Chap. IX. ] EXPEDITION UNDER BARENTZ AND RYP. 205
tion, the arrangements were adapted to it; and the vessels, instead of being a d. i-we. constructed as before to bear the rude shocks of the polar ice, were framed in the manner best adapted for the rich cargoes of merciiandise with which they were laden. The very idea of such an expedition had originated in a gi*oss error ; but, as if this had not been sufficient, the period of saihng was protracted to the 2d of June, when nearly two months of the season most favourable for a northern voyage were already past. The vessels never got farther than the eastern entrance of the Straits of Vaigatz. When they reached it, they were met by immense bodies of floating ice, against which they struggled manfully till the end of September. Then at last the conviction forced itself upon them that they were labouring in vain, and that nothing more remained than to turn their face homewards.
Not one of the results so confidently anticii)ated had been oVjtained. In Disarpoi"t-
/» 1 • 11- /» • "lent.
proportion to the extravagance of the expectation was the bitterness of the dis- appointment. The States-general at once disconnected themselves with tiie project, and deemed it sufficient to hold out a pecuniary reward to any indivi- dual or association who .should first succeed in eflfecting the pa.s.sage which they had themselves attempted in vain. The town of Amsterdam at once took up the gauntlet which the government had thus in a manner thrown down ; ami wisely, in the meantime, renouncing all idea of traffic, fitted out two vessels solely for exploration. The command of the one was given to William Barentz, whose previous voyage has already been mentioned; and of the other to John Corneliz Ryj). As some security against that longing for home, under the influ- ence of which the previous expeditions were supposed to have returned prema- turely, all the individuals belonging to the expedition were unman-ied.
The vessels sailed on the 10th of May, 1596; and, in order to avoid the K.i..-.iitioii dangers of the coast, sailed nearly due noi'th. Currents and easterly winds alui Ryp. carried them so far west that they came in sight of the Shetland Isles on the 22d. Here the commanders, who appear to have had equal powers, differed in opinion. Barentz wished to tack about, and steer due ea.st; while Ryp, who argued that in this way they would only become entangled, like previous expedi- tions, among the fioating icebergs of the Vaigatz Straits, insisted on .sailing N.N.E. His oi)inion prevailed. They were soon in the depths of the Arctic Ocean, and after a dangerous and dreary navigation, constantly obstructed by fields of ice, reached the coast of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80°. They now changed their coui-se, and, sailing south, arrived at Bear Island, which they had ]>re- viously passed. Here the captains again (littered in opinion ; and, as on this occasion neither would yield, the vessels parted company. Ryp proceeded north, with the view of following the east coast of Spitzbergen, and was ultimately obliged to retrace his steps without doing anything which his contemporaries deemed worthy of being recorded. Barentz sailed E.S.E., and met with a series of adventures which, though they form a most interesting narrative.
