
rapidly closing about them, the vessels were steered
southward from Spitzbergen toward Bear Island, which
was reached again on the ist of July. Here Ryp sepa-
rated from Heemskerck and Barents, asserting his deter-
mination to sail northward - beyond the 8oth parallel,"
for - hee was of opinion," says De Veer, - that there hee
should find a passage through." Barents, meanwhile, as
stoutly maintained that the c
th
AN ARCTIC POEM.
oveted passage must
c cast of Spitzbergcn and north of Nova Z
29
lie to
accordingly sailed in that direct
embla, and
they say ling northward and
ion — or, as De Veer says,
wee southward, because of
10 win
g
the ice, the wind being east south-east " ; thus si
withal that, on parting company with Ryp, the diarist of
these voyages could henceforth record only what took
place with the Barents and Heemskerck ship.
Bidding adieu to Ryp, it may be observed that opin-
ions are at variance as to whether that captain steered
along the west, or wont north along the east, coast ; but
the result of the latest researches would lead to the'con-
elusion that he returned to about the point in 80° N.
latitude, where he and Barents had been together. Dr.
Beke's opinion, also, - that nothing worthy of remark
can have occurred to him, or otherwise it could not have
failed to be recorded," seems to be fully borne out by
the latest investigation. We may therefore conclude
that he found further passage interrupted by that ice-
barrier now known to yearly obstruct the sea north of
Spitzbergen, and so giving up the search returned to
Holland,
Though, no doubt, Ryp's and Barents' parties were
equally anxious to make the discovery, it may be said
that, by separating, they stood a better chance of realiz-
li
n
>' i ji
.0
THE HOLLANDERS J\V NOVA ZEMBLA,
\l I'
ing the object of the expedition, though increasing, pcr-
hai)s, the individual peril. Barents lost no time in pro-
ceeding to follow out his theory ; but the somewhat ir-
regular course he was forced to make, l)rought him, on
tlie 17th July, instead of north of Nova Zembla, against
the northwest coast, in latitude 74° 40'. Mere, abruptly
turning the prow of his sturdy vessel northward, he fol-
lowed along the coast, groping his way amid icebergs
and detained by fogs. On the 19th July, ice and wind
opposed his further progress ; in all directions the sea was
covered as with floating mountains. At length, the ice
having opened so as to allow of a little progress being
made, they had been able to reach Cross Island, where they
were forced to come to anchor. On this spot during the
first voyage had been erected two high wooden crosses,
with trii)le bars, as sacred emblems of their faith, where-
from they had baptized the dreary islet with that appro-
priate nr.me. Next day, anchoring under the island as
near as they could get, they put out a boat, manned by
eight of their fellows. Proceeding to one of the crosses
they rested a while, and then sought to visit the other,—
when lo ! two hoary worshippers are there, and, rearing,
stand erect as if to defend themselves and the cross
against these new intruders. " We had little desire to
laugh," says De Veer, "and in all haste went to our
\ i
|i|
I
AN- ARCTIC POEM.
31
boate again." But Skipper Hccmskcrck forbade a too
precipitate retreat, saying this would be death to all-
"The first man who shall runne away, I will thrust this
boat-hook into his hide," said the future hero of Gib-
raltar. But the adventure, after all, proved a harmless
one, and they soon *' had the lysure to tell their fellows
thereof."
On the 2 1 St July they took the sun, finding their lati-
tude to be 76" 15' N., and the variations of the compass
26 degrees ; next day, say these Dutch pilgrims to the
Arctic, "we set up another cross and made our marks
thereon." They were now freed from the ice, at least
temporarily, and on the 6th August weathered Cape
Nassau, gradually making their way northward, hugging
the land in order the better to shun the ice. Next day
they reached Cape Consolation {Troost-hoek\ "which,"
says the narrator, "we had much longed for."
Again were they beset by icebergs, which towered
above them in threatening forms like tottering pinnacles,
—some grounded and stationary, some drifting fearfully
and endangering the ship. On the loth they made fast
to one of these which was aground ; but in the evening,
just as they had eaten their supper, there were heard
horrible and ominous sounds, when with one grand crash
the vast iceberg burst into innumerable fragments. For
N-
w
>w
I if
1 1 '
^1 '
33 r//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
days they were encountering these dangers and obstacles,
tossing about in mist alternating with blinding snow-
storms, running the gauntlet of icebergs shooting their
sharp cones heavenward like turreted wall or cathedral
spire. However, a little progress was made withal, and
on the 13th July, under almost the northernmost point
of Nova Zembla, they anchored again to a floating block
of ice off a point which they named Little Ice Cape,—
Great Ice Cape being reached and rounded the following
day.
This was familiar ground to Barents from the discov-
eries of the first voyage, and he and his companions had
been anticipating the arrival here anxiously and hope-
fully. They looked upon it as signifying, they trusted, in
a double sense, a turning-point in their perilous journey,
which hitherto had been but one continued battle with
polar conditions ; yet, whether bears or icebergs, these
were now becoming familiar to them. They thought,
having reached the extremity of the island, that the
passage would now be less obstructed, and indeed that
open water would soon greet their vision. They had
never heard of the Gulf Stream, so could have formed
no fanciful theory of sailing poleward or to India in
the current of this warm ocean river which courses
with mighty force round Nova Zembla. But Barents
VI
AM ARCTIC POEM.
33
was possessed with an intuitive feeling — a belief amount-
ing almost to a religion — that a passage existed, and
that he had only to persevere with true Dutch determi-
nation to find it. Unfortunately, the dissolving influ-
ences of this mighty current are unable to cope with the
formidable ice masses which are ever succeeding one
another in this frozen region, and hence its melting
power is overcome, so that our mariners were rather en-
dangered than benefited by the presence of this mysteri-
ous stream.
The experiences of the next two days — the istb and
1 6th August — alone marked almost epochs in this event-
ful voyage. On the former they reached the Island of
Orange, a precious landmark with these devoted Hol-
landers, as the name with which Barents had previously
christened it would indicate. But on his part it awoke
memories of a peculiar kind and not unmixed with dis-
appointment, as it recalled the visit of two years before ;
for it was from this point, states Gerrit de Veer, that,
" after he [Barents] had taken all that paine, and finding
that he could hardly get through to accomplish and ende
his intended voyage, his men also beginning to bee weary
and would saile no further, they all together agreed to
returne back again." But more than this. They were
here so inclosed by vast drifting masses of ice that they
: h ^ ^'
34 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
were in imminent danger of losing their ship, and it was
only after the greatest labor and care that they actually
reached the island,— encountering here, too, the omni-
present bear, which engages them in an amusing contest.
From their ice-anchorage off this island it was pro-
posed, on the second day, to spy out the country, seeing
that they were now on the extreme northern verge of
Nova Zembla, and a party of ten men «' rowed to the
firm land." Here climbing to the top of a high hill they
found the land extending far southeast and south, and
though not wholly gratified at the fact of its extending
so far southward, yet when they perceived a little more
to the east " open water " as far as the eye could reach,
they " were much comforted again, thinking " says De
Veer, " that wee had woon our voyage, and knew not
how wee should get soon enough on boord to certifie
William Barents thereof."
But this gratifying illusion was destined soon to be
dispelled. Alas ! the passage to Cathay was far from
being discovered yet ; nor would it disclose itself to men
of Maurice's time, if ever a poleward route to the far
East would in reality be found. Herculean efforts were
made to reach the open sea which presaged such speedy
success to our struggling navigators. But untold obstacles
bafiled them at every point. The '' mighty current of
A.
AN ARCTIC POEM.
35
nd it was
actually
le omni-
; contest.
kvas pro-
h seeing
verge of
i to the
hill they
Lith, and
ctending
le more
i reach,
3ays De
lew not
certifie
n to be
ir from
to men
the far
ts were
speedy
)stacles
rent of
the streame," which they had now come to recognize,
drove the ice violently down against the ship, threatening
them with the loss of anchor and cables ; but they thank
God for another deliverance and take new courage. On
the 19th of August they passed the Cape of Desire—
" whereby they were once again in good hope." This
proved, however, to be not well grounded, for they had
not sailed far before they were forced back again by the
ice, and for the moment held prisoners near the cape so
significantly named.
On the 2 1 St August they "sailed" says Gerrit De
Veer, " a great way into the Ice Haven, and that night
ankered therein." But they little thought that this would
prove so ill-fated a harbor, and that strive as they would,
they were destined to a long and dreary imprisonment
therein. Next day they were encouraged by the stream
and the movement of the ice to push out again in their
effort to reach the open sea or find a passage. This was
another vain attempt. On the 23d they were forced back
by the contrary current to Ice Haven, again barely
escaping shipwreck, and but to encounter in that horrible
open harbor a tempestuous gale which there overtook
them. The ice towered in mountains about them, and
their boat was broken in pieces between the ship and the
floating masses.
i\
V.
U
' .1
1
I V ;
i I'.
! f f
1
n
36 TJ/E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
By the 25th August the high hopes of a few days before
had entirely vanished. Having sailed by Nova Zembla
and found no passage by which they could hope to reach
their intended goal, they thought to turn back ; besides
in those regions the summer was already at an end. But
instead of returning the way they had come, they
thought to effect their retreat by sailing southward and
westward, and so through the Straits of Waigat's home.
Retreat in this direction was in vain. Hardly had they
got out of Ice Haven— ''where" to quote De Veer's
words, "they were forced, in great cold, poverty, misery,
and grief to stay all that winter "—when they were again
barred by the impenetrable pack against any passage
southward and forced to return. Fertile in resource and
still undaunted, these Hollanders now (August 26th)
determined to sail back to Cape Desire, to round Nova
Zembla on the north, and thus retreat by a route already
familiar to their pilot. But alas ! here too were they
baffled. When they had barely got past the luckless
harbor, sailing the other way, the ice impelled by the
resistless current, drove down in fearful force upon the
ship, so that they were completely encompassed by it,
finding it impossible to move either forward or back-
ward. Three of their men barely escaped with their
lives in the fruitless endeavor of making a way for the
Hi
i:
! )
AN ARCTIC POEM.
17
ship among the floes, the block of ice upon which they
v/ere standing in their efforts happening for the moment
to separate from it. But they were fortunately rescued
and for this deliverance thanks went up again from pious
hearts.
Thus had they become imprisoned, lost in an Arctic
solitude, surrounded by dense fogs, almost without hope,
not knowing whither to turn, and every moment in im-
minent danger of being crushed under the mountains of
ice that groaned and thundered about the ship. This,
too, behaved like a very thing of life. " During the re-
maining days of August," says Mr. Motley, ''the ship
struggled almost like a living creature with the perils
that beset her ; now rearing in the air, her bows propped
upon mighty blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon
her stern, now lying prostrate on her side, and anon
righting again as the ice masses would for a moment
float away iind leave her breathing-space and room to
move in. A blinding snow-storm was raging the while,
the ice was cracking and groaning in all directions, and
the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful sights
and sounds was beyond the power of language."
But the terrible struggle was soon over. By the ist
September the ship had become hopelessly fast, — at least
for that year, if ever the nameless craft would float again.
II
I
n
li
(!
38 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
With that philosophic resignation, therefore, which ac-
cepts and prepares to adjust itself to the most desperate
situations when these are not avoidable, the hapless voy-
agers calmly set about making preparations against the
long, dayless winter so near at hand.
One only chance of safety remained to them,-to now
follow mainly the Dutch historian cited early in this
sketch,-or rather a means of delaying death : they were
near the coast of Nova Zembla ; they could abandon
ihe ship, and attempt to pass the winter in that desolate
island. It was a desperate resolution, requiring not less
courage than to remain on board ; but at least they could
have action, struggle, a new form of danger. After some
hesitation they left the ship and landed on the island
It was uninhabited ; none of the northern races had
ever set foot upon it ; it was a desert of snow and ice
beaten by wind and sea, upon which the sun but rarely
let fall a fugitive ray, without warmth or cheer. Never
theless the poor shipwrecked men sent up a shout of joy
when their feet touched the land, and knelt down in the
snow to give thanks to Providence. They set to work
at once to build a shelter. There was not a tree on the
island ; but by good fortune they found a quantity of
floating wood brought by the sea from the continent
They went to work, returned to the ship, and brought
-
3^
AN ARCTIC POEM.
t
'
39
%\\
away planks and beams, nails, pitch, boxes, and casks ;
planted the beams in the ice with all due ceremony, made
a roof of what had been the deck, hung up their ham-
mocks, lined the walls with sails, stopped up the holes
with pitch. But as their work went on they suffered in
unheard-of ways, and were in constant danger. The
cold was so great that when they put nails in their
mouths they froze there, and could only be taken out by
tearing the flesh and filling the mouth with blood.
