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Assembly Language Programming ARM Cortex M3 1st
Edition Mahout Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Mahout, Vincent
ISBN(s): 9783420120053, 1848213298
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 4.06 MB
Year: 2013
Language: english
Assembly Language Programming
Assembly Language
Programming
ARM Cortex-M3

Vincent Mahout
First published 2012 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers,
or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the
CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the
undermentioned address:

ISTE Ltd John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

27-37 St George’s Road 111 River Street
London SW19 4EU Hoboken, NJ 07030
UK USA

www.iste.co.uk www.wiley.com

© ISTE Ltd 2012

The rights of Vincent Mahout to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mahout, Vincent.
Assembly language programming : ARM Cortex-M3 / Vincent Mahout.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84821-329-6
1. Embedded computer systems. 2. Microprocessors. 3. Assembler language (Computer program
language) I. Title.
TK7895.E42M34 2012
005.2--dc23
2011049418

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-84821-329-6

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd., Croydon, Surrey CR0 4YY
 Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1. Overview of Cortex-M3 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1. Assembly language versus the assembler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2. The world of ARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1. Cortex-M3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.2. The Cortex-M3 core in STM32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 2. The Core of Cortex-M3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.1. Modes, privileges and states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2. Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.1. Registers R0 to R12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.2. The R13 register, also known as SP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.3. The R14 register, also known as LR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.4. The R15 or PC register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.5. The xPSR register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 3. The Proper Use of Assembly Directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.1. The concept of the directive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1.1. Typographic conventions and use of symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.2. Structure of a program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2.1. The AREA sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.3. A section of code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.3.1. Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.3.2. Mnemonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3.3. Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.3.4. Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3.5. Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
vi Assembly Language Programming

3.4. The data section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3.4.1. Simple reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.4.2. Reservation with initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.3. Data initialization: the devil is in the details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5. Is that all? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5.1. Memory management directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.5.2. Project management directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.5.3. Various and varied directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 4. Operands of Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4.1. The constant and renaming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2. Operands for common instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2.1. Use of registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2.2. The immediate operand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3. Memory access operands: addressing modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3.1. The pointer concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.3.2. Addressing modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 5. Instruction Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.1. Reading guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.1.1. List of possible “condition” suffixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.2. Arithmetic instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.3. Logical and bit manipulation instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.4. Internal transfer instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.5. Test instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.6. Branch instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.7. Load/store instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.7.1. Simple transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.7.2. Multiple transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.7.3. Access to the system stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.8. “System” instructions and others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Chapter 6. Algorithmic and Data Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

6.1. Flowchart versus algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.2. Alternative structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.2.1. Simple (or shortened) alternative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.2.2. Complete alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.2.3. Special case of the alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.2.4. Multiple choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.3. Iterative structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
6.3.1. The Repeat…Until loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
 Table of Contents vii

6.3.2. The While…Do loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

6.3.3. The For… loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.4. Compound conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.4.1. Alternative with AND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.4.2. Iteration with AND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.4.3. Alternative with OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.4.4. Iteration with OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.5. Data structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.5.1. Table in one dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.5.2. Tables in multiple dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.5.3. Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.5.4. Non-dimensional table, character string. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.5.5. Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.5.6. Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 7. Internal Modularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

7.1. Detailing the concept of procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.1.1. Simple call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.1.2. Nested calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.1.3. “Red wire” example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7.2. Procedure arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.2.1. Usefulness of arguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.2.2. Arguments by value and by reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.2.3. Passing arguments by general registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.2.4. Passing arguments by a stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.2.5. Passing arguments by the system stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.2.6. On the art of mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.3. Local data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.3.1. Simple reservation of local data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
7.3.2. Using a chained list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 8. Managing Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

8.1. What happens during Reset?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
8.2. Possible exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
8.2.1. Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
8.2.2. Interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.3. Priority management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
8.3.1. Priority levels and sublevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
8.3.2. The nested mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
8.4. Entry and return in exception processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.4.1. Re-routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.4.2. Return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
viii Assembly Language Programming

8.4.3. “Tail-chaining” and “Late-arriving” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

8.4.4. Other useful registers for the NVIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 9. From Listing to Executable: External Modularity . . . . . . . . 173

9.1. External modularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
9.1.1. Generic example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
9.1.2. Assembly by pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
9.1.3. Advantages of assembly by pieces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
9.1.4. External symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
9.1.5. IMPORT and EXPORT directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
9.2. The role of the assembler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
9.2.1. Files produced by the assembler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
9.2.2. Placement counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
9.2.3. First pass: symbol table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
9.2.4. Second pass: translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
9.2.5. Relocation table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
9.3. The role of the linker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
9.3.1. Functioning principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
9.3.2. The products of the linker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
9.4. The loader and the debugging unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Appendix A. Instruction Set – Alphabetical List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Appendix B. The SysTick Timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Appendix C. Example of a “Bootstrap” File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Appendix D. The GNU Assembler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
 Preface

To be able to plan and write this type of book, you need a good work
environment. In my case, I was able to benefit from the best working conditions for
this enterprise. In terms of infrastructure and material, the Institut National de
Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse, France (Toulouse National Institute of Applied
Sciences), and in particular their Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
has never hesitated to invest in computer systems engineering, so that the training of
our future engineers will always be able to keep up with rapid technological change.
I express my profound gratitude to this institution. These systems would not have
amounted to much unless, over the years, there was an educational and technical
team bringing their enthusiasm and dynamism to implement them. The following
pages also contain the hard work of Pascal Acco, Guillaume Auriol, Pierre-
Emmanuel Hladik, Didier Le Botlan, José Martin, Sébastien Di Mercurio and
Thierry Rocacher. I thank them sincerely. Two final respectful and friendly nods go
to François Pompignac and Bernard Fauré who, before retirement, did much work to
fertilize this now thriving land.

