In the months preceding the spring of 1553 a strong combination of capitalists, courtiers, and merchants was formed for the prosecution of the Cathay enterprise. It included the Marquis of Winchester, the Earls of Arundel, Bedford, and Pembroke, Lord William Howard, Sir William Cecil, Sir John Gresham, Thomas Gresham, Sir George Barnes, and about two hundred others.[[291]] None of the documents relating to the Company prior to the first voyage are now known to exist with the exception of Sebastian Cabot’s ordinances for the guidance of the commanders. From a reference in the latter, however, it is evident that a charter of incorporation was granted by Edward VI, and that the government of the Company was regularly constituted. Article 20 of the ordinances, relating to the disposal of merchandise, provides that an inventory shall be ‘presented to the Governor, Consuls and Assistants in London, in good order, to the intent the King’s Majesty may be truly answered of that which to his Grace by his grant of incorporation is limited’. It would appear by this that in return for granting a monopoly the king was to have a share of the profits. Sebastian Cabot acted as chief expert adviser to the new company, and, in consideration of his services, he was appointed its first Governor, in which position he was confirmed by the subsequent charter granted by Philip and Mary in 1555. His dimly reported adventures in search of the North-West Passage under Henry VII were no doubt supposed to give weight to his opinions on the North-East, although in reality he was as ignorant as was every one else on the subject. The Company raised, for the setting out of the first voyage, a capital of £6,000 divided into £25 shares. The subscribing of a single share entitled an investor to membership.
It is important to emphasize the fact that this new company of ‘Merchants Adventurers of England for the discovery of lands, territories, isles, dominions and seignories unknown’ was an organization quite distinct from and independent of the old Merchant Adventurers who exported cloth to the Low Countries. The term ‘merchant adventurers’ was of general and not particular application, although, during the time when there was only one such society in London, it had naturally tended to be used as a proper noun. The fact that by force of circumstances the name of the new combination was soon changed, and that it came to be called the Russia or Muscovy Company, has perpetuated the error as to its origin, from which serious misconceptions have arisen. One of these is the story that Sebastian Cabot was Governor of the Low Countries Merchant Adventurers, and that, in that capacity, he took a leading part in the struggle with the Hansa which ended in the abolition of that society’s privileged position in England. This supposition, first advanced in Campbell’s Lives of the British Admirals, and repeated by subsequent writers, is unsupported by any contemporary evidence, and is manifestly absurd. The Governor of the Low Countries Merchants had to reside at Antwerp, their head-quarters. Antwerp being Imperial territory, Cabot would not have dared to set foot in it after 1548. Moreover, the names of the Governors of the old Merchant Adventurers during Cabot’s presidency of the new company are traceable in the State papers of the time: from 1548 to 1558 Thomas Chamberlain, William Dansell, and Anthony Hussey successively filled that office. They were London merchants, intimately acquainted with the cloth trade, and exercising administrative control over the business of their fellows in Antwerp. It is obvious that Cabot lacked the qualifications for such a duty. The whole legend falls to the ground when it is realized that there were now two companies of Merchant Adventurers.
From a crowd of eager applicants Sir Hugh Willoughby was selected to be Captain-General of the first expedition, mainly on account of his good record of war service and his commanding appearance. Richard Chancellor, a protégé of Sir Henry Sidney, was appointed chief pilot and second in command. Little is known of Willoughby’s previous career, except that he had served on land in the Scottish wars. Chancellor was a professional seaman who had been with Roger Bodenham in the adventurous voyage of the Bark Aucher to the Mediterranean in 1551. At the same meeting at which these appointments were made it was decided that the voyage must begin before the end of May in case the way should be barred by ice before the passage had been effected. It is evident that both the length of the Arctic winter and the distance to be traversed before the eastern flank of Asia should be turned were grossly underestimated; otherwise the voyage would certainly have been postponed till the next year. But none of the geographical factors of the project were known, and, after a vain attempt to extort information from the dense stupidity of two Tartar stableboys who had somehow found their way to London, and who were interrogated before the assembled adventurers, the issue had to be left to the fates.
The fleet consisted of the Bona Esperanza, 120 tons, the Edward Bonaventure, 160 tons, and the Bona Confidentia, of 90 tons. Each ship was accompanied by a pinnace and a boat. Willoughby sailed in the Esperanza, having with him six merchants, including his kinsman Gabriel Willoughby, and a crew of thirty-one, of whom three were discharged at Harwich before clearing from the English coast. Chancellor was captain of the Edward Bonaventure, with Stephen Borough as master and John Buckland mate. His crew numbered thirty-seven, among whom were William Borough and Arthur Pet, both in the forecastle. He had also with him ten landsmen—merchants, gentlemen adventurers, and a chaplain. The Confidentia was commanded by Cornelius Durforth, with three merchants and twenty-four officers and men. The pinnaces were manned by drafts from the ships to which they were attached.
