POLARSEAS

POLAR SEAS.

THE rapid progress which has been made within the last half century in physical science and geography, has thrown a deeper interest on whatever concerns the Polar Regions, than belongs to the mere commercial speculation in which originated the earliest attempts for discovering a passage through the North Polar Ocean to India and China. It is not here intended, however, to enter into any detail concerning the new objects of natural history, the atmospheric phenomena of temperature, electricity, and magnetism, and various other points of scientific research, which the late expeditions have been the means of collecting and communicating; but to exhibit a sketch of the various attempts which have been made to explore those regions of darkness, long supposed not only to be uninhabitable, but unapproachable; and to take a very concise view of the progressive discovery and geographical information which have resulted from those attempts.

NORTH POLAR SEA.

We are now able to draw, with nearly geographical accuracy, the boundaries of the North Polar Sea. A very large portion of the northern shores of Europe, Asia, and America, which circumscribe it, have been visited; and the position of most of their bays, headlands, and rivers, geographically ascertained. By casting our eye over the North Polar Chart, it will be seen that the Polar Sea of that hemisphere is an immense circular basin, which communicates with the two great Oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the Pacific, by two channels, the one separating America from Europe, the other America from Asia. It will be seen, that few points of the coasts of Europe and Asia, which occupy a full half of the circumscribing circle, extend much beyond the 70th parallel of latitude; and all these points have been passed by water, though at different times and by different persons, with the single exception of the

Polar Sea. Cape Cevero Vostocknoi, which, on the charts, is made to extend to the latitude $75\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}^\{\backslash circ\}$. The northern coast of America, with Old Greenland, and the two channels above mentioned, complete the circle; America extending about $80^\{\backslash circ\}$ of longitude, or just two-ninths of the whole circle; and of this portion three several points have been ascertained: Icy Cape by Captain Cook; the mouth of Mackenzie River by him whose name it bears; and of the Copper Mine River incorrectly by Hearne; and from these positions it may be concluded, that the average of the latitude of this coast is about the same as, or rather lower than, that of Europe and Asia. The extent, therefore, of the North Polar Sea may be considered about 2400 geographical miles in diameter, or 7200 in circumference.

Islands of this Sea. The interior or central parts of this sea are very little known. Several islands are scattered over its southern extremities, the largest of which is Old Greenland, whose northern limit has not yet been passed; the others are, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, the islands of Liakhov, or, as some have been pleased to call them, New Siberia; the North Georgian islands of Parry, and those which form the western land of Baffin's Bay. Besides these, there are a number of small alluvial islands formed at the mouths of the several rivers of the two continents; but whether any, or what number of islands may exist nearer to the Pole, we must of course remain ignorant till the Polar Sea has been further explored.

Object of Early Voyages to the North. For that little which is known of this sea, we are indebted to that spirit of discovery which showed itself immediately after a passage to the Indies had been effected round the Cape of Good Hope; not so much, it is true, for the sake of geographical discovery, as that of shortening the passage by sea to the eastern parts of the world. It was obvious that, if a ship could proceed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on a great circle of the sphere, or nearly so, the distance, compared with the circuitous passage round Southern Africa or Southern America, would be prodigiously shortened. The voyage of Columbus had that object; but it was soon discovered, that, from the Straits of Magellan to the Gulf of St Lawrence, there was one uninterrupted continuity of land. Of the northern regions, the information has been scanty and discouraging for such an enterprise. One of the Scandinavian pirates had indeed been driven by stress of weather, so early as the middle of the ninth century, upon an island to the north-west, to which, from its appearance, he gave the name of Snowland, which was afterwards changed to that of Iceland by the leader of the Norwegian colonists who took refuge on that inhospitable spot; but it was not till more than a century after this that Eric Rauda discovered the southern part of Old Greenland; and there are grounds for believing that, in the year 1001, some of these colonists discovered Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador.

Iceland, Greenland, &c. Discovered. The colony of Iceland continued to flourish in spite of the storms and tempests, the chilling temperature, the earthquakes and volcanoes, which shook to its centre this Ultima Thule of the inhabitable world; but the Greenland colonies were less fortun-

ate. For some time that on the west is said to have so well succeeded as to number one hundred villages, divided into four parishes; but that, having engaged in hostilities with the natives, whom they named Skrælings (the same people as the present Eskimaux), the latter compelled them to abandon their settlements. The eastern colony is supposed to have shared a more deplorable fate; a stream of ice having fixed itself to the coast, about the year 1406, and rendered the whole of it, from that time to this, utterly inaccessible. The existence, however, of any such colony, has of late years been called in question; and it is now supposed that all the Danish and Norwegian settlements were confined to the western side of Cape Farewell.

Polar Sea. The voyages and adventures of the two brothers The Voyages of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno in 1380, though they added little to the knowledge of northern geography, are extremely curious, and throw considerable light on the state of Greenland, Labrador, and the Feroe Islands (Friesland), at that early period. It may be doubted, however, if any of the voyages hitherto made were undertaken for purposes of discovery and the benefit of navigation. The Portuguese have unquestionably the merit of being the first to send out expeditions with these views; and it is to their successful discovery of a passage round the Cape of Good Hope, that we owe the bold enterprise of Christopher Colon, better known as Columbus, to find out a passage to the Indies by steering directly to the west.

Object of the Portuguese. It was not till the year 1496 that England engaged Of John Cabot in nautical discoveries. In that year, Henry VII. encouraged John Cabot, a citizen of Venice, to make discoveries, by granting him a patent to search for unknown lands, and to conquer and settle them. His son Sebastian, either alone or in company with his father, discovered Newfoundland, to which was given the name of Prima Vista, "the first seen." We say discovered; for although the testimonies are in favour of the Scandinavians having settled colonies on this island, no vestige then remained or has since been found of any such colonies. The object of the voyage was, as stated by himself, that, "understanding, by reason of the sphere, that if I should sail by way of north-west, I should by a shorter tract come into India, I thereupon caused the king to be advertised of my devise, who immediately commanded two caravets to be furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage." He states in his report that he reached the 56th degree, but finding no opening in the coast, he despaired of a passage, and returned.

Of the Portuguese. A claim, however, has been set up for the discovery of Terra de Bacalhaus (the Land of Cod-fish), afterwards called Newfoundland, by John Vaz Costa Cortereal, a Portuguese gentleman belonging to the household of the Infanta Don Fernando, who is said to have touched at that island in the year 1463 or 1464, in an attempt to find a route to India and the Spice Islands by sailing westward round the northern extremity of America. This claim rests on the testimony of Cordeira, and on a patent commission, granting to Cortereal the Captaincy of Terceira, in 1464, as a reward for his important discovery. The

Polar Seas. Portuguese certainly not only fished on the banks, but formed establishments on the island of Newfoundland towards the end of the fifteenth century.