When writing a book on the assembly language of a μprocessor, we know in

advance that it will not register in posterity. By its very nature, an assembly
language has the same life expectancy as the processor it supports – perhaps 20
years at best. What’s more, this type of programming is obviously not used for the
development of software projects and so is of little consequence.

Assembly language programming is, however, an indispensable step in

understanding the internal functioning of a μprocessor. This is why it is still widely
taught in industrial computer training, and particularly in training engineers. It is
clear that a good theoretical knowledge of a particular assembly language, combined
with a practical training phase, allows for easier learning of other programming
languages, whether they are the assembly languages of other processors or
high-level languages.
x Assembly Language Programming

Thus, this book intends to dissect programming in the assembly language of a

μcontroller constructed around an ARM Cortex-M3 core. The choice of this
μcontroller rests on the desire to explain:
– a 32-bit processor: the choice of the ARM designer is essential in the 32-bit
world. This type of processor occupies, for example, 95% of the market in the
domain of mobile telephony;
– a processor of recent conception and architecture: the first licenses for
Cortex-M3 are dated October 2004 and those for STMicroelectronics’ 32-bit flash
microcontrollers (STM32) were given in June 2007;
– a processor adapted to the embedded world, based on the observation that 80%
of software development activity involves embedded systems.

This book had been written to be as generic as possible. It is certainly based on

the architecture and instruction set of Cortex-M3, but with the intention of
explaining the basic mechanisms of assembly language programming. In this way
we can use systematically modular programming to show how basic algorithmic
structures can be programmed in assembly language. This book also presents many
illustrative examples, meaning it is also practical.
 Chapter 1

Overview of Cortex-M3 Architecture

A computer program is usually defined as a sequence of instructions that act on

data and return an expected result. In a high-level language, the sequence and data
are described in a symbolic, abstract form. It is necessary to use a compiler to
translate them into machine language instructions, which are only understood by the
processor. Assembly language is directly derived from machine language, so when
programming in assembly language the programmer is forced to see things from the
point of view of the processor.

1.1. Assembly language versus the assembler

When executing a program, a computer processor obeys a series of numerical

orders – instructions – that are read from memory: these instructions are encoded in
binary form. The collection of instructions in memory makes up the code of the
program being executed. Other areas of memory are also used by the processor
during the execution of code: an area containing the data (variables, constants) and
an area containing the system stack, which is used by the processor to store, for
example, local data when calling subprograms. Code, data and the system stack are
the three fundamental elements of all programs during their execution.

It is possible to program directly in machine language – that is, to write the bit
instruction sequences in machine language. In practice, however, this is not realistic,
even when using a more condensed script thanks to hexadecimal notation
(numeration in base 16) for the instructions. It is therefore preferable to use an
assembly language. This allows code to be represented by symbolic names, adapted
to human understanding, which correspond to instructions in machine language.
2 Assembly Language Programming

Assembly language also allows the programmer to reserve the space needed for the
system stack and data areas by giving them an initial value, if necessary. Take this
example of an instruction to copy in the no. 1 general register of a processor with the
value 170 (AA in hexadecimal). Here it is, written using the syntax of assembly
language studied here:

EXAMPLE 1.1.– A single line of code

MOV R1, #0xAA ; copy (move) value 170 (AA in hexa)

; in register R1

The same instruction, represented in machine language (hexadecimal base), is

written: E3A010AA. The symbolic name MOV takes the name mnemonic. R1 and
#0xAA are the arguments of the instruction. The semicolon indicates the start of a
commentary that ends with the current line.

The assembler is a program responsible for translating the program from the
assembly language in which it is written into machine language. Upon input, it
receives a source file that is written in assembly language, and creates two files: the
object file containing machine language (and the necessary information for the
fabrication of an executable program), and the printout assembly file containing a
report that details the work carried out by the assembler.

This book deals with assembly language in general, but focuses on processors
based on Cortex-M3, as set out by Advanced RISC Machines (abbreviated to ARM).
Different designers (Freescale, STmicroelectronics, NXP, etc.) then integrate this
structure into μcontrollers containing memory and multiple peripherals as well as
this processor core. Part of the documentation regarding this processor core is
available in PDF format at www.arm.com.

1.2. The world of ARM

ARM does not directly produce semiconductors, but rather provides licenses for
microprocessor cores with 32-bit RISC architecture.

This Cambridge-based company essentially aims to provide semiconductors for

the embedded systems market. To give an idea of the position of this designer on
this market, 95% of mobile telephones in 2008 were made with ARM-based
 Overview of Cortex-M3 Architecture 3

processors. It should also be noted that the A4 and A5 processors, produced by

Apple and used in their iPad graphics tablets, are based on ARM Cortex-Type A
processors.

Since 1985 and its first architecture (named ARM1), ARM architectures have
certainly changed. The architecture upon which Cortex-M3 is based is called
ARMV7-M.

ARM’s collection is structured around four main families of products, for which
many licenses have been filed1:
– the ARM 7 family (173 licenses);
– the ARM 9 family (269 licenses);
– the ARM 10 family (76 licenses);
– the Cortex-A family (33 licenses);
– the Cortex-M family (51 licenses, of which 23 are for the M3 version);
– the Cortex-R family (17 licenses).

1.2.1. Cortex-M3

Cortex-M3 targets, in particular, embedded systems requiring significant

resources (32-bit), but for these the costs (production, development and
consumption) must be reduced. The first overall illustration (see Figure 1.1) of
Cortex-M3, as found in the technical documentation for this product, is a functional
diagram. Although simple in its representation, every block could perplex a novice.
Without knowing all of the details and all of the subtleties, it is useful to have an
idea of the main functions performed by different blocks of the architecture.