White bears, wild with hunger, assailed them furiously
among the ice, around their cabin, even in the interior of
the ship, and obliged them to leave their labor in order
to defend their lives. The earth was frozen so hard that
it had to be broken with a pick like stone. Around the
vessel the water was frozen to a depth of three and a
half fathoms. The beer was solid in its casks, and had
lost all flavor ; and the cold increased daily.
At last they succeeded in rendering their cabin habit-
able, and were sheltered from the snow and wind. They
lighted a fire, which they kept blazing, and were able to
sleep a few hours at a time when not wakened by the
howls of the wild beasts that lingered about the cabin.
They fed their lamps with the fat of the bears, which
they killed through the cracks of the walls ; they warmed
their hands in the bleeding bowels ; they made coverings
y
111
\m
♦/
X
t 'k
40 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Of the skins, and they ate foxes, and herrings, and
biscuits from the ship's stores. Meantime tlie cold
increased. Food and drink were frozen hard even
when placed close to tlie fire. The poor sailors burned
their hands and feet without feeling any heat.
To all these calamities one more was added. On the
4th of November they awaited sunrise in vain ; the sun
appeared no more ; the polar night had begun. Then
these iron men felt their courage fail them ; and Barents,
concealing his anguish as best he could, had to spend all
the eloquence that he possessed in persuading them not
to give way to despair. Rut the moon at stated periods
lent her pale radiance day and night, and relieved the
impenetrable gloom. The bears happily disappeared
with the sun ; they were replaced by vast numbers of
white foxes, and these, when entrapped, furnished staple
materials for both food and raiment. But the cold be-
came, if possible, more intense, fuel began to grow
scarcer, and the wood found upon the shore was thrown
upon the fire with regret. One night— on December
7 th,— when the wood had become exhausted, having
brought some sea-coal from the sliip, they made a big
fire ; for once they thought to be comfortable. After
the fire had become a mass of living embers, to stop out
the cold they hermetically closed the cabin, chimney
AN ARCTIC POEM,
41
^
and crevice, when lo ! they were within a hair's-breadth
of dying of suffocation. Now were they forced to brave
once more that awful cold, which, however, in this
instance became their savior.
The 19th December brought to the party the consola-
tion that, at all events, one half of the long night had
passed, and that awakening day would disclose to their
eager gaze fresh sources of sustenance, and possibly of
escape. True to their national characteristics, they ob-
served with due festivity Twelfth Night, or Three Kings'
Eve. This periodic interval, consecrated to mirthful
indolence, was fully honored in the midst of their suf-
fering. The ice-girt prison which held them as in
bonds mus'. : eeds restrain their freedom, at least as long
as they had been thus far confined ; but this was not
accepted as a sufficient reason for abstinence from en-
joyable frolic. Accordingly they drew lots as to which
of them should wear the crown of Nova Zembla, drank
to the new sovereign in bumpers of wine — which from
their scanty store had been reserved for this occasion, —
tossed the pancake with the prescribed ceremonies, and
made the barren realm of the snow-monarch ring again
with the sound of human mirth and jollity. "We were
as happy," says Gerrit De Veer, with pathetic simplicity,
" as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. We
42
THE HOLLANDERS LN NOVA ZEMHLA,
.1 .M
\ I 1
If
*!l
imagined ourselves in our fatherland with all our friends
so much did we enjoy our repast." At other times they
plnycd cards, told stories, gave toasts to the glory of
Maurice, and talked about their families. Every day
they sang psalms together, kneeling on the ice their
faces lifted to the stars. Sometimes the aurora boreal is
broke the great darkness which surrounded them and
then they came forth from their cabin, running along the
shore, greeting with tender gratitude the fugitive hght
as a promise of salvation.
According to the computation of Barents, the sun
should reappear on the 9th of February. He was wrong
On the morning of the 24th of January, exactly at a mo-
ment when they had reached the depths of sadness and
discouragement, Hcemskerck, De Veer, and another visit-
ing the shore, saw to their great delight the disk of the sun
in the horizon ; they returned with the joyful news to their
companions. Barents was incredulous, and scouted it
as impossible ; he was not prepared for the anomalous
refraction peculiar to that latitude, which had so dis
turbed his calculations. But the fact was fully verified
two days later, when one of them, opening the door, saw
an extraordinary light, gave a shout, called his com-
panions, and all went out of the cabin. There in the
east the sky was illuminated with a clear radiance • the
AN ARCTIC POEM.
43
n
moon was pale, the air limpid, the summits of the rocks
and mountains tinged with rose ; the dawn at last, the
sun, life, the benediction of God, and the hope of once
more seeing their country after three months of darkness
and anguish ! For a few moments they stood silent and
pensive, overcome by emotion ; then they broke into
cries and tears, embraced each other, waved their ragged
caps, and made those horrid solitudes resound with ac-
cents of prayer and joyful shouts. But their joy was
brief. They looked in each other's faces, and were filled
with terror and pity one for the other. Cold, sleepless-
ness, hunger, and anguish of spirit had so consumed and
changed them that they were unrecognizable. And
their sufferings were not yet over. In that same month
the snow fell in such abundance that the cabin was al-
most completely buried, and they were obliged to go in
and out by the opening of the chimney. As the cold
diminished and daylight came, the bears reappeared, and
the danger, the sleepless nights, the fierce combats began
again. Their strength declined, and their hearts, a little
lifted, fell once more.
One slight thread of hope, however, remained to them.
The thought of getting their vessel out of the ice and
making it seaworthy being in vain, they had brought
ashore a boat and a shallop ; and little by little, always
■^1
! I J
! I ?
;r
:
f
44 7-//^ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEAf/iLA.
defending their lives against the l)oars, which attacked
them even on the threshold of their hut, tliey had suc-
ceeded in repairing them. With these two small boats
they intended to try and reach one of the small Russian
ports, by running along the northern coast of Nova
Zembla and Siberia, and crossing the White Sea ; to
make, in short, a voyage of at least four hundred Clerman
miles. During the whole month of Marc.i the variable
weather kept them between hope and despair, when
thoughts of home filled heroic minds. More than ten
times had they seen the sea cleared of ice up to the
shore, and had made ready to depart ; and as many
times a great increase of cold had again piled up the ice
and shut them in.
At last, early in June, they were able to make ready to
sail. The hour of departure being imminent, Barents, de-
spite his illness, drew up, on the r 3th, a small scroll, and put
it in a powder-horn and fastened it to the chimney of the
hut ; while Heemskerck penned a more minute relation
of their adventures, a copy of which was placed in each
of the boats. On the morning of the 14th June, with
beautiful weather, and the open sea on every side, after
nearly ten months' sojourn in that fearful place, they
set sail toward the continent. In two open boats, ex-
hausted by protracted sufferings, tliey went to brave the
11
AN ARCTIC 'Ol'lM.
45
furious winds, the long rains, the mortal cold, the whirl-
ing ice-fields of that immense and terrible sea, where it
seemed a desperate enterprise even to venture with a fleet.
For a long time during the voyage they had to repulse the
attacks of the white bears ; now they suffered from hun-
ger ; now fed on birds, which they killed with stones, and
on eggs found on the desolate shore ; they hoped and de-
spaired ; they were cheerful or they wept, sometimes be-
wailing themselves that they had abandoned Nova Zem-
bla, sometimes invoking the tempest and praying for
death. Often had they to drag their boats over fields of
ice ; to tie them down lest they should be carried away
by the wind ; to gather themselves together in a close
group in the midst of the snow in order to resist the
cold ; to call to each other through the dense fog or,
perchance, hold together in the fear of being scattered
and lost, and at times to gather courage from each
other's touch,*
Graphic as is this picture of those awful trials, we
know but too well from accounts of Arctic experiences
in modern days that it is not overdrawn. But all did
not resist such tremendous draughts upon their strength.
> Van Kampcn, as given in Dc Amicis' " Holland and its People." The It,-il-
ian writer, however, having allowed some historical inaccura-Jcs to creep into his
rendering or adaptation, ihcse have been corrected, and something more. Hence
it was not practicable to put the extracts in quotations.
;
i^Stt
. =7!
n.
46
THE nol.LAXDKRS IN XOVA ZEMBLA.
c carpenter
n
Already two of their number had died— th
as early as September 23d; and they had just re-
turned from giving the other Christian burial in the
snow, suffering from intensest cold, on the day when the
sun reappeared. Barents himself had been long ill when
he embarked, and could not walk. He felt, after a few
days, his end approaching, and warned his companions.
On the i6th June, only two days after their departure
from Ice Haven, they had weathered the Cape of Desire
and were nearing Cape Consolation— lan( narks, as has
been well said, on their desolate journey, whose nomencla-
ture suggests the immortal apologue so familiar to Anglo-
Saxon ears. Off Ice Cape the two boats came near to
each other, and Skipper Heemskerck called out to William
Barents to ask how he did. " Very well," replied Barents,
with seeming cheerfulness, " I hope to be on my legs
again before we get to Ward-huis." Then said the sick
man to De Veer : " Gerrit, if we arc near the Ice Point,
just lift me up again. I must see that Point once more."
It afforded, doubtless, no small satisfaction to the dy-
ing navigator to behold for the fourth time that north-
ernmost point of Nova Zembla, the centre of his many
discoveries, and notwithstanding his courageous talk, he
knew probably but too well that he now saw it for the
last time. Yet while tossing about in his open boat
AN ARCTIC rOEM.
47
along those frozen shores, too weak to sit upright,
reduced to a mere shadow l)y the sufferings of that hor-
rible Avintcr, Harcnts had kept up his spirits, and main-
tained that he would still, with God's help, perform his
destined task. In his next attempt he would steer north-
cast from the North Cape, he said, and so discover the
passage.
But the end was at hand. On the 20th June, while
the hero was indulging in all these seeming high hopes,
the boatswain of the other boat came on board and said
that Claas Andriesz had begun to be extremely sick, and
would not hold out much longer. Whereupon Barents
spoke up, saying ; " Methinks with me too it will not
last long" — but let the faithful annalist relate the scene.
"We did not judge William Barents to be so sick," says
he " for we sat talking one with the other, and spoke of
many things, and William Baren's looked at my little
chart which I had made of our voyage, and we had some
discussion about it, at last he laid the chart away and
spake unto me, saying, < Gerrit, give me to drink ' ; and he
had no sooner drunk than he was taken ill with so sudden
a tremour, that he turned his eyes and died presently."
Barents had died so suddenly, indeed, that they had no
time to call Heemskerck to come from the other boat.
De Veer adds : " The death of William Barents put us
4
\ ''1
i Jl
i I
48 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
in no small discomfort, as being the chiefe guide and
onely pilot on whom we reposed ourselves next under
God ; but we could not strive against God, and therefore
we must perforce be content."
Thus the hero, the moving spirit, the genius of these
memorable voyages was no more ! Life left him, it may
be said, as he was examining a map ; his arm fell stiffly
in the act of pointing out the distant land, and his last
words were in reality those of encouragement and coun-
sel. Fitting was it, too, that this first true poleward voy-
ager should be laid to rest amid the scenes of his grand
discoveries.
In association with the name of Barents, we cannot
know too well or too accurately the facts concerning his
labors here. Let us therefore revert briefly to his
''storied scroll." De Veer states that, on the 13th June,
Heemskerck and others, seeing that there was open water
and a fair wind, had advised Barents that it would be
wise to get their boats down to the shore and take their
departure— then the diarist says : " And William Bar-
ents had previously written a small scroll, and placed it in
a bandoleer and hanged it up in the chimney, showing
how we came out of Holland to saile to the kingdome
of China, and what had happened unto us, being there
on land, with all our crosses, that if any man chanced
AN ARCTIC POEM.
