“The relics bear in themselves the undeniable proof—1st, that they have belonged to Dutch navigators; and 2nd, that they must belong to the last period of the 16th century, and especially to that part included between 1592 and 1598, as I will prove out of the following description of the objects:—
“1. An iron frame on four iron feet, with three iron cross bars of which one is moveable (a kind of iron trivet), was found by Captain Carlsen in the centre of the house of Barendsz and Heemskerck, exactly resembling that iron frame which we see also represented in the centre of the house in the old illustration by Levinus Hulsius in 1598.
“2. A round copper cooking pan with handle. Found standing on the iron frames.
“3. A ditto larger one, with broken handle, the pan on [[liii]]the upper side a little dinted. Found standing on the same place.
“4. Three copper bands, remains most likely of porringers, found close to the three objects above alluded to.
“5. A fragment of a copper scoop with handle.
“6. A round grindstone with iron axis.
“7. Fragments of a chest with metal handle belonging to it, besides four other pieces of iron. An iron box made to fit within the chest, in order therein to deposit valuables. All these things were half crumbled away.
“8. The iron cover of the chest (spoken of in No. 7), with intricate lock-work.
“9. An iron crow-bar, bent in the middle, at the lower end a point, the upper end formed like the tail of a swallow. The part which opens out is worn in a circular shape, having in all probability served as a rest for the axis of a spit.
“10. The sieve of a copper scummer.
“11. A tin plate.
“12. An iron bar in two pieces. This bar was sawn across at Hammerfest, as it was presumed to be a gun-barrel.
“13. Iron striker or sledge-hammer; the handle is broken.
“14. A borer or auger, with auger-bit. Such an auger is represented in the illustration, ‘How made ready to sail back to Holland’.
“15. A ditto, one with larger auger-bit.
“16. Three gauges, without handles.
“17. A large chisel, with a wooden handle.
“18. An adze, of which the handle was broken.
“19. A caulking-iron.
“20. A borer, with the handle broken, and two other boring irons.
“21. Seven iron files, of different dimensions.
“22. A stone to whet tools.
“23. Two iron pairs of compasses.
“24. A broken pocket-knife or cutlass, with horn handle.
“25. A copper tap of a wine or beer cask. Excellently preserved. [[liv]]
“26. A wooden siphon of a beer or vinegar cask.
“27. A wooden trencher, painted red.
“28. An old Dutch earthenware jar, in which there was still a little grease. (See a similar jug in the illustration, ‘How we were wrecked, and with great danger had to betake ourselves to the ice’.)
“29. A tin tankard, with lid and handle. Decayed.
“30. The lower half of another tankard.
“31. Three tin spoons, of which one is broken. Of the form used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
“32. The inner works of a lock.
“33. A ditto, larger one, with a part of the key.
“34. An iron weight, of 8 lbs.
“35. A padlock.
“36. Two leathern shoes or slippers. These shoes are too small for a full-grown man. They must consequently have belonged to the ship’s boy, of whom there is mention in the journal of De Veer, on the 19th of October, 1596.
“37. Iron clock-work, in which are seven cog-wheels; the cover is of iron plates, but partly rusted. The dial-plate is lost, but one of the hands is still present. There is also a circular-shaped flexible piece of iron, quite rusted, probably the spring. In the journal of Gerrit de Veer, at the date of 27th of October, he makes mention, on that day: ‘They set up the dial and made the clock strike.’ On the 3rd of December, 1596, ‘The clock was frozen and might not go, although we hung more weight on it than before’. This clock agrees in form almost perfectly with the clock drawn in the illustration of Hulsius. A similar clock is also given in the work entitled: ‘Le Moyen-âge et la Renaissance, par P. Lacroix et F. Serré, Paris, 1851’. In the article ‘Corporations de Métier, par A. Monteil et Rabutanz’, is found a drawing: ‘L’horloger, facsimilé de planche dessinée et gravée, par Jost Ammon’. This drawing represents a clock of similar construction to that found in Novaya Zemlya. This print, in ‘Le Moyen-âge’, seems to have been copied out of the work of Hartin Schopperus, entitled ‘Panoplia, [[lv]]Omnium illiberalium, mechanicarum aut sedentariarum artium genera continens; Cum figuris a Jost Ammon. Francofurti, 1568’. Hence we come to the conclusion that the clock, with its weight, found at Novaya Zemlya, belongs, as is proved by its construction, to work of the sixteenth century. The application of the pendulum took place later, in 1658.
“38. One of the weights belonging to the clock.
“39. A metal clock. This clock, with four perches, stood probably upon the mechanism described in No. 37.