In the summer of 1500, two ships sailed from Lisbon, under the command of Gaspar Cortereal, on northern discovery. According to Ramusio, they arrived at a region of extreme cold; and in the latitude of 60° north, discovered a river filled with ice, to which they gave the name of Rio Nevado, that is, Snow River. This land was Labrador, which on an old chart is named Corterealis. In returning, he discovered the Gulf of St Lawrence. Gaspar Cortereal was so satisfied of the existence of a north-west passage to India, that he again left Lisbon, in May 1501, with two vessels, but his own was separated on the coast of Terra Verde, and never more heard of. A second brother went out the following year, but his ship was also supposed to be lost and all hands perished. A third expedition was sent out in search of the unfortunate navigators, but no tidings could be obtained of their fate.

Of Auberton Cartier. The French are the only maritime people who have seen, with apparent indifference, the exertions made by other nations for the discovery of a passage to India, either by the north-east or the north-west. Auberton Cartier's voyages to Newfoundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence, between 1508 and 1534, can hardly be considered as voyages of discovery; and the subsequent voyages of Roberval and of the Marquis de la Roche had no other object than the discovery of gold, or of a desirable spot to establish a colony on the coast of America.

Of Estevan Gomez. In the year 1524, the jealousy of the Spaniards would seem to have taken the alarm at the attempts which were making by other nations to discover a shorter way to China and the Indies by the north; for it appears, that a skilful navigator, who had been with Magellan, of the name of Estevan Gomez, sailed in that year from Corunna, with the view of discovering a northern passage from the Atlantic to the Moluccas. Gaspar, the only author who has recorded this voyage, enters into no details, but it is supposed he reached no farther than the coast of Labrador, from whence he brought away some of the natives. On his return, he was asked by a friend what success he had met with? The answer was esclavos (slaves), which the inquirer mistook for clavos (cloves), and spread the report of his having made, as Purchas calls it, a "spicy discovery." It is evident, however, that his voyage was a complete failure, of which, as the voluminous compiler just mentioned observes, "little is left us but a jest."

Of the Spaniards on the West Coast of America. The alarm of the Spaniards spread to the Pacific; and Cortez, the conqueror and Viceroy of Mexico, on receiving intelligence of the voyages of the Cortereals, fitted out three ships, under the orders of Francisco Ulloa, to look for the supposed Strait of Anian, through which they were to pass. In 1542, the Viceroy Mendoza sent one expedition by land and another by sea from Mexico to the northward. No discoveries were made by any of these voyages. Two years after this, the Court of Spain ordered another expedition along the western coast of America, the conduct of which was entrusted to Juan

Rodrigues de Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the service of Spain. He reached the latitude of 44° N. and gave the name of Cape Mendocino to the land, about the latitude 42° N., in compliment of the viceroy.

England, in the mean time, was not inactive. At the suggestion of Mr Robert Thorne of Bristol, King Henry VIII. caused to be sent forth "two faire ships, with divers cunning men, to seek strange regions," which left the Thames in 1527. All that Hakluyt could discover of these ships and the cunning men was, that the name of one of them was Dominus Vobiscum, and that a canon of St Paul's of London, a great mathematician and wealthy man, went on the expedition. One of these ships was cast away in the great opening between the north parts of Newfoundland and Meta Incognita, supposed to be Greenland.

In the year 1536, two ships, the Trinitie and the Minion, were set forth by Master Hore of London, "a man of goodly stature and of great courage, and given to the studie of cosmographie." Six score persons, we are told, embarked on this expedition, whereof thirty were gentlemen. They reached no higher than Newfoundland; but there is a curious account of their proceedings by Hakluyt, which he procured from Mr Oliver Dawbeny, merchant of London, who was one of the adventurers on board the Minion.

On the return of Sebastian Cabot to England, he was constituted Grand Pilot, and "Governor of the Mysterie and Companie of the Merchants Adventurers for the Discoverie of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places unknown." At his suggestion, a voyage was undertaken, in the year 1553, for the discovery of a north-east passage to Cathaia, consisting of three vessels, whose crews, including eleven merchants, amounted to 113 persons. Numerous candidates stood forward for the command of this expedition; but Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed Captain-General of the fleet, "both by reason of his goodly personage (for he was of tall stature), as also for his singular skill in the services of warre." The fate of this expedition was most disastrous. Sir Hugh Willoughby, with his brave associates, as well as the crew of the second ship, to the number of seventy persons, miserably perished, from cold and hunger, on the coast of Lapland, at the mouth of a river called Arzina, not far from the harbour of Kigor. The third ship, under Master Richard Chancellor, had parted company, and by putting into Wardhuys, in Norway, escaped the fate of his companions; and in the following year, discovered the port of Archangel, and opened the first intercourse with Russia.

In the years 1555 and 1556, two ships were sent out to Archangel, to carry Commissioners to the Court of Moscow, and having landed them to prosecute discoveries, and "to use all wayes and meanes possible to learne howe men may passe from Russia, either by land or sea, to Cathaia." Stephen Burrough, in the Serchthrift, proceeded easterly as far as the island of Waygatz, where he was stopped by the constant north-east and northerly winds, thick weather, and abundance of ice. The neighbouring

Polar Seas. country was inhabited by Samoeds, who had no houses, but tents made of deers' skins.

Of Martin Frobisher. The rapid progress made from this time by land through Russia to Persia and India, revived the ardour for discovery by sea, and the pens of the most learned and ingenious men in the nation were employed to prove the existence, the practicability, and the great advantages which would result from the discovery of a north-west passage. Among others, Martin Frobisher had laboured for fifteen years, but without the means of setting forth an expedition, till at last, in the year 1576, by the assistance of Dudley Earl of Warwick, and a few friends, he was enabled to fit out two small barks, the Gabriel of 35, and the Michael of 30 tons, and a small pinnace of 10 tons. On the 11th July, this little squadron came in sight of Friesland, "rising like pinnacles of steeples, and all covered with snow." This Friesland, being in 61° latitude, was probably the southern part of Old Greenland. He entered a strait, which now bears his name, in latitude 63° 8' N., and had communication with the Eskimaux, whom he describes as "like to Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, and flat noses." He brought home one of these "strange infidels, whose like was never seen, read, nor heard of before;" and Frobisher had the satisfaction to find himself "highly commended of all men for his great and notable attempt, but specially famous for the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathaia."

His Second Voyage. Some of the crew having brought home a stone which "glistened with a bright marquesset of gold," Queen Elizabeth now gave countenance to a second attempt, and added to the expedition "one tall ship of her Majesties, named the Ayde." In this voyage they proceeded to Mount Warwick, on Resolution Island, in latitude 63½° N., from whence they sailed on their return home on the 22d August, having lost only one man by sickness, and another who fell overboard.