Cabot’s ordinances[[292]] contain many interesting details. They embody the experience gained in more than half a century of Spanish exploration, with modifications suitable for the special circumstances of the voyage. Loyalty and goodwill in executing orders are prominently insisted upon. The Admiral is to submit all important matters to the decision of a Council of Twelve in which he is allowed a double vote. The fleet is to be careful to keep together and the commanders are to go on board the Admiral’s ship as often as he shall require. Logs are to be kept by every person capable of writing and to be compiled into a common ledger to be preserved for record. The Admiral and Council have power to reduce in rank inefficient officers and to set delinquents on shore in any English port. Morning and evening prayers are to be read daily, and no blasphemy, swearing, lewd talk, dicing, card-playing, or other devilish games to be permitted. The merchants are only to trade with the consent of the captains, councillors, and head merchants, or a committee of four of them. Petty merchants must show their accounts to the head merchants, and all goods must be carefully packed and not opened until the end of the voyage. No person may engage in private trade until the Company’s interests are first satisfied. In dealing with strangers all must be careful not to enter into any discussion about religion. Persons may be enticed aboard the ships to give useful information, but no violence must be used, although it is recommended to make them drunk if possible. Strangers must not be offended by arrogance or ridicule. If invited to festivities the landing party should go in force and well armed. News is to be sent home whenever possible, especially in the event of the passage being found. The last article contains an impressive warning against ‘conspiracies, partakings, factions, false tales, and untrue reports’, and an exhortation to behave always as loyal and honourable men, ‘with daily remembrance of the great importance of the voyage, the honour, glory, praise, and benefit that depend ... upon the same, toward the common wealth of this noble realm, the advancement of you the travailers therein, your wives and children’.
The twelve councillors were Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor, George Burton, head merchant, Richard Stafford, minister, Thomas Langlie, merchant, James Dalabere, gentleman, and the masters and mates of the three ships.
No better planned and equipped expedition had ever before left an English port on a voyage of discovery. The commander was a man of rank and good repute, while the chief navigator was a practical seaman and no mere book-learned amateur. The crews were of the best that could be found, and acted up to the spirit of their instructions; there is no hint of insubordination in any accounts of the voyage, although the bitterest hardships were encountered. In addition to Chancellor there were in the Bonaventure alone three men who afterwards rose to eminence in their profession and commanded important expeditions. The ships were the largest that could conveniently be used, for, although greater tonnage was common in the navy, big vessels were not yet a success for trade and exploration, being too unhandy for navigation on uncharted coasts. The Admiral was furnished with letters of friendship and recommendation from Edward VI to all princes and potentates inhabiting the north-east parts of the world as far as the empire of Cathay. For reasons obvious enough now, the attempt to force a passage to Asia was foredoomed to inevitable failure, but that failure was due to no fault in the promotion or execution of the voyage. It resulted from a want of the knowledge which was only to be obtained from actual trial and experience.
All preparations being complete, the fleet departed from Ratcliff on May 10, 1553. The next day, towing down the river, they passed Greenwich with great pomp, the mariners all attired in their uniform of sky-blue cloth, kept for such occasions, and the ships discharging their ordnance in a salute to the king, who was then lying sick in the palace. The Privy Councillors looked out from the windows, ‘the courtiers came running out, and the common people flocked together, standing very thick upon the shore ... but, alas, the good King Edward, in respect of whom principally all this was prepared, he only by reason of his sickness was absent from this show, and not very long after the departure of these ships the lamentable and most sorrowful accident of his death followed’.
Proceeding in leisurely fashion out of the estuary and along the East Anglian coast, it was not until the 23rd of June that the voyage fairly commenced with a final clearance from Orford Ness. After getting well away from the land, a course was steered due north until the 27th. Then, westerly winds preventing them from touching at Shetland, after much ‘traversing and tracing the seas by reason of sundry and manifold contrary winds’, they came to the southern end of the Lofoten Archipelago on the coast of Norway. Touching at various points they arrived on August 2 at the island of Senjen in latitude 69½°. A skiff put off from the land and informed them of their whereabouts, promising also that a pilot should be furnished next day to conduct them round the North Cape to Vardo, the Danish stronghold which marked the furthest outpost of European civilization in the North-East. Beyond Vardo all was unknown.
Before the promised pilot could come aboard a sudden and violent storm arose and scattered the fleet far out to sea. The night came on and the wind so increased that Willoughby was forced to heave to. In the morning he was rejoined by the Confidentia, but the Edward Bonaventure, Chancellor’s ship, was nowhere to be seen. At this point the story of the expedition forks into two, for Chancellor and Willoughby never met again. It will be convenient first to follow to their conclusion the fortunes of the latter.