Cornelis Nay

Cornelis Nay reached the Kara Sea in August of 1594

Cornelis Corneliszoon Nay was a Dutch navigator and explorer who attempted to discover the Northeast Passage from Europe to the Far East.

Nay hailed from Enkhuizen in The Netherlands. In June of 1594, he set out from the Dutch island of Texel with a small fleet (consisting of three ships and a fishing boat) to discover the Northeast Passage. Nay commanded the ship De Zwaan. Fellow explorer Willem Barentsz, who commanded another of the ships (as well as the fishing boat), followed the coast of Novaya Zemlya, but his progress was halted by the ice. Nay was more successful: he passed through the Kara Strait (south of Novaya Zemlya) and reached the Kara Sea.

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 Barentz was strongly opposed). Having left too late in the season, the explorers were soon stopped by the ice. Barentz 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 in which Barentz and his men managed to survive the winter on Novaya Zemlya, although Barentz died on the way home.

Nay and Barentz failed to find the passage to the East by way of the Arctic Sea. Nevertheless, 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.

Sources

• Encyclopedia Britannica 1911
• Berts Geschiedenis Site
• Bij noorden om: Olivier Brunel en de doorvaart naar China en Cathay in de zestiende eeuw (Marijke Spies)
• Hollandia, zeilend door de historie