49
to come hither, they might know what had happened
unto us, how we had fared, and how we had been forced
in our extremity to build that house, and had dwelt lo
months therein. And for that we v/ere now forced to put
to sea in two small open boats, and to undertake a
dangerous and adventurous voyage in hand ; the skipper
also wrote two letters, which most of us subscribed
unto * * * of which letters each boat had one,"
etc. In order to perfectly understand the facts, therefore,
it may be said— we have only to take De Veer literaPy at
his word.'
1 Nearly all writers upon this subject hitherto have errontc.isly alluded to Bar-
ents as having, previous to the departure of the party from Nova Zembla, drawn
up " a tripple record of the voyage " ; one copy of which being fastened to the
chimney of the house, and one placed in each of the boats. Fortunately we are
now enabled to correct this very natural error. Writers have taken De Veer at his
word as they supposed ; but for want of the positive knowledge which now exists,
they did not carefully distinguish between the "small scroll" iflyne cedelfien),
penned by liarents— which, as it turns out, was almost literally sketched by De Veer,
in the passage quoted above— and the two " letters " {brieven) which the " skipper,"
or in other words Heemskerck, drew up, of which De Veer ^ives a copy (too
lengthy for quoting here), and to which, as he says, most of them subscribed. It has
naturally been supposed that the record left in the deserted house was the same as the
document entrusted to the boats and given foimally by De Veer, and that Barents
penned them all because of the statement with which De Veer starts out. The
latter document, however, was clearly penned by Heemskerck.
But th.inks to the extraordinary discovery of Mr. Charles L. W. Gardiner, who
in 1876 recovered the final relics of the winter house at Ice Haven, and to the skill
of the Royal Archivist at the Hague, we are enabled to give the contents of the
"scroll" which Barents drew up and left in the powder-horn, June 13, 1597,
supplying parenthetically such words as were lost. The " scroll," as may be
readily comprehended, was, when turned over to the Archivist, a mere handful of
pulp. The contents, translated, are as follows : " So (we) were sent (out) from
(Burgomaste)rsof Ani(stcr)dam An(no) 1(596) in order to sai(l) by the (N)orth to the
*'fl
H
50 r//E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA /.EMBLA,
But if the struggling crcws-now, after J„„e 20th re-
duced to thirteen men-had no longer their beloved and
trusted iHlot to inspire them and give them counsel
there ren^ained to them the brave Ifeemskerck ; and the
sk.Il and jtulgment with which he conducted the remark-
able homeward journey, exposed for over forty days to
the extremities of cold, famine, sickness, and fatigue
was well worthy of the noble qualities he afterward dis-
played on a grander stage, and entitled him to rank only
second in their regard and veneration.
In the Bay of St. Lawrence they met, it mny be imag-
ined with what joy, a Rt.ssian bark, whic-h gave them
some provisions, some wine, and lime-juice, a remedy
aga.n.t scurvy, from which several c,f the sailors were
suffering, and which speedily cured them. They coasted
ah^mg^ru^^^^,t other Russian vessels more and
Tar,c.,y) to the aforesaid "r'rtSllt" '" '^ ^r"'f '^ ""= ^'^^^ "^
Aug,.s(, in ,hc year) above ,nen lio u 1 ^ ^ '?•' °" "'" ^'^''^^'''^ ' '' ""= ^^'^^
emergency been compelled to l,„ilcl •» bfo,.s\or/ ' .'voUnoreovenn) this
the winter if poss.ble from ^^^^T:^^^''^'^''''^'^^^^^^^^
-'— 506-all ,he .hole win.o .hro.^h II , ^ 'T ""^-— "'^'"•-
pinched all fast in (the ice) with onrT f , ^'^ ^'^ '"''''" "'"■ -^'''P still lay
we might come Home :;;;i; ^roi ^ n^,;;::'.-f "^ ^-- '-- '" -,.. thai;
Kood health in ot.r fatherland. Amen. ' "''^" '°''"«=' ""' ^""S "s with
"VVil(li)am Barents.
" Ja(cob) Hcemskerck."
(See Note ,3 on the recovery of the Barents Relics at the end of this volume.)
AN ARCTIC POEM.
51
more frequently, from them receiving fresh provisions
and thus gradually restoring their strength ; some Rus-
sian fishermen recognizing Heemskerck and De Veer,
having seen them on their previous voyage. On the 13th
August they reached the entrance of the White Sea.
Here a dense fog separated the two boats, but both
weathered Cape Kanin Nos, and, favored by the wind,
made one hundred and twenty miles in thirty hours, after
which they met again with shouts of joy.
But still greater joy awaited them at Kildin. Landing
on the coast, they were informed that there were vessels
from Holland at Kola. Straightway, on the 25th August,
a messenger was despatched, guided by a Lap, to ascer-
tain the fact. In four days the guide himself returned
bringing a letter, which to their joyous amazement turned
out to be from their old comrade John Cornelisz Ryp
who, not i)ursuing his Spitzbergen researches of the year
before, had returned to Holland, and was now, it is be-
lieved, on a trading venture to the White Sea. On the
2d September the exhausted crews reached Kola, where
they joined Ryp's ship, greeting the flag of their country
in a perfect delirium of joy. The crews of Ryp and the
companions of poor Barents embraced each other with
tears, relating their adventures, lamenting their dead
comrades, and forgetting their past sufferings in the joy
of meeting.
I
(,'
' (
52 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Bequeathing their boats to the friendly people of Kola,
they set sail with Ryp for Holland, arriving in the Meuse
on the 29th of October, 1597, and becoming for the
while— as, so to speak, men returned from the grave—
the lions of Amsterdam and the Hague ; and when last
heard from they are being received in their strange
apparel of white-fox furs by Prince Maurice.
i'*i
\'A
THE HOLLANDERS IN T^OVA ZEMBLA.
it
[Ui'l
, hJB,
l'> * *«
^
}
tMM 'g
'p,
fi *A
t
i •'*
i
S 1 i
%
J
h
ik 1.
m
!. f
' 1',
M , , '
THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
AN ARCTIC POEM.
L—THE PROJECT
STILL hung the dread debate, and fiercely raged,
'Twixt Freedom and Oppression ; still the soil,
Our fathers' heritage, unwilling bore
The hosts of Spain, and with abhorrence drank
The mingling blood of strangers and of sons.
The bruising weight of War rolled heavily
O'er Flanders' plains, and deeply furrowing marred
The even bosom of the fruitful land ;
All Holland felt— all the fair sisterhood
Of allied Provinces — the galling woe !
H'
i •
Yet Holland's flag defiant waved in pride
O'er land and sea, where glory led the way,
53
J
It
1
1
(
1
4
')
r^.
i i
1 i ■
,■11
54 77/Zi HOLLANDERS AV NOVA ZEMBLA.
And oft to Victory pointed Freedom's sons
When haughty Spain, that never knew defeat,
Shrank in dismay from the triumphant sword
Of Maurice, of the Princely Orange line.
And still, though War his desolations spread,
Commerce her ileets to farthest India sent,
Carrying the spicy products of the East ;
And Java's wealth e.i.iched the struggling State.
Europe, astounded, saw the marvel rise :
This land of marshes, where the rivers sank
Into the joil, and the low surface lay
Beneath the Ocean's bosom,' — saw it rise
And wax to greatness, till it claimed a rank
Among her proudest and her fairest realms,—
A very jewel sparkling in her crown !
Then Holland's mariners with fearless hearts
Pushed into every sea, exploring shores
That until then were vainly sought on maps.
Boldest of all, Van Noord, with hand secure
Seizes the helm, and steers his scanty fleet
: IM
AN ARCTIC POEM.
Thro' wild Magellan's straits, and round the globe
Completes the second circuit man had made.
55
m.
But Heemskerck has conceived a stouter plan,
He would attempt a more adventurous course :
His nights are spent in waking, days entire
His thought is changeless fixed ; his reckonings run
Transverse o'er all the globe ; the various seas
Believes but parts of one encircling deep,
And all the world an island, so that North,
South, West, nor East, no obstacle will stay
Man's circumnavigating course. He would, —
Imagination startles at the thought ! —
He would, to reach the Orient's torrid zones,
Pierce chrough the icy Arctic. Past the coast
Of Nova Zembla, lost in storms and snow,
Beyond bleak Russia's northernmost confines,
And all along vSiberia's ice-bound shores,
Descending by Kamschatka's farthest capes,—
To China would he sail, and, haply, find
The Indus' mighty flood. And if such path »
Through everlasting ice-fields may be found,
j
j:
fi H
I !
■ l H
it
i.
H
Si
■ I
56 r//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
'T is Holland's fla^ shall show the dangerous way
To wondering Europe.
Hearts as brave as his
Are found, and Ryp will share the periloub toils,
And dare the deaths that threaten. Two stout barks
Is all they ask, with dauntless sailors manned.
The bold design i^rogresses step by step,
And soon two ships with dapper crews are theirs.
Barents ' himself will govern Heemskcrck's helm :
He, calm in danger, firm of soul, and young
In zeal, tho' gray in knowledge, sailor-born,
Stands ready on the deck. Impatient now
They wait the longed-for hour that sees them start.
It comes. The coast is thronged, the island-shores
Of Texel teem with human life. The piers
Are peopled, boats are decked in festive dress.
And cruise about to view with nearer gaze
The venturous - hips. Farewells and parting shouts,
Rung lustily from the crowds, and answered back
By cheers as lusty from the elated crews,
AN ARCTIC POEM. 5;
Make all the strand one scene of jubilee.
All Holland breathes one wish to heaven ; she sees,
Exulting, these her children fearless go,
Despising dangers, braving fate, perhaps
To add one laurel to her glory-vvrcath. .
Begins the bold attempt ! of which the years
To come shall speak to children yet unborn !
The cables wound, the sails unfurled, they wait
With bated breath the signal to depart. . .
See, sec ! the match is touched, the powder fires ;
Forth bursts tae thundering shot, rmd booming speaks
A well-timed prayer for the country's weal !
i!
Sing, Muse ' and touch with skilful hand the lyre !
This exploit all too daring fitly s ng :
Then, as they breast the waves of trackless seas
That never were explored, O sweep the strings,
Swelling with notes of stirring power, and praise
The deed ; or when the issue asks it, mourn
In melting strains their pitiab' : fate :
And be th- skill's appropriate meed, a tear !
, )'
;
11
1
1
Iff'
1
M^
H.— TEMPEST.
SEEMED Nature's self forbade the enterprise ;
As pitying the misery they would reap,
She sent opposing winds. But fruitless was
The warning ; to defy and set the law
To Nature, making the rebellious blasts
Their servants,* now not first they were to learn,
But custom long had taught. The flood-tide's rise
Lifts them across the sandy bar : in face
Of adverse winds and the grim surging waves,
Proudly the bounding vessels forward leap,
Divide the main, and Nature's grasp elude.
Sail upon sail they crowd on creaking masts.
And soon are lost to sight. To northern climes
Attempt their steadfast course, and hasten on
Like hunted deer that skims the grassy plain.
Iv: iilf
ll f''^
Ui
Alas, and whither, wanderers, do ye haste ?
Turn, turn your bows back to the shores whence late
58
AN ARCTIC POEM.
59
Farewells rung out— and flee your certain grave !
Behold your streaming pennant, fluttering high,
Points to the land you all too reckless leave !
The unfriendly North ye seek hurls these rude blasts
Against your ships that, as they wrestle, spring
Full many a gaping leak. Your keels can scarce
Resist the fearful strain upon them. See !
The rigging, shorn from the supporting yards,
Falls in confr.sion down. The lofty masts
Sway to and fro like reeds bent by the gale ;
And now at length the helm defies control. . . .
Wanderers, return ! the shores forsaken seek !
Ha, see ye not that Death is in these waves.
And yearns to clasp you to his cold embrace ?
ill
i '.
