Carthaginian Enterprise. 5 probably meaning that he built one of extraordinary size for that time. The Carthaginians were the first people who directed their course at sea by the fixed stars, and they were the great colonisers of their epoch. As early as 1130 B.C. they settled many of the Mediterranean islands and the coasts of Spain; later, Madeira and the western coasts of Africa. Hanno's fleet of sixty ships is said to have carried 30,000 colonists to the west coast of Africa, and whatever measure of exaggeration there may be in this statement, it is certain that their vessels must have been of considerable tonnage. Strabo counts two hundred towns in Spain, and more than three hundred in Africa, as the direct result of Phoenician enterprise. The fleet of Himilco (a contemporary of Aristotle, about 340 B.C.), sent out expressly to colonise Western Europe, reached Wales, Cornwall, and islands described as the Æstrymnides, which are believed to be identical with the "Tin Islands" of the Greeks, which latter are further supposed to include England, Scilly, and the Isle of Man. But trading voyages had been made by the Carthaginians to Britain long before Himilco's time, and they further worked the tin mines themselves, and even pursued agriculture near their maritime ports. Brass implements, very antique swords and glass beads, dug up in Cornwall and Ireland, have been attributed to Carthaginian manufacturers. CHAPTER II. The Scandinavians early Rulers of the Sea-Discovery of Iceland— Flokko's Raven-Discovery of Greenland-Early American Settlers -Voyages of the Zeni-A Romance of the Early Days-Northern Voyage of Columbus. ALTHOUGH the Romans conquered Britain at a period when their naval armaments were by no means inconsiderable, they did nothing towards solving the problems connected with the far north. During their rule, as far as can be gleaned, their voyages were confined to the immediate coasts of our island, and when they withdrew, the art of navigation was not much pursued by the Britons themselves. The Frisians, above all the Saxon tribes that overran England, were the best seamen, but we hear nothing of an English fleet until the days of good King Alfred. He constructed vessels of a size considered large in those times, and with the aid of Frisian officers and seamen, gained a decisive * Cæsar took ninety-eight merchantmen from the vessels then employed on the inland or narrow seas, capable of transporting over 8,000 men, on the first invasion of Britain. Exploits of the Northmen. 9 victory over the Northmen pirates. Nevertheless the Scandinavians were the real maritime rulers of the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. For two hundred years they incessantly ravaged the coasts of Britain, Ireland, Saxony, Holland, and Flanders; penetrated the very heart of France, pillaging and burning Paris, Amiens, Orleans, Bordeaux, and other of the larger cities, even settling at the mouth of the Rhone, from whence they ravaged Provence and Dauphiné. But although their warlike exploits carried terror and ruin wherever they went, they did some little good by colonising unknown countries. In the year 867 the vessel of Nadd-Odd, a Norwegian viking, bent on a piratical excursion to the Faroe Islands, was driven by a gale so far to the north-westward, that he reached an island, to which, from the amount of snow found on the mountains, he gave the name of Snow-land. Others soon followed, among them one Flokko, a Swede. The mariner's compass was then unknown; he had taken the precaution of providing himself with a raven, which, let loose, is said to have guided him in the desired direction. He passed the winter on the island, and from the quantities of drift-ice seen by him, changed its name to that which it at present bears, Iceland. Later, a number of Norwegian colonists, taking with them their household PAGE Willem Barents-First Voyage-Antipathy of Bears to Dutchmen-Second Voyage-Third Voyage-Spitzbergen-Winter Quarters-Vessel abandoned-Departure in the Boats-Death of Barents Home again-Discovery of the Barents Relics by Carlsen . 28 CHAPTER V. Fresh North-West Passages-Weymouth-Hudson's CHAPTER VI. 40 Jens Munk-An Unlucky Voyage-Mortification and Death-The North-West Foxe-Origin of the Hudson's Bay Company-Unfortunate Voyages-Knight's Expedition-Starvation-The Two Survivors-Hopeless Abandonment-Dobbs and Middleton-£20,000 offered for the Discovery of a North-West Passage . 53 CHAPTER VII. The Polar Ocean- -Russian Discoveries- The Two CHAPTER VIII. Remarkable Break-up of Ice-The North-West Problem again-John Ross-The Croker Mountains sailed over-Avalanches of Ice-Icebergs-Parry's First Command-Winter at Home in the Arctic-Sabine's Experiments 65 73 Contents. CHAPTER IX. Parry's Second Voyage-Disastrous Voyage of the xi PAGE 85 CHAPTER X. Franklin's Early Career-The Fight at Copenhagen- CHAPTER XI. Franklin's Land Journey-Hudson's Bay Territory-- tion - Home again Second Land Journey of 104 CHAPTER XII. Sir John Franklin's Last Expedition-The Last Letters 119 |