Farthest North - Early Voyages

Early Voyages

A Dutch expedition led by Willem Barentz reached 79°49’ N on 16 June 1596 to register the first recorded Farthest North. In 1607 Henry Hudson probably reached Hakluyt's Headland (a little south of the latitude reached by Barentsz), but could not proceed further as ice lay packed along Spitsbergen's north coast. In 1612 an explorer from Hull, Thomas Marmaduke, claimed to have reached 82°N, while Dutch explorers in 1614 and 1624 claimed to have sailed even further north to 83°N. None of these claims have any basis in fact, with the second claim, made by Joris Carolus, impossible knowing ice conditions that season; although Marmaduke did at least reach Gråhuken (at 79° 48' N). English whalers reached Svalbard's Nordkapp (at 80°32' N) in or before 1622, as shown on the Muscovy Company's Map (1625). The Seven Islands (at 80° 49' N), north of Nordaustlandet, were first marked on a Dutch map of 1663, but were allegedly reached by a ship of Enkhuizen as early as 1618. In 1707 the Dutch whaler Cornelis Cornelisz Giles (or Gieles) rounded the northernmost point of Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, passing 81°N. In 1806 the Resolution of Whibty, under William Scoresby, Sr., was said to have sailed north of the Seven Islands and reached 81° 50' N.

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