His Third Voyage. Though Frobisher brought home neither gold nor silver, but something which had the appearance of both, the Queen and her Court pleased in "finding that the matter of the gold ore had appearance, and made shew of great riches and profit, and the hope of the passage to Cathaia by this last voyage greatly increased," determined to establish a colony on Meta Incognita; for which purpose fifteen ships were prepared, carrying 100 persons to form the settlement; with whom three of the ships were to remain, and the other twelve to bring back cargoes of gold ore. The fleet sailed on the 31st May 1578; part of it entered Frobisher's Strait, and part were driven towards the coast of Greenland. On the 30th August, the ships having re-assembled off Hatton's Headland, on Resolution Island, and all hands disheartened by the cold and tempestuous weather, they resolved to make sail for England, where they all arrived at different ports about the beginning of October, with the loss, by deaths, of about forty persons.

Of Pet and Jackman. The progress made by land to the eastward in-

duced the Russia Company to fit out two ships, under the command of Pet and Jackman, to make another attempt at a north-east passage. They left Harwich on the 30th May 1580, reached Wardhuys on the 23d June, and the coast of Nova Zembla the 16th July; passed the Strait of Waygatz, but were obliged to return on account of the ice.

Sir Humphry Gilbert and his brother obtained Of Sir Humphry Gilbert. from Queen Elizabeth, in 1578, a patent for making western discoveries, by which they established a corporation under the name of "The Colleagues of the Fellowship for the Discoverie of the North-west Passage." In 1583, Sir Humphry set out to take possession of Newfoundland, but the voyage was most disastrous, and on his return, his little bark foundered at sea, when he and all that were in her perished.

In 1585, John Davis was sent out by the mer-Of John Davis. chants of London, for the discovery of the north-west passage. Two barks, the Sunshine and the Moonshine, one of 50, the other of 35 tons, were fitted out for this purpose. On the 6th of August, Davis had proceeded so high up the strait which now bears his name as latitude 66° 40', and anchored in Exeter Bay, under "a brave mount," to which he gave the name of "Mount Raleigh, the cliffs whereof were as orient as gold." On the 8th August, they returned to the southward, and arrived in Dartmouth the 30th September.

In 1586, Davis set sail a second time, and coasted His Second Voyage. the western shore of Greenland up to the latitude 66° 33', stood from thence across to the westward, made the land in 66° 19', and turning to the southward, along the coast and numerous islands, anchored in a bay on the coast of Labrador, in latitude 56°, and, sailing from thence, arrived in England in the month of October.

A third voyage being determined on, Davis sailed His Third Voyage. from Dartmouth on the 19th May, made the land on the west coast of Greenland in latitude 61° on the 14th June, had advanced as high as latitude 67° on the 24th, and, on the 30th, was in latitude 72° 12'. From hence he crossed to the westward in an open sea, but being driven, as he supposed, by a current, found themselves, on the 19th, abreast of Mount Raleigh. After this, Davis advanced 60 leagues up the strait he had discovered on the former voyage, now called Cumberland Strait; passed through Lumley's Inlet, the same, it is supposed, which Frobisher had discovered, and known as Frobisher's Strait; and, standing to the south-east, discovered Cape Chidley, and, returning homewards, arrived in England by the middle of September.*

Of the voyage of Maldonado in 1588, and of Jande Fuca, 1592, it is not necessary to say any thing, the latter being at best but problematical, and the former altogether spurious.

The next attempts we find in chronological order were three voyages for the discovery of a north-east William Barentz. passage, undertaken by the Dutch, in which Wil- liam Barentz was chief pilot. The first of these was

* An interesting account of the proceedings of this able and intrepid navigator, by himself, is contained in a very rare and curious little book called The World's Hydrographical Description, 1595.

Polar Seas. set forth in 1594; proceeded easterly as far as Waygatz, then along the western coast of Nova Zembla as high as latitude 77° 25', and returned to the Texel the 16th September. On the second voyage, the following year, they did not reach Nova Zembla till the 17th August, when finding it impossible, on account of the great quantity of ice, and "the weather being misty, melancholic, and snowie," they returned to the westward, and arrived in the Maes on the 18th November.

The third voyage of Barentz is intensely interesting. The ships left the Texel in May, and on the 9th June, after sailing among much ice, they discovered Bear (since called Cherry) Island. Proceeding northerly, they discovered Spitzbergen, along the western coast of which they had advanced, on the 19th, as high as 80° 11', opposite the point since known as Hakluyt's Headland. Returning to the southward, Barentz made for the coast of Nova Zembla; doubled the northern extremity; and then found himself compelled, by the pressure of the ice and bad weather, to seek for refuge in a small bay, which they called Ice Haven; and here they passed "their cold, comfortlesse, darke, and dreadful winter," in about the 76th parallel of latitude. The ship was wholly wrecked, and the surviving part of the crew, fifteen in number, left this spot the following year in two open boats; and after an exertion of forty days, in which they suffered the greatest fatigue, famine, and cold, and in which Barentz and two others died, they reached Kilduin in Lapland, a distance of 1000 miles and more from the bay in which they had passed the winter.

The merchants of England seem to have lost all hope of a northern passage to the East Indies, till they were once more roused by a supposed piece of information of Captain James Lancaster, that the passage was in the north-west of America, in latitude 62° 30'. Accordingly in 1602 the Muscovy and Turkey Companies fitted out two fly-boats, the Discovery and Godspeed, the command of which was given to Captain George Weymouth. This voyage, however, was a complete failure. It is difficult to make out precisely the utmost limit at which it arrived; it was not much beyond Resolution Island in Hudson's Strait; but, to use the words of a subsequent sagacious navigator, Luke Fox, "Davis and Weymouth lighted Hudson into his Straits."

In 1605, the King of Denmark sent out an expedition of discovery, in which two Englishmen, James Hall and John Knight, were employed. The ships proceeded along the west coast of Greenland, but reached no higher than about latitude 66° 55'; gave the names of Christian's Foord and Queen Anne's Cape; traded and quarrelled with the natives; left two malefactors among them, and returned to Elsinour.

This expedition was followed up by two others in the two following years, neither of which was productive of any discoveries; the first having advanced only to 66° 25' on the coast of Greenland, and the latter not farther than Cape Farewell.

In 1606, the merchants of London sent out the

Hopewell, under the directions of John Knight. In Polar Seas. latitude 56° 48', on the coast of Labrador, Knight, with his mate and four others, went on shore, and were supposed to be murdered by the natives, as none of them were ever afterwards heard of. The ship returned home.

Henry Hudson made no fewer than four voyages The Voy. of discovery. The first, in 1607, was along the ages of Henry Hudson. eastern coast of Greenland, when he observed, in 78° 56', a higher degree of latitude on that coast than has since been ascended. The second, in 1608, was an attempt to the eastward, where, as in all preceding attempts, he was stopped at Waygatz Strait. Of the third little is known. Its northern limits appear to have been the North Cape on one side, and Newfoundland on the other.

