In the
following year some Russian fishermen found Sir John Willonghby
sitting dead in his cabin, with his diary and other papers beside
him.
Captain Chancellor was more fortunate. He reached Archangel in
the White Sea, where no ship had ever been seen before. He
pointed out to the English the way to the whale fishery at
Spitzbergen, and opened up a trade with the northern parts of
Russia. Two years later, in 1556, Stephen Burroughs sailed with
one small ship, which entered the Kara Sea; but he was compelled
by frost and ice to return to England. The strait which he
entered is still called "Burrough's Strait."
It was not, however, until the reign of Elizabeth that great
maritime adventures began to be made. Navigators were not so
venturous as they afterwards became. Without proper methods of
navigation, they were apt to be carried away to the south, across
an ocean without limit. In 1565 a young captain, Martin
Frobisher, came into notice. At the age of twenty-five he
captured in the South Seas the Flying Spirit, a Spanish ship
laden with a rich cargo of cochineal. Four years later, in 1569,
he made his first attempt to discover the north-west passage to
the Indies, being assisted by Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick.
The ships of Frobisher were three in number, the Gabriel, of from
15 to 20 tons; the Michael, of from 20 to 25 tons, or half the
size of a modern fishing-boat; and a pinnace, of from 7 to 10
tons! The aggregate of the crews of the three ships was only
thirty-five, men and boys.
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