1.2.1.1. Executive units

These units make up the main part of the processor – the part that is ultimately
necessary to run applications and to perform them or their software functions:
– CM3CORE: This is the core itself. This unit contains different registers, all of
the read/write instruction mechanisms and data in the form of the arithmetical and

1 Numbers from the third quarter of 2010.

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 At length, in 1585, Queen Elizabeth determined on open hostility,
and giving Drake his first royal commission, and an ample fleet and
land force, he started on his successful expedition to the Spanish
main, when town after town fell into his hands, and the Spanish
settlements experienced most poignantly ravages similar to those
which they had so abundantly for nearly a century inflicted upon the
natives of those regions. Of his subsequent exploits in European
waters this is no place for the recital; but in 1595 he prevailed upon
Elizabeth to put him, in connection with his old patron and
companion, Sir John Hawkins, once more in command of another
expedition to Spanish America. They sailed from Plymouth in August,
with the purpose of seizing Nombre de Dios, and then of marching
his twenty-five hundred troops to Panama to capture the treasure
which took that route from Peru on its way to Spain. The expedition
was a melancholy failure. The Spaniards were forewarned. Porto Rico
successfully resisted the English in the first place, and the attack on
Panama was abortive.
Hawkins died, overcome by the reverses; and Drake, struck with a
fever of mortification, sank beneath the fatal influences of the
climate, and died on board his ship early in the following year. His
remains were placed in a leaden casket and sunk off Puerto Cabello,
and there was no failure of suspicions that he had been the victim of
foul play. There are those in the English nation who indulge the hope
that the casket may yet be recovered, and that the remains of the
great English “Dragon” may yet rest beneath the pavement of
Westminster Abbey.

CRITICAL ESSAY ON DRAKE’S BAY.

T
HE question where was the “convenient and fit harbor,” the “fair
and good bay,” which Drake entered on the Pacific coast, and
where he careened and repaired the “Pelican,” is still
undecided, after much discussion by the Californian
geographers, who have now their capital in the city of San Francisco,
—on that matchless land-locked harbor which is entered by the
narrow passage known as the “Golden Gate.” The authorities are not
many, and are not quite in accord.
The narrative of Fletcher, which has been followed in the text,
gives the latitude of this bay as 38° 30′ north. But the briefer
narrative in Hakluyt[153] says: “We came within thirty-eight degrees
towardes the line; in which height it pleased God to send us into a
faire and good bay, with a good wind to enter the same.” Here is a
difference of half a degree. But the text in Hakluyt is supported by a
manuscript marginal note on what seems to be the original drawing
of Dudley’s map, and which is preserved in Munich, where the
language (Italian) is: “This map begins with the port of New Albion,
in longitude 237° and latitude 38°, discovered by the Englishman
Drake in 1579 or thereabout, as above,—a convenient place to water
and to collect other refreshment.” The manuscript has a note, which
the engraving has not, “Porto bonissimo.” But on the coast farther
north, where the same author speaks of the cold, he says: “Drake
returned to 38½ degrees, and the weather was temperate, and he
called it New Albion.” The Arcano del Mare, in which these maps are
printed, was not published till 1646. But Dudley, the author, was
active in maritime affairs in England in all the last ten years of the
sixteenth century. He was the son of Elizabeth’s Earl of Leicester; he
was brother-in-law of Cavendish, administered on his estate, and
must have seen his chart.[154] Hakluyt had wished to publish his
narrative of Drake in his edition of 1589; but this account by Pretty
was not regularly embodied by Hakluyt in his great work till 1600.
[155] The World Encompassed was not printed until 1628, but is from
Fletcher’s contemporary notes. Dudley himself prepared an
expedition to the South Seas. He may be spoken of as a valuable
contemporary authority. The English Government did not publish
such discoveries. But Cavendish would have had Drake’s charts.
Now the opening of the Golden Gate is in latitude 37° 46′: it
exactly corresponds with “within 38° N.” of one account, but it lacks
44′ of the 38° 30′ of the other two. The discrepancy is not so
important when we find that in 38° 30′ there is no harbor and no
 bay, good or bad. The voyager
must come down the coast as far
as 38° 15′ to find Bodega Bay,
which has, accordingly, been
assigned by some conjectures as
Sir Francis’ resting-place. Just
south of this, near the line of
38°, is an open roadstead which
has some advocates in this
discussion. Between this bay and
the Golden Gate, the point of Los
Reyes runs out southwest. East
of this, and northwest of the
Golden Gate, is another open
roadstead, facing the south,
which for many years, long
before the discovery of
MODERN MAP. Californian gold, had been known
This sketch will indicate the relative as Jack’s Bay, or Sir Francis
positions of the several bays. Drake’s Bay. One of these four
bays is chosen by one or another
geographer as the fair and good harbor into which a special
providence drove Drake by a favorable wind.
In this discussion, the map of Dudley, whose information was
nearly at first-hand, plays an important part. His representation of
Drake’s bay—a sort of bottle-shaped harbor—so far resembles the
double bay of San Francisco, that it would probably decide the
question, but that, unfortunately, he gives two such bays. His two
maps, also, do not very closely resemble each other. It becomes
necessary to suppose that one of his bays was that which we know
as Bodega Bay, or that both are drawn from the imagination. The
map of Hondius gives a chart of Drake’s bay,[156] which has,
unfortunately, no representation to any bay on the coast, and is
purely imaginary.
 The discussion is complicated
from the fact, that, if Drake
entered San Francisco Bay, the
English Government kept its
secret so well that they forgot it
themselves. What is curious is,
that for two centuries the
Spaniards were seeking at
intervals for “Port St. Francisco,”
and did not find it. In 1603,
Viscaino put into a bay which he
called Port St. Francisco; but it is
urged[157] that Viscaino really
entered the Bay of Monterey. The
Spaniards by this time were
eagerly seeking a bay of refuge
for their Asiatic squadrons.[158]
They knew that Drake had
repaired a vessel somewhere.
Viscaino passed “Port St. VISCAINO’S MAP.
Francisco” in a gale, and
Carta de los
returned into it, according to the Sketch from
reconocimentos hechos en 1602 por el
narrative. It was not until 1769 Capitan Sebastian Vizcaino formada por
that a land party of Franciscan los Planos que hizo el misno durante su
monks finally discovered to Spain comision, in an atlas in the State
the magnificent Bay of San Department at Washington.
Francisco. One theory is that no
one ever discovered it before; but a contemporary manuscript
account of the discovery, preserved in the British Museum, says
distinctly that this famous port, according to the signs given by
history, is called San Francisco. It is distant from St. Diego two
hundred leagues, and is to be found in 38½°. “They say it is the best
bay they have discovered; and while it might shelter all the navies in
Europe, it is entered by a straight of three leagues, and surrounded
with mountains which make the waters tranquil.”
 COAST OF NOVA ALBION, FROM DUDLEY’S
ARCANO DEL MARE.