%
'T is vain ; their courage flags not, tho' their need
Is utmost : spite of adverse tempest still
They stagger on. Swells to more deafening roar,
As by defiance more relentless grown.
The angry storm. The billows, skyward reared,
Descend with might gigantic on the ships,
Till hull and framework tremble at the shock.
IT-
m
■If
I',
'Ji.
hi
I ;
I '.
■|
I
t
i
I
60 T//E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
But long the gallant ships outride the storm,
Undaunted and unconquered ; till at length,
In one last effort of expiring rage,
The tempest, blowing with a fiercer blast,
Upheaves the ocean to unwonted height,
And flings them far apart— each lost to each !
Whither, ye parted voyagers, so late
Pursuing jointly your adventurous course —
O whither wander now ? Why cruise in vain
The watery plain around you, that ye may
Each to the other hastening reunite ?
Why sweep the horizon all the compass round ?
The boiling seas and whizzing welkin, these.
And these alone, your straining eyes behold !
Then thus spake Ryp, who knew no dread till now
" Alas ! ye found your grave, ye comrades bold !
Holland, alas ! thy Heemskerck thou hast lost !
That last farewell thou 'It rue but all too soon,
And sorrow reap for laurels. Come, my mates,
Yon coast perchance a refuge may afford :
AN ARCTIC POEM. 6 1
Refit the riddled ship, and thither steer !
Let Holland still be spared what in ourselves
She has not lost as yet, though, unrepaired,
She mourn the others' loss." He spake, and swift
They speed them onward, and in silence wipe
The moistened eye.
" Now all my hope is fled "
(Thus Heemskerck spake) ; " far as I gaze, and strain
My utmost, whither I may turn, of Ryp
I see no trace, no mast nor pennon more.
My friends, 't is o'er, the sea hath whelmed them all !
No, no ! wipe not the tears that flood your eyes ;
Not less a hero he who has a heart
That feels another's woe. Weep, weep, my men ! —
Rest^ brethren^ rest ! you 're worthy of these tears ! —
But, comrades, see ! there 's that which cheers amid
The press of our misfortunes ! Lo, the storm
Turned in our favor its expiring wrath, -
And prospered our adventure, — flung us past
The North Cape. We shall feel the ice apace
Crushing against our bows, and see it drift
n
w
Ml
I? si
63 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
On every side. The Path is near ! — the path
Disclosed till now was never yet by man I
On, onward to the East ! thro' ice-fields hence !
Success attends us, con^rades ! Courage, men ! "
\H
h
His dauntless language sets their souls aglow ;
Springs each to work with quickened sinews, strung
To spirited endeavor. Soon the ship,
Rigged and refitted, boldly rides the waves ;
The canvas all unreefed, she onward hies
Like some brave bird that spreads his tireless wing.
On\vard they speed, thro' shattering ice-floes on, —
On through the pelting hail, the drifting snow ;
A mist enfolds them, icy in its touch ;
It garnishes the streamers and the yards
With glittering icicles ; the feet freeze fast
To deck and moistened gangway ; soon the helm
Hangs moveless, and the cordage freezes stiff.
Thus on they journey, -ill the prospect drear,
And growing dismal more with every hour.
«l
AN ARCTIC POEM.
Helpless they drift where'er the varying wind
May list to push them with the shifting ice.
Ere long the ice-fields cease to move, the sea
Lies solid, held in Winter's icy grip.
And in the midst their ship fast riveted,
Seems hopeless fixed, never to move again.
63
ung
ng.
;> :
,•. J
1:
N
' ^']
III.— SHIPWRFXK.
\A/^^'^ '^ '■^g'O" this ? The leaden welkin hangs
V V Sullen and heavy here; here Nature wears,
Pallid and cold, the Jivery of death.
Vacant 't is all and silent, soulless, drear.
A single mew flits hungrily about:
A solitary fir of stunted growth
And faded verdure, only remnant here
Of Earth's abundant life, on yonder cliff
Api)ears above the snow.
But hark ♦ a sound
Disturbs the air : 't is a low rumbling noise,
That wakes the echoes of this silent grave
Like raumed thunder ; whence but all too soon
They, horror-struck, perceive. An iceberg huge,
Crushing the ice-floes in its onward path.
Comes from afar : shuddering, they see it come,
Nearer, and still more near ; on, on it sweeps,
64
M
i
AN ARCTIC POEM.
65
.rs,
Horrid destruction seated on its front,
And e'er expanding its colossal base,
Still growing as it goes : it cleaves the main,
\nd down the chasm drawn thro' the quivering deep
The waves rush headlong with a deafening roar.
It nears the ship ! each pours his latest prayer ! —
Thank God ! it dashes past ; but many a plank
Is wrenched from its firm fastenings. Farther on
It plunges, till 't is seen and heard no more.
und
!
Now loosened from the ice grip, once again
'Mid wild confusion drifts the fated ship.
The billows surge beneath, and beat and burst
The heaving ice-floes, and the fragments fling
From wave to wave ; these, hurtling thro' the air,
Strike her rent sides with oft-repeated shocks.
A helpless prey 'mid all this tumult dire.
The vessel, whirled and tc ssed with easy force
By warring elements, obeys in turn
That which in turn predominates. At last,
Driven by the gale where boils a narrow sea
'Twixt two approaching ice-fields, as they close
I ■■ '-i
J !l
IK'i I
■f-.i
(fr
:»M!
' .<
66 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA
They clasp the ship between them. High her bow
Points to the sky, her stern the meanwhile fixed
Within the frozen vice— upright she stands.
Now wreck and ruin have their perfect work.
Naught could withstand, tho' stanch and brave the ship,
Naught could withstand destruction such as this.
The gallant sailors now no more can hope
To hold their own upon the hapless ship ;
They seize the loosened rigging, tackling, ropes,
With desperate effort swing themselves o'erboard.
They speed them o'er the ice that human foot
Ne'er trod before ; they wade thro* depths of snow
That never felt a frotsten : on they haste.
But know not whither terror urges them.
Oh ! boon midst so much ill, with joy perceived
And loudly cheered : see yonder tongue of land !
Thither they now direct their rapid course ;
They feel that they are fleeing from a death
That 's hunting them, loth now at last to lose
The victims that so certain seemed his prey.
1 1
ship,
AN' ARCTIC POEM. 6/
With every step they double still their speed
To reach yon place of refuge. Rocks that rise
Above the highest steeple Holland knows,
And rent in perpendicular clefts,— they see
Before them . . . mark their path, 't is difficult,
Winding along, between, the rifted heights,
Where scattered blocks of ice their way impede,
And drifts of snow ; but naught can check them now,
They halt nor hesitate, attain the land ; . . .
And Nova Zembla's shores bear human feet !
' '1
1-,
if
.
i
IV.— NOVA ZEMBLA.
i' '*.
HERE Winter has forever fixed his throne .'
His heritage is here, his kingdom this !
Here bahny Spring-days venture not to bloom ;
The Sun's low slanting rays that faint, and cold,
And wearily lagging thro' the distance beam.
May lap the snow, but leave the ice unhurt.
What mortal here can live of man or beast ?
The hardy Northman, searching every coast
In quest of booty, shuns this ice-bound waste.
No other spot on earth tho' scant endowed
So miserably barren, stricken, dead !
The soil is frozen into stone, to be
Never again dissolved to fruitfulness.
•T is only snow-flakes here the clouds bestow,
A deathly whiteness, all the landscape round,
Creation's garb invariably here.
Inhospitable cliffs forbidding rise,
68
AN ARCTIC POEM.
69
in
; I
•
1.
Where'er the eye its distant glances turns ;
Seems only ice builds up their beetling front.
Ha ! see them bending heavily o'er their base ;
Unseated by the tides and by the winds,
They threaten death to him who dares approach.
The uninviting region this, from all
Human society cut off ; and such
The shores by Heemskerck and his comrades trod.
And on this soil, before untrod by man,
Kneeling, his fervent thanks to Heaven he pours,
Who all his men preserved ; then, rising, he —
In ecstasy of feeling mixed of joy
And misery, of fear and gratitude —
Clasps them to his brave heart in warm embrace.
He seeks to pierce the endless distance through,
With anxious looks explores the desolate scene,
And . . . shudders. Shudders every soul that views
Such aspects drear.
Meanwhile the night descends.
Compelling farther progress on the land,
»f,
I
fi
fji
ii
'M
i'
1 1
,'V
'I I
;0 7-//^ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
If haply they some shelter there may find.
Alas ! no hut's protecting roof they see,
Nor tree, its scanty refuge to afford
To their exhausted limbs. At every step
Their bosoms throb with ever-growing dread.
Breaks not one star the still-increasing gloom ;
They see not one another ; one by one.
By weariness o'er-mastered, they sink down,
Happy to nestle 'neath the chilly snow :
Yet fatal were the sleep that courts them now ;
They toss about and grant their limbs no rest.
Ha ! see they not yon poiar bear advance?
He sniffs the tainted breeze ; unwonted prey
He scents ; with every pace he nearer draws,
Infuriate hunger fires his appetite ;
The snowy mantle of his shaggy fur
Makes him an indistinguishable part
Of the surrounding whiteness : now he marks
His victim,— comes with stealthy, noiseless step,—
Clutches the nearest of the luckless crew,
And drags him bleeding to his distant den,
rii
i.i(
AN ARCTIC POEM.
71
A terror seizes n' they know not why ;
They hear faint nr rmurings of a smothen 1 groan,
That ceases soon, expiring in a sigh.
Stunned and ( stracted with a nameless i ear,
They darkling grope, to know ^ .hat harm has come ;
They close in narrower < ircle, land joins hand,
And one by c le they call the several names,
And onr is missed! A horr(;r thrills their frames :
They seek the ground no more, but stan d watch,
Scarce breathing, listening, hushed, and trembling stand.
And long they wait the dawn, for tardy morn
Delays, spite their strong wishes for the light.
A stinging pain the biting frost imparts,
Yet scarce dare move their limbs, lest they attract
Some prowling enemy. At length they see
The first faint ray just struggling thro' the gloom :
Pale morn arrives and brightens by degrees.
They trace their comrade's fate, too plainly shown :
Where he was dragged along the virgin snow
They mark his progress by the frozen blood !
Then, shuddering at the sight, they hasten back
•f^
v:«^
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
//
#.>.<^.
m./
"%
V
..V
4g- <:t^\€
{<
i/..
z
1.0
I.I
11.25
1^
150
!.8
M
? ■- 1 2.0
UUi.
11 1.8
1.4
1.6
Fnotograptiic
Sciences
Corporation
23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, NY. 14S80
(716) 872-4303
^•:^
<>
iV
A
\
'^
%
\
"O'^^.A 4^.r^%
^%
^<h'-
.0
it
'i':! ia
W'
Vi
72 rJ/E HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
To the bleak shore so gladly hailed at first.
Yon lies the ship, wrecked by the crushing ice ;
They vicv the heaving sea, with half its width
A frozen surface. Such the unfriendly land
They hoped would give them refuge ? Ha ! despair
Finds utterance in loud bursts of sobbing grief!
But Barents, brave and calm, revives their hearts,
Inspires them with new courage : "Ay, my mates,
Our lot is hard ; hope of return is vain,
And each successive morn shall make more dread
Our dread extremity. Severe and long
Beyond what we have ever known before,
The winter is upon us. Though no eye
Of human pity melt, nor mortal hand
Supply our need, the Omniscient Eye can see,
And God's own hand shall keep us and provide.
Come, resting in that hope, let busy hands
Be now addressed to work. What still is left
Of our provisions carry hence at once
From the misshapen wreck ; God grant it last
Until deliverance come. Next let us draw
AN ARCTIC POEM.
n
ir
The vessel's boats upon the shore, and safe
Beneath the snow-heaps bury them ; perhaps
When ocean shall have cast his icy bonds,
These then may serve us on our homeward way.
Let arms and ammunition gathered be.
The sails be stripped, what caji be saved, preserved ;
And from the shattered framework of the ship
Be reared a dwelling on the cheerless shore !