“40. A little iron hammer, without doubt part of the striking apparatus.
“41. Three copper scales of a balance, having served for weighing medicines. According to the journal of Mr. G. de Veer, ‘a barber-surgeon joined the crew of Heemskerck and Barendsz’.
“42. A six-holed German flute, of beechwood, but without the mouth-piece. It is broken at the end.
“43. A part of an instrument, of which one end is constructed of wood. In this end is found a groove, a round opening, and a wooden tongue. To this wooden tongue is fastened a copper one, opening out in three parts, and ending in a point. It is difficult to say to what instrument this belonged; but it is not quite improbable that it has been fastened on the axis of a globe, in order to prick the chart. Globes and plain charts were used at this period for want of Mercator’s projection.
“44. A wooden compass card, with moveable wooden hand, in the centre of which is found a round opening for the point of the axis.
“45. A wooden rectangle, with three circular segments one within the other, and subtending the rectangle. The longer arm is broken in three pieces.
“46. A semi-circular copper plate, whose case is curved in such a manner as to form a parallel. Through the middle of the plate runs a meridian, having in its centre a small screw, which was formerly moveable, but now fixed by rust. [[lvi]]On the left or on the west side of the meridian are drawn nine arcs, having their centre in the point of intersection of the meridian and parallel. On these arcs the degrees are indicated by ciphers, and between these arcs are found the Dutch words: Wassende Noordoostersche, Afgaande Noordoostersche, Wassende Noordwestersche, etc. It is difficult to say in what manner this instrument was used, but probably it is an instrument that has served for examining and determining the variations of the compass. If I dare express my opinion, I should say, that this is the instrument which Plancius, the master of Barendsz, invented to calculate the longitude at sea. Plancius was at that time much occupied with his theory of determining the longitude at sea, by means of the variation of the needle. For farther details see the work entitled: ‘Rise of the Dutch power in the East Indies,’ volume i, p. 86. According to Plancius there existed 8 meridians, under 4 of which there was no variation, and under the 4 others a maximum variation took place. Calculating upon these data Plancius imagined that the true longitude could be found. He therefore adapted a copper plate to the astrolabe employed at that period, and the object found by Carlsen is probably this very copper plate, the only one now extant.
INSTRUMENT FOR FINDING LONGITUDE.
“47. The handle of a sword beautifully formed. A similar handle is represented on drawing 61, letter B in the work of Mr. D. van der Kellen, Jr., entitled: ‘Antiquities of the Netherlands.’
“48. A sword with ditto handle.
“49. The point of a sword.
“50. A part of a spear, with iron spearhead.
“51. Ditto head without wood.
“52. The point of a halberd. A nearly equiform halberd is represented in the illustration. ‘The exact manner of the house wherein we wintered’.
“53. The barrel of a heavy musket or matchlock, with breach-pin, pan, matchstick, a sight on the fore part of the barrel. In the work ‘Le Moyen-âge et la Renaissance’, [[lvii]]par P. Lacroix et F. Seré, Paris, 1851, T. iv. in the article ‘Armurerie, armes à feu portatives’, folio xxiii, by F. de Saulcy, is the following passage: ‘L’arquebuse à mêche resta pendant longtemps l’arme ordinaire d’une partie de l’infanterie; seulement après en avoir diminué le poids on lui donna le nom de mousquet, et le mousquet à mêche était encore en usage dans les armées de Louis XIII’. To this kind of firearm belongs the barrel spoken of under No. 53. The mechanism, with which the match was brought on the panpowder was called ‘le serpentin’. ‘Le serpentin’, says de Saulcy, ‘exigeait que le soldat eût constamment sur lui une mêche allumée, ou le moyen de faire du feu: il fallait en outre compasser la mêche, etc. Pour remédier à cet inconvénient on inventa les platines à rouet, qui furent employées d’abord en Allemagne et fabriquées, dit on, pour la première fois en 1517 à Neuremberg. Dans la platine à rouet la complication du mécanisme avait trop d’inconvénients, pour qu’on ne cherchât pas à le perfectionner. Les Espagnols y parurent les premiers. La platine espagnole, appelée souvent platine de miquelet, présentait au dehors un ressort qui pressait à l’extrémité de sa branche mobile sur un bras du chien, l’autre bras de cette pièce lorsqu’on mettait le chien au bandé appuyait contre une broche, sortant de l’intérieur et traversant le corps de la platine. On retirait cette broche et le ressort poussait le chien, qui n’était plus retenu, et la pierre frappait sur un plan d’acier cannelé, qui faisait corps avec le couvercle du bassinet. Le choc de la pierre sur les cannelures de l’acier produisait le feu’. The matchlock under No. 57 seems to be a fragment of such a platine de miquelet.
