Chancellor, Richard
Chancellor, Richard,
d. 1556, English navigator. When, largely under the inspiration of Sebastian CabotCabot, Sebastian,b. 1483–86?, d. 1557, explorer in English and Spanish service; son of John Cabot. He may well have accompanied his father on the 1497 and 1498 voyages, and he was for many years given the credit for his father's achievements. In the 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , a group of men in England undertook to finance a search for the Northeast Passage to Asia, Chancellor was chosen as second in command under Sir Hugh Willoughby. They sailed in 1553, and Chancellor and Stephen BoroughBorough, Stephen
, 1525–84, English navigator. Under the direction of Richard Chancellor he was master of the Edward Bonaventure, the first ship to round (1553) North Cape and reach Russia by the arctic route, and the only ship to return safely from the expedition.
..... Click the link for more information. , in the Edward Bonaventure, managed to get through dangerous arctic waters to the White Sea. Chancellor then traveled overland across Russia to Moscow at the invitation of Ivan IV. His negotiations prepared the way for trade with Russia and the formation of the Muscovy CompanyMuscovy Company
or Russia Company,
first major English joint-stock trading company. It began in 1553 as a group supporting exploration of a possible northeast passage to Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. . Returning from a second voyage to Russia, he was shipwrecked and perished off the coast of Scotland. Since Willoughby had earlier come to grief, it was Stephen Borough who continued the work of opening the northern route to Russia for the Muscovy Company.
Chancellor, Richard
Date of birth unknown; died Nov. 10, 1556, off the coast of Scotland. British navigator.
In 1553, Chancellor commanded one of the three ships in H. Willoughby’s expedition, which had been sent by an English trading company to search for a northeast passage to India. Chancellor rounded the northern part of the Scandinavian and Kola peninsulas and sailed to the mouth of the Severnaia Dvina. He was received in Moscow by Ivan IV. After obtaining a charter for free trade with Muscovy, he left the city in March 1554. An account of the expedition was written by C. Adams, one of Chancellor’s companions.
In 1555, Chancellor visited Moscow a second time. On the return voyage he perished during a storm.
REFERENCES
Angliiskie puteshestvenniki v Moskovskom gosudarstve v XVI veke. Leningrad, 1937.Magidovich, I. P., and V. I. Magidovich. Istoriia otkrytiia i issledovaniia Evropy. Moscow, 1970.