The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

The merchant adventurers who supplied the funds for Arctic expeditions, often at considerable sacrifice, and generally from patriotic motives, deserve niches in the temple of fame as much as the actual explorers. One could not have existed without the other.

Among the earliest was Master William Sanderson, the promoter and supporter of the three voyages of Davis. This man was one of the most liberal and enlightened adventurers of his time. He was a merchant of great wealth, a member of the Fishmongers’ Company, and was married to a niece of Sir Walter Raleigh. Before embarking on the venture proposed by Davis and Gilbert he carefully studied the subject in all its bearings; and, with other information, a discourse on the voyages to the north-east was prepared for him by Mr Henry Lane. When fully convinced, Master Sanderson most liberally provided the largest share of the funds, and superintended all the preparations.

Geography owes Sanderson another large debt of gratitude. The cost of the first English globes, constructed by Emery Molyneux, was defrayed by him. These two globes, celestial and terrestrial, which are still to be seen in the Library of the Middle Temple, are each two feet in diameter, and are beautifully executed. They were completed in 1592, and received additions in 1603. Such was the importance attached to them that they formed the subject of special treatises by Hues and Hood, and were elaborately described by Blundeville. The discoveries of Davis, who probably assisted Molyneux, are shown in detail. The arms of Sanderson, with his quarterings, are painted on one of the globes with an inscription.

A still greater promoter of Arctic enterprise was Sir Thomas Smith. Descended from a long line of yeomen in Wiltshire, his father was Thomas Smith of Ostenhanger in Kent, better known as “Customer” Smith, having been for many years one of the farmers of the Queen’s Customs. He succeeded his father as Customer to Queen Elizabeth and became a wealthy and successful London merchant, inheriting from his father the manor of Bidborough, and an estate in the parish of Sutton-at-Hone in Kent, called Brooke Place, where he built a large house. It was his great merit to have furthered maritime enterprise and discovery throughout a long life, not mainly for the sake of gain, but for the honour of his country.

Sir Thomas Smith was an active member of the Muscovy Company, and was among those adventurers who despatched the first ships to Spitsbergen. He also took a leading part in the foundation of the East India Company, and was elected its first Governor in 1600. He was knighted by James I at the Tower on May 13th, 1603, and in the following year was sent as Ambassador to Muscovy by way of Archangel. At Moscow he obtained special privileges for English merchants from Boris Godenoff. He returned in the following year, and was afterwards employed, on several occasions, in affairs of state connected with commerce.

Sir Thomas Smith was re-elected Governor of the East India Company in 1607, and again in 1609, when for his great services, and for having procured the first and second charters, the Company offered the sum of £500 for his acceptance, but he declined to take more than half the sum. The East India Company flourished under his wise and energetic administration, and in 1610 the largest merchant ship that had ever been built was launched in the presence of the King, and named Trade’s Increase. At the same time the King placed a gold chain round the neck of the Governor of the Company, with his Majesty’s portrait attached.

While thus developing the trade with India, Smith was ever mindful of Arctic discovery. As a manager of the Muscovy Company he sent Jonas Poole to Spitsbergen, and induced the East India Company to send Captain Weymouth in search of a passage to Cathay. In 1612 he became the first Governor of a new Company called the “North West Company,” formed with the special object of finding the passage to Cathay. Sir Thomas gathered round him as colleagues Sir Dudley Digges, Sir Francis Jones, Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir William Cockayne, Sir James Lancaster, Richard Wyche, Ralph Freeman, and William Stone, all names well known in Arctic geography.

In 1615 Sir Thomas Smith was once more re-elected Governor of the East India Company. The enterprises of these Companies received his unceasing and laborious attention. Again in 1618 and again in 1620 he was re-elected. At length in July 1621, he was allowed to retire, after serving the East India Company for 20 years. He resigned from weakness and old age, after having created and fully established the prosperity of a famous body which, in after years, was destined to found a great Empire.

Sir Thomas Smith fostered and encouraged the scientific branch of a seaman’s profession, and lectures on navigation were delivered at his house by Dr Hood, and by Edward Wright, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, the introducer and adapter of Mercator’s projection. At the same time he was careful to ensure the safety of the journals of voyages sent out under his auspices by furnishing materials to Hakluyt and afterwards to Purchas. He was the perfect model of an enlightened and patriotic merchant adventurer. This great man died on the 4th September, 1625, and there is a monument to his memory in the south aisle of the church at Sutton-at-Hone, with a long inscription[54].

One of the most active among the colleagues of Sir Thomas Smith in the encouragement of Arctic enterprise was Sir Dudley Digges. He came of a scientific family. His grandfather Leonard Digges was an accomplished mathematician, architect, and surveyor, to whom we owe the invention of the theodolite[55]. His father Thomas Digges, one of the most eminent mathematicians of his time, was Muster Master to the Queen’s Army in the Netherlands and prepared exhaustive reports on fortifications with plans[56]. Dudley Digges was born in 1583, and was educated at Oxford under Dr Abbot, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. He took his degree, studied at the Inns of Court, travelled on the continent, and was knighted on his return. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe and heiress of Chilham near Canterbury, where he built a stately mansion and had ten children[57].