The reader must understand that all the maps had a port of Sir
Francis, or a Puerto San Francisco, or some similar name. One
English map bravely says,[159] “Port Sr. Francis Drake, not St.
Francisco,” for the bay discovered in 1770.
 So soon as this discovery was known in
England, Captain Burney claimed it as
Drake’s bay; in America, Davidson, in the
Coast Pilot, and Mr. Greenhow give the same
decision.
Probably the early maps must be taken
as the best and decisive authorities.
The reader has before him Dudley’s two
maps. Of these, Dudley says that California
was drawn by an English pilot. In his text
JEFFERYS’ SKETCH.
describing the shore, he goes no further
than Cape St. Lucas, and then crosses to
California, which suggests that he is following Cavendish, who took
this course, and who was Dudley’s near kinsman. On the margin in
the manuscript of Dudley’s map at Munich, he calls Drake’s bay
“Porto bonissimo,” “the best of harbors,”—an expression which
certainly does not belong to Jack’s Bay. In both maps, also, it is
represented as the southern of the two deep bays, of which the
northern appears to correspond to Bodega Bay, and the southern to
San Francisco Bay. On the larger of the two maps Drake’s bay is
placed in the same relation to Monterey as is held by San Francisco.
In the curious “new
map” mentioned by
Shakespeare in “Twelfth
Night,”[160] the spot
where Drake landed is
indicated. The names, as
one reads southward
from the parallel of 40°,
are C. Roxo, Sierra de los
Pescadores,—Tierra de
Paxaros R. Grande, which DUDLEY’S CARTA PRIMA.
seems to be Drake’s
[This is a section from a marginal map
harbor,—Rio Hermoso, C. on the “Carta Prima” of Dudley’s Arcano
Frio, Sierra Nevada, C. del Mare, vol. i. lib. 2, p.19. Key:—
Blanco, Cicuic, Playa, 1. C. Arboledo.
Tiguer. Cicuic and Tiguer 2. Ensa Larga.
are evidently borrowed 3. Po. di Don Gasper.
4. R. Salado.
from Ciceyé and Tiguex
5. Po. dell Nuovo Albion scoperto dal
of Coronado’s narrative.
Drago Cno. Inglese.
The same position is
6. Enseada
given to Tiguex in
7. Po. di Anonaebo.
Hondius’s map. Of this
8. Po. di Moneerei.
the scale is so small that 9. C. S. Barbera.
Drake’s Bay could not be 10. C. S. Agostino.
determined from it, were 11. Quivira Ro.
it not for the issuing of 12. Nuova Albione.—Ed.]
the dotted line showing
his homeward track.
The Spanish geographers are at work on this subject, with full
understanding of the points involved in the problem. It will not be
long, probably, before the question is decided. This writer does not
hesitate to say that he believes it will prove that Drake repaired his
ship in San Francisco Bay, and that this bay took its name not
indirectly from Francis of Assisi, but from the bold English explorer
who had struck terror to all the western coast of New Spain.[161]

EDITORIAL NOTES

ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.

