LURE OF FROZEN NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19061, 4 July 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

LURE OF FROZEN NORTH.

QUEST EOR TIIE POLE. EARLY EXPLORERS' WORK. (WHAT WELSHMEN HAVE DONE. FAMILIAR NAMES ON THE MAP. Now that tho enterprise of Captain Amundsen has brought the search for tho North Pole into prominence once more, it is interesting to recall that several Welshmen havo been concerned in these hazardous northern undertakings. Examination of a map of these wild regions, says Mr. Arthur Meo, in the Cardiff Weekly Mail, will reveal such natnes as Jones' Sound, Davis Straits, and Parry Islands, which suggest Welsh influence, and on inquiry it it; found that such is really the case. Tho story begins in tho "spacious days of great Elizabeth," and in estimating tho prowess' of these early navigators one snost not lose sight of -tho disabilities under which they laboured compared with tho explorers of modern days. There is, cf course, no idea of disparaging the latter, but it must never bo forgotten that explorers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had not the facilities that now exist. Tho ships of the early adventurers were >-ery small, their scientific Appliances were *if a primitivo description, while another formidable drawback was tho absence of the preserved and condensed food and the medical stores which are now available lor such expeditions. Moreover, the regions and the conditions prevailing there were wholly unknown, and token altogether the work demanded a stoutness of heart, and an amount of virility and doggedness that made scvero demands upon the explorer. Sir Robert Hansel. The first name with a familiar ring is that of Sir John Davis or Dayys. He, however, was a Devonian, but doubtless ■with Celtic blood in his veins. Admiral Sir Robert Maasel, Knight, who is next on the list, was one of the most remarkable characters of his time. He was the fourth son of Sir Edward Manscl, of Margam. Born in 1573 or thereabouts, he lived till the of eighty or upwards, and his life was ,one of intense and varied activity. He was a seaman from his youth, saw active service abroad, sat in Parliament, was Treasurer of the Navy, and also carried on an extensive business as a. glass manufacturer. He was highly thought of by tho powers-that-be, and oven James 1., who so infamously treated Kaleigh, had a. soft corner in his heart for tho bravu man whom he called his ".Robin Mansel.V

Ono could write at some length about {his splendid old son of Glamorgan, but tho present story is concerned only with his interest., in Arctic navigation. To quote Mr. G. T. Clark- " 26th July, 1612, Sir Robert appoars as a member of the Muscovy and East India Company for discovering the North-West Passage, then incorporated under the auspices of Princo Henry. In April, 1610, they had sent out Hendrick Hudson. , With Sir Robert occur tho names of William Earl of Pembroko and two, Glamorganshire commoners, Sir Edward Lewis, of the Van, and Captain Thomas Button. They were to enjoy for ever the exclusive trade into tho North-West Passage, defined as extending from the headland of Greenland, called C a P e Desolation, and the cape or lioadland of America, called Labrador. Thsy sent "out ' Captain William ( ? Thomas) Button, a Glamorganshire man, in 1612, to perfect the discovery." Admiral Button's Voyages.

Next comes Admiral Button, of whom Clark said that ho "was famous in an ugo and in a profession in which fame was iiofc to be lightly won. He was a seaman bred in the school of Raleigh and Drake iu tho times of Elizabeth, and one of a j»ot, inconsiderable.* band who attained to eminence in the otherwise inglorious reign of James by their adventures and discoveries in the Arctic regions, and who maintained tho repute of bold and skilful mariners by their defence of the narrow seas of England -and Ireland against tho privateers of France and tho pirate galleys of Algiers and Tnrkey, by which those seas were infested in the reign of our Start Kings."-