To work ! Necessity asks speed ! Our lives
Depend upon our diligence ! "
1
He spoke ;
Then hurries to their front, and sets at once
The example to their quickened energies.
With headlong haste they rush to scale the wreck,
And soon the glancing axe, driven firm and true
Into the planking, clears the ringing boards,
And trembles in the solid ribs and keel.
"I
U i
/ ii
v.— THE BUILDING OF THE HUT.
AND still the cold with every hour increased.
Sharp flew the hailstones, and the drifted snow
Blinded their eyes and to their limbs froze fast ;
Rocks the huge hulk, swayed by the forceful sweep
Of the strong gale. They pant and gasp for breath
In face of the fierce storm, and slow their work.
At times the cold benumbs their faculties :
Before their wandering minds they seem to see
Children and wife, and agonize to strain
To their sad hearts the loved reality.
Then they perforce must rouse them for their lives ;
Compel their limbs to labor, lest the frost
Transfix them where they stand.
J (I
To various work
Do various bands address themselves : some heap
The slippery banks with timbers of the ship ;
74
LiJ
AAT ARCTIC POEM,
75
1 snow
ep
ith
Some strip the sails ; the cabin's furniture
Others transport with care ; and skilful hands
Remove the nautic instruments. The stores
Of provender and vats ol salted meat
Some make their task to gather ; some the boats
Cut from their fastenings, and upon the shore
Beneath the snow bestow them ; others search
The driftwood, and the while prepare rude sleds
From the smooth logs. The loads ascend the beach
In slow but sure succession, till at last
No more is left to gather from the ship,
That, severed into all its elements,
And rifled of its contents, now no more
Is to be recognized.
s ;
rk
Now eager hands
With strong endeavor ply the axe and spade
To break the stiffened ground. The snow is cleared,
A space is measured, and the lines are traced.
Hark ! the first post is driven to its rest.
Loud crashing through the ice-incrusted earth !
Blows upon blows from lusty hammers ring.
I-;; I
7^ T//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
The startled shores reverberate the sound.
The sharp-toothed saws the hardened timbers rend,
Adjusting each to its proportions due ;
The posts are set, the studs rise side by side
Between ; the leaning rafters crown their top ;
The beams are fastened and securely link
The frame together to defy the blast.
The biting frost, that ever fiercer grows,
Urges the hands to still redoubling haste.
Bravely they labor on, till soon the boards
Climb upward from the ground along the sides,
And deck the rafter:; with protecting roof,
Holding a precious space where snows nor winds
May find an entrance. Hammocks next are slung ;
They hang the doubled sails along the walls ;
And what so late had housed them as their ship.
Stands re-created on the shore— their house.
J I ,
Had but a few nights in the hut been spent,
When as the morning dawned— which, ever more
Forgetting its expected time, and still
With ever-slower footsteps, brought the day,—
AM ARCTIC POEM.
77
A vision greeted their first outward glance,
Appalled them with a sudden fear. For lo !
A score of bears, by hunger driven in search
Of prey, besieged them in their house. Erect,
With forepaws clawing savagely the boards.
They sniffed along the walls, their quickened scent
Discerning tempting food within, and keen
Anticipation watering at their mouths.
Nor long dismay possessed them, but their fear
Gave way to thankfulness, that Providence
Had brought these grizzly monsters to their door.
Soon are their guns in hand, and Heemskerck's voice
Cheers them to the encounter with the foe :
"Come, comrades, come ! Mark you yon savage beasts ?
Up, scale the roof, and thence securely deal
Death and destruction thro' their hairy ranks ! " '
He spoke, and climbs aloft, and breaks away
The covering boards : the hungry brutes draw back
And grimly scan their prey, — they rise to spring
Upon them, but with frenzy, fierce and vain,
They paw the air ; not helpless thus their foes :
Hark ! cracks the first swift shot, and pierces thro'
Ji^flfs^
I,
78 7-//^ ffOZL^ATj^^^S m NOVA ZEMBLA,
The furry hide. Follows a second ! third [
The rattling musketry, discharging shots
In quick succession, hurls the fatal balls
Among the astounded brutes; nor long they stand;
Precipitate they flee ; they seek their dens
Staggering and blinded with the unwonted pain
And penetrating woe ; nor many find,
For far the most fall prostrate, writhing sore
And weltering in their blood. Now, hastening down
The men the dying monsters soon despatch •
They tear the hairy hides from reeking flesh
Affording toothsome food. The fat is spared
To serve as oil for lamps and cheer the night •
They stretch the skins to dry them in the wind,
And as proud trophies won on honor's field
They wear the snugly fitting cap or coat,
Sewn roughly of the fur, uncouth but warm.
And longer hangs the night, and still more brief
The day ; the sun grows feebler, and more fierce
The wintry blasts. The ever-keener cold,
That scarce is banished at the blazing hearth,
I.A.
Stand ;
in
g down,
ief
e
A// ARCTIC POEM. 79
Shortens whate'er of fuel they had spared
At building of the hut ; thus forth again,
Reluctant they prepare to brave the cold,
Short tho' the journey to the neighboring beach.
Where lies the driftwood plenteous, to be torn
From beds of snow and the unyielding ice.
They draw the sleds along the frozen shores,
And many a groaning load rewards their toil.
But oft with labors slow and painful pass
The hurrying hours, and oft the day is gone.
And night already falling (still before
Its lawful time) ere they can gain the hut :
Then wandering much in doubt, they tread with step
That grows more cautious at each turn, until
They see the lamp set out for beacon-light.
Sometimes a bear with quick and fatal clutch.
Before the ready hand can wield the gun,
Assails the hindmost of the company.
Sometimes the sleet or snow, by tempest driven.
Will penetrate e'en to the coursing blood.
Stiffening the sinews, to their utmost strung
w
-^tm^gfH,
'l^^^
iifwer
h
It
80 THE HOLLANDERS IN A'Ol'.t ZEMBLA.
By hardest toil or violent exercise,
Freezing the chill sweat over all their frame.
Then wool nor fur avail, tho' closely wrapped ;
The head grows swollen, reels the dizzied brain ;
The skin to the utmost strained is torn apart
And gapes in open wounds. The humid breath.
With pain e.xpanded from the laboring breast,
Freezes to solid crusts on beard and lip.s.
Then hastening to the shelter of the house.
They close the door.s, the window-shutters bolt.
Heap high the wood upon the hearth, retire
Within their hammocks, nestling close and wrapped
In their thick furs. Rut thro' those fearful nights,
When the fierce cold is fanned by furious gales,
They shiver none the less within their beds ;
The hoar-frost creeps along the walls, tho' charred
By overheated firei)lace ; yea, and where
The snow-flake, shaken from their garments, falls
Upon the hearth— it glistens dry and white !
s .
VI.~NI(;HT.
Ill
K
3ped
red
Is
,.
STILI, ever keener bites the freezing air,
And e'er more pitiless the sweeping blasts
Howl through the lengthening watches of the nights.
Still shorter grow the days : with pace too slow
Ever more tardily returning, soon,
And every day still sooner, they depart ;
As if the light reluctant dawned on shores
So dismal and severe, and to the Night
With her dark shades would rather leave to brood
O'er hideous desolation such as this. —
At last the Sun in his appointed round
Failed utterly, and would not show his beams,
Nor bring the day again to earth or sky.
Anxious, astonished, with expectant looks
That still are doomed to disappointment strang'v
The men gaze up into the midnight sky
8i
82 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
And wonder 't is not morning : long the lamp
Expired, a second wick has been consumed,
And yet the darkness is about them, still
The night seems only half o'er-spent, so far
Are signs of daylight absent from the East.
Then the new horror flashed upon their minds !
In dumb amazement each to other looks !
Yes, Night has fixed her throne, and rules the air !
Is it that the wide hut to sudden depths
Has sunk, and this the darkness of the grave ?
Or has Creation— in this horrid clime
Succumbing to severities extreme-
Resolved itself to chaos, lost what first
The voice of God called forth, and now is left
To the primeval darkness whence it sprang ?
But see ! the horizon trembles once again
With the returning light, the snow-drifts cease
To strew the atmosphere with thickening flakes.
And leave the welkin open to the view.
Alas ! 't is but the attendant of the night.
air!
AN ARCTIC POLM.
And not returning day : from highest heaven
Pours down the Moon her perpendicular rays ;
No morning sets her bounds, no noonday dims
Her lustre ; she through all her phases holds
Her lofty course about the polar star ;
Restoring light, but leaving Night her reign
Unending, and her terrors unrcmoved ;
For the quenched Sun lifts rwt his radiant head, —
Day is no more, and Hope lies buried too.
83
(fj
Then thus spake Barents : "Ay, my comrades, this
The blow I long have feared ; this startling scene,
Scarce to be understood or credited,
Except experience teach it, — this belongs
To Arctic shores, where Earth around her poles
Contracts her Continents. Long shall this night
Envelop us, yea, months shall count its time.
Ah ! how the leaden hours will drag along,
Fraught with extremities of cold and storm !
Knows only God (to Whom the darkness is
As light, e'en in such night as this) of all
Our number who shall see the distant day !
SSpSSSSSSBSmS^j"
^'^'''
I '■'*
> • ,
1
V-AO
84 r//£ HOLLA MDEKS IJV NOVA ZEMELA.
Offend we not His miglit and gracious care
By desperation's murmurings : He sees
And pities all our suffering ; only He
Our hope, our help, and solace in this grief.
Lo ! yonder placid moon, whose softer rays
Bring us a silvery memory of the day,
Bespeaks His care ; blest be that fainter light !
Tho* variable, now growing, and anon
Lessening to a dark disc scarce visible,—
'T will often cheer our hapless sojourn, guide
Our footsteps ; and if perils haunt our path
Will faithfully announce them, and reveal
The path of safety ; till the Sun awake.
And light and hope together banish night ! "
Thus Barents ; but none answered, for each heart
Was filled with thoughts that asked no aid of speech ;
One feeling swayed them all, subdued and sad.
Some wi.itful gazed into the glowing coals ;
Scaie wept the silent tear, or breathed a sigh-
Tributes to distant hearths and happier days.
Then, like brave men, they set their earnest minds
"(■
^■V^'^^^^^^SSHSMV
AN ARCTIC POEM.
To face the future, shuddering yet withal
At the drear prospect. With severest care
And inventory strict their hoarded stores
They calculate ; fixed rations they appoint,
That, thus eked out to the utmost, they may last.
The fuel has its measured limits set ;
The slender wick is split to half its width.
To bring the lamp thro' twice lis length of cheer.
85
•t
But cordial concord reigns, tho' penury
Prevails, aud, uncompelled by strict commands,
Rules discipline thro' all the exiled crew.
And when the calendar brings in their course
The Christian Holydays, tho' dire their need,
Old-time Economy, the nation's boast,
Knows how to deal with a more liberal hand.
Then do they tear from the fast-frozen vat
The salted meat, and in the roaring blaze
Swings the broad kettle ; tempting fumes arise,
And the unwonted dish sets to keen edge
Their too abstemious appetites. Before
They gather round the sumptuous board, they list
■^^^'iAi^ssS^b^Sm^
"''Siiiitfiir '
86 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
With barrel brows the reading of the Word
That tells the sacred story of the day ;
They render to the Lord with pious hearts
The special thanks which to the day belong ;
And jointly sing the heartfelt hymn of praise,
Till Nova Zcmbla's ice-bound desert rings
With swelling numbers of Dutch psalmody,—
Then with glad zest they celebrate the feast
Before them spread. And next, if games, or forms
Of sportive ceremony " custom long
Hath joined to the memorial day, with these
They pass the time, and court the generous glee
That makes these days more dear, nor less devout
The holy memories which the Church enjoins.
^.•M
m -
VII.— EVENING HOURS.
tns
AT Evening— marked not by declining day,
But by the clock — at social eventide,
Gathers the close-drawn circle round the hearth.
Then penetrates thro' all their pressing cares
A quiet joy, that lessens grief the while ;
Then flows the wine, or in deep draughts of beer
(The old-time custom of the Fatherland)
They drink to loving maid, or wife, who claim
Their heart's devotion true ; and if the tear
Drops as they drink into the foaming bowl,
The melting sorrow soothes the troubled breast.
f
And oft to serious themes inclined, they love
To share their mutual minds, and speak of home,
Of wife and children, whom they never more
(Unhappy thought !) may to their bosom strain.