“54. The barrel of a gun of smaller calibre, with three sights.
“55. Ditto.
“56. Ditto (broken).
“57. A part of a matchlock, with cock, and flint-stones.
“58. Nineteen copper powder horns, some of them covered with leather, and some still full of powder. These horns were suspended to a shoulder belt. [[lviii]]
“59. An iron cannon ball.
“60. A tin bracket pitcher, beautifully engraved. Style Renaissance. Probably it belonged to the merchandise of which, according to de Veer, the ship’s cargo partly consisted. The pitcher is in a perfect state of preservation.
“61. The upper half of another pitcher.
“62. Five tin candlesticks on pedestals, beautifully formed, as they were used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Probably merchandise.
“63. Five ditto, of another form, of which three are broken. Merchandise.
“64. Thirteen ditto, but again of another and smaller form; in three of them the upper part is wanting.
“65. Two tin boxes, each divided into four compartments, of which the lower part, if you turn it, can be used as a drinking cup, the centre as a saltcellar, whilst the upper part is fit for a pepper box, the top of which unscrews.
“66. Two ditto, of which only the drinking cups and the upper part of the pepper box have been preserved.
“67. Two ditto, of which only the lower part of the drinking cups has been preserved.
“68. A tin medallion, on which is represented: ‘Time that uplifts truth from the earth’, and on which a marginal inscription is to be read: ‘Abstrusam. Tenebris. Tempus. Me Educit. Tu Auras. H. G. (Henry or Hurbert Goltzius)’. Inside the margin is found: ‘Veritas filia temporis’. Probably also an object of merchandise. A description of similar medals is found in the Dutch work of C. Leemans, in ‘de Verslagen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen’.
“69. A ditto medallion in a small wooden frame, representing a woman seated, holding in her right hand a cross, and in her left a chalice or goblet, from which a flame like light arises. Behind her lies one of the tables of the law. A symbol of religion, or of the New Testament.
“70. Two ditto medallions, in wooden frames, representing a woman with a child in her lap, and another in her [[lix]]arms. A third child seeks refuge near her; this is probably a symbol of Mercy.
“71. Three copper parts of objects, the original destination of which is uncertain.
“72. Two wooden stoppers, either belaying pins, which are used on small ships to fasten ropes, or pieces of furniture. These objects have been erroneously taken by Captain Carlsen for drumsticks.
“73. Nine buttons, and the stopper of a tin bottle.
“74. The haft of a knife, and another object of carved wood. Not Dutch work, but apparently of Norwegian or Russian origin. Barendsz or one of his companions might have obtained these objects on the former expeditions. Moreover the trade with Archangel gave them opportunities of buying Russian or Norwegian articles.
“75. A great number of prints from copper engravings. These prints have been completely frozen together, and whilst in that state a beam or other part of the dwelling has fallen upon them, for they seem to have been broken whilst in congealed condition, and a thaw has reduced them to a compact mass. The prints are well executed, but the paper having become too weak, only some of the engravings have been removed, and those in a torn condition. Some of them represent Roman heroes, by Goltzius; the ‘Defenders of Harlem’, by Goltzius. 1857, subscribed Londerseel; ‘Paradise’, by Spranger, subscribed Bosscher; ‘Pallas, Juno, and Venus in presence of Paris’, with ‘Bosscher excudit’. Scenes taken from the Bible, such as ‘The meeting of Esau and Jacob’, ‘Tobias’, etc. Also representations of Asiatic or Persian horsemen, etc.; a large drawing, showing a reposing lion, with the monogram HTR. (The H and R written together, and the T interlaced in the H). The manner of engraving the names of the engravers proves that all these must have been the work of the sixteenth century. It may seem strange that Arctic navigators had prints or engravings on board, but it is not at all so, for Heemskerck and Barendsz intended to go as far as China, when they [[lx]]sailed to the North-East. For that purpose they had merchandise on board, and prints or engravings were often used as such. This had also been the case on the first voyage to the East Indies. On a list of goods and merchandise left at Patani, in Siam, in 1602, a great number of drawings by de Gheyn, Goltzius, Brengel, etc., are to be found, and among these, facsimiles of those discovered at Novaya Zemlya, namely, ‘The Three Goddesses’, ‘The Roman heroes’, etc.