F
OR the authoritative accounts of William Hawkins’s Brazilian
voyages, we must go to Hakluyt’s third volume, as published in
1600. In it likewise we shall find the account of the West Indian
voyages of Sir John Hawkins in 1562, 1564, and 1567-68. We
may also read them in the usual compilations drawn from Hakluyt,
among the latest of which is The Elizabethan Seamen of Payne, who
remarks that “nothing which Englishmen had done in connection with
America previous to those voyages had any result worth recording.”
Lowndes, in his Bibliographer’s Manual, gives an edition, in 1569
(London), of John Hawkins’s True Declaration of the Troublesome
Voyages to the Partes of Guynea and the West Indies; but Sabin
(Dictionary, viii. 157) thinks it was only printed in Hakluyt.
Fox Browne, in his English
Merchants, chap. viii., shows the
relations which Hawkins in his
day established with British
commerce.
The Observations of Sir A SKETCH OF HONDIUS’S MAP.
Richard Hawkins, Knight, in his
A sketch of a part of Hondius’s map of
Vojage jnto the South Sea, Anno the world, on which Drake’s route is
Domini 1593, was printed in marked; it is taken from a fac-simile in
London in 1622,[162] and was the Hakluyt Society’s edition of The
reprinted in 1847 by the Hakluyt World Encompassed.
Society, under the editing of Key:—
Captain C. R. D. Bethune. The 1. Nova Albion, sic a Francisco Draco,
1579, dicta qui bis ab incolis eodem die
book gives us some useful notes diademate redimitus,
upon the aborigines of Florida eandem Reginæ Angliæ consecravit.
and the regions farther south. 2. Hic præ ingenti frigore in Austrum
The most convenient reverti coactus est lat. 42 die 5 Junii.
3. Cozones.
embodiment, however, of the 4. [Drake’s Bay].
ancient records and of modern 5. Tigues.
criticisms upon all the exploits of 6. I. de passao.
the Hawkinses is in the volume 7. California.
8. San Miguel.
of the Hakluyt Society for 1878, 9. Damantes.
—The Hawkins’ Voyages during 10. Mare Vermeo.
11. S. Thomas.
the Reigns of Henry VIII., Queen
Elizabeth, and James I., edited, with an Introduction, by the careful
hand of Clements R. Markham. Here we have not only what Hakluyt
has preserved for us, but the Observations of 1622, and other
journals and narratives.
For Drake the material is more
abundant. Regarding his famous voyage
round the world in 1577-80, the earliest
statement in print is one said to be by
Francis Pretty, and called The famous
Voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the
South Sea ... begun in the yeare of our
PORTUS NOVÆ Lord 1577.[163] Hakluyt had this, and
ALBIONIS. says in effect, in the Introduction of his
This is an outline sketch of the 1589 edition, that the friends of Drake
map of Drake’s Bay given in who did not wish their publications
the margin of Hondius’s map, forestalled, had wished him to omit it.
but which is omitted in the Hakluyt, however, seems to have
reproduction of that map in the
privately printed it, in six pages, and
Hakluyt Society’s edition of The
World Encompassed. The map these, without pagination, are found in
is rare, and our sketch follows some, if not all, copies of the 1589
another belonging to Mr. volume, inserted after page 643.[164] It
Charles Deane.
finally publicly appeared in his third
Key:—1. A group of Indian volume of the 1598-1600 edition. A
houses. more authoritative publication, however,
2. Place of the ship.
3. Portus Novæ Albionis. was The World Encompassed by Sir
4. A group of the English Francis Drake, carefully Collected out of
conferring with the natives. the notes of Master Francis Fletcher,
A fac-simile of the original Preacher in this imployment, and divers
engraving is given in Gay’s others his followers, London, 1628.[165]
Popular History of the United [166] and made
States, ii. 577. It has a Latin It was reprinted in 1635,
legend beneath it, which reads: part of Sir Francis Drake revived in 1653.
“The inhabitants of Nova Albion [167] It was again reprinted by the
lament the departure of Drake, Hakluyt Society in 1855, with an
now twice crowned, and by Introduction by W. S. W. Vaux. This and
frequent sacrifices lacerate
themselves.” A curious picture
other accounts of the voyage have also
representing the crowning of found a place in the general collections
Drake is in the 1671 edition of of Hakluyt, Harris, and the Oxford
Montanus, p. 213. Voyages.[168]
A writer in the San Francisco The report of Da Silva mentions that
Evening Bulletin, Oct. 5, 1878,
says that the island in the Drake captured some sea-charts from
sketch is misplaced, if Bodega the Spaniards during this voyage; and
Bay is intended, being below Kohl (Catalogue of Maps in Hakluyt, p.
the peninsula; but that, viewed 82) supposes that Drake had with him
from the position assigned to the maps of Mercator and Ortelius. After
Drake’s ship, it seems to be
outside, as drawn. He Drake’s return, Hondius made a map of
maintains that this bay answers the world, in which he tracked both the
all the other conditions of routes of Drake and Cavendish; and of
Fletcher’s description, and that that portion showing New Albion, as well
Hondius’s sketch is confirmed as of his little plan of Drake’s Bay,
by Dudley’s map.
sketches are given herewith. Kohl thinks
(page 84) that Hondius may have used Drake’s own charts in this
little marginal sketch, while the main map has “little to do with
Drake’s own charts.” Hondius, however, is thought to have been living
in England at this time. Molineaux is known to have used Drake’s
reports and perhaps his map, in making his mappemonde of 1600, of
which an outline sketch of a part of the Pacific coast is annexed. This
is the map mentioned by Mr. Hale as supposed to be referred to by
Shakespeare.
For Drake’s expedition of 1585-86,
we have the original account in Latin,
printed at Leyden in 1588,—Expeditio
Francisci Draki,—which should be
accompanied by four large folding maps;
namely, of Cartagena, St. Augustine, San
Domingo, and S. Jacques (Guinea).[169]
An English translation by Thomas Cates
appeared in London the next year
(1589) as A Summarie and true FROM MOLINEAUX’S
Discourse of Sir Francis Drake’s West MAP, 1600.
Indian Voyage, wherein were taken the The Key:—
towns of St. Jago, Sancto Domingo, 1. Nova Albion.
Cartagena, and Saint Augustine.[170] 2. Cabo Mendocino. “It
appeareth by the discoverie of
This first edition seems to have been Francis Gaulle, a Spaniard, in
without maps; but a second edition of the year 1584, that the sea
the same year is sometimes found with betweene the west part of
copies of the Leyden maps, besides a America and the east of Asia
fifth, a mappemonde, showing “The (which hath bene ordinarily set
out as a straight, and named in
famous West Indian Voyadge,” which did most maps the Streight of
not appear in the Leyden edition.[171] Anian) is above 1,200 leagues
The Huth Catalogue, ii. 442, notes a wide at the latitude of 38°, and
that the distance betweene
third edition for the same year.[172] Cape Mendocino and Cape
In 1855, Louis Lacour edited at Paris California, which many maps
a French manuscript upon this 1585-86 and sea-charts make to be
expedition, which is preserved in the 1,200 or 1,300 leagues, is
scarce so much as 600.” [This
National Library at Paris. [173] legend is in the right-hand
The expedition in 1587, by Drake and upper corner of the map. Gali
(or Gaulle), in returning from
Norris, against the Spaniards in Europe,
China in 1583, had struck the
does not fall within our present scheme. California coast at 37° 30´. His
[174] account appeared in
Linschoten, and so was
Of Drake’s last voyage in 1595-96 we
rendered in the English
have his log-book, printed for the first translation of Linschoten, 1598,
time in Kunstmann’s Entdeckung and is given in Hakluyt, vol. iii.
Amerikas in 1859. A manuscript account, (1600) p. 442.]
by Thomas Maynarde, is preserved in 3. R. Grande.
4. C. San Francisco.
the British Museum, which, with a
5. Rio Grande.
Spanish account, “Francis Draque y Juan 6. C. Blanco.
Acquines,”[175] was printed by the 7. C. Blanco.
Hakluyt Society in 1849, under the 8. B. Hermosa.
9. B. San Lorenzo.
editing of W. D. Cooley. 10. California.
Henry Savile’s Libell of Spanish Lies, 11. R. Grande.
giving the earliest English account in 12. S. Francisco.
print, was issued in London in 1596 13. New Mexico.
(Carter-Brown Catalogue, vol. i. no. 14. Cibola.
508), and was also included in Hakluyt’s
third volume in 1600.[176]
Tiele—Mémoire bibliographique (1867), p. 300—says that Hakluyt
lent his account, two years before he published it, to the Dutch
historian Van Meteren, who printed a Dutch version of it at
Amsterdam in 1598.[177]

