Nicholas Woodcock

Nicholas Woodcock (c. 1585- after June 1658?) was a 17th-century English mariner who sailed to Spitsbergen, Virginia, and Asia. He piloted the first Spanish whaling ship to Spitsbergen in 1612 and participated in the Anglo-Persian sieges of Kishm and Ormus in 1622.

A man of the same name was sent on an expedition to the River Ob by the Muscovy Company in 1568. Seeing as how this name is not common, it is possible that Woodcock may have been a son or grandson of this namesake.

In 1610, he served as mate aboard the Muscovy Company ship Amity (60 tons) on a sealing and exploratory voyage to Spitsbergen. In 1611, Purchas (1625) states that it was he who suggested to the Muscovy Company that six Basque whalers from the town of St Jean de Luz, who had experience in the Terranova whale fishery, should be shipped the following season. Using his advice, the Company sent these six whalers, as well as the Mary Margaret (150 tons), Steven Bennet, master, and the Elizabeth (60 tons), Jonas Poole, master, to Spitsbergen in 1611- the first voyage made to the island to hunt what was called the Greenland Right Whale (Balaena mysticetus). Angry over the fact he wasn't chosen to go on this expedition, he shipped aboard an interloping vessel from Hull, the Hopewell, Thomas Marmaduke, master. In 1612, Woodcock piloted the first whaleship from San Sebastian, under Juan de Erauso, to Spitsbergen. Although he was sent to the gatehouse and tower for sixteen months for leading the Spanish ship thither, it was the success of this voyage that induced a fleet of ships to sail from the Basque country and northern France the following season (1613).

In 1614 Woodcock returned to whaling. He was forced to serve under the Muscovy Company, which had been given a monopoly on the trade the previous year. He sailed as master of the Prosperous, which resorted to Sir Thomas Smith Bay (Forlandsundet) and Cross Road (Ebeltofthamna). In the latter area he established a temporary whaling station. In 1617 Woodcock is mentioned by the Danish as being a master of an English ship in Green Harbor (Grønfjorden). He is last mentioned in Spitsbergen in 1618, when he was master of the interloper Sea Horse.

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