Thus as the night wears on each in his turn
87
I Vi
lij i
U:
88 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Has asked attention : one relates how dear
His loving wife, recounts his children's names,
How hard each parting as he sails abroad.—
Another tells how much his oldest boy
Resembles him, and seems a sailor born.
Teasing each voyage to be gone with him ;
The mother, sadly smiling through her tears,
Looks fond, proud glances at the fearless boy.—
A third remembers how on that sad day
Of latest and perhaps of last farewell,
His babe held forth its arms a hundred times,
Pursed the sweet lips to kiss him, lisped and spake.
The first of untried speech, a /.////^rV name.
But 't is too much, these mem'ries overcome
The spirit, and the words are choked in tears.
On other nights they turn to games of chance.
Rattle the dice, and place the checker-board,
And challenge comrades to adventures safe
In trials of skill and fortune : one by one
They gather round the board, and heavy time
Slips onward, all its misery unperceived
H'l •'
t.
ike,
^A^ ARCTIC POEM.
For a brief respite season. Some the while
Look on, and fill the hours with useful work,
Mending worn doublets, or the tattered sail.
Or sometimes they recount with burning hearts
The glorious history of the Fatherland.
They tell with brave enthusiastic tongue
Of Maurice and his princely deeds of war ;
Whose military genius, joined to soul
Heroic as old Rome's devoted sons,
Swept out of Spain's presumptuous hands of might
Full many a stronghold of the despot's power,
Breda by stratagem, by valor Hulst ; »
Loyal to memories of the illustrious sire,
William the Silent, martyred for his land,*
Linked to the glories of the martial son, —
Their souls burst forth into the stirring strains,
" Wilhelmus van Nassouwen,'"* till the hut
Rings to the echo with the boisterous song.
Warmed by these themes, their patriotic hearts
Bound with a sympathetic bravery ;
They seem transported to the scene of war,
89
*'l
90 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA,
They join their comrades in the noble strife,
And in their proud enthusiasm forget
Their dire surroundings and imprisonment."
^ 11 !
But yet the night continues, nor will yield
The hours that justly are the day's. And still,
When what should be the morning comes, they look-
But to be disappointed— for the dawn.
lA,
VIII.— AURORA BOREALIS.
I,
y look-
T^UT 't is not always gloom, for even here
-L^ Nature has that which the rapt soul compels
To adoration. Yea, hath God not made
All things, in all their times and everywhere,
Marvellous and beautiful ? In this sad clime,
Where stricken Nature seemed forever doomed
To impotency, barrenness, and death,
Is night made glorious, and all Heav'n bid shine
With gorgeous beauties, such as wildest dreams
Have never set before the thought of man.
For lo ! in their supremest splendor seen,
Here coruscate the sky-born Northern Lights."
A strange exhilaration once possessed
Their frames, nor seemed the frost so fierce as wont ;
They ventured forth into the air to watch
The stars, and tell the progress of the year ;
91
1^*J*^j...iH.^t-^-.-;
*^*S=";*«»«?J^,i^,-
'^1
92 THE liOLr ANDERS m NOVA ZEMBLA.
To look on constellations that were hid
By flaming day from lower latitudes ;
Cold, but surpassing beautiful and clear
The sparkling vault of heaven. When lo I from depths
Unseen, beyond horizon's utmost bounds,-
Where the smooth surface of the frozen sea
Met the descending circle of the skies,-
A sudden light leapt to the dark-blue heavens •
With faintest radiance filled the farthest North'
And scarce disturbed the shades of star-lit night •
But soon beams brighter, and with blood-red hue'
Suffuses earth and heaven. The ruby flame
Glances along the snow-fields, and on high
Glasses itself in the smooth crystal front
Of beetling icebergs ! Then still other tints
Succeed, till multitudinous rainbows bend
Their many-colored arches o'er the sky.
Anon the trembling light, in circling rings,
Seeks loftiest skies ; and from their centres pour
Streams of a liquid fire,--a thousand hues
Sparkling and interchanging as it burns,
-
f.tf( '\\.
1 depti
IS
AN ARCTIC POEM.
And, as arrested by some hidden rock,
Gathering red foam, and spattering million sparks,
That flash and die ujjon their wayward course.
Next, mountains burnished gold bestud the sky.
Darting the lightning from their flaminir sides.
While at their lurid base burn sulphur seas,
Beating their glowing waves upon the shore,
Or whirling them in pools of livid light.
At last a quick explosion scatters far
The fragmentary splendors, — seems the light
Devoted to extinction ; — but again,
As suddenly renewed, intensifies
Into redoubled brilliancy ; and shapes
E'en more fantastically beautiful.
Flash out again to startle the rapt view.
93
What soul that witnesseth such scenes sublime
But must in speechless reverence bow the head ?
They read amazement in each other's eyes.
Tho' wrought to highest pitch of awe, their minds
Conceive a joy 'mid all their dismal state :
94 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
A joy to see such wonders, to behold
The strange ilhimination flash and play,
And feel its fascination chain their souls !
'L>
IX.— DEATH.
FREQUENT without, well armed against the frost,
They until now went forth to watch the stars,
To exercise the limbs, benumbed within
The narrow quarters of their cabin rude ;
Or to secure the drift-wood on the beach,
For fuel thro' the unabating cold.
But as the night continued fiercer grew
The frost, and soon they venture forth no more.
The ice-bear now no longer prowls about.
The increasing cold confines him to his den,
There to abide the winter's lesser phase.
But still the hungry foxes, desperate grown,
Maddened by scenting of the savory vats,
Sniffing the frozen air, are tempted near ;
They gnaw at walls and roof ; but snares are set,
And many a victim yields them welcome dish,
And helps to lengthen the fast-failing stores.
95
i
96 r//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
It happened once, when evening's friendly hour
Had kept the social circle closely drawn
Till late, it was proposed to heap the hearth,
And heat the room to more than common warmth ;
A meagre handful coal, the remnant left
From all the ship's supply, and long eked out
With care, was cast upon the glowing brands ;
Each slightest crevice in the walls was stopped,
The chimney draft was checked, that not too soon
The dying heat might pass into the sky.
Now first real comfort steals along their limbs ;
No shivering now, no 'numbing cold that wont
To penetrate through all their densest furs,
And blankets thickly heaped : delicious rest
Visits each hammock.
',' J
• . . But the laboring breast
Heaves with a painful breath, the pulse beats low.
The throbbing brain grows dizzy, and ere long
The choking firedamp had o'erwhelmed them all.
But one, scarce conscious, reeling from his cot
Bursts door and shutters thro', lets in the air,
AN ARCTIC POEM,
97
Tho' laden with the deadly frost, and saves
The smothering crew, waked from the deadlier warmth.
They shudder at the danger they escaped ;
Scarce hoping to escape more distant death,
They 're grateful for deliverance from a fate
So near them ; and they praise God's Providence,
Who through that same fierce frost, whose fatal touch
Withers and kills, reanimated them.
But scarce this peril past, another blow
Dread consternation brought. Their trusty friend,
Their counsellor, their refuge in distress.
In swift calamity their moveless rock,
The brave and pious Barents,--fails, and death
Stands threatening near. His thoughtful care devised,
And his own weak and trembling hand prepared,
The troublous story of their sojourn here ;
In plainest style set forth, omitting naught.
Recounts their journey, and its issue vain
And fatal. Beckons Heemskerk, clasps his hand,
Attempts to speak but cannot ; shows the roll,
And points him to the spot on topmost roof
■(
-''•M nnn w iiH ii 'Mniiii
hi
'('!!
H
98 T//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Where he should fix It ; that it might be found
In after years, and thus posterity—
If ever ship should reach these shores, and safe
Return— may know what dreadful fate was theirs,
Who braved the terrois of the rigid North
To seek new paths for Holland's growing fame.
Now for a last farewell his ebbing powers
He rallies, prays whoever may escape—
If ever atiy homeward turn his way—
Would crrry greetings to his aged wife,
And all a father's blessing to the loved
And loving children ; tell them how his heart.
Breaking with fruitless yearnings, beat for them
With tenderest love, even to the final throb ;
That no rebellious thoughts oppressed his soul.
Nor robbed him of his peace with God, who still
He can no more : he nods his last farewell.
With blinding tears they watch his parting breath.
Their wretched plight its veriest depths of woe
Had now accomplished. Silent there those lips
That wont to stir their hearts, to build their hopes
AN ARCTIC POEM. 99
'Mid worst despair, to make their weakness strong,
Their folly wisdom ; now no comfort theirs
When comfort might not flow from that pale mouth.
They yield themselves to an excess of grief :
The fire demands replenishing ; their food
Remains untasted on the waiting board ;
They feel not, reck not, only know to grieve ! "
■sS«s«»«r"*i|l***S
X.— DAY.
I'lii
L^^
NOR yet the night seemed ready to depart,
And morning still delayed. And now their hearts,
Unmanned by long-continued misery,
And hopes still disappointed, still deferred,
Gave way to desperation, wrung with fears
That grew as dire necessity increased.
The unwonted cold, and penury's ill supplies,
Make fatal inroads on their robust health ;
And stretches more than one his weary limbs
Upon the bier by Barents' lifeless side.
And now a thought takes shape, with horror thrills
Their hearts as they conceive it : when the hour
Of utmost need shall come, to try by lot
Whose dying body shall support the life
Of those who then remain. Nor dreaded less
The hour when must survive alone the last
(And each considers he may be the last)
100
%
eir hearts,
thrills
r
AN ARCTIC POEM.
lOI
Of all their number, and must singly brave
His yet more frighttul death : in desperate fear
They fling their hands lo heaven, and beg the death
That all too slowly comes
Thank God ! a beam
Of the returning day pierces the East.
They see it, doubt it, haste to wrench aside
The tightened shutters, and, dumbfounded, gaze !
Yes, truly, there at last, and God be praised !
The morning twilight chases lingering night.
The moon shines paler, fainter grow the stars,
Reviving daylight paints with brightening hues
The dull horizon, and illumes the tops
Of icebergs : parts the heavy hanging clouds,
Dulls the keen edge of Winter, seems to soothe
The very blasts from Winter's icy caves ;
And brings at last the Sun. He rises. See !
Light, Hope, Deliverance, in his happy beams !
The Night must yield her sway, too long endured :
They greet the Day with shouts of boundless joy,
And their devout thanksgivings stammer forth !
f.l
h i ||i».ni iii r)ijOiH ii»|gpm gi|H i jjil.j i %,
102 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
i^%i).
V *fl
Now hoi)c revived gives to their sinews strength ;
With spade and pick-axe they attack the snow,
Heaped in liigh banks against their cabin door.
They open them a i)ath, but gain each foot
With labors all too great for their worn frames.
But reck not, spare not, give themselves no rest
Tho' hands and feet are almost paralyzed ;
Their bending bodies stiffen, and will scarce
Obey their stubborn wills : it matters not,
So must they dig their grave, or win themselves
Deliverance ! therefore bravely they maintain
The desperate struggle, strain their utmost, near
With every painful hour their goal, the boats,
Their last resort, their only refuge now !
They find the craft, remove the covering snow,
Repair the breaches, strengthen every point,
Desi)oil the cabin to supjjly their lack.
They gather nil the stores (alas ! too light
A ballast), and are ready to depart.
They launch the boats upon the ice-bound sea :
Then turn for one last look at the lone hut
"w«tees
AM ARCTIC POEM,
That gave them shelter in so fierce a clime ;
Drop the sad tear for their de{)arted mates,
To whom the steely soil refused a grave,
Whose dear-remains repose in yonder cleft,
lieneath the virg snowdrifts for their pall.
They gaze with wistful eye and failing heart
On Barents' storied scroll, surmounting high
The cabin's roof ; and then commend to God
Their souls, and to the waves their creaking craft !
103
' I
i U '
W\ /»
Ml ^
XI.— ADRIFT.
