Jens Eriksen Munk | |
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 Jens Eriksen Munk – unknown date and artist | |
| Born | 3 June 1579 |
| Died | 24 June 1628(1628-06-24) (aged 49) |
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Jens Eriksen Munk (3 June 1579 – 24 June 1628) was a Danish-Norwegian navigator and explorer. He entered into the service of KingChristian IV of Denmark-Norway and is most noted for his attempts to find theNorthwest Passage.[2]
Jens Munk was born on his father's estate Barbu at Arendal in the county ofAust-Agder,Norway. His father,Erik Nielsen Munk, had received severalfiefs for his achievements in theNorthern Seven Years' War. However, his father had a reputation for his brutal rule over his estates which led to several trials. In 1585, he was deposed and imprisoned atDragsholm Castle inDenmark.[3][4] At the age of eight, Munk moved toAalborg with his mother, who became a housekeeper in the home of her husband's sister who was married to the city's mayor.[5]
In 1591, at the age of twelve, Munk went toPorto inPortugal where he worked for the shipping magnate Duart Duez. The following year he sailed with a Dutch convoy toBahia. Off the Brazilian coast, the convoy was attacked by French pirates. Munk was among the seven survivors. Munk lived in Bahia for six years, where he was in the service of Duart Duez' brother, Miguel. In 1599, under dramatic circumstances, Munk returned to Europe andCopenhagen, where the Danish magnate and Lord ChancellorHenrik Ramel hired him as a ship clerk.[6]
In 1609, he set sail with his partner Jens Hvid for the ice-filledBarents Sea. After two unsuccessful attempts to find theNortheast Passage in 1609 and 1610, he caught the attention of KingChristian IV of Denmark-Norway. In 1612, during theKalmar War (1611–1613), Munk together with the nobleman Jørgen Daa led a successful attack on the SwedishÄlvsborg Fortress, near today'sGothenburg. In 1614, he led a search for the privateerJan Mendoses, whom he fought in a battle at Kanin Nos near the entrance of theWhite Sea. In the spring of 1617, he recruited eighteen Basque whalemen for the first Danish whaling expedition toSpitsbergen.[7]
In 1618, Christian IV appointed him as commander of the first Danish expedition toEast India with five vessels and almost 1,000 men, but only one month before the departure of the expedition, Munk was relegated and replaced by the much younger noblemanOve Gjedde. The reason for the relegation is unclear, but was most likely caused by a conflict Munk had with the Lord Chancellor, Christian Friis. Munk's setback was compounded by the deaths of his brother Niels and good friend Jørgen Då. A few months earlier, Munk had also lost a vast amount of money as a result of an unsuccessful whaling expedition, which caused loss of social prestige. As an attempt to regain his social position, he started the planning of a much more spectacular expedition in 1619, the search for theNorthwest Passage.[8]
On 9 May 1619, under the auspices of Christian IV, Munk set out with 65 men and two of His Royal Majesty's ships, the frigateEnhiørningen (the unicorn) and the sloopLamprenen (the lamprey). Both were outfitted under his own supervision.[9] His mission was to discover the Northwest Passage to the East Indies and China. His crew includedRasmus Jensen, a priest who is now recognized to be the firstLutheran cleric in Canada. Munk penetratedDavis Strait as far north as 69°, foundFrobisher Bay,[10] and then spent almost a month fighting his way throughHudson Strait.
In September 1619, he found the entrance toHudson Bay and became the second European afterThomas Button to explore the western parts of the bay. The expedition spent the winter near the mouth of what is now known as theChurchill River, a place Munk namedNova Dania.Hypothermia,famine, andscurvy destroyed so many of his men that only two persons besides himself survived. With these men, he sailed for home withLamprenen on 16 July 1620,[11] reachingBergen, Norway, on 20 September 1620. Later, a party of Indians returned to the shore of Hudson Bay where the expedition had camped. They found a number of unburied bodies of strange appearance and Munk's abandoned stores. Not knowing what gunpowder was, they set it alight and many of them were killed.[12][13]
Munk had planned on a new Northwest journey to take possession ofNova Dania for the Danish crown, but his health was too weak to go on with it. In the subsequent years, Munk served as sea captain in theroyal fleet. During theThirty Years' War, Munk led a blockade on the RiverWeser in 1626 and 1627. Munk took part in the attacks onWallenstein's troops atFehmarn and in theKieler Förde in March and April 1628.
Munk died in 24 June 1628, probably as a result of being wounded in the battles in the Kieler Förde a couple of months earlier. According to the French scientistIsaac La Peyrère, who served as a legate at the French embassy inCopenhagen, Munk died as a result of a dispute with Christian IV, in which the king attacked Munk with his stick and thus caused his death. Munk was buried atSt. Nikolai Lutheran Church, Copenhagen, nowNikolaj cultural centre.[14]
An account of Munk's voyage to Hudson Bay in 1619–1620 was published by him inCopenhagen in 1624 asNavigatio Septentrionalis. In 1647,Isaac La Peyrère included in hisRelation du Groenland an abstract in French of Munk's account and a new map, both marred by many inaccuracies that would be perpetuated by following writers and mapmakers.[15] New editions by Awnsham and John Churchill (1704 [1650]),An account of a most dangerous voyage perform'd by the famous Captain John Monck, in the years 1619, and 1620;[16] Peter Lauridsen (Copenhagen, 1883),Efterretning af Navigationen og Reisen til det Nye Danmark af Styrmand Jens Munk; and by C. C. A. Gosch,Danish Arctic Expeditions 1605 to 1620, volume ii.Hakluyt Society, No. xcvii (London, 1897).[17]
In 1964, a small scale archaeological excavation at Munk's site on the Churchill River by two Danes,Thorkild Hansen andPeter Seeberg, found a few remains ofEnhjiørningen in the tidal flats.[18] They are now in the National Museum of Denmark. Hansen also wrote the popular bookThe Way to Hudson Bay: The Life and Times of Jens Munk (1969), adapted into a movie in 2015.[19]
Jens Munk Island, located off the coast ofBaffin Island, is named after him as is Munk Harbour at the mouth of Churchill River in Hudson Bay. The Jens Munkrose (Hybrid Rugosa Rose Jens Munk) was developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and was named in his honour.[20]
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