Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage

In Short

This volume collects primary sixteenth-century accounts detailing early English attempts to navigate a Northwest Passage to Asia through the high Arctic. Maritime logs, theoretical treatises, and personal narratives recount the voyages of commanders like Martin Frobisher and John Davis alongside introductory context regarding later Arctic explorers. The text details the daunting physical barriers of sea ice, unfamiliar subarctic geography, and volatile encounters with Indigenous populations. It endures as an essential historical chronicle documenting the origins of Arctic exploration, driven by global trade ambitions, scientific speculation, and the sheer peril of early transatlantic navigation.

The Story

The volume opens with an introductory framing narrative that surveys the broader history of Arctic travel. It touches on early tragic expeditions, such as Hugh Willoughby’s lost crew, before highlighting nineteenth-century voyages by John Ross and James Clark Ross, who mapped regions like Regent's Inlet and planted the British flag at the Northern Magnetic Pole.

From this historical backdrop, the text transitions into the sixteenth-century core of the collection, beginning with speculative geographical and scientific arguments. Writers lay out theoretical proofs for the existence of a Northwest Passage. They analyze ocean currents, compare the Mediterranean and Atlantic tides, and argue that a northern sea route must exist to maintain the world's aquatic balance. They systematically argue why other options, such as a North-East Passage or routes through Spanish and Portuguese territories, are either impassable, too shallow, or geopolitical dead ends. Intertwined with these oceanographic theories are economic justifications: opening a direct northern passage would enrich England through trade in spices and precious metals, establish American outposts for unemployed citizens, and create new foreign markets for English cloth without provoking rival European powers.

The narrative then turns from theory to reality through original logs and journals recording actual voyages. Captain Martin Frobisher sets sail from Ratcliffe and Deptford with his fleet, receiving royal blessings from Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich before venturing into the North Atlantic. Upon reaching northern latitudes, the crews encounter massive walls of floating ice, dense fogs, and extreme cold that make navigation hazardous. Frobisher and his crew explore frozen sounds, name geographical landmarks like Frobisher's Strait and Halles Isle, and initiate tense, unpredictable encounters with the region's Indigenous people. The journals meticulously detail native customs, dress, housing, and survival methods in the harsh climate, alongside escalating misunderstandings that occasionally burst into skirmishes and capture attempts.

Subsequent sections document the later expeditions of John Davis, whose crews set out in vessels like the Sunshine and Elizabeth. Davis navigates through severe ocean storms, losing contact with support pinnaces, suffering leaking hulls from striking rocks, and facing dwindling freshwater supplies. Despite these hardships, Davis pushes into higher latitudes than his predecessors, reaching seventy-three degrees north. His logs record open water, abundant sea life, and ongoing bartering with native communities. The volume closes with Davis's optimistic correspondence upon returning to England, where he insists that the passage remains entirely achievable despite the brutal realities documented throughout the ships' logs.

How It Unfolds

The theoretical foundation Geographers and mariners evaluate global ocean currents, tidal movements, and climate patterns to argue that a North-West Passage logically exists. They reject alternative routes as impassable or controlled by hostile foreign powers while outlining the immense economic benefits of northern trade.

Frobisher sets sail Martin Frobisher’s fleet departs from Deptford and receives royal favor from Queen Elizabeth I as they sail past Greenwich. The ships brave Atlantic winds and head into northern seas, eventually sighting the snowy, craggy coastlines of Greenland and the high Arctic.

Navigating the ice and native encounters Frobisher’s men struggle through dense fog, freezing storms, and towering icebergs to explore northern straits and sounds. They observe native populations, attempt to trade, and document local survival strategies, though miscommunications lead to conflict and mutual suspicion.

Davis pushes further north John Davis leads subsequent voyages into high northern latitudes, dealing with damaged hulls, lost pinnaces, and scarce freshwater provisions. He maps uncharted sounds, barters peacefully with native groups using music and signs, and reaches seventy-three degrees north before returning home to confirm his belief in a viable passage.

The People

• Martin Frobisher: The general commanding early Arctic expeditions. Driven by a desire to secure wealth and geopolitical advantage for England, he faces lethal pack ice, severe storms, and tense clashes with Indigenous populations, showing continuous resolve to navigate unknown waters.
• John Davis: A veteran chief captain and pilot general who leads three Arctic voyages. He wants to prove the practical existence of a route to China, enduring leaky vessels, scarce fresh water, and lost companion ships while pushing further north to seventy-three degrees.
• Queen Elizabeth I: The English monarch who observes the departure of the fleets from her court at Greenwich. She offers her royal blessing, encourages the crews, and sends officers to command strict obedience to the captains.
• Sir John Ross & Sir James Clark Ross: Nineteenth-century explorers featured in the introductory framework. Sir John seeks to redeem his reputation through new Arctic voyages, while his nephew James conducts scientific surveys, eventually locating the Northern Magnetic Pole.
• Master Peerson: A greedy ship steward on John Davis's third voyage. His insatiable appetite and fear of losing his office make him eager to cut the expedition short and return to England when provisions run low.

In Its Own Voice

"Two years afterwards his ships were found, in the haven of Arzina, in Lapland, by some Russian fishermen; near and about them Willoughby and his companions--seventy dead men."

An introductory note reflects on the catastrophic fate of early northern explorers who perished in the ice before reaching their destination.

"Our general caused some calevers to be shot off at them, whereby, some being hurt, they might hereafter stand in more fear of us."

A shipmate records the violent hostilities and defensive skirmishes that flared between Elizabethan mariners and the Indigenous people of the Arctic.

"I have been in 73 degrees, finding the sea all open, and 40 leagues between land and land; the passage is most certain, the execution most easy, as at my coming you shall fully know."

Captain John Davis writes a letter to his financial backer upon returning to England, expressing unyielding optimism about the existence of the Northwest Passage.

What It's Really About

The collection centers on humanity's drive to overcome geography through reason, ambition, and maritime skill. Underneath the daily ship logs lies an ideological push to establish English commercial dominance without triggering conflict with rival Catholic empires. The text contrasts speculative scientific theory—which viewed the globe as an orderly system of currents and open seas—against the chaotic realities of Arctic ice and extreme weather. It also highlights the clash between Renaissance European expansionism and the unfamiliar cultures of the far north, where commercial ambitions constantly bumped against survival, fear, and deep cultural misunderstanding.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to readers who enjoy raw historical primary sources and nautical history. It places you directly inside Elizabethan wooden ships, offering an unvarnished look at early maritime exploration. Reading the text feels like sifting through real logbooks: crisp nautical coordinates and wind directions are interspersed with sudden, dramatic encounters with icebergs, sea monsters, and unfamiliar shores.

The reading experience presents distinct challenges. The prose reflects sixteenth-century sentence structures, archaic spelling, and technical navigation jargon. The collection also includes period attitudes toward Indigenous peoples that are uncomfortably colonial and harsh. Yet what remains with the reader is the incredible fragility of these early wooden vessels set against a vast, unmapped wilderness, and the determination of crews who sailed into freezing, unknown seas guided by little more than crude compasses and theoretical charts.