Luke Foxe
Luke Foxe was an English explorer born on October 20, 1586, in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire. With a background steeped in seamanship from his youth, he became particularly interested in Arctic exploration and the elusive Northwest Passage, a sea route sought by many since the late 15th century for its potential trade opportunities to Asia. In 1629, Foxe secured royal backing to lead an expedition to Hudson Bay, which had been discovered in 1611 by Henry Hudson. He set sail on April 30, 1631, with a crew of twenty and provisions for eighteen months.
During his journey, Foxe carefully documented his observations, naming various geographical features and exploring the waters that would later be known as the Foxe Basin and Foxe Peninsula. His expedition revealed that Hudson Bay did not offer a passage to the west, a finding he reported upon his return. In 1635, he published his journals as "North-West Fox: Or, Fox from the North-West Passage," contributing valuable knowledge to early Arctic exploration. Foxe’s legacy includes the geographical features named in his honor and his role in documenting the flora, fauna, and tides of northern Canada. He passed away shortly after the publication of his work.
Luke Foxe (explorer)
English navigator and explorer
- Born: October 20, 1586
- Birthplace: Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, England
- Died: July 15, 1635
- Place of death: Whitby, England
Also known as: Luke Fox
Significance: Foxe explored Hudson Bay and proved that it was not a route to the Northwest Passage.
Background
Luke Foxe was born October 20, 1586 in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, England. His father was Richard Foxe. He considered himself a rough man of the sea. When he was young, he became experienced in seamanship through his voyages to France, Spain, and the Mediterranean, as well as north to the Baltic. In 1606, he was turned down for the position of mate on an exploratory voyage to Greenland because of his youth. However, he remained interested in exploring the Arctic, and was especially interested in finding the Northwest Passage.
The Northwest Passage is a sea route that allows ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean by going west through the Arctic Circle. Explorers began searching for the route at the end of the fifteenth century. It was hoped that such a passage would provide a trade route to Asia. The sea route was discovered in 1854, but was not successfully navigated entirely by ship until 1906, when Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen took almost three years to complete the voyage. Sea ice makes the route extremely difficult to travel.
Life’s Work
Foxe became knowledgeable about maps and mathematics, and was said to be a skillful navigator. One of his patrons was the mathematician Henry Briggs. Briggs taught him how to use logarithms in navigation and Foxe was one of the first to do so. Another patron was Briggs’s friend, Sir J. Brooke, and together they brought Foxe to the notice of King Charles I. In 1629, Foxe petitioned King Charles for money for the purpose of leading an expedition to Hudson Bay in search of the Northwest Passage. In 1611, Henry Hudson had discovered Hudson Bay, and portions of the Bay were further explored by Sir Thomas Button and William Baffin between 1612 and 1616.
In response to his petition, Foxe was given an old Royal Navy seventy-ton pinnace, a ship called the Charles. Foxe’s departure was delayed for a year. His patron Briggs died before he set sail and half of his crew dropped out. It seemed the voyage would have to be cancelled.
Another explorer, Captain Thomas James, also planned to explore Hudson Bay. He was backed by merchants from the port city of Bristol. On learning of this, London merchants backed Foxe. Foxe had a crew of twenty men and two boys and provisions for eighteen months. James also had a seventy-ton ship, Henrietta Maria, with the same number of crew and the same amount of provisions. Foxe set sail from London on April 30, 1631. There were only a few days separating his departure from the time that James left from Bristol.
Foxe sailed to the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. He then sailed west until, on June 20, he reached Frobisher Bay, an inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean in Nunavut territory, Canada. Heading for Hudson Bay, he encountered ice in Hudson Strait. After navigating past the ice, he then sailed in a counter-clockwise direction around Hudson Bay. He followed the south coastline of Southampton Island, then sailed down the western coast of Hudson Bay. In July he reached Port Nelson, the point where a previous explorer, Sir Thomas Button, had wintered in 1612. Foxe took detailed notes of everything he observed, including tides, plants, and animals. He named many geographical features as he voyaged. He examined native burial grounds on an island he named Sir Thomas Roe’s Welcome after a friend and patron.
He encountered Captain James by accident at the end of August while undergoing repairs. Foxe dined with James and wrote afterwards that they talked of their observations, but that he considered James not to be a seaman. James urged Foxe to take harbor for the winter, but Foxe refused. Then Foxe headed north, while James went east and south.
As Foxe explored north of Hudson Strait, he entered the waters that were later named the Foxe Basin. Following the coast of the later-named Foxe Peninsula, he continued his observations on sea depths and tides. He traveled along the western coast of Baffin Island to a point he named Cape Dorchester. It was the farthest north that he traveled. He turned for home in September when the passage became filled with ice at 66° 47’ N. He thought that he had reached the Arctic Circle but was actually about 1° south of it. Foxe traveled southeast, rather than going home by way of the North Sea. He reached the English Channel on October 31, six months after leaving England. He did not lose any men on his voyage and considered that he had traveled farther, in a shorter amount of time, at less cost, than any of his predecessors. James arrived back in England a year later, after having to winter over on Charlton Island in the southern part of Hudson Bay, later named James Bay. Four of his crewmen died on the island that winter.
Foxe reported that there was no northwest passage through Hudson Bay, as did James. In 1635, Foxe published his journals of his voyage as North-West Fox: Or, Fox from the North-West Passage. He died in Whitby shortly after the book came out.
Impact
Foxe was the first to circumnavigate Hudson Bay and prove it did not provide a route to the west. The Foxe Channel, the Foxe Basin, and the Foxe Peninsula were named for him. His book about his voyage is important for its information on early Arctic exploration, as well as for his observations on the tides, ice formations, the people, flora, and fauna of northern Canada.
Personal Life
In 1613, Foxe married Anne Barnard of Whitby. There is no record of children.
Bibliography
Baker, Daniel B. Explorers and Discoverers of the World. Detroit: Gale, 1993. Print.
Fleming, Fergus. Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration. New York: Atlantic, 2005. Print.
Foxe, Luke. North-West Fox: Or, Fox from the North-West Passage. 1635. Reprint. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1965. Print.
Hund, Andrew J. Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth’s Polar Regions. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2014. Print.
Markham, Clements R., Sir, and F. H. H. Guillemard. The Lands of Silence: A History of Arctic and Antarctic Exploration. 1921. Reprint. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015. Electronic.
Regard, Frédéric. The Quest for the Northwest Passage: Knowledge, Nation and Empire 1576–1806. London: Pickering, 2013. Print.
"Thomas James and Luke Foxe: 1631–1632." Of Maps and Men: In Pursuit of a Northwest Passage. Princeton University Library, 2004. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. <http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual‗materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/contents.htm>.