Thomas Button was born late in tho [sixteenth ceptury, the fourth son of Miles Batten, of Dyffwyn. St. Nicholas, Glamorgan, and Margaret, daughter of Edward Xiewis, of the Van. Like Sir Robert Mansel, he took early to the sea, and early ~ achteved success. ' Whilo jet a very ' young man he became one of the " discoverers of tho >lforfch-west Passage." With two ships, tho Resolution and Discovery, ho sailed from England in tho spring of 1612, traversed Hudson's Straits just south of Resolution Isle, and though much impeded by ice reached Digges' Isle. Here he put together a pinnace he had brought out, and accompanied by it, pushed to the southern point of Southampton Island, to which ho tho name of Carey's IS wain's Nest. Finding tho sea open, the gallant steered into the bay, expecting -to proceed unchecked to Japan. What was his disgust to find his progress .stopped by tho western coast of Hudson's Hay, vrhero at a point which ho called " Hope Checked " he passed tho dreary Arctic winter, cheering his men—of whom lio lost several—-by every means in his power, and braving the rigours of the ee.vson like the splendid seaman that he ;w.13. A Man of Resource. Most men would have been discouraged And returned home. Not so Button, who, Jivhen tho weather improved onco more, started to explore tho region, and then * truck north, making other discoveries, and finally reaching England in tho fcutumn of 1613. Button still believed in ilio existenco of the passage, and the fo' flowing year another Glamorgan man, a kinsman of his, one Captain Gibbon, tailed north, taking with him as mate j Baffin, who afterwards became so famous. I It, is regrettable that Button's journal of liis great voyage is lost, for he was something of a scientist as well as a brave. Bailor, and his observations would have been of quite extraordinary interest today.

This 1 closed Button's active participation in Arctic work, but later on he was conJMJltoil by tho Admiralty on tho subject >of tho North-West Passage, and gave his in the course of two long !lottera written "from my howso att'Caridiflo." Wa learn that ho was still conEv;nced of tho existence of the passage, which I doo as confidently, beleavo to be

a passadge as I doo there is on either side between Calais and Dover or between Holy Head and Ireland." Admiral Button died in 1634. A writer on tho subject laments that Cardiff has done so little to perpetuate Button's memory,! It is of interest to know that a descendant of his was the distinguished seaman, Admiral Sir Charles Tyler, of Cottrell, who was one of Nelson's captains at Trafalgar. Original ol the " Ancient Mariner:" A gallant contemporary of Button's was Captain Thomas James, who was born at Abergavenny about 1593. He accompanied Button in search of the North-West Passage, and in 1631-32 made a similar voyage on his own account, spending a winter in those desolate parts, and patriotically calling one of the regions he discovered the New Principality of South Wales. James is believed by some to have been the original of Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner," and it is known that Coleridge was familiar with his account of his adventures. James was a careful observer as well as an excellent seaman. It is curious to read of the scientific appliances that Captain James took oil board. One was "a quadrant of fourfoot semi-diameier, of old seasoned peartree wood, artificallv made, and with all care possible divided into diagonals, even unto minutes." He also had an equilateral triangle, fashioned of the same wood, "whose radius was five foot at least; another quadrant with a semi-diameter of two feet, a staff seven feet long, for taking altitudes and distances whose transome was fcur foot, divided into equal parts by way of diagonals, that all the figures in

a radius of ten thousand might be taken out exactly; a cross-staff, three ' Jacob s staves,' and two of ' Mr. Davis s backstaves.' " More Quaint Appliances. By way of what he terms horizontal instruments, Captain James had two semicircles, " two foot seini-diametei, of seasoned pear wood, six meridian compasses, four needles in square boxes; moreOver four special needles (which my good friends Mr. Allen and Mr. Marre gave me), of six indies in diameter, and touched curiously with the best loadstone in England; a "loadstone with the poles marked, for fear of a mistake; a watch clock; a table every day, calculated corresponding to the latitude, according to Mr. Gunter's directions in his book, the better to keep our time and our compass and to judge of our course." Further items, of navigational outfit included " two pairs of curious globes, made purposely," and two log-lines and glasses. llow would modern navigators like tq set out into the unknown with no better 'instruments than these ? Admiral Parry's Efforts. Last on the list of great Welsh explorers deceased comes Admiral Sir W. E. Parry, who was born in 1790 and died in 1855. He was the grandson of Joshua Parry, of Llangan, in the county of Pembroke, a famous preacher in his day. Parry was one of the most famous explorers of the nineteenth century, and pressed so far north, 83 degrees, that it

■was no less than 50 years before his record was surpassed—mi itself a splendid tribute to his dogged zeal and courage. Parry went to the Arctic in 1819 unjlor Captain Ross, and the following year made the first of four voyages nortli under his own command. On the la-it of these voyages, in 1827, Parry conceived tho idea of reaching the Pole from Spitsbergen, just as Captain Amundsen has been striving to do by air. To-day there is a worthy successor to these heroes of old time in Captain E. (». K. Evans; but the writer of the story ks whether Wales has done all that c >uld be done, and ought to be done, to recognise tho work of Mansel, Button, •Tames, and Parry?