King of Spain's best ships, forty-four merchant
ships, and brought home much booty.

Nor was maritime discovery neglected. The planting of new colonies
began, for the English people had already begun to swarm. In 1578, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert planted Newfoundland for the Queen. In 1584, Sir
Waiter Raleigh planted the first settlement in Virginia. Nor was the
North-west passage neglected; for in 1580, Captain Pett (a name famous
on the Thames) set sail from Harwich in the George, accompanied by
Captain Jackman in the William. They reached the ice in the North Sea,
but were compelled to return without effecting their purpose! Will it
be believed that the George was only of 40 tons, and that its crew
consisted of nine men and a boy; and that the William was of 20 tons,
with five men and a boy? The wonder is that these little vessels could
resist the terrible icefields, and return to England again with their
hardy crews.

Then in 1585, another of our adventurous sailors, John Davis, of
Sandridge on the Dart, set sail with two barks, the Sunshine and the
Moonshine, of 50 and 35 tons respectively, and discovered in the far
North-west the Strait which now bears his name. He was driven back by
the ice; but, undeterred by his failure, he set out on a second, and
then on a third voyage of discovery in the two following years. But he
never succeeded in discovering the North-west passage. It all reads
like a mystery--these repeated, determined, and energetic attempts to
discover a new way of reaching the fabled region of Cathay.

In these early times the Dutch were not unworthy rivals of the English.
After they had succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke and achieved
their independence, they became one of the most formidable of maritime
powers. In the course of another century Holland possessed more
colonies, and had a larger share of the carrying trade of the world
than Britain. It was natural therefore that the Dutch republic should
take an interest in the North-west passage; and the Dutch sailors, by
their enterprise and bravery, were among the first to point the way to
Arctic discovery. Barents and Behring, above all others, proved the
courage and determination of their heroic ancestors.

The romance of the East India Company begins with an advertisement in
the London Gazette of 1599, towards the end of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. As with all other enterprises of the nation, it was
established by private mea