Part 13

Now the facts of the case are in reality as follows:—In the first place, the Dutch reckoned their time according to the new style, which had already been adopted in the Netherlands. This is not only to be deduced from the correspondence of their several astronomical observations with this reckoning alone; but it also admits of direct proof from the express statement of William Barents, in his note on the tides at States Island, that the dates were “stilo novo.”

In the next place, Gerrit de Veer states explicitly that he and two of his companions “saw the edge of the sun” on the 24th of January, and that on the 27th of that month they “all went forth and saw the sunne in his full roundnesse a little aboue the horrison”; and again, that on the 31st they “went out and saw the sunne shine cleare”; and lastly, on the 8th of February, they “saw the sun rise south south-east, and went down south south-west.” On the intervening days, the weather being cloudy or otherwise unfavourable, they had no opportunity of observing the sun. [225]

Now, according to theory, the sun’s upper edge ought not, in 75° 45′ north latitude, to have been visible till the 9th of February; so that on the 25th of January (not the 24th, as De Veer erroneously supposed), at mid-day, the extraordinary and anomalous refraction was as much as 3° 49′, and on the 27th of that month it could not have been much, if at all, less. On the 8th of February, however, when they “saw the sun rise S.S.E. and go down S.S.W.”, the entire refraction would have been 2° 10′,7, which is about one degree and a half more than according to theory it ought to have been; and on the 19th of the latter month, when they took the sun’s height, the refraction had again attained its normal amount.

Without attempting any explanation of the phenomenon thus described, what we have now to do is to show that Gerrit de Veer and his companions could not possibly have been materially in error with respect to their dates.

Commencing then from the 4th of November, when it has been demonstrated that their time was strictly correct, we have their subsequent astronomical observations on December 14th and January 12th, which establish that till the latter date they were still right in their time. If, therefore, they lost their reckoning at all, it must have happened between the 12th and the 25th of January—an interval of only thirteen days; and certainly neither their oversleeping themselves (assuming them to have done so), nor any error, however great, in the rate of their twelve hours’ sand-glass, could in that short interval have occasioned any gross miscalculation with respect to the time of a phenomenon which extended over a period of fourteen days. Then again, on the 19th of February, and also on the 2nd of March, they obtained by similar astronomical observations the means of checking their time; so that it is utterly impossible for them to have fallen into any material error. The mistake of a few hours, which caused them to place the conjunction of the moon and Jupiter, and consequently the reappearance of the sun, on the 24th instead of the 25th of January, is only an additional proof in favour of their general correctness, as it is just such an error as they were likely to fall into from their inability to measure their time with strict precision.

But the fact of the conjunction itself has yet to be noticed. De Veer tells us that they had watched the approach of the two planets to each other, till at length they came together in a certain direction and at a certain time; and that contemporaneously with this occurrence the sun reappeared. Now there was no other conjunction of those two planets till 27¼ days later, namely, at noon on the 21st of February, and at that date the sun had been at least nine days above the horizon; besides which, the conjunction would not have been visible, on account of the daylight. Consequently, if the conjunction on the 25th of January is not intended, the whole account must be an invention and a fabrication. And to suppose this would assuredly be imputing to De Veer, not only more deceit, but also very much more skill than he possessed. For, even assuming him to have been capable of calculating the place of Jupiter and the time of that planet’s setting, he would have found (as Mr. Vogel has now found) that at the time of the conjunction that planet had already set 1 hour and 48 minutes, and was at the time actually 2° 44′ below the horizon; and it is altogether too much to suppose that he would have adduced a conjunction, which according to calculation was invisible, as evidence of another phenomenon which was equally opposed to the recognized laws of nature.

We have therefore no alternative but to receive the facts recorded by De Veer as substantially true, and to believe that owing to the peculiar condition of the atmosphere, there existed an extraordinary refraction, not merely on the 25th of January, but continuously during fourteen days afterwards, at first amounting to nearly four degrees, but gradually decreasing to about one degree and a half.

