The 1555 expedition consisted of two ships, the Edward Bonaventure and the Philip and Mary.[[295]] They sailed from London at the end of May. The instructions were for the former to go to the White Sea while the latter stopped at Vardo, there to collect a cargo of fish and train oil. Richard Chancellor was in chief command, sailing in the Edward. With him were Richard Gray and George Killingworth, appointed to be agents for the Company in Russia. John Brooke was to fulfil a similar duty at Vardo. Killingworth must have been a man of striking appearance: Henry Lane records that on one occasion, when dining with the Czar, ‘The prince called them to his table to receive each one a cup from his hand to drink, and took into his hand Master George Killingworth’s beard, which reached over the table, and pleasantly delivered it to the Metropolitan, who, seeming to bless it, said in Russe: This is God’s gift. As indeed at that time it was not only thick, broad and yellow coloured, but in length five foot and two inches of a size.’ The agents were ordered to go with Chancellor to the Czar, to present the queen’s letters, and to obtain from him a grant of privileges. They were also to set up warehouses in Moscow or other towns and sell their goods to the best advantage. They were to use all diligence in inquiring about the route from Russia to Cathay, and in obtaining news as to Willoughby’s fate, of which nothing was yet known in England.
All this was duly carried out. The Edward’s cargo was unladen at St. Nicholas, and the goods transported up the Dwina to Colmogro (Kholmogori), and thence to Vologda, where they were warehoused. Vologda was about half-way between St. Nicholas and Moscow. At the end of September Chancellor, with four others, set out for the capital to perform their errand to the Czar. They were as well received as on the previous occasion, and it was agreed that they should establish factories at Colmogro and Vologda, the one fifty and the other five hundred miles up the Dwina. The Czar made a formal grant of privileges, including freedom from tolls and customs, freedom from arrest, and recognition of the jurisdiction of the Chief Agent of the Company over all Englishmen in Russia.
After the departure of Chancellor in the previous year the bodies of Willoughby and his men had been discovered in their ships at Arzina by Russian fishermen. The vessels were still lying at the same anchorage, and were now visited by some of Killingworth’s men, a considerable quantity of the cargoes being recovered. It is possible that Willoughby’s body was sent home. His ships, for lack of sufficient seamen, had to be left for another year.[[296]] Richard Chancellor, with the agents, remained in Russia for the winter, but the Edward Bonaventure was sent home before the navigation closed. She picked up the Philip and Mary at Vardo, and they arrived together in the Thames at the beginning of November.[[297]]
Next year (1556) the Edward and the Philip and Mary were again sent out, in company with a pinnace called the Serchthrift under the command of Stephen Borough. The latter was not intended to trade, but to pursue the north-eastern discovery towards the River Obi. The two large ships had surplus crews for the manning of Willoughby’s vessels, the Bona Esperanza and the Bona Confidentia, found in the previous year. They left Ratcliff on April 23. Soon afterwards occurred one of the last recorded incidents in the life of Sebastian Cabot:
‘The 27th, being Monday, the right worshipful
Sebastian Cabota came aboard our pinnace at Gravesend,
accompanied with divers gentlemen and gentlewomen
who, after they had viewed our pinnace and tasted of
such cheer as we could make them aboard, they went
on shore, giving to our mariners right liberal rewards: