Hugh Willoughby (sea captain)

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Sir Hugh Willoughby of Risley, Derbyshire^[1] (d. 1554) was an early English Arctic voyager. He was sent out in 1553, as captain of the Bona Esperanza with two other vessels under his command and with chief pilot Richard Chancellor, by a company of London merchants known as the Mystery Company and Fellowship of Mechant Adventurers for the Discovery of Unknown Lands or the Muscovy Company.

The vessels were separated by "terrible whirlwinds" in the Norwegian Sea. On 14 September 1553 Willoughby sailed into a bay near the present border between Finland and Russia. The ships with the frozen crews, including Captain Willoughby and his journal, were found by Russian fishermen a year later.

Richard Chancellor was able to drop anchor in the White Sea and trudge his way overland to Moscow and Ivan the Terrible's Court, opening trade with Russia.

[edit] See also

• Nesbit Willoughby

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques,and Discoveries of The English Nation, v3: North-Eastern Europe and Adjacent Countries: Part II. The Muscovy Company and the North-Eastern Passage by Hakluyt

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.