RUSSIA THROUGH EUROPEAN EYES No.6 General Editor: Dr. A. G. CROSS, University of East Anglia ENGLAND AND RUSSIA This page intentionally left blank ENGLAND AND RUSSIA COMPRISING THE VOYAGES OF JOHN TRADESCANT THE ELDER, SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY, RICHARD CHANCELLOR, NELSON, AND OTHERS TO THE WHITE SEA BY Dr. J. HAMEL TRANSLATED BY JOHN STUDDY LEIGH I~ ~~o~;!;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First Published 1854 by FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ISBN 13: 978-0-714-61536-3 (hbk) TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. AT a period like the present, when we are involved in a contest with Russia, and when all information beariug on that country is caught up with avidity, to present to the public a translation of Dr. Hamel's valuable work may not be deemed a superfluous task; for, although his historical and descriptive sketches are somewhat loosely scattered through its pages, they possess the advantage of coming from the pen of a Russian who unwittingly discloses to our gene­ ration much of the aggressive and barbarous policy by which the rulers of his country were actuated even at the early period to which this Work prin­ cipally relates. Moreover now that, notwithstanding the great scarcity of books hitherto published having reference to that vast empire, our information with regard to its present resources is gradually becoming more correct, and we are made aware of their importance, it is curious to observe, in Dr. Hamel's notices, how very insignificant they must have been at that time; for we find that, in spite of Russia's would-be aggrandisement, she was subjected to repeated dis- iv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. asters, owing to her inability to defend herself effec­ tually either against the Poles on the one side, or against the Tartars on the other, whilst at the same period she was oppressing the Fins, Samoiedes, and other tribes, who were destitute of the means and were too few in number to oppose her. But before proceeding any further with the deduc­ tions to which a perusal of the Work itself naturally leads, we will mention what knowledge we possess of the author, and ascertain how he became acquainted with the facts he adduces, and what reliance can he placed on his statements. Unfortunately that know­ ledge is not very extensive; for we are merely informed that Dr. Hamel came to England in the train of the Emperor Alexander in 1814, and that with so good an introduction, and his already acquired reputation for learning and science, he found no diffi­ culty then and in succeeding years in obtaining access to many of our public establishments, and, more especially with reference to this Work, to the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. There he diligently applied himself to de­ cipher the MSS. containing accounts of the early naval and commercial intercourse between the two countries, a task in which he was eminently suc­ cessful, as will be seen by the following pages, where much is brought to light that is interesting, not only from its relation to the voyages of the northern navigators of those days, and, as already mentioned, to the history of Russia, but to that of England herself: So far as regards his sketches of TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. v his own country, he was also in a great measure favoured by his position, which enabled him to have recourse to the archives at St. Petersburg and Mos­ cow, for he was (and probably still is) a Privy Coun­ cillor, and a Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. One of the most striking points in the whole Work is to be found in the first page, where the author recommends, that in order to commemorate the long duration of amicable intercourse between England and Russia, which at the time he wrote (1846) had existed uninterruptedly for nearly three centuries, there should be a jubilee in 1858, when that period would be completed, and which, owing to a curious coincidence, proved to be the very year in which diplomatic relations ceased between the two countries, followed by the war in which we are at present eIl­ gaged. Unfortunately, then, Dr. Hamel's amicable idea has been frustrated by events which must have inflicted much pain on a mind imbued with such friendly feelings towards the English. What will also strike the reader is the elaborate minuteness with which he has sought out and given the genealogy, with all its ramifications, of the families, not only of the leaders, but even of the abettors, of the early voyages of discovery to the North, and more especially that of Sir Hugh 'ViI. loughby, the chief of the first expedition which reached Russia from our shores, and who, with the crews of two vessels, perished miserably, being frozen