PERILOUS tlie way on which they ventured now :
Their boats' destruction, threatening famine, deaths
Frightful and manifold, hung over them.
Uncertain of their course, of distances
Nor soundings knowing aught, and every coast
Strange to their eyes, they steer their trembling skiffs
Where'er the immeasurable ice-fields break,
And leave a narrow space of open sea.
Surrounds them now again that tumult wild
Which shattered erst their ship's stout frame of oak :
iMerce waves contending in their wrathful might
With the vast iceberg's burden ; bowlders huge
First rudely severed from the glittering mount,
And hurled into the deep, and driven again
To crash and crumble 'gainst the solid base.
Or icebergs rush on icebergs, and the shock
104
ed now :
ne, deaths
; skiffs
oak :
AJV ARCTIC POEM.
Beats the surrounding seas to boiling foam,
While the loud thunder of their bursting hearts
Deafens the frighted ear. Dubious the course
Through such commotion ; often death is near,
Oft seems inevitable, but kind Heaven
As oft with sudden rescue succors them.
And many a scene of splendor greets their view,
Where seas are calm, and unresisting bear
Their icy burdens. When the distance lends
Persi)ective's magic to the sight, they see
Fair palaces transparent to the light,
And hanging gardens ; huge cathedral-domes,
With many a glistening spire ; high castle-walls,
With angles salient and regressive, towers
Octagonal and round, and glassy moats,
And courts of tesselated pavements bright ;
While over all the crystal fairy-world
The sunbeams shed innumerable hues.
105
''I
!(■
..(
But painful grows the scene when the worn mind
Controls not cruel Fancy's wayward whims ;
w
M
'f.''
I-
nv '■
1 06 7i7i? HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Then various scenes of home she conjures up,
Starting among the wondrous ice-forms there.
Here rise the well-known dunes, where breaks the Rhine
Into the North Sea ; yon majestic ])ile
Is Utrecht's famous dome ; those battlements
Are Haarlem's, whence her sons and daughters braved,
Indifferent to sex," the oppressor's hosts ;
And yonder lies the brave metropolis
Of Holland's commerce : lo ! each several gate,
Each bristling fortress, and each busy quay !
Glad exultation bounds within the breast,
As they behold these scenes. Are they so near
To the beloved land, which they despaired
Ever to see again ? Then melt the scenes,
And anguished disappointment takes their place ;
They know themselves the sport of waves and ice,
Hither and thither flung on the wide main,
In i)athless waters, distant Far from home,
Following where Heaven's good favor chance to guide.
And now the ice-fields cease, while far beyond
Their utmost ken the open sea extends.
he Rhine
braved,
:e,
guiae.
AN ARCTIC POEM.
But dark it heaves beneath the leaden sky,
And more unfriendly still than deserts wide
Of ice and snow : at least these offered them
A foothold firm, if their frail craft should fail.
But what in all yon limitless expanse,
Those depths unfathomcd, shall afford escape
Lonely and helpless in these open skiffs ?
Shall they return or shall they dare advance ?
There is no way : these ocean wastes must bear
Onward to safety or to deaili. They press
Into the dark and threatening depths, to reach
The far horizon, and what there of help
May them befall ; or else at last to find
Beneath those waters not unwelcome graves.
Thus days on days, and nights succeeding nights,
Thro' many a week they gail the trackless deep.
Each rising morn revives their waning hopes ;
Each eve brings fresh despair, and pressing woe.
Oft fortune leads them to some coast from far
Espied, but nearer not familiar grown ;
They scale the rocks, and look, but find no trace
107
u
tdi^'i^.s^i ^M m ^^ i.
I08 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Of luiman dwelling, nor a clue to guide
Their knowledge of the country ; but secure
Grateful supplies of game, and eggs of hirds,
And relish strengthening food ; then they again
Trust their frail boats to the unfriendly waves,
And onward drag their way, but sailing now
With greater safety near the winding shores.
f )',
t
m
.
XII.— homp:wari).
ONE night the clouds had darkling hung
In the black sky, and blown the fitful winds
In rapid blasts, plowing the billowy main,
And heaping up the waves to dangerous heights.
In haste the luckless mariners had fled
The laboring sea, and on the safer shore
Endured the pitiless storm. When dawned the day
They launched again on the yet troubled deep,
And drew with painful strokes the unwilling boats.
14
Wearied with toil, when now the ascending sun
Had drawn the heavy mists from sea and sky,
They drop the lumbering oars, and mean to rest ;
They look with eye accustomed to despair
And disappointment, to survey the scene.
And ... ha ! what shores are these ? what harbor
this ?
109
■
r
<
1
1
ifl
i
fl
I^H
^1
'1
\
H
■
' ^^^1
'^H
I'^l
4 '^^H
t'^H
|H
1
91
1
■ ■--J-l-iy... ..■,..^...,-:l ■^-■~t^.^'^y-^ ,
t. i i ii mr 'W
..) '
no THE HOLLANDERS LN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Ships ride at anchor licrc, and . . . shrieks of joy
Burst wild and sudden from their solibing breasts, —
There, there ! one vessel rivets all their gaze ;
On yonder mast they fasten eager eyes.
Oh ! sight too happy ! can the sight be true ?
T/icre floats upon the sunbright morning air,
Holland's miiftjlag ! The shock of sudden joy
O'crwhelms, unmans them, after hope deferred
And life and rescue long despaired of. Now
Icy delusions play not on their sense ;
This is their nation's flag, yon vessel hers ;
And these perchance are Texcl's island-shores,
Whence they departed on their Arctic cruise !
Mi!
With trembling hands they seize upon the oars.
Row to the ship, but scarce can bide the time. •
As they advance they icnd the air with shouts ;
Soon grate the boats along the keel, they grasp
The ropes thrown by the expectant crew above.
They swing themseh'es aloft ; set foot on board. . .
Fortune most unexpected, never hoped ! . . .
Lo ! Ryp strains Heemskerck to his thankful heart !
\i
rjoy
AN' ARCTIC POEM. Ill
'Tis Ryp, his comrade, partner of his way
Till that first tempest severed him, and cast
On this same sheltering coast. Not Texcl's isle,
Nor any region near their longed-for homes,
But a far-distant White Sea harbor this,
In Russia's rigid empire. Safely here
Ryp passed the winter : now prepared to sail
The favorable seas, to hasten back
To Holland, and announce her Heemskerck's loss.
'
rt!
Astonishment and joy have paralyzed
The tongue, and scarce coherent words express
The excess of gratitude ; they know no grade
Of rank, but officers and men embrace
As friends and brothers long thought dead, and now
Recovered from the grave. The anchors weighed.
They spread all sails before the favoring winds ;
But how their prayers and wishes far outstrip
The hurrying breezes ! Oft the thrilling tale
Of all their strange adventure, and the woes
Of those long months of darkness, moves to tears
The listening comrade ; for the mournful thought
■-»aiits>fftwtiTiiiHiiwniWrMKita»«'
■tj » i' n.»i»ai ii wi H I " ""
^/i,
y'i.
I r 2 THE HOLLANDERS IN NO VA ZEMBLA.
Went back to those who had remained behind ;
To him whom all these rugged hearts so loved,
Who lay there lonely. Thus in converse oft
They spent the hours, beguiling tedious time.
Soon the blue distance yields the well-known shores ;
They trace the silvery beach ; from yonder waves
Start the familiar scenes ; rise towering spires,
The landmarks of their birthplace : all the crew
Crowd to the decks ; the anchors drop, the yawl
Is soon afloat along the keel ; they row
To shore, fall on their knees, and sobbing kiss.
In ecstasy of joy, the very sand !
'r:i
The astonished nation greets with welcome warm
The long-lost wanderers. Where'er they go
Through all the land, enthusiastic crowds
Press wonderingly about them. Old and young
W'':h louJ applause their courage celebrate.
And render thanks to Heaven for their escape.
The grateful Fatherland receives her sons ;
I.
)res ;
AN ARCTIC POEM,
She glories in their bravery, for of such
Heroes are made, and sucli the hearts will pour
Their life-blood for her sacred liberties.
This all the thought that fills her generous heart ;
She crowns their hardships with abundant meed,
And strews her laurels with a liberal hand :
Counts not the issue, marks the intent alone !
"3
■M
And now the Muse has sung the enterprise ;
In joyous notes has told the happy end,
The glad return of these brave steadfast hearts ;
But still her closing strains an echo have
Of the dire region, where with plaintive harp
She sat, and sang the woes she could not heal.
For through the deafening shouts of welcome, still
She hears the moaning of the icy wind
On those bleak shores. From the safe hearths and warm,
Where clasped in love's embrace the lost ones bask,
She turns and penetrates the distant scene
Where lonely stands the hut,'' and winters still
Prepare the grave of Nature, and for man
A thousand deaths. Then thrilled with pity sings :
..J]
h»f
1^ Ik
114 T-A^^ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
Farewell ! thou hapless and remorseless clime,"
Ye shores unblest, of every favor void,
A long farewell ! Oh, never more may man
Set foot upon you, nor may human breath
Flow out upon your cruel atmosphere !
Be ye unvisited, ye wastes, cut off
From the all else inhabitable earth !
Farewell, thou most inhospitable isle !
And may posterity record thy name,
Famed by none other than our Heemskerck's woes !
!:|4
\
oes
NOTES.
»'%^
ff^i
u
I
1 J
i
w
i
■<
1
: ' 1i
r
1
','1 ■ '
1
#
;n
I
NOTES.
1. Page 54.
" . . . the low surface lay
Beneath the ocean's bosom, . , ,"
The geographical peculiarity of Holland, with its surface below the level of the
sea at high tide, so that the country must be defended against the incursions of
the waves by means of dykes, is too well known to need more than an allusion
here.
2. Page 55.
"... And if such path "
It is interesting to observe that this is the ver^- course pursued by Nordenskiold
in 1878-9. The famous " Northeast Passage," ao long the fond dream o' Arctic
explorers, has thus been finally found and successfully accomplished. What it is
worth to commerce, as a short and easy trade-route to China and the East Indies
(which, at one time, it was seriously hoped it might prove to be), it is now not
difficult to estimate. A simple perusal of the " Vega's " adventures will suffice.
3. Page 56.
" Barents himself will govern Heemskerck's helm."
The true relation which William Barents bore to the present undertaking has
been explained in the Historical Introduction. lie was the one whose busy brain
pondered day and night, who largely conceived the enterprise, whose enthusiasm
infected others, until the requisite ships and crews had been procured. It seems
almost like unpardonable injustice on the poet''- part to ascribe all this to Heems-
kerck, who consented to occupy one of the secondary positions, after the project
was fairly under way. But probably the following circumstances may explain the
matter. Heemskerck, after his return from Nova Zemblp. lose to the rank of Ad-
miral. In 1606 he was sent in command of a fleet into the Spanish waters. On
April 25th of that year he engaged, in the Bay of Gibraltar, a fleet of the enemy's
vessels of greatly superior calibre, and manned by greatly superior numbers. Vic-
tory was on the side of the Dutch, but their Admiral was killed in the early part
of the battle. Thus Heemskerck figures far more prominently in general history,
"5
il!:n'
116 THE IIOLLAXDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
and is much better kno'vn in llollaml, tlian I'aronts, whose reputation is only
great in tlie annals of Arctic exploration. Hence, prol)al)ly, by poetic license, the
author was inilucetl tocxangcrate llceiuskerck's connection with the present expe-
dition. The siiclliu); of the name of Harcnts deviates from tlic poet's, in the
change of "</" to V." I have done this on Mr. \'an C'.impen's authority, who
bases his spelling on liarents' own si;;nalure affixed to the scroll recovered by Mr.
Gardiner in 1876, and presented by him to the Dntcli ('lovernmcnt. 'I'his spelling,
moreover, has now the sanction of the Dutch Geographical Society (see note ij).
4. Page 58.
"... to 'defy and .u,' '
To Nature, making the tebelliou^ ..sts
Their sen'ants, . . ."
