Cornelis Nay

Who is Cornelis Nay?

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 1594, he set out from the Dutch island of Texel with a small fleet to discover the Northeast Passage. Nay commanded the ship De Zwaan. Fellow explorer Willem Barentsz, who commanded another of the ships, followed the coast of Novaya Zemlya, but his progress was halted by the ice. Nay was more successful: he passed through the Kara Strait and reached the Kara Sea.

Nay's success led to a second expedition the following year with a larger fleet, consisting of seven ships. The expedition was under the command of Nay. 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.