The fourth voyage was fatal to Hudson; but it opened the way to the coast of America in a higher degree of latitude than it had yet been approached. He left the Thames in the Discovery of 55 tons, on the 17th April 1610; and reached the Isle of Godsmercie, in the strait which bears his name, on the 6th July; on the 2d August, he discovered land, which he named Cape Wolstenholm; and near it, on a cluster of islands, Cape Digges—and here ends Hudson's narrative; for his crew having mutinied, they put Hudson, his son, and seven others, into an open boat, which was never heard of more. The ship returned to England, and, what is most remarkable, the inhuman and atrocious act does not appear to have caused any sensation, nor was any inquiry instituted into the proceedings of the mutineers.

Two of them, in fact, Abacuk Pricket and Robert Bylot, were employed under Captain (afterwards Sir Thomas) Button, appointed to prosecute the discovery of a north-west passage, in two ships, the Resolution and Discovery. Button followed the tract of Hudson, and succeeded in reaching the coast of America, where he wintered in Nelson's River, in latitude 57° 10'. The following year they stood to the northward, and discovered Southampton Island, as high up as latitude 65°; made some discoveries of Islands, and returned to England in the autumn of 1613.

In 1612, we find James Hall employed on an expedition up the western coast of Greenland, where Of James Hall. he was slain by one of the natives at Ramel's Point, in latitude 67°. The account of the voyage is written by William Baffin, who was pilot, in which he relates the method of determining the longitude by an observation of the time when the moon came up on the meridian; the first navigator probably who practised this method.

In 1614, Captain Gibbon was sent out in the Discovery, at the recommendation of Sir Thomas Button; he encountered much ice at the opening of Hudson's Strait, returned to the southward, and was shut up in a bay on the coast of Labrador, for five months; and returned without making any progress in the north-western discovery. To this bay the ship's company are said to have given, in derision, the name of "Gibbon's his Hole."

In 1615, the Discovery was fitted out a fourth Of Bylot and Baffin. time, and the command of her given to Robert By-

Polar Seas. lot, who took William Baffin as his mate. They visited Button's Islands, Savage Islands, and Mill Islands, and proceeded along the east coast of Southampton Island to Cape Comfort, in latitude

From hence they returned to the southward, and reached England in the month of September.

In 1616, Bylot and Baffin again set out in the Discovery, in search of a north-west passage; and, following their instructions, proceeded up Davis Strait to Hope Saunderson, the extreme point of Davis's progress, being between 72° and 73° latitude, which they reached as early as the 30th May.

little to the northward was a group of islands, to which, finding females only, they gave the name of Women's Islands. From hence they stood north-

ward, between the ice and the land, passing in succession Horn Sound, Wolstenholm's Islands, Whale Sound, Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, in latitude 78°, and, at the northern extremity of what has since been called Baffin's Bay; and following the direction of the land, they passed, on the western shore, Al-herman Jones's Sound, and lastly, Lancaster Sound; from whence the ice compelled them to leave the land, and they therefore shaped their course homewards. This last voyage of Baffin is the most important that had yet been made; and it is quite surprising that the discovery of so many immense openings which he calls sounds, for want of a better word, should not have been followed up, and that not one of them should have been examined until the recent expedition under that intelligent and enterprising officer Captain Parry.

In 1619, the Danes sent out an expedition under Jens Munck, who penetrated as high up on the coast of America as Chesterfield Inlet, which he named Munck's Winter Harbour, for he wintered in it, and all his people, except two, perished of cold, disease, and famine. Munck, and these two survivors, with great difficulty, fitted out the smaller of the two vessels, and reached Denmark, where they were considered as men risen from the dead. Munck is said to have received the indignity of a blow from the King, on which he took to his bed, and died of a broken heart; but there is an air of romance in the account of this voyage, which makes its authenticity doubtful.

In 1631, Captain Luke Fox, who quaintly calls himself the "North-west Fox," prevailed on some merchants of London to procure from King Charles I. his countenance, and the loan of one of his ships, for attempting the discovery of a north-west passage. Fox was undoubtedly the most shrewd and intelligent of all former navigators; and if, when he reached what he calls Fox's Farthest, he had stood across to the westward, the probability is, that he would have got upon the northern coast of America, and succeeded in working his way into the Pacific, by the very route which Parry is now pursuing.

In the same year the merchants of Bristol fitted out the Maria of 70 tons, the command of which was given to Captain James. In proceeding up Hudson's Strait, somewhere about Resolution Island, he got his ship entangled in the ice; and from that spot to Charlton Island, at the bottom of Hudson's Bay, in latitude 52°, he details a series of disasters

which never happened to any navigator before or since. Here he passed the winter, and returned the following year, without making the least progress in discovery.

In 1652, the King of Denmark again set forth an expedition under Captain Daniel, to explore the eastern coast of Greenland. He stood to the northward of Iceland, but he could not approach the land on account of the ice, but the mountains were visible at least 60 miles. The most northern cape seen was in 65° 30', to which he gave the name of Cape King Frederick. From this point to Cape Farewell the ice lay between him and the shore, which in no part he could approach within 20 miles; of course, no discovery was made by him.

After the lapse of more than a century, a paper of Wood admitted into the Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1675, tended to revive the attempt at a north-east passage in England. It contained an account of a Dutch ship fitted out by a company of merchants in Holland, having passed to the north-eastward of Nova Zembla several hundred leagues, between the parallels of 70° and 80°; and the sea in that direction was found to be perfectly open and free from ice. About the same time, it was reported that Spitzbergen had been circumnavigated, and that a Dutch ship had proceeded within one degree of the Pole. Upon the strength of these reports, Captain John Wood addressed a memorial to the king, assigning seven reasons and three arguments, for the existence of a north-east passage. Accordingly, two ships were fitted out under Captains Wood and Flaws; they left the Nore in May 1676; on the 22d June, had reached the latitude 75° 79', and on the 26th got sight of the west coast of Nova Zembla. Three days after this, Wood lost his ship among the ice, and after some perils and the loss of two men in reaching the shore, they were picked up by the other ship, and returned homewards without making the least discovery; when Wood published many peremptory and ill-founded reflections on former navigators, and now found out seven reasons and three arguments against the passage to the north-east.

Of the voyages of Knight, Barlow, Vaughan, and Captain Scroggs, from the Hudson's Bay Company's settlements, along the eastern coast of America, little else need be said, than that they extended not the knowledge of that coast beyond Whale Point; but their observations on the strong tide flowing down the Welcome, induced a gentleman of the name of Dobbs to press the Board of Admiralty to appropriate a ship of the navy to make discoveries in this quarter. Two ships were accordingly fitted out, the Furnace bomb, and the Discovery pink, commanded by Captain Middleton and Mr William Moor. They left England in 1741, and wintered in Churchill River in latitude 58° 56'; remained there till the 1st July; proceeded northerly to the latitude 65° 23', and entered Wager River, which they examined in an imperfect manner. They then stood to the northward as far as Cape Hope, in latitude 66° 14', longitude 86° 28' W.; and, most unaccountably, abandoned all farther search, having

Polar Seas. set forth in 1594; proceeded easterly as far as Waygatz, then along the western coast of Nova Zembla as high as latitude 77° 25', and returned to the Texel the 16th September. On the second voyage, the following year, they did not reach Nova Zembla till the 17th August, when finding it impossible, on account of the great quantity of ice, and "the weather being misty, melancholic, and snowie," they returned to the westward, and arrived in the Maes on the 18th November.

