ARTICLE: Exploring the Arctic, 1594-97

Today I’m indulging my boaty side, and venturing back to that bleak period, that fellow Great War Group trustee Dr. Andy Lock likes to refer to as ‘that bit in between the dinosaurs and the French Revolution where nothing interesting happens.’

The Barents Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean that divides Norway and Russia. It’s named after a madman, and having been reading a book about his exploits I have very recently learned that he absolutely earned the accolade of having this body of water named after him, because he was nuts. In the late sixteenth century, he repeatedly, doggedly explored some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet.

William Barents was born in what is now the Netherlands in about 1550. So that’s about the time Henry VIII shuffled off this mortal coil if you want to place him. Think big ruffled collars, and ships that look like the Golden Hind or even the Mary Rose. He was actually a cartographer by trade, and had sailed extensively about Spain in order to fashion a new atlas of the Mediterranean. So why did he then change tack and go chasing polar bears? Well, because he had a theory. Barents believed that there should be a Northeast passage that led all the way around to China. He claimed that there must be open water to the north of Siberia, because if the sun shone 24 hours a day up there, it would surely melt all the ice.

(Wikipedia)

Voyage #1 I Am The Walrus

In 1594, he set off on the Mercury, which was part of an expedition sailing off in multiple different directions looking for the Northeast Passage. Spoiler. It does exist, but it’s a bloody long trip. Notably, about a month into this one, Barents saw his first polar bear.

Said bear tried to board their ship, and so they shot him with muskets. Wouldn’t it be a grand idea, they thought, if they took it back to Holland to show it off. Obviously by now, Mr. Bear was shot, wounded and very pissed off. They managed to tie him down aboard the ship, but at that point he went on a rampage and so they killed him.

Barents 1 - Arctic Wildlife 0.

But hang on, because then enter the walrus. Or 200 of them. This time there were no niceties. The crew attacked them and attempted to kill them with hatchets and pointy sticks. But they hadn’t banked on how tough these critters were, and their weapons broke. In the end, all they got away with was a few tusks. The expedition reached about as far as you can go in northeast Europe, but was then forced back by icebergs.