James Hall (explorer)

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James Hall († July 22 or 23, 1612 in the Amerloqfjord on the west coast of Greenland ; also Jacob Hald ) was an English navigator and explorer .

Life

Hall came from Kingston upon Hull , then an important port on the east coast of England. The first report about him comes from the year 1605 when he took part as a helmsman in the Danish expedition led by John Cunningham , which was supposed to clarify the fate of the Nordic settlers on Greenland ( Grænlendingar ) (see Greenland expeditions under Christian IV. ). The fact that he was chosen to be the helmsman and therefore responsible for the navigation suggests that he knew the waters around Greenland well from previous expeditions. He may have already participated in the Arctic expedition led by John Davis in 1585.

No evidence of the whereabouts of the settlers was found on the expedition, but rocks containing silver were brought with them. The Danish King then awarded him an annual salary of 500 Reichstalers ( Rigsdaler ). In two further expeditions to Greenland in 1606 and 1607, however, the hope of extensive silver deposits was not fulfilled. Hall, who wrote the official travel reports for the first two expeditions, was dismissed from the civil service and had to return to England.

Hall reappeared in 1612. He was able to convince four London traders, including Sir Thomas Smythe (1558-1625) and James Lancaster , to finance another expedition to Greenland. On April 10th Hall set sail with the two ships Patience and Heart's Ease from Kingston upon Hull. While circumnavigating Cape Farvel , he found that the ice conditions were much more favorable this year. He went ashore on May 27 at 64 ° N near present-day Nuuk . On July 15, he anchored at Itilleq , and then continued his course north. He tried to find the place where he had stumbled upon silver in 1605, but failed. On July 21st or 22nd, he met a group of Inuit in the Amerloqfjord . Since four Inuit were abducted during the first expedition under the command of Cunningham in 1605, the Inuit took revenge and stabbed Hall with a spear the following day.

The expedition was then led by Andrew Barker, the captain of Heart's Ease . After the further search for silver deposits was unsuccessful, he ordered the return trip on August 4th. Both ships arrived in England in mid-September. William Baffin took part in the expedition as a helmsman, who was supposed to advance even further north in 1616 as navigator Robert Bylots .

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica
  2. ^ Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
personal data
SURNAME Hall, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hald, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English navigator and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 16th Century
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1612 or July 23, 1612
Place of death Amerloqfjord , Greenland