NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, a passage to the Pacific ocean through Hudson's bay or Davis's straits, and which hath been frequently attempted without success; notwithstanding which, many people are still of opinion that it is practicable.
The idea of a passage to the East Indies by the north pole, or through some opening near to it, was suggested as early as the year 1527. The person who had the honour to conceive this idea was Robert Thorne, a merchant of Bristol, who addressed two papers on the subject, the one to King Henry VIII. the other to Dr Ley, ambassador from that monarch to the emperor Charles V. To remove any objection to the undertaking, which might be drawn from the supposed danger, he insists, in his address to the king, upon the great advantages of constant daylight in the polar seas, and the probability of the climate being in those regions temperate during the summer months. In the paper addressed to Dr Ley, he observes that cosmographers may as probably be mistaken in the opinion which they
entertain of the polar regions being impassable from extreme cold, as it has been found they were in supposing the countries under the line to be uninhabitable from excessive heat.
The possibility of the passage was, in consequence of these addresses, very generally supposed; and in 1557, Sir Martin Forbisher sailed to 62° north latitude, where he discovered the straits which have since borne his name. In 1577, Barne, in a book entitled the Regiment of the Sea, mentions a north-west passage as one of the five ways to Cathay; and dwells on the mildness of the climate, which, from the constant presence of the sun during summer, he imagines must be found near the pole. In 1578, George Best, a gentleman who had been with Sir Martin Forbisher in his voyages of discovery, wrote a very ingenious discourse to prove all parts of the world habitable. It does not, however, appear that any voyage was undertaken, for the express purpose of attempting to sail to India in a north-west direction, till the year 1607; when Henry Hudson was sent, at the expence of some merchants in London to discover a passage by the north pole to Japan and China. He sailed from Gravesend on the 1st of May, and on the 21st of June fell in with the land to the westward, in latitude 73°, which he named Hold-with-hope. On the 27th he discovered Spitsbergen, and met with much ice. The highest latitude in which he made an observation was 80° 27'. See HUDSON.
In March 1609, Jones Poole was sent by Sir Thomas Smith, and the rest of the Muscovy Company, to make further discoveries towards the north pole. After great severity of weather, and much difficulty from ice, he made the south part of Spitsbergen on the 16th of May; and sailing along and sounding the coast, he made many accurate discoveries; but was not in that voyage able to proceed beyond 79° 50'. He was again employed (1611), in a small vessel called the Elizabeth, to attempt the north-west passage; but after surmounting numberless difficulties, and penetrating to 80° of latitude, he lost his ship at Spitsbergen. Two voyages, equally unsuccessful, were made in 1614 and 1615, by Baffin and Fotherby; the latter of whom concludes the account of his discoveries and dangers, with exhorting the company which employed him not to adventure more than 1500. or 2000. at most on yearly voyages to these seas.
Hitherto nothing had been done in this great undertaking but by private adventurers, fitted out for the double purpose of discovery and present advantage; and the polar regions were suffered to remain unexplored in that direction, from the year 1615 till 1773, when the earl of Sandwich, in consequence of an application which had been made to him by the Royal Society, laid before his majesty a proposal for an expedition to try how far navigation is practicable towards the north pole. Upon receiving this proposal, his majesty was pleased to direct that the voyage should be immediately undertaken, with every assistance that could contribute to its success. Accordingly, the Racehorse and Carcass bombs were fitted out for the purpose, and the command of the expedition given to Captain Phipps, now Lord Mulgrave. His lordship's instructions were to proceed up to the pole, or as far towards it as possible, and as nearly upon a meridian as the ice or other obstructions should admit; and during the course of the voyage, to make such observations.
North-west Passage. tend to the promotion of natural knowledge. A very accurate account of this voyage was published by his Lordship in 1774. He had, by exerting all the powers of a skilful and intrepid seaman, forced his way, on the 1st of August, to ; but could proceed no farther, as he was there opposed by one continued plain of smooth unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon.
Many other attempts have been made to discover this passage, by sailing along the western coast of America; but hitherto none of them has been crowned with success. So early as 1579, Sir Francis Drake assured Queen Elizabeth that he had sailed some leagues up the straits of Anian (see ANIAN), and discovered New Albion, to the north of California; but the strait is now known to have no existence; and Drake's real discoveries were not improved. In 1638, King Charles I. sent Captain Luke Fox in one of his pinnaces to attempt the passage; but of his proceedings we know nothing, but that he reached Port Nelson in Hudson's bay, where he found some remains of former navigators. Next year Captain James was fitted out by the merchants of Bristol for the same purpose. James was one of the ablest navigators that ever sailed from England or any other country; and his voyages to the north were printed in 1633. After all the experiments he had made, he concluded that there was no such passage; or if there be, he affirmed that the discovery of it would not be attended with those advantages which are commonly expected. His reasons, however, for these opinions have been answered, and many subsequent attempts have been made to perform what he thought impossible. The arguments for a north-west passage were so plausible, that in 1744, an act of parliament was passed to encourage the discovery of it. Among many others, Captain Cook attempted the discovery in vain, and thence adopted James's opinion. (See COOKE'S DISCOVERIES, No. 103.) This celebrated navigator, after having proceeded northwards to the western extremity of America, and ascertained the proximity of the two great continents of Asia and America, returned to the Sandwich islands, firmly persuaded of the impracticability of a passage in that hemisphere from the Atlantic into the Pacific ocean, either by an eastern or a western course.
An attempt was made by Vancouver between the years 1790 and 1795; but the result of this voyage renders the existence of such a passage still more doubtful.
The last attempt to discover this passage was made in 1818. The two ships employed, the Isabella, Captain Ross, and the Alexander, Lieutenant Parry, sailed from the Thames on the 18th April. They reached Cape Dudley Diggs on the 17th August, and afterwards passed Smith's sound and Whale sound, but found the coast in many parts unapproachable from ice. Jones's sound was explored, but no appearance of a passage found. From this they followed the line of the coast southward till they came, on the 30th August, to Lancaster sound, which at first presented appearances favourable to their hopes, but on examination land was found to extend across its bottom. Several other inlets were observed, but all blocked up with ice. The sea was generally of great depth, and the coast mountainous, and where bays occurred they were still backed by high sand. On the 1st October they reached Cumberland
strait, which, from the current at its entrance, afford- North-west Passage. ed, in Captain Ross's opinion, a better chance of a pas- Passage. sage than any other place; but their instructions and North-east Passage. the lateness of the season would not allow them to explore it. The expedition arrived at Shetland on the 30th October, having coasted the whole of Baffin's bay, but generally at a considerable distance from the shore, without discovering the passage sought. It appears also, from Captain Ross's journal, that the supposed current setting southward from the bay, which was one chief reason for inferring the reality of the passage, does not exist. Since Captain Ross's return, however, strong objections have been raised to the accuracy of his survey in some points; and for this and other reasons, a new expedition is preparing, with the view of exploring the coast more minutely at those points where a passage is conceived to be most probable. A party is also to proceed by land from the north-western lakes of Canada, to ascertain the position of the coast towards the bay. It is highly probable, therefore, that the question will soon be set at rest. But what is known already shows that, were the passage discovered, the navigation can scarcely be at any time practicable, and the subject is no farther of importance than as it would settle a point in geography.