All the four vessels left the Texel on the 15/5th June, and eighteen days later arrived at Kilduin in Russian Lapland, a place where at that time vessels, bound for the White Sea, often called. Here the two divisions of the expedition parted company.
Barents sailed to Novaya Zemlya, which was reached on the 14/4th July in 73° 25'; the latitude was determined by measuring the altitude of the midnight sun at an island which was called Willem's Island. Barents sailed on along the coast in a northerly direction, and two days afterwards reached the latitude of 75° 54' north. On the 19/9th July there was a remarkable chase of a Polar bear. The bear was fallen in with on land and was pierced by a bullet, but notwithstanding this he threw himself into the water, and swam with a vigour "that surpassed all that had been heard of the lion or other wild animal." Some of the crew pursued him in a boat, and succeeded in casting a noose round his neck in order to catch him living, with a view to carry him to Holland. But when the bear knew that he was caught "he roared and threw himself about so violently that it can scarcely be described in words." In order to tire him they gave him a little longer line, rowing forward slowly the while, and Barents at intervals struck him with a rope. Enraged at this treatment, the bear swam to the boat, and caught it with one of his forepaws, on which Barents said: "he wishes to rest himself a little." But the
bear had another object in view, for he cast himself into the boat with such violence that half his body was soon within it. The sailors were so frightened that they rushed to the fore and thought that their last hour was come. Fortunately the bear could make no further advance, because the noose that was thrown round his neck had fastened in the rudder. A sailor taking courage, now went aft and killed the bear with the stroke of an axe. The skin was sent to Amsterdam. On account of this occurrence the place was called "Bear Cape."
Barents sailed on towards the north and north-east, past the place which he called Cruys Eylandt (Cross Island)[128] and Cape Nassau, a name which has been retained in recent maps, to the latitude of 77° 55', which was reached on the 23rd/13th July. Here from the mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible to see beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he still remained in these northern regions, waiting for a better state of the ice, till the 8th August/29th July, when the vessel was due west of a promontory situated in latitude 77° north, which was named Ice Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here on the ground. Such finds have played a not inconsiderable rôle in the history of Arctic voyages, and shiploads of worthless ore have on several occasions been brought home. On the 16th August/31st July, while sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 walruses on land. The sailors attacked them with axes and lances, without killing a single walrus, but they succeeded during the attempt to kill them in striking out several tusks, which they carried home with them.
Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this northern route, Barents determined, after consulting with his men, to turn south and sail to Vaygats. While sailing down, Barents, in latitude 71° north, makes the remark that he was now probably at a place where OLIVER BRUNEL[129] had been before, and which had been named by him Costinsark, evidently the present Kostin Schar, a Russian name still in use for the sound which separates Meschduschar Island from the main island. It ought to be observed, however, that on old maps Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion of the word Kostin Schar.
South of "St. Laurens Bay,"[130] in 70-3/4°, Barents, on the 21st/11th August, found upon a headland across erected, and in the neighbourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some graves, all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On the 25/15th August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in with the two other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that had come thither shortly before. All the four vessels sailed back thence to Holland, arriving there in the middle of September. The narrative of this voyage closes with the statement that Barents brought home with him a walrus, which had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice. Barents during this journey discovered and explored the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, never before visited by West-European seafarers.
The two other vessels, that left the Texel at the same time as Barents, also made a remarkable voyage, specially sketched by the distinguished voyager JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN.[131]
The vessels were manned by fifty men, among them two interpreters—a Slav, CHRISTOFFEL SPLINDLER, and a Dutch merchant, who had lived long in Russia, FR. DE LA DALE. Provisions for eight months only were taken on board. At first Nay and Tetgales accompanied Barents to Kilduin, which island