Linschotens nordenkart, 1601 (12067624705)

Cornelis Corneliszoon Nay was a Dutch navigator and explorer who attempted to discover the

Northeast Passage The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP) is the Arctic shipping routes, shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islands o ...

from Europe to the Far East. Nay hailed from

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In June 1594, he set out from the Dutch island of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of ...

with a small fleet (consisting of three ships and a fishing

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

) to discover the

. Nay commanded the ship ''De Zwaan''. He sailed together with Brandt Tetgales commanding the ''Mercurius''. Fellow explorer

Willem Barentsz Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch Republic, Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northern Sea Route, N ...

, who commanded the third ship also called ''Mercurius'' (as well as the fishing boat), followed the coast of

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island ...

, but his progress was halted by ice. Nay and Tetgales were more successful: they passed through the Yugor Strait and reached the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipela ...

. Nay's success led to a second expedition the following year (1595) with a larger fleet, consisting of seven ships. The expedition was under the command of Nay. (something to which Barentsz was strongly opposed). Having left too late in the season, the explorers were soon stopped by the ice. Barentsz wanted to stop for the winter and continue in the spring, but Nay decided that the fleet should return home. The Dutch government considered the expedition a total flop and refused to fund a new expedition. Nevertheless, a third attempt was made the next year, in 1596 - this time without Nay. This was the famed expedition during which Barentsz and his men managed to survive the winter on Novaya Zemlya, though Barentsz died on the way home. Although Nay and Barentsz failed to find the passage to the East by way of the

Arctic Sea The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

, the Dutch journeys of exploration in the Arctic paved the way for large-scale whale and seal fishery which greatly enriched the Netherlands during the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and art an ...

Sources

External links

Bij noorden om: Olivier Brunel en de doorvaart naar China en Cathay in de zestiende eeuw (Marijke Spies)

Hollandia, zeilend door de historie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nay, Cornelis 16th-century Dutch explorers Dutch polar explorers Explorers of the Arctic People from Enkhuizen