Beynen was for a short time in the training ship for boys, cruising in the North Sea, and he then devoted himself heart and soul to the Arctic propaganda, delivering lectures all over the country. His bright enthusiasm was infectious, and an influential Arctic Committee was formed[167]. Sufficient funds were collected to enable the committee to build a small schooner at Amsterdam, specially strengthened for ice navigation. She was launched on April 6th, 1878, and named the Willem Barentsz. Lieut. A. de Bruyne received the command and Koolemans Beynen went as his second, with Lieut. Speilman for the magnetic observations, and an adventurous young Englishman W. J. A. Grant—an Oxford undergraduate, who had also served with Leigh Smith—as photographer. Commodore Jansen drew up the instructions. He considered that the Barentsz Sea would make an excellent training ground for Dutch seamen, but that the first voyage should be confined within the limits of what is easily attainable. He thought that, by yearly increasing knowledge and experience, his countrymen might in time be in a position to undertake more hazardous and difficult voyages.
The Willem Barentsz went direct to Amsterdam Island, near the north-west point of Spitsbergen, and the Dutch explorers visited the site of Smeerenburg, repairing some of the tombstones. They then dredged and sounded over the Barentsz Sea. In Beynen’s words they made “a scientific examination of the sea that bears the name of the greatest of our mariners.” Beynen in his letters, describes with a graphic pen the incidents of the voyage, and the various encounters with the ice.
On the little schooner’s return the young officer who had been the mainstay of the expedition was ordered to the East Indies and died of fever at Macassar. His loss was deeply felt by many friends, for there was a charm about the young enthusiast which endeared him to all. But none mourned for the youth so full of promise, cut off before he reached his prime, more deeply than Admiral Jansen, who looked upon him almost as a son.
In 1879 Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Captain A. H. Markham, R.N., chartered the little Norwegian cutter Isbjörn, and made an extensive exploration of the shores of Novaya Zemlya, and the Kara Sea, with the object of reporting on the state of the ice and other important matters of a similar nature in those waters. They were in company with the Willem Barentsz for some days in the Matyushin Strait.
The Arctic voyages of the Willem Barentsz were continued for six more years. In 1879 Lieut. A. de Bruyne again commanded, with Lieut. H. van Brockhuyzen as his second. In this voyage Franz Josef Land was sighted and large and valuable collections were made. The voyages of 1880 and 1881 were commanded by van Brockhuyzen, but in 1880 the Willem Barentsz was driven on shore and the work of the season lost. She was re-floated and thoroughly repaired, and Lieut. Hoffmann conducted the voyage of 1882. The two last voyages in 1883 and 1884 were commanded by Lieut. Dalen. The impetus that Koolemans Beynen had given to Dutch Arctic enterprise must have been great, seeing that these voyages were continued for six years after his death[168]. Useful scientific work was done during all the voyages, and it is much to be regretted that the good work was not continued and its scope extended by the people of the Netherlands.
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Although the scientific exploration of a country such as Spitsbergen after its discovery and the delineation of its coasts, mountain ranges, and islands, hardly comes within the scope of the present work, mention of some important work in this group cannot be omitted. In 1898 the Swedish and Russian expeditions began the measurement of an arc of meridian in Spitsbergen, which was completed in 1890. In 1890 also, Dr Nathorst made an important circumnavigation of the Spitsbergen group, thoroughly exploring Giles Land, and the Wiche Islands. There have been numerous visits of yachts, as well as vessels coming with scientific objects; even a company has been formed to work the veins of coal discovered. But the most important recent Spitsbergen work has been the expedition in 1896 to cross the main island for the first time. Up to that time the interior of Spitsbergen was practically unknown.
Sir Martin Conway undertook this achievement with four companions—Mr. Garwood, a mountaineer and geologist; Dr Gregory, the author of The Great Rift Valley of Africa; Mr. Trevor Battye, who had previously made a very thorough survey of Kolguev Island in 1894[169], as geologist; and Sir Martin’s cousin, Mr. H. E. Conway, as the artist. The expedition was quite successful and a valuable and very interesting narrative describing the interior of Spitsbergen was the result. The route was from Advent Bay to Agadh Bay on the east coast. The party also visited the north coast and Walden Island, and passed down Hinlopen Strait. In the following year Sir Martin Conway and Mr. Garwood explored the interior between Klaas Bille and Wijde Bays, and made an ascent of the Horn-sands-tind. This is not all, however, that Arctic students owe to Sir Martin Conway. Besides his First Crossing of Spitsbergen he has published a History of Spitsbergen from its discovery to the beginning of the scientific exploration of the country, with a complete discussion of the nomenclature—a most useful feature, as the English and Dutch were discovering and naming at the same time, and overlapping each other[170]. Sir Martin has also edited some early Spitsbergen voyages for the Hakluyt Society.
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One of the most recent Arctic events is the transfer to the Dominion Government of all the islands north of America previously forming part of the territories of the British Crown. These islands consist of Baffin Island, North Devon, Ellesmere Island, and the whole of the Parry Archipelago.