This language may suffer sontcwhat from obscurity. Hut a ship may well be
said to cause almost opposing winds to furtlier its progress. " A modern merchant-
man in moderate weather can sail within six points of the wind." That is, if the
wind is from the north, such vessel might still pursue a course northeast by
cast.
5. PAGE 77.
"'. . . deal
Death and destruction thro' their hairy ranks ! ' "
The translator h.as ventured somewhat to moderate the description of the terror
which struck these sturdy sailors on seeing the l)ears. Theauthor represents them
as overwhelmed with a desperate and paralyzing fear— which is strange considering
they were safe within doors, with guns ai, . ammunition ready at hand. I have
also presumed so far as to substitute llecniskerck for Barents, Heemskerck, having
been made so prominent by the poet, ought to have something to do. It is curious
that in almost all tlie critical situations of the poem Barents is seen to be the man
for the occasion. Does the poet hereby pay an unconsious tribute to the facts of
history, and make amends for his injustice in the earlier part ?
6. Page 86.
" . . . if games, or forms
Of sportive ceremony . . . "
" On the Cth of January . . . they bethought themselves that it was Twelfth-
Night, or Three Kings' Eve ... A Twelfth-Night feast was forthwith or-
dained, . . . lots were drawn for King, and the choice fell on the gunner, who
was forthwith proclaimed Monarch of NovaZembla." (Motley, " United Nether-
lands," 111., p. 569. See also Historical Introduction.)
7. Page 89.
" Breda by stratagem, by valor Ilulst."
No event in ancient or modern warfare furnishes more thrilling incident, or the
l':ji
* »,
I
AN ARCTIC POEM.
117
display nf n.nn- conuin..- hon.ism, ll.an ll.c strataKcm wl.ercl)y, in 1590, the c.-isHe
of Urc.la was taken from the Spanish. Ilulst was taken in 15,^,, after an incrcd-
ihly short sicRc of scarcely five days.
8. Tack 89.
" IVilHam the Silent, martyred for his land"
On Jnly 10, 1584, this >;rcal and kocI man was assassinated l.y a poor deluded
fanatic, who had heen tempted to the 'deed l.y the enormous price set upon the
head of the I'ritice hy the King of Spain.
9. Pack 89.
" Wilhelmus van Nassotirven."
" William of Nassau." A patriotic sour, the nation.d hymn r,f those days,-
composcd by St. Aldegonde, the Mayor of Antwerp .luring tli.^ famous siege l,y
the Prince of I'arma, ,584-,. The .I'.inre of OranKc w.-.s als., Count of N,-,ssaii,
henre the title, in which the anlicpiatea J)utch form of the word occurs. It is still
sunR with enthusiasm in Holland, althouKh the recognized national hymn is the
" Wien Neerlands IJlocd," by our author.
10. Pac;r 90.
". . . forget
Their dire surroundings and imprisonment. ' '
In rcg.ird to the p.issage which this line closes, the translator wishes to say that
he has here again t.-ikcn some liberties. In the original, ,>«<• individual gives utter-
ance to all the experiences respecting wife and chiKlrcii ; o>,e man sings the song,
and, instead of a general conversation concerning Maurice and his deeds, the same
person .n>/i-.f about these deeds. The translator ventures to think that the poet
has not been badly misrepresented, as his text furnishes the hints .uid for the
most part the exact languagcof the variations. It was thought that more vividness
to tlie scene, more reality and interest to the narrative, would be imparted by
slightly altering the original in the way presented.
11. Page 99.
''They feci not, reck not, only know to grieve ! "
That this grief was not extravagant, but warranted by the worth of the man,
inay be seen from the following words of Motley : " And thus the hero, who for
vivid intelligence, coiimge, and perseverance amid every obst.iclc, is fit to be
classed among the noblest of maritime adventurers, had en<led his career. Nor
w.is it unmeet that the man who had led .hese three great although unsuccessful
enterprises toward the North Pol^ [see Historical Introduction] should belaid -t
last to rest— like tnc soldier dying in a lost battle— upon the field of his glorious
labors." (" United Netherlands," III., p. 573.)
). i-
Il8 THE HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA.
It needs no explanation that, while the poet has chosen to let Barents die in
the hut, history records that he died diirinp: the voyage homeward in the open
boats. Of course, poetic license hears him out in this discrepancy.
12. Page io6.
". . . her sons and daughters braved
Indifferent to sex ..."
The city of Haarlem, the feeblest fortress in Holland, was besicRed by anarn^y
of 30,000 Spanish veterans, from December 10, 1572, to July 12, 1573. We shall
understand how this siege could have been so greatly prolonged under those cir-
cumstances, when we gain an insight into the spirit th.it animated its defenders
from the following citation : " The garrison numbered about one thousand pioneers
or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women.
The last was a most efticient corps, all females of respectable character, armed
with sword, musket, and d.igger. Their chief, Kenau Hasselaer, was a widow of
distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age,
who at the he.-id of her Amazons participated in many of the most fiercely contested
actions of the siege, both within and without the walls. (Motley, " Rise of the
Dutch Republic," II., p. 432-)
13. PAGE 113.
'' Where lonely stands the hut y . . ."
The tradition of the memorable wintering of the Hollanders in Ice Haven is,
it is said, still preserved among the Nova Zembla morse and seal hunters, who call
the spot where they resided Sporai Navolok. Hut the discoveries within the last
few years of the Norwegian Captain Elling Carlsen and of the English yachtsman
Mr. Charles L. W. Gardiner, and the accounts which h.-ive thus been furnished of
the Bekoudenis-huis, or" house of safety," yield somewhat morcth.-m a traditional
knowledge of the odd, extemporized h.ibitation. Their testimony fully confirms
the fact— if confirmation were needed of the unvarnished narrative of Gerrit de
Veer— that the strange history told in the preceding pages, both in prose and verse,
is no Ar.ibian Nights tale. Captain Carlsen, who was the first known navigator to
enter Ice Haven since Barents and his companions entered it in 1596, visited the
wintering place in September, i87i,and brought away some relics, which were
fin.illy secured by Holland and pl.aced in the naval Museum at the Hague, and an
elaborate report was made thereon by the Royal Archivist. The interior of the
hut, judging by the position of the relics, was precisely as it is represented in the
curious old drawing in De Veer's Journal of the " house wherein we wintered."
The series of standing bedplaces ranged along one side of the room was found
to have been exactly as shown in the illustration. Several pieces of furniture and
portions of military equipments were still in their old places ; notably the clock,
the halberd, and the muskets. Entering into the abode nearly three centuries after
'•
■r
AN ARCTIC POEM.
119
its habitation, Carlsen enumerates carefully the utensils, stores, and articles of
use— there were between sixty-five and seventy all told— remaining in the rude
home which sheltered Barents and his faithful crew. There were thi- coDking-
pans ovti' the fireplace, the antique Dutch clock as it had been fastened to the
wall, the arms and tools, the drinking vessels, the instruments, and the books that
served to beguile the winter hours of that long Arctic night 287 years ago. A
" History of China " indicates the goal that Barents souglit, while a " Manual of
Navigation" denotes the sound knowledge which guided his efforts to reach it.
While these are choice and interesting memorials, well worthy of preservation,
certaiidy not the least interesting among these relics are the flute which still gives
forth a few notes when tried, and tlie small shoes of, as is supposed, the poor little
ship's-b(jy who died in the rigorous Northern winter. It may be here noted, that
on the 17th of August, 1875, another Norwegi.tn c.apt.-xin, M. Gundersen, visited
the ice-harbor of Barents the next after Carlsen. In a chest, the uppti part of
which was quite mouldered away, he found an old journal, two charts, and a
grapnel. The charts, pasted upon sail-cloth, are much injured. The words" Ger-
mania inferior " may be read on them. The journal was proved to be a manuscript
Dutch translation of a narrative of the English expedition of Pet and Jackman
(1580) given in Hakluyt.
In the summer of 1876, Mr. Charles L. W. Gardiner, an English gentleman,
laudably converting a yachting excursion to the Kara Sea into what afterward
proved a most useful and even signal voyage of discovery, visited in the latter part
of July and first of August of that year the wintering-place of Barents and Heems-
kerck. Mr. Gardiner's discoveries were even more numerous than those of Carl-
sen, and (it may be added) Gundersen's included ; amounting in all to 112 articles,
or kinds of articles, some of which are most interesting. These were presented to
the Dutch Government by Mr. Gardiner to take their place with the other relics
in the Naval Museum, and in recognition of his thoughtful generosity his Majesty
the King of the Netherlands commanded a gold medal to be struck in honor of the
donor and presented to him, while the relics were also reported upon by the Royal
Archivist, and the report has been translated into English. Among the relics re-
covered by Mr. Gardiner, the remains of carpenters' tools, broken parts of old
weapons, and sailors' materials constitute the greater part of the collection. But
of the more interesting relics three Dutch books, also fragments of books, includ-
ing hymn-books, were found ; and from the latter it is evident enough with what
kind of songs those good, ingenuous tars whiled away the long, awful Polar night
when wintering in Nova Zembla. In allusion to other objects of interest (to quote
from the Preface to the English translation of this Report) : " Not to speak of the
quill pen which may still be written with— the pen employed, we may believe, by
the hand of the dying Barents,— the candle which, though belonging to an age long
past, can still give light, and the Amsterdam flag, certainly the first European
color that ever passed a winter in the Arctic, and doubtless deemed by the Dutch
capital the brightest jewel in her commercial crown— it is impossible not to refer
ii '>'*
1
K
111 'a I
120 T//£ HOLLANDERS IN NOVA ZEMBIA.
to the immortal ' etdelken ' or ' scroll ' which it was Mr, Gardiner's gootl fortune to
bear away with him, and of which skill and patience have resolved for us nearly
every word. To secure this tlociiment were alone a pri/o well worthy the quest of the
English yachtsman. Indeed, if Hollanders may fairly blush that all these precious
relics have been recovered hy means of foreign and not Dutch enterprise, they may in
this instance console themselves with the reflection that it was owing to the zealous
prompting of one of their own countrymen [the late I.ieut. Koolemans Ik-ynen]
that the voyage was made which did the final work, and, above all, which gave
back to them the paper identifying for the first time the signature of Barents. Nor,
we may add, coidd foreigner have been found more inclined than Mr. Gardiner to
perform the task with that same spirit of reverence which a Hollander would have
felt in performing it, nor more willing to award honor to that early Dutch enter-
prise which rendered his splendid achievement possible." (" The liareuts Relics :
Recovered by Charles L, W. Gardiner, Esq., and Presented to the Dutch Govern-
ment." Described and Explained by J. K. J. De Jonge, Deputy Royal Archivist
at the Hague. Translated, with a Preface, by Samuel Richard Van Campen. Lon-
don, Trllbner & Co., 1877, pp. 31, 22.)
14. Tage 114.
" Farewell! thou hapless and remorseless clime."
This apostrophe to Nova Zcmbla occurs in the Dutch poem after the lines de-
scribing the party's departure from the island in their open boats; in the transla-
tion its true place would be at the conclusion of the tenth canto. With all due
deference to our author's taste and skill, however, it seemed as if his noble poem
suffered from the lack of a more poetic conclusion than the plain recital of the re-
turn of the explorers, and the reception which met them at the hands of the
Fatherland. As the first canto (here.'n strictly following the author) closed with
an appeal to the Muse to preside over the verse and sing the exploit, it seemed
fitting to recall the conception of the Muse, awaiting her " skill's appropriate
meed." So in a few lines of his own the translator has attempted to call up the
vision of the Mistress of Poetic Numbers striking the lyre, and singing a last and
long farewell to Nova Zembla. The fourteen lines preceding the apostrophe must
therefore not be charged to the Dutch poet.
Just here it may be well to state (as was promised in the " Translator's Note ")
in what other instances the translator has been guilty of this temerity of interpo-
lating lines of his own composition among those of his author. Twelve lines at
the beginning of the eighth canto and nine at that of the twelfth come under this
category. They were deemed necessary as introductions to these cantos, which in
the nature of things could not be found in the original matter, as the poet himself
did not contemplate any such divisions of his poem. It is hoped the translator has
not committed an unpardonable offence.
1
I