The third voyage of Barentz is intensely interesting. The ships left the Texel in May, and on the 9th June, after sailing among much ice, they discovered Bear (since called Cherry) Island. Proceeding northerly, they discovered Spitzbergen, along the western coast of which they had advanced, on the 19th, as high as 80° 11', opposite the point since known as Hakluyt's Headland. Returning to the southward, Barentz made for the coast of Nova Zembla; doubled the northern extremity; and then found himself compelled, by the pressure of the ice and bad weather, to seek for refuge in a small bay, which they called Ice Haven; and here they passed "their cold, comfortless, darke, and dreadful winter," in about the 76th parallel of latitude. The ship was wholly wrecked, and the surviving part of the crew, fifteen in number, left this spot the following year in two open boats; and after an exertion of forty days, in which they suffered the greatest fatigue, famine, and cold, and in which Barentz and two others died, they reached Kilduin in Lapland, a distance of 1000 miles and more from the bay in which they had passed the winter.

Of George Weymouth. The merchants of England seem to have lost all hope of a northern passage to the East Indies, till they were once more roused by a supposed piece of information of Captain James Lancaster, that the passage was in the north-west of America, in latitude 62° 30'. Accordingly in 1602 the Muscovy and Turkey Companies fitted out two fly-boats, the Discovery and Godspeed, the command of which was given to Captain George Weymouth. This voyage, however, was a complete failure. It is difficult to make out precisely the utmost limit at which it arrived; it was not much beyond Resolution Island in Hudson's Strait; but, to use the words of a subsequent sagacious navigator, Luke Fox, "Davis and Weymouth lighted Hudson into his Straits."

Of Hall and Knight. In 1605, the King of Denmark sent out an expedition of discovery, in which two Englishmen, James Hall and John Knight, were employed. The ships proceeded along the west coast of Greenland, but reached no higher than about latitude 66° 55'; gave the names of Christian's Foord and Queen Anne's Cape; traded and quarrelled with the natives; left two malefactors among them, and returned to Elsinour.

This expedition was followed up by two others in the two following years, neither of which was productive of any discoveries; the first having advanced only to 66° 25' on the coast of Greenland, and the latter not farther than Cape Farewell.

Of John Knight. In 1606, the merchants of London sent out the

Polar Seas. Hopewell, under the directions of John Knight. In latitude 56° 48', on the coast of Labrador, Knight, with his mate and four others, were supposed to be missing, and none of them were ever heard of. The ship returned home.

Henry Hudson made no voyage of discovery. The first, eastern coast of Greenland 78° 56', a higher degree than has since been ascended, was an attempt to the eastward. Of the third little limits appear to have been side, and Newfoundland or

The fourth voyage was opened the way to the coast of latitude than it had been. He left the Thames in the 17th April 1610; a Godsmercie, in the strait of the 6th July; on the 20th land, which he named Capet, on a cluster of islands, ends Hudson's narrative; continued, they put Hudson, into an open boat, which the ship returned to England, the inhuman air appears to have caused an inquiry instituted into the mutineers.

Two of them, in fact, Robert Bylot, were employed (afterwards Sir Thomas) Button, the discovery of a north-west tract of Hudson, and succeeded in the discovery of America, where he wintered in Nelson's River, in latitude 57° 10'. The following year they stood to the northward, and discovered Southampton Island, as high up as latitude 65°; made some discoveries of Islands, and returned to England in the autumn of 1613.

In 1612, we find James Hall employed on an expedition up the western coast of Greenland, where he was slain by one of the natives at Ramel's Point, in latitude 67°. The account of the voyage is written by William Baffin, who was pilot, in which he relates the method of determining the longitude by an observation of the time when the moon came upon the meridian; the first navigator probably who practised this method.

In 1614, Captain Gibbon was sent out in the Discovery, at the recommendation of Sir Thomas Button; he encountered much ice at the opening of Hudson's Strait, returned to the southward, and was shut up in a bay on the coast of Labrador, for five months; and returned without making any progress in the north-western discovery. To this bay the ship's company are said to have given, in derision, the name of "Gibbon's Hole."

In 1615, the Discovery was fitted out a fourth time, and the command of her given to Robert By-

our voyages The Voyages of Henry Hudson.

along the coast of Greenland, as in all the northern parts of the world.

on; but it was a higher degree of latitude than it had been. He left the Thames in the 17th April 1610; a Godsmercie, in the strait of the 6th July; on the 20th land, which he named Capet, on a cluster of islands, ends Hudson's narrative; continued, they put Hudson, into an open boat, which the ship returned to England, the inhuman air appears to have caused an inquiry instituted into the mutineers.

and Robert Button. In (afterwards) Sir Thomas Button, the discovery of a north-west tract of Hudson, and succeeded in the discovery of America, where he wintered in Nelson's River, in latitude 57° 10'. The following year they stood to the northward, and discovered Southampton Island, as high up as latitude 65°; made some discoveries of Islands, and returned to England in the autumn of 1613.

Of James Hall.

Of Captain Gibbon.

Polar Seas. lot, who took William Baffin as his mate. They visited Button's Islands, Savage Islands, and Mill Islands, and proceeded along the east coast of Southampton Island to Cape Comfort, in latitude 65°. From hence they returned to the southward, and reached England in the month of September.

In 1616, Bylot and Baffin again set out in the bark Discovery, in search of a north-west passage; and, following their instructions, proceeded up Davis Strait to Hope Saunderson, the extreme point of Davis's progress, being between 72° and 73° latitude, which they reached as early as the 30th May. A little to the northward was a group of islands, to which, finding females only, they gave the name of Women's Islands. From hence they stood northerly, between the ice and the land, passing in succession Horn Sound, Wolstenholm's Islands, Whale Sound, Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, in latitude 78°, and, at the northern extremity of what has since been called Baffin's Bay; and following the direction of the land, they passed, on the western shore, Alderman Jones's Sound, and lastly, Lancaster Sound; from whence the ice compelled them to leave the land, and they therefore shaped their course homewards. This last voyage of Baffin is the most important that had yet been made; and it is quite surprising that the discovery of so many immense openings which he calls sounds, for want of a better word, should not have been followed up, and that not one of them should have been examined until the recent expedition under that intelligent and enterprising officer Captain Parry.