The true facts of the case having at length been clearly made out, they are left for elucidation by those who are best qualified to investigate and explain them. The problem is a curious, and, with our still insufficient knowledge of the laws of atmospheric refraction in high latitudes, a difficult one. Nevertheless we may confidently rely on the result being such as eventually to establish the entire veracity of our Dutch historian. [226]

With respect to the personal history of Gerrit de Veer we know almost nothing. From his familiar allusion to “the salt hills that are in Spaine”, it is to be inferred that he had visited that country at some time previously to the year 1595, when he joined Barents’s second expedition. From Robert le Canu’s letter we learn that he had studied navigation under him, and also that his death occurred some time previously to the year 1627, when that letter was written. The position of his name in the two lists of the crew of Heemskerck’s vessel, between those of the first mate and the surgeon, shows that he was one of the officers—probably the second mate; and we learn incidentally that he was a small man, “being the lightest of all their company”. More than this we know not.

Of the various editions, abridgments, and summaries of De Veer’s work, we have collected the following particulars.

The first printed account of these interesting voyages was published in Dutch at Amsterdam in the year 1598, under the following title:—

Waerachtighe Beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort, drie jaeren achter malcanderen deur de Hollandtsche ende Zeelandtsche schepen by noorden Noorweghen, Moscovia ende Tartaria, na de Coninckrijcken van Catthay ende China, so mede vande opdoeninghe vande Weygats, Nova Sembla, en̄ van’t landt op de 80. gradē, dat men acht Groenlandt tezijn, daer noyt mensch gheweest is, ende vande felle verscheurende Beyren ende ander Zee­monsters ende ondrachlijcke koude, en̄ hoe op de laetste reyse tschip int ys beset is, ende tvolck op 76. graden op Nova Sembla een huijs ghetimmert, ende 10. maenden haer aldaer onthouden hebben, ende daer nae meer als 350. mylen met open cleyne schuyten over ende langs der Zee ghevaren. Alles met seer grooten perijckel, moyten, ende ongeloofelijcke swaricheyt. Gedaen deur Gerrit de Veer van Amstelredam.

Ghedruckt t’Amstelredam, by Cornelis Claesz, op’t water, int Shrijf-boeck. Ao. 1598. Oblong 4o.

This rare and valuable book, a copy of which is in the British Museum, does not appear to have been hitherto noticed by bibliographers. It contains sixty-one numbered leaves, in addition to the Dedication on two leaves not numbered, six maps by Baptista à Doetechum, and twenty-five plates, which are coloured. The title-page also bears a plate, in eight partitions, four of which contain reductions from plates in the volume.

The following is a translation of Gerrit de Veer’s Dedication.

To the Noble, Mighty, Wise, Discreet, and very Provident Lords, the States General of the United Netherlands, the Council of State, and the Provincial States of Holland, Zeeland and West Friesland; and also to the most illustrious Prince and Lord, Maurice, born Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Vianden, Dietz, etc., Marquis of Vere and Flushing, etc., Lord of St. Vyt, Doesburg, the city of Grave, and the countries of Kuyct, etc., Stadtholder and Captain-General of Gelderland, Holland, Zeeland, West Friesland, Utrecht, and Over­yssel, and Admiral of the sea; and to the Noble, Honorable, Wise, and Discreet Lords, the Commissioners of the Admiralty in Holland, Zeeland, and West Friesland.

My Lords: the art of navigation, which in utility surpasses nearly all other arts, has now in these latter years and within the memory of man been wonderfully improved, and has more especially contributed to the welfare of these States. This has been mainly the result of the skilful use and practice of navigation, and of the measurement of the latitudes and bearings of countries according to the rules of mathematical science; whereby countries lying on the very confines of the world have been reached, and their products imported for our use. Thus this child of Astrology has proved of greater service on the ocean than on land; for, there it is merely a science, whereas here its usefulness is so much extended, that various bearings, courses, headlands, and promontories unmentioned by Ptolemy and Strabo, and unknown for a long period after that time, have now become known by the investigations and experiences of this science. And as many previously unknown places were not found till after repeated search, so now three unsuccessful trials have been made from these States to find a passage round by the north to the kingdoms of Cathay and China; which although hitherto unsuccessful, have not been altogether useless, nor have they shown the attempt to be hopeless. For these reasons I have drawn up a brief description of the three aforesaid voyages (in the last two of which I myself was engaged), which were made from these States by the north of Norway, Muscovy, and Tartary, towards the aforesaid kingdoms of Cathay and China. And I have done so because many interesting circumstances happened in those voyages, and because I think that the right course may still be discovered; inasmuch as the direction and position of Vaygatz and Nova Zembla, and also the eastern part of Greenland (as we call it) in 80°, are now ascertained, where it was formerly thought there was only water and no land; and because there in 80° it was less cold than at Nova Zembla in 76°, and in 80° aforesaid, in June early in the summer, plants and grass were growing and beasts that feed on grass were found, while on the contrary in 76°, in August in the hottest of the summer, there were found neither plants nor grass, nor animals that feed on grass. From all which it appears that it is not the proximity of the Pole which causes the ice and cold, but the Sea of Tartary (called the Frozen Ocean), and the proximity of the land, round about which the ice remains floating. For, in the open sea between the land situated in 80 degrees and Nova Zembla, which lie at a distance of full 200 (800) miles E.N.E. and W.S.W. of each other, there was little or no ice; but as often as we approached land we immediately fell in with the cold and the ice. Indeed, it was by means of the ice that we always first perceived that we were near land before we saw the land itself. At the east end of Nova Zembla also, where we passed the winter, the ice drifted away with a W. and S.W. wind, and returned with a N.E. wind. Hence it certainly appears, that between the two lands there is an open sea, and that it is possible to sail nearer to the Pole than has hitherto been believed; and this notwithstanding that ancient writers say that the sea is not navigable within 20 degrees of the Pole because of the intense cold, and that therefore nobody can live there; whereas we have both been as far as 80 degrees, and in 76 degrees have with small means passed the winter; and thus it appears that the said passage may be effected between the two above-named countries by taking a N.E. course from the North Cape in Norway. This too was the opinion of the renowned pilot Willem Barentsz., as well as of Jacob Heemskerck, our captain and supercargo, who would have dared to undertake it by keeping that course, its accomplishment being left to God’s mercy. Yea, notwithstanding that on our last voyage, through our manifold difficulties, we were entirely exhausted and ofttimes in peril of death, yet our courage was not so broken but that if our ship (which became fast in the ice) had been set free a little sooner, we would once more have made the attempt in that direction, as a proof that we believed the passage might thereby have been effected; although this last voyage had been very troublesome, wherein we (speaking without vanity) made no account either of labours, difficulties, or danger, in order to bring it to a successful end, as will appear from the relation thereof; but neither the time nor the opportunity permitted it. And as the aforesaid three voyages were made through the gracious assistance of your Lordships, and thus the fruits which may still result from them belong to your Lordships, I have taken the liberty of dedicating to you this narrative, which, if not an eloquent, is at least a faithful one.

Praying to God that he will bless with success the government of your Lordships, in honour of his name, and for the welfare of these States,

Your noble, mighty, illustrious, wise, and provident Lordships’ obedient servant,

Gerrit de Veer.

From Amsterdam, the last day but one of April, in the year 1598.

Stuck, in his Verzeichnis von aeltern und neuern Land und Reise-beschreibungen, mentions an edition of De Veer’s work [227] in 1599; but this appears to be purely an error in date,—1599 for 1598,—as he leaves it to be inferred that he alludes to the first edition. It was reprinted at Amsterdam in 1605, at the same press.

Another edition was brought out, as the first part of a collection of early Dutch voyages at Amsterdam, with the following title:—

Oost-Indische ende Uvest-Indische voyagien, Namelijck, De waerachtighe beschrijvinge vande drie seylagien, drie Jaren achter malkanderen deur de Hollandtsche ende Zeelandtsche Schepen, by noorden Noorweghen, Moscovien ende Tartarien nae de Couinckrijcken van Catthay ende China ghedaen.

Tot Amsterdam. By Michiel Colijn, Boeck-verkooper, op’t Water, in’t Huys-boeck, aen de Kooren-marckt. 1619. Oblong 4to.

This edition contains eighty numbered leaves. De Veer’s Dedication is omitted. The plates are copies from those in the former editions, but smaller and reversed. The colophon reads:—

Ghedruckt tot Enchuysen, by Jacob Lenaertsz. Meyn, Boeckvercooper op de Nieuwe straet int vergulden schrijf­boeck. Anno 1617.

Latin. In the same year that the first edition of these voyages was published in Dutch, viz., 1598, a Latin translation was brought out at Amsterdam by the same publisher. The translator signs himself C. C. A., and dates his preface, Leyden, July 7th (“nonis Julij”) 1598; thereby showing that little more than two months had elapsed since the appearance of the original work. It bears the following title:—

Diarivm Navticvm, seu vera descriptio Trium Navigationum admirandarum, & nunquam auditarum, tribus continuis annis factarum, à Hollandicis & Zelandicis navibus, ad Septentrionem, supra Norvagiam, Moscoviam & Tartariam, versus Catthay & Sinarum regna: tum ut detecta fuerint Weygatz fretum, Nova Zembla, & Regio sub 80. gradu sita, quam Groenlādiam esse censent, quam nullus unquam adijt: Deinde de feris & trucibus vrsis, alijsque monstris marinis, & intolerabili frigore quod pertulerunt. Quemadmodum præterea in postrema Navigatione navis in glacie fuerit concreta, & ipsi nautæ in Nova Zembla sub 76. gradu sita, domum fabricarint, atque in ea per 10. mensium spatium habitarint, & tandem, relictâ navi in glacie, plura quam 380. milliaria per mare in apertis parvis lintribus navigarint, cum summis periculis, immensis laboribus, & incredibilibus difficultatibus. Auctore Gerardo de Vera Amstelrodamense.

Amstelredami, ex Officina Cornelij Nicolaij, Typographi ad symbolum Diarij, ad aquam. Anno M.D.XCVIII. Folio.

This edition contains forty-three numbered leaves, and has the same plates and maps as the Dutch edition; but the Dedication is omitted. A copy is in the British Museum.

French. In the same year, and probably near the same time as the preceding edition, appeared a French translation under the following title:—

Vraye Description de trois Voyages de mer tres admirables, faicts en trois ans, a chacun an vn, par les navires d’Hollande et Zelande, av nord par derriere Norwege, Moscovie, et Tartarie, vers les Royaumes de China & Catay: ensemble les decouvremens du Waygat, Nova Sembla, & du pays situé souz la hauteur de 80 degrez; lequel on presume estre Greenlande, où oncques personne n’a esté. Plus des Ours cruels & ravissans, & autres monstres marins: & la froidure insupportable. D’avantage comment a la derniere fois la navire fut arrestee par la glace, & les Matelots ont basti vne maison sur le pays de Nova Sembla, situé souz la hauteur de 76. degrez, où ils ont demeuré l’espace de dix mois: & comment ils ont en petittes barques passé la Mer, bien 350. lieues d’eaue; non sans peril, a grand travail, & difficultez incroyables. Par Girard Le Ver.

Imprimé a Amstelredam par Cornille Nicolas, sur l’eaue, au livre à écrire. Anno M.D.XCVIII. folio.

This edition contains forty-four numbered leaves, and the same plates and maps as the original Dutch edition. There is a copy in the Grenville Library. It was reprinted in 1600 and in 1609. There is a copy of the edition of 1609 in the British Museum, in which the same plates and maps occur as in the first Dutch edition.

An edition in 8vo. was published at Paris by Chaudière in 1599, under the title of “Trois navigations admirables faites par les Hollandois et les Zélandois au Septentrion.”

Italian. An Italian translation, which was made at the instance of Gioan Battista Ciotti, by whom it is dedicated to Gasparo Catanei, appeared at Venice in 1599, in Italic characters. Its title runs thus:—

Tre Navigationi fatte dagli Olandesi, e Zelandesi al Settentrione nella Norvegia, Moscovia, e Tartaria, verso il Catai, e Regno de’ Sini, doue scopersero il Mare di Veygatz, La Nvova Zembla, et vn Paese nell’ Ottantesimo grado creduto la Groenlandia. Con vna descrittione di tvtti gli accidenti occorsi di giorno in giorno a’ Nauiganti, Et in particolare di alcuni combattimenti con Orsi Marini, e dell’ eccesiuo freddo di quei paesi; essendo nell’ ultima Nauigatione restata la Naue nel ghiaccio, onde li Marinari passorono infinite difficoltà, per lo spatio di diece mesi, e furono forzati alla fine di passare con li Batelli trecento miglia di Mare pericolosissimo. Descritte in Latino da Gerardo di Vera, e Nuouamente de Giouan Giunio Parisio Tradotte nella lingua Italiana.

