Richard Chancellor

Richard Chancellor was an English merchant and explorer who was the first to penetrate to the White Sea and establish relations with Russia.

In 1553 the Company of Merchant Adventurers sent an expedition in search of a northeast passage from England to China. The aim was not only to find North-east passage but also to find a market for English woolen cloth. Sir Hugh Willoughby was in charge of the expedition and Chancellor was appointed pilot general, a second in command.

The fleet containing of three vessels was to rendezvous at Vardø, Norway, but because of stormy weather Chancellor’s ship was the only one to make it to Vardø, while Willoughby and his crew died in Lapland. Chancellor continued on into the White Sea, then journeyed overland to Moscow where Tsar Ivan IV greeted him with warm hospitality and gave him a letter granting the English favorable conditions for trade with Russia.

Chancellor’s successful negotiations with the tsar resulted in the formation (1555) of the Muscovy Company, which was given a monopoly of Russian trade.

Richard Chancellor died in a shipwreck off the coast of Scotland while on the return voyage from a trading mission in Moscow.