to death, in the winter of 1558-54. To those devoted VI TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. to studies of this nature, the details he gIves will doubtless prove highly interesting, and possibly throw light on circumstances connected with the ancestry of some of our aristocracy which were pre­ viously either obscure, or not known to the mass of readers. In his recapitulation of voyages in the Arctic Ocean, there are li.kewise several statements which deserve notice, particularly that James Bisbrown, commanding a vessel Hamel does not name, but sailing out of Liverpool in 1765, reached the extra­ ordinary latitude of 88° 40', and then saw open sea before him towards the north, whilst, at the same time, the weather was mild and genial. Might not this circumstance, corroborated as it has been by our later discoveries, lead us still to hope that Franklin, or, at all events, many of his brave companions, may survive and be restored to us ? As other subjects interesting to the public, and especially to the mercantile community, we may allude to the details Hamel gives of the establishment of English factories in Russia; the nature of the cargoes we at first shipped to that country, and of those we received in return; the mode of bartering, and the value of English and Russian commodities at that early epoch of our commercial intercourse, and the reception given by us to the first Russian am· bassadors-all information derived from the before. mentioned MSS., which for so long an interval had remained unnoticed, and of which Dr. Hamel has so industriously availed himself. TRANSLATOlt'S PREFACE. Vll Of Tradescant, the elder, no mention is made until towards the close of the first section, and to him Hamel justly ascribes the merit of establishing the first museum in England, which now incorrectly goes by the name of the Ashmolean, so called from Ashmole, to whom Tradescant, the younger, be­ queathed it, but the contents of which were collected by the former indefatigable naturalist and botanist, whose descriptions will doubtless prove acceptable to the scientific of the present day. LONDON, 5th JUNE, 1854. This page intentionally left blank CON TEN T S. CHAPTER I. Page Arrival of Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor at the Mouth of the Dwina in 1553 1 CHAPTER II. Early Russian Voyages-Intercourse between Russia and Western Europe . 32 CHAPTER III. Melancholy end of Sir Hugh Willoughby-Chancellor's Visit to Moscow 86 CHAPTER IV. Establishment of the Russia Company-Chancellor's Se­ ~ond Expedition 108 CHAPTER V. Shipwreck and Death of Chancellor-Escape of the Russian Ambassador, Nepeja, and his Arrival in England 142 CHAPTER VI. Voyage of Anthony Jenkinson-Raphael Barberini in Russia, with a Letter of Queen Elizabeth to the Czar Ivan Vassilovitch . 158 x CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Page .First Arrival of' Russian Merchants in London-Their Reception by Queen Elizabeth-The Czar Ivan Vassi­ lovitch's Proposal of' Marriage to the Queen - New Charter Granted to the Russia Company 181 CHAPTER VIII. Treachery and Punishment of Doctor Bomel-Dissatis­ faction of the Czar at the Conduct of the English­ Suspension of the Russia Company's Charter-Moscow Burnt by the Tartars-English House in the Varvarka Destroyed-Robert Best and Anthony Jenkinson Dis- patched from England with Letters to the Czar 201 CHAPTER IX. Negotiations of Daniel Sylvester-Freedom of Trade Re­ stored to the Russia Company-English Dep6t at Rose Island . 220 CHAPTER X. Voyage of Tradescant-Memoir of Tradescant-His Col­ lection of Varieties-Discovery of a MS. by Tradescant, a narrative of his voyage to Archangel 243 CHAPTER XI. Tradescant's Description of Life in Russia-Forests­ Flowers-Dress-Origin of the English Whale Fishery -His Voyage Home 269 CHAPTER XII. Geographical Discoveries promoted by Members of the Russia Company-Sir Francis Cherry and others 299 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XIII. Page Expeditions of the Russia Company from 1612 - Their Utility in the Advancement of Science 325 CHAPTER XIV. Companions of Tradescant in his Voyage to Archangel­ Sir John Merrick-Sir Thomas Smith - Sir Dudley Digges-Dr. Richard James-Captain David Gilbert- Captain Robert Carr-Jessy de Quester 374 APPENDIX . 409 This page intentionally left blank ENGIJAND AND RUSSIA; COMPRISING THE VOYAGES OF TRADESCANT THE ELDER, AND OTHERS. CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL OF SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY AND RICHARD CHANCELLOR AT THE MOUTH OF THE DWINA IN 1553. As it is my purpose to describe the visit made to Archangel in the year 1618 by the great English naturalist, John Tradescant, it may be as well to cast a glance, by way of introduction, on the first arrival of the English at the mouth of the Dwina.