Of Jens Munck. In 1619, the Danes sent out an expedition under Jens Munck, who penetrated as high up on the coast of America as Chesterfield Inlet, which he named Munck's Winter Harbour, for he wintered in it, and all his people, except two, perished of cold, disease, and famine. Munck, and these two survivors, with great difficulty, fitted out the smaller of the two vessels, and reached Denmark, where they were considered as men risen from the dead. Munck is said to have received the indignity of a blow from the King, on which he took to his bed, and died of a broken heart; but there is an air of romance in the account of this voyage, which makes its authenticity doubtful.

Of Luke Fox. In 1631, Captain Luke Fox, who quaintly calls himself the "North-west Fox," prevailed on some merchants of London to procure from King Charles I. his countenance, and the loan of one of his ships, for attempting the discovery of a north-west passage. Fox was undoubtedly the most shrewd and intelligent of all former navigators; and if, when he reached what he calls Fox's Farthest, he had stood across to the westward, the probability is, that he would have got upon the northern coast of America, and succeeded in working his way into the Pacific, by the very route which Parry is now pursuing.

Of Captain James. In the same year the merchants of Bristol fitted out the Maria of 70 tons, the command of which was given to Captain James. In proceeding up Hudson's Strait, somewhere about Resolution Island, he got his ship entangled in the ice; and from that spot to Charlton Island, at the bottom of Hudson's Bay, in latitude 52°, he details a series of disasters

which never happened to any navigator before or Polar Seas. since. Here he passed the winter, and returned the following year, without making the least progress in discovery.

In 1652, the King of Denmark again set forth Of Captain Daniel. an expedition under Captain Daniel, to explore the eastern coast of Greenland. He stood to the northward of Iceland, but he could not approach the land on account of the ice, but the mountains were visible at least 60 miles. The most northern cape seen was in 65° 30', to which he gave the name of Cape King Frederick. From this point to Cape Farewell the ice lay between him and the shore, which in no part he could approach within 20 miles; of course, no discovery was made by him.

After the lapse of more than a century, a paper Of Wood admitted into the Transactions of the Royal Society and Flaws. of London in 1675, tended to revive the attempt at a north-east passage in England. It contained an account of a Dutch ship fitted out by a company of merchants in Holland, having passed to the north-eastward of Nova Zembla several hundred leagues, between the parallels of 70° and 80°; and the sea in that direction was found to be perfectly open and free from ice. About the same time, it was reported that Spitzbergen had been circumnavigated, and that a Dutch ship had proceeded within one degree of the Pole. Upon the strength of these reports, Captain John Wood addressed a memorial to the king, assigning seven reasons and three arguments, for the existence of a north-east passage. Accordingly, two ships were fitted out under Captains Wood and Flaws; they left the Nore in May 1676; on the 22d June, had reached the latitude 75° 79', and on the 26th got sight of the west coast of Nova Zembla. Three days after this, Wood lost his ship among the ice, and after some perils and the loss of two men in reaching the shore, they were picked up by the other ship, and returned homewards without making the least discovery; when Wood published many peremptory and ill-founded reflections on former navigators, and now found out seven reasons and three arguments against the passage to the north-east.

Of the voyages of Knight, Barlow, Vaughan, and of Captain Scroggs. from the Hudson's Bay Company's settlements, along the eastern coast of America, little else need be said, than that they extended not the knowledge of that coast beyond Whale Point; but their observations on the strong tide flowing down the Welcome, induced a gentleman of the name of Dobbs to press the Board of Admiralty to appropriate a ship of the navy to make discoveries in this quarter. Two ships were accordingly fitted out, the Furnace bomb, and the Discovery pink, commanded by Captain Middleton and Mr William Moor. They left England in 1741, and wintered in Churchill River in latitude 58° 56'; remained there till the 1st July; proceeded northerly to the latitude 65° 23', and entered Wager River, which they examined in an imperfect manner. They then stood to the northward as far as Cape Hope, in latitude 66° 14', longitude 86° 28' W.; and, most unaccountably, abandoned all farther search, having

Polar Seas. seen, or fancied they saw, "a frozen strait" between them and the point round which they had to proceed to the westward. Middleton had been an old servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were supposed to be jealous of any discoveries in their neighbourhood, and averse from encouraging them; and he was accused of having taken a bribe from them to defeat the object of the expedition. The Lords of the Admiralty refused to approve of his proceedings, and to evince the feeling of the government, an act was passed the very year after his return, offering a reward of L. 20,000 to the person or persons, being subjects of his Majesty, who should discover a north-west passage through Hudson's Strait to the Pacific. Dobbs, turning these circumstances to the advantage of his favourite project, got up a large subscription, and in 1746, two other vessels were fitted out, and the command of them given to Captain William Moor and Captain Francis Smith. Their first examination was that of the Wager River, which was found to terminate in a broad rapid, beyond which were two unnavigable rivers. They then proceeded northerly, till they came to Captain Middleton's "frozen strait," or opening into Repulse Bay, when a difference of opinion arose among the officers, whether they were authorized by their instructions to examine this bay! The fact appears to be, that the officers and men had no taste for the business, and were under no kind of discipline. Instead, therefore, of proceeding, they began to murmur, and although only the 7th August, they urged the lateness of the season, and wished to return home. After this nothing was done or even attempted; and Repulse Bay remains unexamined to this moment; and what we see laid down in the charts under that name is wholly gratuitous.

No farther attempts at either passage appear to have been made by any of the maritime nations for nearly thirty years. But the Honourable Daines Barrington having, in the year 1773, presented to the Royal Society a series of papers on the practicability of approaching the North Pole, the President and Council of that Society made application to the First Lord of the Admiralty (then Lord Sandwich) to send out a ship or ships, to try how far navigation might be practicable towards that quarter. The Racehorse and Careass bombs were accordingly prepared, and the command given to Captain the Honourable Constantine Phipps and Captain Skiffington Lutwidge. They left the Nore on the 10th June, passed along the western coast of Spitzbergen, and advanced to latitude 80° 48', in sight of the Seven Islands; here they were beset in the ice on the 1st August, and on the 10th, after being forced through it by a north-east wind, they proceeded to the southward, and arrived at the Nore on the 25th September.

The hopes of a north-west passage were not abandoned by this failure; but it was resolved to make the attempt by a different route to any that had yet been practised; that is to say, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Captain Cook was selected for this enterprise, and two ships, the Resolution and Discovery, were fitted out for the purpose, the latter being commanded by Captain Clerke. An amended

act was passed for granting the reward of L. 20,000 for the discovery of "any northern passage" by sea, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and also the reward of L. 5000 to any ship which should approach the North Pole within one degree. Captain Cook left England in July 1776; entered Behring's Strait on the 9th August 1779; and on the 17th August, reached latitude 70° 41' N., and saw the highest point of America surrounded with ice; and, therefore, named by him Icy Cape, in latitude 70° 29', longitude 198° 20'. The main body of the ice drifting down towards the ships, and the weather becoming foggy, they stood to the southward; and, as the season was far advanced, Captain Cook determined to pass the winter at the Sandwich Islands, and to renew the attempt at an earlier period the following year. By his death at this place, Captain Clerke became the commanding officer. That he should have failed in reaching as far north as Cook had done, is not at all surprising, after an absence of three years from home, and all hands, as is avowed, "heartily sick of a navigation full of danger." A small vessel had been sent, in the year 1776, up Davis's Strait, under Lieutenant Pickersgill, and the same vessel again in 1777, under Lieutenant Young, to render any assistance that might be required, in the event of Captain Cook's reaching Baffin's Bay; but neither of these officers made a progress beyond the 73d degree of latitude.