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

A fac-simile of a copperplate engraving in H. Holland’s Heroologia,
Arnheim, 1620, p. 105,—a book now rare. There is a copy in
Harvard College Library. Cf. also Magazine of American History,
 March, 1883. There is another head by Houbraken in his series of
heads, London, 1813, p. 47.
A library, which is said to have been begun by Drake and kept up
by his descendants at Nutwell Court, Lympstone, Devon, was
recently sold in London. Cf. London Times, March 16, 1883. There
were books in the sale pertaining to America, which were published
early enough to have been collected by Drake himself; but the
rarest of the Americana, of interest to the students of this period,
must rather have been the accumulation of the younger Francis
Drake, the chronicler of his uncle’s exploits. Some of the rare books
mentioned in other chapters of this history are noted as bringing
the following prices: Rich’s Newes from Virginia, £93; Whitaker’s
Good Newes from Virginia, £90, later priced by Quaritch at £105;
Hariot’s New found land of Virginia, £300, later advertised by
Quaritch for £335; Rosier’s True Relation, £301, later marked by
Ouaritch at £335; Declaration of the State of the Colonie and Affairs
in Virginia, £46; De la Warre’s Relation, £26 11s.; Good Speed to
Virginia, £30; Hamor’s True Discourse, £69; New Life of Virginia,
£18 5s., later priced by Ouaritch at £25; True Declaration of the
Estat of the Colonie of Virginia, £80, later priced by Quaritch at
£96.

A kinsman of Drake published at London, in 1626, Sir Francis

Drake revived: calling upon this dull or effeminate age to follow his
noble steps for gold and silver, by this memorable relation of the rare
occurrences (never yet declared to the world) in a third Voyage made
by him to the West Indies in the yeares ‘72 and ‘73, faithfully taken
out of the reporte of Christofer Ceely, Ellis Hixon, and others;
reviewed by Sir Fr. Drake himself, and set forth by Sir Fr. Drake, his
nephew.[178] This edition was reissued in 1628, with the errata
corrected.[179] It was again reissued in 1653, in the first collected
edition of Drake’s voyages, under the title, Sir Francis Drake revived:
four several voyages ... collected out of the notes of the said Sir
Francis Drake, Master Philip Nichols, Master Francis Fletcher, ...
carefully compared together.[180]
 CAVENDISH.
Follows a copperplate engraving in H. Holland’s Heroologia,
Arnheim, 1620, p. 89.

In 1595 a Life of Drake by C. FitzGeffrey was published in London.

[181] Fuller, in his Holy and Prophane State (1642), gives a
characteristic seventeenth-century estimate of Drake, and he knew
some of Drake’s kin.
Samuel Clarke’s Life and Death of Drake was published in London
in 1671.[182] Robert Burton’s English Hero, long a popular book, and
passing through many editions, was first published in 1687 and 1695,
and was translated into German and other foreign tongues. Dr.
Johnson’s Life of Drake has his peculiar flavor. Of the later
biographies, Barrow’s seems to unite best the various details of
Drake’s career.[183]
The voyages of Candish, or Cavendish, can be followed in the
Latin and German of De Bry’s eighth part of his Great Voyages
(1599), and in an abridged form in Hulsius’ part vi. There is no
separate English edition of the account of the 1586-88 voyage,
written by Francis Pretty, who took part in it; but besides the text in
Hakluyt’s third volume (it had been briefly given in the 1589 edition),
it can be found in the later collections of Callender (1766), Harris
(vol. i.), and Kerr (vol. x.); cf. S. Colliber’s Columna Rostrata, or a
Critical History of English Sea Affairs, London, 1727. It was later
reprinted in Dutch, Amsterdam, 1598, and in 1617.[184]

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

This portrait, said to follow the three-quarters likeness in Vaughan’s
print (of which there is a copy in the Lenox Library), is a fac-simile
of a cut in the title of Sir Francis Drake revived, issued in London in
1626, by his nephew, Sir Francis Drake, Baronet; cf. Carter-Brown
Catalogue, ii. 133. Another likeness of a little later date will be
observed in the fac-simile of the Virginia Farrar map, given in
connection with Professor Keen’s paper on “Plowden’s Grant,” in the
present volume. There are other portraits on the title of De Bry,
parts viii. (1599) and xi. (1619), and in Hulsius, part vi. (1603), and
on the folding map in part xvi. (1619); cf. also Le Voyage Curieux,
Paris, 1641.
Some new light has been thrown upon Drake by a namesake, Dr.
Drake, in the Archæological Journal, 1873; and Mr. Walter Herries
Pollock says the latest word in the National Review, May, 1883. Two
other testimonies to the alleged change of the name of San
Francisco Bay (see p. 77) may be found among the contributions of
the middle of the last century to the history of the Pacific coast
geography. The map published by the Imperial Academy of St.
Petersburg in 1754 and 1773 says, “Port de Francois Drake,
fausement appellé de St. Francois.” J. Green, in his Remarks in
support of the new Chart of North and South America, London,
1753, says, “The French geographers within this century have
converted Port Sir Francois Drake into Port San Francisco.”
 CHAPTER III.
EXPLORATIONS TO THE NORTH-WEST.
BY CHARLES C. SMITH,
Treasurer of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

