Edward Bonaventure was an English ship under the command ofRichard Chancellor that was forced to seek shelter in 1553 on the north coast of Russia nearNyonoksa due to weather conditions, leading to its crew coming into contact with the court of Ivan the Terrible, the forming of theMuscovy Company, and diplomatic contacts betweenElizabeth I of England andIvan IV of Russia.[1][2]
In 1553,Edward was one of a fleet of three ships under the command ofSir Hugh Willoughby, the other two ships were the command shipBona Esperanza with Willoughby on it and theBona Confidentia with its captain Cornelius Durforth.[1][3] The fleet was financed byLondon'sCompany of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands and it was organized bySebastian Cabot with the purpose of finding thenortheastern passage to theFar East and left London on 10 May 1553.[1][3] Richard Chancellor was the pilot for the voyage.[1][3] The opening of the northeastern passage from England to India was desired to avoid conflict with Spanish and Portuguese ships.[4] During a fierce storm, theEdward separated from the other ships and arrived at theDanish heldVardø which was the established rendezvous location in case of fleet separation but the other two ships did not arrive and thusEdward continued onward.[3] It landed near the mouth of theDvina River not far from the convent of St. Nicholas and its crew were taken to meet the first Russian tsar,Ivan IV ("the Terrible").[3] It remained for repairs during the winter near Nyonoksa, whichproduced salt for Tsar Ivan the Terrible, sailed on its return voyage to England in 1554 and robbed byFlemish pirates along the way.[1][3] Chancellor brought to England letters opening trade with Russia removing theHanseatic League's previousmonopoly on trade with Russia.[5][6]
At the end of May 1555,Edward sailed on a second mission from England to Russia financed by some former members of theCompany of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands who now called themselvesMerchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Lands, Countries, Isles, etc., Not Before Known or Frequented by any English also known as theRussia Company orMuscovy Company with Richard Chancellor in charge departing London also with thePhilip and Mary which was to obtain fish oil at Vardø and then return to England.[1][3][6]Edward arrived in Russia with English agents who, along with Chancellor, were to meet with Tsar Ivan the Terrible to officially open diplomatic relations and trade with Russia which were achieved.[3] In 1555 before winter closed the shipping route,Edward returned to England joiningPhilip and Mary at Vardø leaving Richard Chancellor and the agents George Killingworths, Henry Lane and Arthur Edwards in Russia for the winter.[1][3]
In 1556,Edward sailed from England to Russia again withPhilip and Mary and Richard Chancellor in charge with additional crew who were to sail theSperanza and theConfidentia back to England.[3] In 1556,Edward along withPhilip and Mary left Russia and sailed for England with the first Russian Ambassador to England Osep Gregorovitch Napea, who had been the Governor of Vologda, Napea's wife, many Russians and the previously lost two shipsConfidentia andSperanza which both had been found in 1555 anchored in the mouth of the Arzina River (Russian:Арзина река) east of thePechenga Monastery with no one of the nearly seventy in the crews surviving the winter of 1553–4.[3] On 10 November 1556,Edward was wrecked offRosehearty[4] on the east coast of Scottish coast.[7] Among the hundred who died was Richard Chancellor,[3] butOsep Gregorovitch Napea, the first Russian ambassador to England, survived as a widower.[8] The other three ships had wintered inTrondheim and attempted to return in 1557 but only thePhilip and Mary made it to London in July 1557 with both theSperanza and theConfidentia lost at sea.
Osep Napea stayed in Edinburgh for while. An English envoyLaurence Hussey and his Russian interpreter spoke to the ruler of ScotlandMary of Guise and there were efforts to recover his property salvaged from the wreck. He travelled by land to London in February 1557.[9][10]
In 1557 and subsequent to the voyages ofEdward Bonventura and its sister ships,Anthony Jenkinson, who became the first English Ambassador to Russia in 1566, led a fleet of ships financed by the Muscovy Company to Nyonoksa, Russia, consisting of thePrimrose on which he sailed,John the Evangelist,Anne, andTrinity.[11]
Dutch interests in trading with Russia began in the 1560s.[12]
A Dutch letter about Russian interests in Lapland from 1562 to 1583. It includes Vardo's fortress Vardegus, thePechenga Monastery, Malmus (akaKola, Russia), and the St. Nicolas Monastery near the mouth of theDvina River at what is nowArkhangelsk.Flemish pirates robbed theEdward Bonaventure in 1554 asEdward Bonaventure was returning fromNyonoksa, Russia.