In 1786 and 1787, the King of Denmark, at the suggestion of Bishop Egede, sent out an expedition under Captain (now Admiral) Lowenorn, for the purpose of rediscovering the eastern coast of Greenland. This officer persevered for two years, but with no better success than his predecessors. They saw the coast at various points, as high up as 66½°, but could not approach it for the ice. No discovery, therefore, of importance resulted from this expedition.

On the part of England, all farther attempts appeared to be abandoned after the failure of Captain Cook. One gentleman, however, the late Alexander Dalrymple, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, considering that three points of the northern coast of America had been clearly established,—Icy Cape by Cook; the north of the Copper Mine River, in 1772, by Hearne; and the mouth of Mackenzie River by the traveller whose name it bears, in 1789;—which three points were supposed to be in or about the 70° parallel of latitude, and that they comprehended within them full two-thirds of the whole of that coast; and combining these discoveries with other circumstances, was decidedly of opinion that a north-west passage did exist, and that it was practicable. On the strength of this opinion, he prevailed on the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company to employ Mr Charles Duncan, a master in the navy, on the discovery. He left England for this purpose in 1790, to join a sloop of the name of the Churchill, then in Hudson's Bay; but he soon discovered that the crew were averse from the intended enterprise, and set up so systematic an opposition to proceeding upon it, that he deemed it prudent to leave them, and to return to England. The governors of the company expressed their regret; and to prove how

Polar Seas. much they were in earnest, fitted out a strong ship called the Beaver, and Mr Duncan set out a second time. He wintered in Churchill River, where he remained till the 15th July, and entered Chesterfield Inlet; his crew mutinied, encouraged by his first officer, who was a servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, and thus ended his second voyage.

Of the Russian Voyages. We have said nothing of the Russian voyages along the northern coast of Asia. That no one person has performed the whole, either at once or by successive trials, is quite clear; but, with the single exception of one "sacred promontory," called Cape Cevero Vostochnoi, between the Yenisei and the Lena, the whole has been navigated by various persons at different times. In the years between 1734 and 1738, Lieutenants Moroviof, Malgyn, and Skurakof, succeeded in proceeding from Archangel to the Bay of Obe; and in the latter year, Offizin and Koskelef proceeded from that bay to the mouth of the Yenisei. In 1735, Lieutenant Pronishtshef set out in the contrary direction from the Lena, but was stopped by the promontory above mentioned; though some affirm that he passed it, and reached as far as Taimura. From the Lena eastward to the Kowyma, the voyage has frequently been performed, and Shalaurof, in 1671, succeeded in reaching the Shelatskoi Noss, but could not double it; and the only instance of its having been passed is that of Deshnef, as far back as the year 1648, who sailed from the Kowyma, through Behring's Strait, to Anadyr.

Of Lieutenant Kotzebue. The immense distance by sea from Petersburg to Kamtschatka, and the Russian settlements on the north-west coast of America, would render the discovery of a north-west passage of infinite importance to Russia. Impressed with the magnitude of this importance, an individual of that nation, the Count Romanzoff, fitted out, at his own expence, a small vessel, named the Rurick, the command of which was given to Lieutenant Kotzebue. She left the Baltic in 1815, passed Cape Horn, and in 1817 entered a deep inlet on the eastern side of Behring's Strait, in which he passed the remaining part of the summer. He found no ice, neither in the strait nor the inlet, and saw nothing to prevent his proceeding up the American coast to Icy Cape but the lateness of the season; and therefore returned to the southward, with the intention of renewing the attempt the following year. An accident, however, which occurred on his second entrance of the strait, though personal only, put an end to the expedition.

Of Ross and Parry, Buchanan and Franklin. This voyage of Kotzebue would alone have been sufficient to stimulate England to attempt once more to accomplish the almost only interesting discovery in geography that remains to be made; but other circumstances were reported in the year 1817 which determined the Government to fit out two expeditions for northern discovery. A ship from Hamburg, in the summer of that year, made the eastern coast of Greenland, which was supposed to have been shut up with ice for four centuries, in the 70th parallel of latitude, continued along it to the 80th degree, and stood along that parallel to the coast of Spitzbergen. For three years before this, the post-office packets, and other vessels crossing the Atlantic, had fallen in

with very unusual quantities of ice floating to the southward. This breaking up of the ice was deemed favourable for the prosecution of northern discovery. For this purpose, two separate expeditions were put in preparation. One was intended to proceed by the North Pole, as the nearest route, and, if no interruption from land occurred, probably the most practicable, to Behring's Strait; the other, to attempt a passage by some of the openings leading out of Baffin's Bay. To each were assigned two ships. Those destined for the Polar passage were the Dorothea, of 370 tons, commanded by Captain David Buchan, and the Trent, of 250 tons, by Lieutenant John Franklin. Those for the north-west were the Isabella, of 382 tons, commanded by Captain John Ross, and the Alexander, of 252 tons, by Lieutenant William Edward Parry. The Polar expedition was rendered abortive by the disabling of the Dorothea in the ice; the other circumnavigated Baffin's Bay, and ascertained that the narrative of that able navigator whose name it bears is substantially true; and that the chart appended to the Voyage of the North-West Fox is, in fact, the chart of Baffin, and wonderfully correct for the time in which it was laid down. Not one, however, of the many great openings which appear in that chart, and were ascertained to exist, were examined; and the only one that was entered was abandoned in a most unaccountable manner, and on grounds which were at once suspected, and subsequently proved, to be utterly without foundation.

Another expedition was, therefore, immediately fitted out, consisting of two ships, the Hecla and Liddon, and Griper gun-brig, and the command of it given to Lieutenant Parry, Lieutenant Liddon being appointed to that of the Griper. They dropped down the river on the 4th May 1819; saw Cape Farewell on the 15th June; and by the 30th July had succeeded in crossing the ice of Baffin's Bay, and reaching the opening of Sir James Lancaster's Sound; just one month earlier than in the preceding year. To the examination of this sound Mr Parry was particularly directed by his instructions. In proceeding along it to the westward, he met with little obstruction from the ice (though he was evidently navigating through an archipelago of islands where it usually most abounds), until he came to the western extremity of what he calls Melville Island; the last that was visible on the northern side of the strait or passage through which he had proceeded. Beyond this he struggled in vain, till the 20th September, to get to the westward, when the severity of the weather made it prudent to look out for a secure spot to pass the winter; and after cutting a canal through the ice upwards of two miles in length, tracked the two ships into Winter Harbour, the crews "hailing the event with three loud and hearty cheers." The following year, when released from their icy prison, every effort was again made to pass the western extremity of Melville Island, but in vain; and, after many fruitless attempts, the ships returned to the eastward, and reached England in safety, bringing back every man who had embarked on the expedition, with the exception of one, who carried out with him an incurable complaint.