T
HE fresh spirit of maritime adventure which marked the last
decade of the fifteenth century and the first quarter of the
sixteenth century, owed its origin to mistaken theories as to the
distance between the west of Europe and the east of Asia.
Columbus believed that the land which he first discovered was an
island on the coast of Japan; and he seems never to have relinquished
this idea. The contemporary geographers all cherished the same
mistake; and the early maps give a much better representation of the
coast-line of Asia than they do of the shores of North America.[185] It
is a curious fact that the true position and form of South America were
familiar to cartographers long before there was any exact knowledge
of the northern half of the continent. North America was regarded as
an island or a collection of islands, through which it would not be
difficult to find a short passage to Zipangu and Cathay,—the modern
Japan and China.[186] Gradually these mistakes yielded to more
correct views; but it was still believed that a feasible passage existed
around the northern shore of the new continent. This belief was the
inspiring motive of all the early northwestern explorations, and it
lingered almost to our own time, long after every one knew that such
a passage would be of no practical use. At length the problem has
been solved; but the introduction of new methods of ocean and land
trade and travel has deprived it of all but a purely scientific and
geographical interest. Meanwhile the search for a northwest passage
has developed an heroic endurance and a perseverance in
surmounting obstacles scarcely paralleled anywhere else, and has
added largely to the stores of human knowledge.
At the head of the long list of explorers for a northwest passage
stand the names of the Cabots; but the intricate questions as to the
measure of just fame to be assigned to father and son have been fully
treated in another chapter of this work,[187] and neither John nor
Sebastian penetrated the more northern waters with which our inquiry
is mainly concerned. It is enough now to recall their names as the
leaders in an enterprise in which for nearly three centuries England
took a foremost part, and that so early as 1497 John Cabot set sail in
the hope of this great discovery. Within the next half century he was
followed by his son Sebastian, the Cortereals, Cartier, and Hore, not
one of whom sought to reach a high northern latitude. It was not until
Frobisher sailed on his first voyage that the real northwest
explorations can be said fairly to have begun. Since that time more
than one hundred voyages and land journeys have been undertaken in
this vain quest.
In two of the northwestern voyages of Martin Frobisher the
discovery of a short way to the South Sea was only a secondary
object. The adventurers at whose cost they were undertaken looked
mainly to the profit from a successful search for gold, though they
were not unmindful of the advantages to be gained by shortening the
distance to the Spice Islands of the East. In the bitter quarrel between
Frobisher and Michael Lok, after the third voyage, it was charged that
Frobisher had neglected this part of the undertaking. But it was
natural that Lok, who had no doubt lost heavily by the voyages,
should be angry with Frobisher, and endeavor to make the most of any
failure on his part to carry out the whole plan; and there is no reason
to believe that Frobisher wilfully neglected the interests or the wishes
of his employers, however much they may have been disappointed.
The whole amount subscribed for the three voyages was upward of
twenty thousand pounds, and of this sum Lok subscribed, for himself
and his children, nearly one fourth. Among the subscribers were
Queen Elizabeth, who invested four thousand pounds, Lord Burleigh,
the Earl and Countess of Warwick, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl and
Countess of Pembroke, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Thomas Gresham, Sir
Francis Walsingham, and others scarcely less conspicuous in that
generation.
Frobisher’s first expedition consisted of two small vessels, the
“Gabriel” and the “Michael,” one of twenty-five tons and the other of
twenty tons, and a pinnace of ten tons. They set sail from Blackwall
on the 15th of June, 1576, but it was not until the 1st of July that they
were clear of the coast of England. Not long after coming in sight of
Friesland, Frobisher parted company with the pinnace, in which were
four men, who were never seen again; and about the same time the
“Michael” slipped away without any warning, and returned to England.
Nevertheless, Frobisher pressed on, and on the 21st he entered the
opening now known as Frobisher’s Strait or Bay, “having upon eyther
hande a great mayne or continent; and that land uppon hys right
hande as hee sayled westward, he judged to be the continente of
Asia, and there to bee devided from the firme of America, which lyeth
uppon the lefte hande over against the same.”[188] Into this bay, as it
is now known to be, he sailed about sixty leagues, capturing one of
the natives, whom he carried to England. The land, Meta Incognita, he
took possession of in the name of the Queen of England, commanding
his company, “if by anye possible meanes they could get ashore, to
bring him whatsoever thing they could first find, whether it were living
or dead, stocke or stone, in token of Christian possession.”[189] Some
of the men returned to him with flowers, some with green grass, “and
one brought a peece of black stone, much lyke to a seacole in coloure,
which by the waight seemed to be some kinde of mettall or mynerall.”
Frobisher reached England on his return in the following October, and
on his arrival presented the stone to one of his friends, an adventurer
in the voyage. The wife of this gentleman accidentally threw it into the
fire, where it remained for some time, when it was taken out and
quenched in vinegar. It then appeared of a bright gold color, and on
being submitted to a goldfinder in London, was said to be rich in gold;
and large profits were promised if the ore was sufficiently abundant.
 With this report, there was
little difficulty in providing means
for a second voyage. The new
expedition consisted of a “tall ship
of her Majesty’s,” named the
“Ayde,” of two hundred tons, and
of two smaller vessels, with the
same names as those in the
former voyage, but now said to be
of thirty tons each. They were
manned in all by one hundred and
twenty men, to which number
Frobisher was limited by his
orders. After some delay, he sailed
from Harwich on the 31st of May,
1577. By his orders he was This cut follows the engraving in the
directed to proceed at once to the Hakluyt Society’s edition of Frobisher’s
place where the mineral was Voyages.
found, and set the miners at work.
There he was to leave the “Ayde,” and then to sail to another place
visited on his first voyage, where a further attempt at mining was to
be made, and where one of the small barks was to be left. With the
remaining bark he was to sail fifty or a hundred leagues farther west,
to make “certayne that you are entred into the South Sea; and in yor
passage to learne all that you can, and not to tarye so longe from the
‘Ayde’ and worckmen but that you bee able to retorne homewards wth
the shippes in due tyme.” If the mines should prove less productive
than it was hoped they would be, he was to “proceade towards the
discovering of Cathaya wth the two barcks, and returne the ‘Ayde’ for
England agayne.”[190] Frobisher had his first sight of Friesland on the
4th of July; and he reached Milford Haven, in Wales, on his return
voyage, about the 23d of September. During this period of a little
more than two months, his energies were mainly devoted to procuring
ore, of which, in twenty days, he obtained nearly two hundred tons;
but he also made as careful an examination as was practicable of the
region previously visited by him, and added something to the stock of
geographical knowledge. Two of the natives were captured, and were
carried to England to be educated as interpreters.
Frobisher’s third voyage was planned on a much larger scale than
any other which hitherto had been sent to the Arctic regions, and he
was placed in command of fifteen vessels. They were all collected at
Harwich by the 27th of May, 1578; and after receiving their
instructions from Frobisher, they sailed together on the 31st. On the
2d of July they reached the mouth of Frobisher’s Bay; but after
entering it a short distance, they found it so choked with ice that it
was impossible to proceed. One of the vessels was soon sunk by the
ice, and all suffered more or less. After beating about for several days,
they entered a strait, supposed at first to lead to their desired goal,
but which was, in fact, what is now known as Hudson’s Strait, the
entrance to the great bay which bears his name, “havyng alwayes a
fayre continente uppon their starreboorde syde, and a continuance still
of an open sea before them.” According to Best, one of the captains,
and an historian of the expedition, Frobisher was probably one of the
first to discover the mistake, though he persuaded his followers that
they were in the right course and the known straits. “Howbeit,” he
adds, “I suppose he rather dissembled his opinion therein than
otherwyse, meaning by that policie (being hymself ledde with an
honorable desire of further discoverie) to enduce ye fleete to follow
him, to see a further proofe of that place. And, as some of the
company reported, he hath since confessed, that, if it had not bin for
the charge and care he had of ye fleete and fraughted shippes, he
both would and could have gone through to the South Sea, called
Mare del Sur, and dissolved the long doubt of the passage which we
seeke to find to the rich countrey of Cataya.”[191] Toward the latter
part of July it was determined not to proceed any farther, and after
many difficulties and dangers they returned to Meta Incognita. It had
been their intention to erect a house here, and to leave a considerable
party to spend the winter. But after a full consideration it was decided
that this plan was impracticable, and it was relinquished. A house of
lime and stone was, however, built on the Countess of Warwick’s
Island, in which numerous articles were deposited. On the last day of
August the fleet, having completed their loading with more than
thirteen hundred tons of ore, sailed for England, where they arrived at
various times about the 1st of October, and with the loss of not more
than forty men in all. The ore proved to be of very little value, and the
adventurers lost a large part of what they had subscribed.[192]
Of the voyages of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who is often included
among the northwest explorers, little need be said here; for though he
wrote an elaborate Discourse of a Discovery for a new Passage to
Cataia, to stimulate the search for a northwest passage, the voyage in
which he lost his life was not extended beyond the coasts of
Newfoundland.[193]

