Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Willoughby, Hugh
WILLOUGHBY, Sir HUGH (d. 1554), sea-captain, was the grandson of Sir Hugh Willoughby of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and youngest son of Sir Henry Willoughby of Middleton, who was made a knight-banneret at the battle of Stoke in 1487, and died in 1528. He served in the expedition to Scotland in 1544, and was knighted by the Earl of Hertford (afterwards Duke of Somerset) at Leith on 11 May. He afterwards had a commission on the border, and was captain of Lowther Castle in 1548–9 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Addenda, 1547–1565, p. 402), but the downfall of Somerset materially altered his position, and the friendship of some persons connected with the navy is said to have turned his thoughts towards the sea. It would seem that Sebastian Cabot was one of these. It may be, too, that he was known as a capable commander, and at that time rank and authority were more considered than seamanship and navigation. He was appointed captain of the ship Bona Esperanza and captain-general of the fleet for the intended voyage to Cathay; Richard Chancellor [q. v.] was captain of the Edward Bonaventure and pilot-general of the fleet; and with him, as master of the Edward Bonaventure, was Stephen Borough [q. v.], who was accompanied by his younger brother, William Borough [q. v.] There was a third ship, the Bona Confidentia (cf. ib. p. 432). The object of the voyage, as laid down by Cabot in the instructions dated 9 May 1553, was to search for a north-eastern passage to Cathay and India, and on the next day the ships left Ratcliffe. They dropped down the river by easy stages, were detained for several weeks off Harwich, and did not finally get away till 23 June. On 27 July they anchored at one of the Lofoden Isles, and remained there three days. On 2 Aug., in latitude 70°, a boat came off from the shore and promised to get them a pilot for Vardohuus, apparently the only place they knew by name. But the wind blew them off the shore and freshened into a violent gale, in which the ships were separated. The Esperanza and Confidentia met again the next day, but they saw nothing more of the Edward, which, as we now know, got into the White Sea and to St. Nicholas.
On 14 Aug. the ships discovered land, apparently uninhabited, in latitude 72°, but were unable to reach it by reason of the shoal water and the ice. From this position they ran seventy leagues S.S.E., then steered N.W. by W. for a day, then for two days W.S.W., and on the 23rd they saw land, trending W.S.W. and E.N.E.; then, before a strong westerly gale, they ran to the N. by E. thirty leagues. It is well to note these positions and courses, as they show more clearly than is otherwise possible the extreme ignorance of all the responsible officers, Chancellor and Borough being absent, not only of the pilotage but of the most simple navigation. If the latitude 72° is to be accepted as anything like correct, they had been blown over to the coast of Novaya Zemlya, but the courses sailed afterwards are incomprehensible. On 14 Sept. they again found themselves in with the land, rocky and high, where were good harbours. For the next three days they examined the coast, and on the 18th went into one of the harbours, afterwards known as Arzina, near to Kegor, where Norwegian Lapland marches with Russian. It was described as running ‘into the mainland about two leagues, and in breadth half a league; wherein were very many seal fishes and other great fishes; and upon the main we saw bears, great deer, foxes, with divers strange beasts … to us unknown and also wonderful.’ Here, considering the lateness of the season and the badness of the weather, they resolved to winter. But for wintering in an arctic climate they had no provision. The country was entirely desolate and uninhabited, and Willoughby and his companions perished miserably. When, some few years afterwards, the ships and bodies were found, there were found also Willoughby's journal and will, by which it appeared that he and most of the party were still alive in January 1554. The journal is printed in Hakluyt's ‘Principal Navigations’ (i. 232–7), and a manuscript copy of it is in the Cottonian manuscripts (Otho E. viii. 10), but the original has disappeared. Neither it nor the will can now be traced; nor is anything clearly known of their discovery or of their being brought to England. All that can be said is that the commonly received stories (Fox Bourne, English Seamen, i. 99) are directly contradicted by positive evidence (Hakluyt, i. 288, 294, 297) that nothing certain was known in the summer of 1557.
By his will (Porch, 34), proved 1 July 1528, Sir Henry left to Hugh ‘all my lands and tenements in Mapurley in the county of Derby, Brokistow, and Basseford in Nottinghamshire, and a parcel of land at Walsall in Staffordshire;’ and further directs, as to certain sums due to him, ‘that my son John shall receive the same, to the use to purchase or buy a marriage for my son Hugh, if the same Hugh will be guided and ordered by my said son Sir John Willoughby; or else the same sums of money to be disposed for the wealth of my soul.’ Of the marriage so bought there does not seem to be any direct record; but in the will of Sir John (Populwell, 22), proved 22 Jan. 1548–9, mention is made of ‘my niece Rose, daughter of my brother Hugh,’ as well as a legacy of 6l. 13s. 4d. yearly ‘to my brother, Sir Hugh.’ In the Wollaton accounts there is also mention of 20l. a year paid out of the Wollaton property to Henry, son of Sir Hugh (Colvile, p. 813).
A portrait, full length, preserved at Wollaton, was lent by Lord Middleton to the Tudor Exhibition of 1890 and to the Naval Exhibition of 1891.
[Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, i. 226–37; Thoroton's Hist. of Nottinghamshire, 1797, ii. 209; Colvile's Warwickshire Worthies, p. 813; Brown's Worthies of Nottinghamshire, p. 113; Beazley's John and Sebastian Cabot, 1898, pp. 182, 186, 195; information from Lady Middleton.]