Jonas Poole

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Jonas Poole (* 1566 ; † 1612 between Ratcliff and London ) was an English seal hunter and explorer of the early 17th century. For the Muscovy Company he explored the west coast of Svalbard and tried to advance with his ship to the North Pole . Poole's voyages of discovery marked the beginning of English whaling in the waters around Svalbard.

Life

First trips for the Muscovy and Virginia Company

Emitted by Francis Cherry (1552-1605), the former British ambassador to the Zarenhof , Jonas Poole sailed in 1604 under Captain Steven Bennet to the Murmansk coast . The merchant Thomas Welden was on board the Godspeed as a factorist . The ship left London on April 15th and reached the city of Kola on May 1st. At the end of the month it sailed to Pechenga and stayed there until the end of June. Bennet then ran to Vardø and set course for Bear Island , which he had been the first Englishman to set foot on a year earlier. The men shot around a hundred walruses and sailed back to Pechenga and Kola before returning to London, which they reached on October 15, 1604. A year later, Poole was again on the way to Bear Island (which they called Cherie Iland ) with Bennet and Welden when they were captured by a ship from Dunkirk and their firearms were robbed. On Bear Island, they hunted walruses with their lances and cooked on the spot 11 barrels Tran that took them to the end of August to England.

In 1606, the Muscovy Company sent Bennet to Bear Island in two ships, of which Poole led the smaller one, a pinasse of 20 tons with a crew of eight. Within six hours around 800 walruses were shot, the oil of which filled 22 barrels. There were also two barrels of walrus ivory . In December 1606, on behalf of the Virginia Company of London, Poole and Christopher Newport set off for the " New World ". Settlers were brought to Chesapeake Bay in three ships . Poole was one of the men who explored the James River with John Smith in 1607 , on which the first English colony was founded with Jamestown .

In 1608 Poole and Welden sailed with the Paul to Bear Island, where a second English ship, the Dragon , soon appeared. Around a thousand walruses were hunted and a few young animals were taken with them, one of which was brought to King James I. In the following, Poole and Welden also brought two young polar bears with them to England, which were shown publicly in Paris Garden for a long time.

Travels to Svalbard for the Muscovy Company

Svalbard was discovered in 1596 by the Dutchman Willem Barents while looking for a northeast passage to East Asia. The next visitor was Henry Hudson , who sailed the Greenland Sea in 1607 , sighted the Greenland coast and finally came across the west coast of Svalbard. He explored several fjords and reported on his return of the abundance of whales in these waters .

Thomas Smythe (1558-1625) and other gentlemen from the Muscovy Company then equipped the 70-ton barque Amity for further exploration of a trade route across the North Pole. They put the command of the ship and the crew of 14 men and a cabin boy over to Jonas Poole, who was meanwhile experienced with the conditions in the Arctic. In accordance with the Company's instructions, he sailed north from Bear Island. The ship passed the North Cape on May 2nd and reached the latitude of Bear Island on May 6th without being able to approach it, as an ice barrier blocked the way. On May 16, Poole met the Svalbard coast. He named the first fjord he found Hornsund after a piece of reindeer antler that his men found on land. For the next few weeks he sailed north on the west coast of Svalbard. The mild weather gave him hope of reaching the North Pole, but at latitude 79 ° 50 ′ north he reached the northernmost point of his journey on the pack ice border. By then he had named a number of geographical objects. Some names have survived in Norwegian translation to this day, e.g. B. that of the large fjords Bellsund and Isfjord , while its names for the Kongsfjord (Deere Sound) or the Krossfjord (Close-Cove) were later replaced. The cross after which the Krossfjord is named, however, was set up by Poole on its bank.

In addition to geographical discoveries, Svalbard's economic potential - he called it "Greenland" - was at the center of Poole's interest. But he could not hunt the numerous whales himself - only the Basques understood that at that time . The men shot several polar bears and reindeer, hunted walruses and recovered the blubber of a stranded whale and a 1.70 m long tooth of a narwhal . Coal was found in the Kongsfjord. After the trip, Poole published a list of the sighted animal species.

In 1611 the Muscovy Company sent two ships to Svalbard, the Marie Margaret (150 tons) and the Elizabeth (60 tons). As the captain of the Elizabeth , Poole received instructions to bring both ships into the whale-rich waters of Svalbard. On board the Marie Margaret , led by Bennet, were six Basque whalers from Saint-Jean-de-Luz . Poole should also practice whaling a little , but then continue his exploration of Svalbard towards the North Pole. Another question to be answered was whether the lands found might be inhabited.

