We know (he says) that, in 1581, two persons, both going under the uncommon name of Olivier (of whom the one was “natione Belga”, the other “domo Bruxella”), lived on the shores of the White Sea. When it is remarked that, in 1578, only a few Netherlanders went to those shores, this conformity of name and country is indeed very remarkable. The scholarship of both was the same. The one, Alferius, was, as Balak says, no scholar, but a man of skilful practice; the other, Brunel, had passed his life as a commercial discoverer in the north. There is also a striking conformity in the condition of life of the two men. Alferius, “captivus aliquot annos vixit in Moscovitarum ditione, apud viros illic celeberrimos Jakonius et Unekius.” Brunel was for a few years a prisoner in Russia, and was delivered from his captivity by the Ameckers, who were very clever Russian merchants, living at Coolwitsogda, whom Brunel afterwards served. Jakonius and Unekius had already been taken by Lütke, who probably knew nothing of Brunel, to be the same as Jakov and Grigory Anikiew.
Hamel was convinced that by the “Ameckers” the Anikiews from Sol-Wütschegodsk only could be meant, although Scheltema, his authority, had changed arbitrarily “Coolwitsogda” (Sol-Wütschegodsk) into “Cool” (Kola).
To continue:—Alferius was sent to the Netherlands in 1581; Brunel went there every year. We find Alferius journeying along the coast of the Baltic; Brunel often travelled overland to Europe. [[ix]]Alferius, in the service of his masters, had often been at the Obi; Brunel had been for years commercial agent of the Russians, who yearly traded with the Obi. Alferius started from the Netherlands with the design of seeking out the north-east passage; Brunel is known as the first Dutch Arctic traveller.
In fine:—Brunel was one of the inciters of the Dutch Arctic voyages, and spoke, therefore, with the South-Netherlander Moucheron. Alferius is known to have had the intention of visiting the South-Netherlander Mercator, with whose co-operation Moucheron gave that impulse which resulted in the first expedition of the Netherlanders to the Arctic regions.
From all this circumstantial evidence we must draw the conclusion that Alferius is the same personage as Olivier Brunel, and, based upon this conclusion, the following history of Brunel has been given by Mr. S. Muller.—
Olivier Brunel was born at Brussels in the first part of the sixteenth century. Of the early years of his life absolutely nothing is known. It may be that he went in 1565 with the first ships of Enkhuizen to Kola, or that, escaping from the tyranny of the Spanish Duke of Alva, he came over to Holland, together with a number of South Netherland merchant families, such as the Moucherons, the Le Maires, the Usselins, and others. However, it is quite certain that, soon after the establishment of the Netherlanders at Kola, he undertook the voyage to Kholmogory already alluded to. He was not lucky [[x]]on that occasion, for, watched by the English, who feared him as a rival, he was handed over to the Russian Government as a spy, and remained for several years a captive at Jaroslav. At last assistance made its appearance in the persons of the brothers Jakov and Grigory Anikiew, who belonged to the celebrated commercial house of the Strogonoffs at Solvitchegodok. These latter asked and obtained his liberty of the Czar.
The generous merchants had every reason to felicitate themselves on the benefit conferred upon Brunel. Their protégé took a zealous and active part in the yearly expeditions which were made by the Russians towards the East.
Brunel passed overland through the territory of the Samoyeds to Siberia, as well as by sea along the coast, and in one of his voyages, crossing the river of Petchora, at last he reached the long-desired Obi river. In one of these expeditions, which probably now and then went through the Matthew’s Strait, a passage well known to the Russians, his guide, a Russian, brought him to Kostin Shar, a strait which by this means became known to Europe.
Soon, however, Brunel rendered himself of greater use to his masters by opening new roads for their trade. Being acquainted with the Dutch colony at Kola, and with the requisites for Dutch commerce, Brunel urged the plan of seeking towards the west for a mart to dispose of Russian produce. To put his plan into execution he himself started, accompanied by two relations of the Anikiews, and [[xi]]provided with passports from the Czar. He hired a Dutch ship, and arrived safely at the city of Dort. There the Russian visitors found a ready market for the greater part of their goods. The rest was advantageously sold at Antwerp and Paris, and when Brunel next year returned to his patrons, the latter were well contented with the results of the voyage. They decided upon entering into a negotiation with Kola, and from thence with the Netherlands. In this manner Brunel, as commercial agent of the Anikiews, yearly visited both places. This state of things did not last long. Brunel made use of his favourable position to put into execution the plan to accomplish which he had gone years before to Russia but with such bad success. He made arrangements with a certain Jan van de Walle, and in 1577 persuaded him to make a journey overland to Russia, accompanied by Brunel himself. Van de Walle made excellent use of the knowledge gained by him on this expedition, for the year following a Dutch ship under Captain Jan Jakobszmette Lippen, of Alkmaar, anchored for the first time in the Pudoshemsco mouth of the Dwina. This ship, having on board Van de Walle as agent, had sailed from Flushing and belonged to an Antwerp merchant named Gilles van Eychelenberg. Almost at the same time another ship arrived, belonging to the well-known Balthazar de Moucheron, and under the command of Adrian Crijt, a captain in the service of Balthazar. Thus the commerce of the Netherlands with the White Sea was established. [[xii]]
Soon after this, Melchior de Moucheron, as commercial agent of his relation Balthazar, settled at the mouth of the Dwina, and the trading establishment was then transferred to a harbour in the neighbourhood of the monastery of Saint Michiel. On this spot, a few years subsequently, rose the city of Nova Kholmogory, commonly known as Archangel.