Note 23 — INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The former of these two expeditions was in the year 1568, when James Bassendine, James Woodcocke, and Richard Browne were appointed to undertake a voyage of discovery along the northern coast of Russia, “from the river Pechora to the eastwards”. Of this undertaking no memorial appears to be extant, except the “Commission” issued to the adventurers; so that it is impossible to say what its success was. But the instructions contained in that Commission are in themselves of so interesting a character, as showing in a precise and definite form the extent of the knowledge of the Arctic Ocean to the east of the White Sea, possessed by the English at a date mounting up to nearly three centuries from the present time, that no apology will be necessary for here reprinting it from the pages of Hakluyt.23 It must be premised that the date attributed by that author to this document is 1588; which is, however, clearly a misprint. For, in the first place, it was in 1568 (not 1588) that Thomas Randolph, by whom the Commission was signed only a few days after his arrival in Russia,24 was appointed ambassador to that country, he having in the following year returned to England;25 while in the year 1588 it was Dr. Giles Fletcher who was our ambassador.26 And, secondly, this Commission, though appearing to bear the latter date, is placed by Hakluyt in chronological order among the documents of the year 1568.