On April 11, the two ships left Blackwall , and after a temporary separation, they anchored in Ebeltofthamna in the Krossfjord on May 29. That year there was a lot of ice in all the fjords and in the open sea. While the Marie Margaret was hunting whales and walruses, Poole tried in vain to get further north on the coast. Eventually he began to circumvent the ice southwest and came within sight of Greenland at 74 degrees north . He sailed back and reached Bear Island on June 29th. On July 12, the men killed 200 walruses and processed them over the next ten days. On the north coast of the island, they met sailors from the Marie Margaret and learned of her shipwreck in Forlandsund. When Poole was about to take over the cargo of Marie Margaret on August 7, the Elizabeth capsized , whereby Poole, who was below deck, was only able to save himself and suffered several broken bones. Eventually the crews of both ships were picked up by Thomas Marmaduke from Hull , who was on a walrus hunt with his ship Hopewell .

In 1612 the Muscovy Company sent Poole on his third voyage to Svalbard in two ships, named Whale and Seahorse . The aim of the trip was solely to hunt whales and walruses. Nothing is known of any further geographical discoveries. This year the Company's ships were not alone. Dutch and Basque whalers were also there. The trip was a commercial success as it managed to kill 13 whales.

Shortly after his return, Jonas Poole was murdered near London. The headland Poolepynten on the island of Prins Karls Forland is named after him today.

Fonts

  • Divers Voyages to Cherie Iland, in the yeeres 1604, 1605 , 1606, 1608, 1609. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas : His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIII, pp. 265-291 (English).
  • A Voyage set forth by the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith, and the rest of the Muscovie Company, to Cherry Iland: and for a further Discoverie to bee made towards the North-Pole, for the likelihood of a Trade or a passage that way, in a Ship called the Amitie, of burthen seventie tunnes; in which I Jonas Poole was Master, having foureteene Men and one Boy: AD 1610. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas: His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIV, pp. 1-23 (English).
  • A briefe Declaration of this my Voyage of discovery to Greenland, and towerds the West of it, as followeth: being set forth by the right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith, Governour of the right Worshipfull Company of new Trades, & c. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas: His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIV, pp. 34-41 (English).
  • A Relation written by Jonas Poole of a Voyage to Greenland, in the yeere 1612, with two ships, the on calles the Whale; the other the Sea-horse, set out by the Right Worshipful the Muscovie Merchants. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas: His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIV, pp. 41-47 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frigga Kruse: Frozen Assets: British mining, exploration, and geopolitics on Spitsbergen, 1904–53 (=  Circumpolar Studies . Volume 9 ). University of Groningen, Groningen 2013, ISBN 978-94-91431-33-3 , p. 41 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Jonas Poole: Divers Voyages to Cherie Iland, in the yeeres 1604. 1605. 1606. 1608. 1609. , pp. 265-269 (English).
  3. ↑ Jonas Poole: Divers Voyages to Cherie Iland, in the yeeres 1604. 1605. 1606. 1608. 1609. , pp. 269-272 (English).
  4. ^ Jonas Poole: Divers Voyages to Cherie Iland, in the yeeres 1604. 1605. 1606. 1608. 1609. , pp. 272-275 (English).
  5. ^ Douglas Hunter: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World . Bloomsbury Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-60819-098-0 , pp. 119 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ J. Hamel: Tradescant the Elder 1618 in Russia. Trade between England and Russia in its genesis. Review of some of the older trips up north . Historical contributions are communicated by the Kaiserl. Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Eggers (St. Petersburg) and Voss (Leipzig), 1847, p. 214 (English).
  7. ↑ Jonas Poole: A Voyage set forth by the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith, and the rest of the Muscovie Company, to Cherry Iland: and for a further Discoverie to bee made towards the North-Pole, for the likelihood of a Trade or a passage that way, in a Ship called the Amitie, of burthen seventie tunnes; in the which I Jonas Poole was Master, having foureteene Men and one Boy: AD 1610. pp. 1-23 (English).
  8. ↑ Jonas Poole: A letter note what Beasts, Fowles, and Fishes were seene in this Land. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas: His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIV, p. 23 (English).
  9. ^ A Commission for Jonas Poole our Servant, appointed Master of a small Barke called the Elizabeth, for fiftie tunnes burthen, for Discoverie to the Northward of Greenland, given the last day of March 1611. In: Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas: His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and Others (1625). Reprint: J. MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow (1905-1907), Volume XIV, pp. 24-29 (English).
  10. ↑ Jonas Poole: A briefe Declaration of this my Voyage of discovery to Greenland, and towerds the West of it, as followeth: being set forth by the right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith, Governour of the right Worshipfull Company of new Trades, & c. Pp. 34-41 (English).
  11. ↑ Jonas Poole: A Relation written by Jonas Poole of a Voyage to Greenland, in the yeere 1612, with two ships, the on calles the Whale; the other the Sea-horse, set out by the Right Worshipful the Muscovie Merchants. Pp. 41-47 (English).
  12. ↑ Poolepynten . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).

Web links

Wikisource: Poole, Jonas (DNB00)  - Dictionary of National Biography , 1885–1900, Volume 46, p. 98. (English)
personal data
SURNAME Poole, Jonas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English seal hunter and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 1566
DATE OF DEATH 1612
Place of death between Ratcliff and London