In Venetia, presso Ieronimo Porro, e Compagni. 1599. 4to.

It contains seventy-nine leaves, with copies of the usual maps and plates, but badly executed.

This was reprinted in the third volume of the 1606 edition of Ramusio’s Navigationi et Viaggi.

English. The only other language, as far as we are aware, into which De Veer’s work has been translated, is English; the first and only edition of which translation, now extremely scarce, is that reproduced in the present volume.

ABRIDGEMENTS.

German. The first and most important German edition of De Veer’s narrative was an abridgement, published at Nuremberg by Levinus Hulsius, the dedication of which bears date the 10th of August, 1598, being little more than three months after that of the original Dutch work. Its title runs thus:—

Warhafftige Relation der dreyen newen vnerhörten seltzamen Schiffart, so die Holländischen vnd Seeländischen Schiff gegen Mitternacht, drey Jar nach einander, als Anno 1594, 1595 vnd 1596 verricht. Wie sie Nortwegen, Lappiam, Biarmiam, vnd Russiam, oder Moscoviam (vorhabens ins Königreich Cathay vnd China zukommen) vmbsegelt haben. Als auch wie sie das Fretum Nassoviæ, Waygats, Novam Semblam, vnd das Land vnter dem 80. Gradu latitud. so man vermeint das Groenland sey, gefunden: vnd was für gefahr, wegen der erschröcklichen Bern, Meerwunder, vnd dem Eyss, sie aussgestanden. Erstlich in Niderländischer sprach beschrieben, durch Gerhart de Ver, so selbsten die lezten zwo Reysen hat helffen verrichten, jezt aber ins Hochteutsch gebracht, Durch Levinum Hulsium. Noribergæ, Impensis L. Hulsij. Anno 1598. 4to.

Translator’s dedication two pages. Preface twelve pages. An address to the reader, headed and subscribed “Gerardus de Veer,” four pages. Text one hundred and forty-six numbered pages. Thirty-five plates and maps. The colophon reads:—

Gedruckt zu Nürnberg, durch Christoff Lochner, In verlegung Levini Hulsii, anno 1598.

It was re-issued in the year 1602, as the “Dritter Theil” of Hulsius’s celebrated collection of voyages. This is, however, merely a duplicate of the edition of 1598, excepting the first sheet, which has been reprinted, apparently with the view of affording Hulsius an opportunity of alluding, on the fourth page of his Preface, to the publication of the beautiful book (“schones Buch”) of Linschoten the year before. The dedication is dated Nuremberg, 6th February.

A “secunda editio,” considerably abridged, appeared from the same press in the same year (1602), with the dedication dated Frankfort, 1st August: the text of this extends only to one hundred and twenty-one pages, and the address to the reader and colophon are omitted. In his dedication, Hulsius informs us, as a reason for this rapidity of republication, that upwards of 1,500 copies of the former edition had already been disposed of, and that the demand for the work was still very great.

A third and fourth edition, yet further abridged, and similarly forming the “Dritter Theil” of Hulsius’s collection, appeared respectively in the years 1612 and 1660.

Copies of all these editions are in the Grenville Library in the British Museum.

This work of Hulsius enjoys a degree of credit among bibliographers, to which intrinsically it would hardly seem to be entitled. On the title-page, and also in the publisher’s dedication, it professes to be a translation from the Dutch of Gerrit de Veer. But it is neither this, nor is it a true and genuine abridgement. On the contrary, copious omissions are made throughout, while at the same time passages are frequently introduced, which are not to be found in the original. It would be an almost endless task, and one quite out of place here, to attempt a collation of the two works. Still it is expedient that a specimen should be adduced of the liberties which Hulsius has taken with his author; and for this purpose the commencement of his narrative of the second expedition (pages 16–18) shall be given verbatim.