Three years afterwards, the English reached
the coasts of Nova Zembla, and heard of, if they did not arrive at, the
Straits of Waygats. The next attempts were made by the Dutch, who were
desirous of reaching India by a route, in the course of which they would
not be liable to meet with the Spaniards or Portuguese. They accordingly
made four attempts between 1594 and 1596, but unsuccessfully. In the last
voyage they reached Spitzbergen; but after striving in vain to penetrate to
the north-east, they were obliged to winter on the north coast of Nova
Zembla, in 76 deg. latitude. Here they built a smaller vessel out of the
remains of the one they had brought from Holland, and arrived the following
summer at Kola, in Lapland.
In 1653, Frederic III, king of Denmark, sent three vessels to discover a
north-east passage: it is said that they actually passed through Waygats'
Straits; but that in the bay beyond these straits they found insurmountable
obstacles from the ice and cold, and consequently were obliged to return.
The last attempt made in the seventeenth century, was by the English: it
was proposed and undertaken by John Wood, an experienced seaman, who had
paid particular attention to the voyages that had been made to the north.
His arguments in favour of a north-east passage were, that whales had been
found near Japan, with English and Dutch harpoons in them; and that the
Dutch had found temperate weather near the Pole, and had sailed 300 leagues
to the east of Nova Zembla.
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