Next in importance to the three voyages of Frobisher are the three

voyages of Captain John Davis, who has been immortalized by the
magnificent strait which bears his name, and which was discovered on
his first voyage. On this voyage he sailed from Dartmouth on the 7th
of June, 1585, with two vessels,—the “Sunshine,” of fifty tons,
manned by twenty-three persons, and the “Moonshine,” of thirty-five
tons, with seventeen men. But it was not until three weeks later that
he was able to take his final departure from the Scilly Islands; and he
arrived at Dartmouth, on his return, on the 30th of September. In this
brief period he made some important discoveries, and sailed as far
north as 66° 66′, and westward farther than any one had yet
penetrated, “finding no hindrance.” He naturally concluded that he had
already discovered the desired passage, and that it was only necessary
to press forward in order to insure entire success. But he was
compelled by stress of weather to put back, and he reached England
shortly afterward. On his second voyage his little fleet was increased
by the addition of the “Mermaid,” of one hundred tons, and the “North
Star,” a pinnace of ten tons. He sailed from Dartmouth on the 7th of
 May, 1586, and for a time
everything promised well; but
at the end of July the crew of
his largest vessel became
discontented, and returned
with her to England.
Meanwhile, the “Sunshine”
and the pinnace had been
sent to make discoveries to
the eastward of Greenland.
But, in nowise disheartened by
these circumstances, Davis
determined to prosecute his
enterprise in the “Moonshine.”
He reached, however, not
quite so far north as in his
previous voyage, and
apparently about as far west,
and arrived home early in
October,—“not having done so
much as he did in his first
FROM MOLINEAUX GLOBE, 1592. voyage,” is the judgment of
[This globe is now in the Middle Temple. one of his successors in Arctic
(See Editorial Note E, at the end of Dr. navigation.[194]
De Costa’s chapter.) This is thought to
have been made, in part at least, from On his third voyage he
Davis’s charts, which are now lost. sailed from Dartmouth, on the
Kohl’s Catalogue of Maps in Hakluyt, p. 19th of May, 1587, with three
23. The sketch is to be interpreted thus: vessels,—the “Elizabeth,” the
—
“Sunshine,” and a smaller
1. Grocland.
2. Hope Sanderson.
vessel, the “Helen,”—and
3. London cost. arrived at the same port, on
4. Marchant Yle. his return, on the 15th of
5. Davies island. September. His course was in
6. Challer’s Cape. the track which he had
7. Gilbert’s Sound.
8. Easter Point.
previously followed; but he
9. Regin. Eli. forland. added little to the knowledge
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