On the 25th they anchored in a bay,[13] about 10 miles north of a high point, which they afterwards christened Cape Bird. That bay ran rather far inland, and by sailing round its northern shore, it was possible on the south side of the bay to find shelter from all winds behind a low point.
Early in the morning of the 26th they weighed the anchor, made sail, and arrived at noon between the [[xxviii]]mountainous cape and the terra firma.[14] After sailing about 20 miles in a southerly direction, they saw much ice aground, and on sounding they found only 5 fathoms. These shallows[15] obliged them to return, but having to strive with foul winds, and being becalmed, they only, on the 28th, rounded the mountainous cape, which they called “Cape Bird”, “because there were so many birds upon it and in the neighbourhood.” This cape lay in 79° 5′ N. latitude.[16] Steering about 60 miles in a southerly course, they came close to a large bay, which ran into the land E.N.E.[17] Twenty miles farther they passed another large bay,[18] in which was “much ice under the land.” To keep clear of the ice the course now became more westerly, and at noon on the 29th, in latitude 76° 50′, they lost sight of the land.[19] Sailing S. and S.S.E. they, on the 1st of July, returned to Bear Island, where they agreed to separate.
Barendsz, as we know, went to Novaya Zemlya, and Rijp steered again towards the north.
In deciding whether Rijp steered along the west, or went north along the east coast, opinions are again at variance. Hessel Gerritsz, in the same work, “Histoire de Spitsbergen, etc.”, speaking on this question, says:— [[xxix]]
“Rijp and Barendsz, anchoring at Bear Island on the first of July, differed much in their opinions. Rijp calculated that the spot where they were lay N.E. of the North Cape in Norway, whilst Barendsz, on the contrary, maintained that it was N.W. Whilst the calculations of Barendsz led him to believe that he was 1000 miles distant from the Ice Cape of Novaya Zemlya, Rijp pretended to be only 250 miles distant from the same point, and because Barendsz thought it better to extend his knowledge of a land already somewhat known, and thus render easier the passage to the Strait of Anian, they resolved to separate. They both agreed that Rijp should investigate towards the north-west and Barendsz towards the N.E. So that Rijp again set sail towards the north, and came, after marvellous accidents from ice and winds, to the spot where they had anchored for the first time in 80°. He had also been up again to Cape Bird, and he returned from thence with the intention of rejoining Barendsz.”
This statement of Hessel Gerritsz that Rijp proceeded to the same spot in 80°, where he had already been in company with Barendsz, agrees with the account of Pontanus in his work on Amsterdam, published in 1614; as well as with the information of Rijp himself, found in the old records by Mr. De Jonge.
Pontanus (p. 168), says: “That Rijp pretended they ought to retrace their steps till 80°.” Whilst Rijp himself says “that they returned to the same spot where they had first been” (et prévient au lieu où ils avoyent esté premièrement).
This granted, and with the experience of past navigators before us, to prove the almost impossibility of going north along the east coast of Spitsbergen, [[xxx]]one would be inclined to conclude that Rijp must again have gone up along the west coast.
Dr. Beke’s opinion, “that nothing worthy of remark can have occurred to him, or otherwise it could not have failed to be recorded”, seems fully borne out by later research.
Sailing up to 80° N. latitude, Rijp found his further passage again intercepted by that ice-barrier which (as we are now aware) yearly obstructs the sea north of Spitsbergen. Not long after he sailed to Kola, and from thence returned home.