Robert Bylot
Robert Bylot (fl. 1610–1616) was an English
Voyages
Robert Bylot
First voyage, 1610–1611
Bylot was
Later there was a mutiny in which Hudson, his son and several sailors were set adrift in an open boat in James Bay. It was due to Bylot's navigational skills that Discovery was able to return from the Arctic safely; Hudson and his party were never seen again.[2] Upon return to England, Bylot was tried as a mutineer but was pardoned.
Second voyage, 1612–1613
Bylot returned to Hudson Bay in 1612 with
Northwest Passage
First voyage, 1615
In 1615, the Muscovy Company hired Bylot to find the Northwest Passage as captain of Discovery. William Baffin was the pilot. They sailed west from Hudson Strait and were blocked by ice at Frozen Strait.[4]
Second voyage, 1616
The following year, the Muscovy Company again hired Bylot and Baffin to continue to search for the Northwest Passage. The voyage resulted in several notable achievements. First was the circumnavigation and mapping of what is now called Baffin Bay. Second was the discovery of Smith Sound, by which the North Pole would eventually be reached. Third was the discovery of Lancaster Sound, through which the Northwest Passage would eventually be found three centuries later.[5]
Legacy
Bylot and Baffin's work in Baffin Bay was doubted by cartographers back in England. As late as 1812, some charts of the area only showed a dotted bulge with the words: "Baffin's Bay according to the relation of W. Baffin in 1616, but not now believed."[5]
When the bay was "rediscovered" by Sir John Ross in 1818, the records of the Bylot–Baffin voyage proved extremely accurate. In England, almost total credit for the discovery was given to Baffin, and Bylot was virtually ignored.[5] Historian Farley Mowat speculated two possible reasons for this: Bylot's lack of education and lower position relative to Baffin in English society, and his involvement in the mutiny during Hudson's expedition.[5]
References
Footnotes
- ^ Mowat 1973, p. 56.
- ^ a b Mowat 1973, p. 36.
- ^ Explore North. "Biography of Robert Bylot".
- ^ Rundall 1849, p. 106–131.
- ^ a b c d Mowat 1973, p. 43.
Bibliography
- ISBN 9780771066214.
- Neatby, L. H. (1979) [1966]. "Bylot, Robert". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- Rundall, Thomas (1849). Narratives of voyages towards the North-west, in search of a passage to Cathay and India. 1496 to 1631. London: Hakluyt Society.