Jens Munk

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Jens Munk (1579-1628) was a Danish-Norwegian navigator, born near Arendal, Norway. In 1619, under the auspices of King Christian IV, he set out with two ships to discover the Northwest Passage to the Indies and China. He penetrated Davis Strait as far north as 69° and then turned southward and spent the winter on Chesterfield Inlet. Cold, famine, and scurvy destroyed so many of his men that only two persons besides himself survived. With these he sailed for home, reaching Bergen, Norway, in September, 1620. Just when ready to start on a new Northwest Passage journey to take possession of "New Denmark" for the Danish crown he died. An account of his first voyage was published at Copenhagen in 1623 as Efterretning af Navigationen og Reisen til det Nye Danmark af Styrmand Jens Munk, new edition by Peter Lauridsen (Copenhagen, 1883); C. C. A. Gosch, Danish Arctic Expeditions 1605 to 1620, volume ii. Hakluyt Society, No. xcvii (London, 1897).