“76. A folio book bound in leather, and with copper clasps, but half the binding has mouldered away. The beginning and the end of this book, as well as the edges, are much decayed, and the title of the first volume is quite obliterated. The book is divided into two parts; the first volume, of which the title is obliterated, has proved to be, after comparison with another specimen of this work, ‘Die Cronycke van Hollant, Zeeland ende Vrieslant, tot den jare 1517, etc., tot Delft, by Aelbert Hendricus, wonnende op ’t Meretveld, Anno 1585’.[23] The second volume, of which the title is intact, runs: ‘Short and true account of the Government, and the most remarkable facts that occurred in the country of Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, by Albert Hendriksz, anno 1585’.
“77. A book in quarto (the edges of which are much decayed), entitled: ‘The Navigation, or the Art of Sailing, by the excellent pilote, Pieter de Medina, a Spaniard, etc.; with still another new Instruction on the Principal Points of Navigation, by Michel Coignet. ’t Hantwerpen, anno 1580’. At the bottom of the page, where the fifth chapter of the new instruction of Coignet begins, opposite to a copy of the Astrolabe (the number of the page is worn out), there is written in the old Dutch, ‘… y myn Jan Aerjanss … Pieter Janss … y (of 17) April ghinghen vij van … (lyberen [[lxi]]herte?)’. The two last words are almost illegible. Gerrit de Veer gives, at the end of his recital, the names of those who returned from Novaya Zemlya. Among these, the names of Jan Aerjanss and Pieter Janss are not to be found. These were, most likely, the names of two of the missing crew of whom the names are not mentioned. Of the seventeen persons who set out, only twelve returned safely to the Netherlands. A new translation, by Mr. Martin Everart Brug, of the work of Medina, had been published in 1598, by Cornelis Claesz, at Amsterdam, with Coignet’s new instructions. As the copy found at Novaya Zemlya is a publication of 1580, it follows, as a matter of course, that the Dutch navigators who had left this copy, dated 1580, at Novaya Zemlya, must have started before the year 1598, or they would assuredly have taken the latest edition of so important a work, especially when printed at Amsterdam, from whence they started.
“78. A little book, with parchment cover, in octavo, having the form of a pocket-book, entitled, ‘The History or Description of the great Empire of China’. This was first written in Spanish by Juan Gonzales de Mendoza, monk of the Order of St. Augustin, and then translated from the Italian into Dutch by Corn. Taemsz, and printed for Cornelis Claesz, book-seller, living at the Gilt Bible, in North Street, Hoorn, by Jacob de M——, printer, in the town of Alkmaar. The date of the edition of this copy cannot be given with exactitude, by reason of the mouldering away of the lower part of the title-page. The origin of the work can be deduced from the following facts: In the address to the Good Willing Reader, verso of the title-page, is written that ‘this little book was edited after Jan Huyghen van Linschoten had returned to the Netherlands, but somewhat before the publication of the account of his voyage’. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten returned to Holland in the autumn of 1592, and the account of his voyage was published by Cornelis Claesz in 1595. Thus the translation of Mendoza must have been published somewhere between [[lxii]]1592 and 1595. I even believe that we can fix the date of the publishing to be 1595; for the copy found at Novaya Zemlya is exactly similar, both in form and type, to another copy still extant, published in Amsterdam by Cornelis Claesz in 1595. The edition of Amsterdam is exactly similar to the edition of Hoorn, except the title and the first twelve pages of the preface, which in the edition of Amsterdam are of the same purport, but printed in another type. The only difference between the two works consists in the type of the preface.”
On the 17th of August, 1875, M. Gundersen, commander of the Norwegian schooner Regina, was the first after Carlsen who visited Barendsz’s Ice Harbour. In a chest, the upper part of which was quite mouldered, he found an old journal, two charts, and a grapnel with four flukes, three of which seemed to have been purposely broken off. The charts, pasted upon sail-cloth, are much injured. The words “Germania inferior” may be read on them. The journal has proved to be a manuscript Dutch translation of the narrative of the English expedition of Pet and Jackman, 1580.
For the numerous abridgements and summaries of De Veer’s work, I refer to the learned book of Mr. P. A. Fiele, at Leyden, entitled Mémoire Bibliographique sur les journaux des Navigateurs Néerlandais: Amsterdam, 1867. [[lxiii]]
[1] See Dr. Beke’s Introduction. [↑]
[2] Brownel is the recognised English equivalent for Brunel. [↑]
[3] See Dr. Beke’s Introduction. [↑]
[4] Fair Island, an island half-way between the Orkneys and the Shetland Islands. [↑]
[5] Where, in the extract, miles are spoken of, they are nautical miles, or sixty in a degree of the equator. [↑]