The farthest point reached by Lieutenant, now Captain, Parry in the Polar Sea, was latitude $74^\{\backslash circ\}\; 26\text{'}\; 25\text{'}\text{'}$ N. and longitude $113^\{\backslash circ\}\; 46\text{'}\; 43\text{'}\text{'}$ W.; a point of western longitude which, by an amended act of Parliament, dividing the sum of L. 20,000 into a graduated scale, entitled the discoverers to L. 5000.

On their return to England, there was not an officer or man in the whole expedition that was not satisfied with the practicability of a western passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; though in some other line of direction, either to the northward or the southward of the extensive group of islands among which they had been navigating. The Lords of the Admiralty appear to have entertained the same feelings, and accordingly gave directions for two bombs, the Fury and the Hecla, to be prepared for the prosecution of the discovery. To Captain Parry was given, as was justly due, the command of the expedition, and to Captain Lyon that of the Hecla. They left England in May 1821, and were last heard of high up in Hudson's Strait, in open water, and with a fair wind, on the 22d July, standing for the northeastern extremity of the coast of America; the intention being to keep close along the northern coast of America, where, from experience, it is concluded a stream of water will be found between the land and the main body of the ice.

The sketch here given of the various attempts which have been made for the discovery of a North-West, a North-East, and a Polar passage, is purely historical. The results have been uniformly unsuccessful; but though they have failed in the main object, it must not be concluded that they have been useless. On the contrary, they have been the means of accumulating a stock of information of the highest importance in almost every department of science, so as to entitle those who, at the expence of every personal comfort, embarked in them, to the gratitude of mankind. From the present state of our knowledge, thus acquired, a very probable conjecture may now be formed of the practicability, or otherwise, of a navigation through some part of the Polar Sea.

In the first place, it has been distinctly ascertained that human beings can winter with impunity to their health in the highest possible degree of cold which can exist in any part of the earth's surface; for there is every reason, short of actual proof, to believe, that the temperature of the atmosphere on the Pole itself is not lower (perhaps not so low) than in the parallel of $75^\{\backslash circ\}$, where Parry wintered; the spirit in the thermometer having there descended to $55^\{\backslash circ\}$ below zero. So little, indeed, is a high parallel of latitude the sole cause of a decreased temperature, that, in $65^\{\backslash circ\}$ N., ten degrees less than Parry's winter-quarters, Lieutenant Franklin had the spirit in the tube down to $57^\{\backslash circ\}$, two degrees lower than Parry. This officer, therefore, left England with the impression that he should experience no injury, nor much inconvenience, from passing a second winter in the Polar Sea, if it should be found necessary.

In the second place, it has now been ascertained in what situations it would be a waste of time to look for a passage, and where the only remaining

points are deserving of examination. That a communication, if not a practicable passage, does exist between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, through the medium of the Polar Sea, very little doubt can remain. The three known points of Icy Cape, Mackenzie's River, and Hearne River, go far to prove it; and the distance to which Parry proceeded to the westward, considerably beyond Hearne River, strengthens not a little this position.

Another ground for concluding that a communication exists between the two oceans is, the constant current which the old navigators, Button, Fox, Middleton, and others, observed to set down the Welcome, and which also, in a less degree, prevails in Baffin's Bay and Davis' Strait; together with the current which as constantly sets up Behring's Strait, as appears from the journals of Cook, Clerke, Glottot, and Kotzebue. The fact of this circumvolving current, which we have no doubt contributes to those permanent movements everywhere existing in the great oceans, has been called in question, because Captain Ross found it running as much one way as the other in Baffin's Bay. Captain Ross had no further knowledge of currents than of those which agitate the surface of the sea, and which are known to change with every wind. Superficial currents, however, are not here meant, but the uniform motion of that great body of water, which, in spite both of winds and superficial currents, and in the teeth of both, carry icebergs many hundred feet immersed below the surface, and bear them along the coast of America, in direct opposition to the strongest and most extensive current that we know of, the Gulf Stream. How happens it, then, it may be asked, why none of these icebergs, so very commonly met with in the Atlantic, ever come across to the coast of Norway, or Denmark, Scotland, or Ireland, with the spray of the said currents, after reaching the banks of Newfoundland, and which brings with it so many other matters floating on the surface to these coasts? Or why do all the bottles which have been launched in Davis' Strait separate from the icebergs, and turn up on some of the above-mentioned coasts? Clearly, because there is a body of water acting on those parts of the icebergs under the surface (and which are at least thirty times the magnitude of the parts above the surface) in a contrary direction to that which is in motion above. This is so obvious as not to require another word on the subject. It is the icebergs only that are subject to this law: the field-ice, which is influenced and drifted about according to the winds and the currents on the surface, gives no indication of the direction in which the great body of water is moved.

In the same manner, we may be satisfied of the constant rush of water from the Pacific through Behring's Strait into the Polar Sea, to supply the constant stream which flows down the Welcome into Hudson's Bay. It is this current which, according to the observations of Kotzebue and the naturalist Chamisso, brings the great quantity of driftwood into Behring's Strait and Kotzebue's Inlet. It is the same current by which, on the same authority, we are told, that the icebergs and fields of ice, which are formed and break up in the sea of Kamt-

Polar Seas. schatka, "do not drift, as in the Atlantic, to the south, but into the Strait to the north;" and the strength of this set of the sea is stated to be from two and a half to three miles an hour, and that even in the teeth of a strong northerly wind. The conclusion drawn by M. Kotzebue is this, "that the constant north-east direction of the current of Behring's Strait proves that the water meets with no opposition, and, consequently, that a passage must exist, though perhaps not adapted to navigation. Observations have long been made that the current in Baffin's Bay runs to the south; and thus no doubt can remain that the mass of water which flows into Behring's Strait takes its course round America, and returns through Baffin's Bay into the ocean. But we have still more direct and positive information. Two Russian ships doubled the Icy Cape in 1821, and proceeded some forty or fifty miles beyond the point reached by Captain Cook; and such was the strength of the current to the eastward, that it was with the utmost difficulty they could stem it on their return, which a want of provisions, and of every requisite to pass the winter or encounter ice, compelled them to do; but they had no doubt whatever of a practicable passage.

An idea has heedlessly been started, that the superficial current in Baffin's Bay, and those which descend along the coast of Labrador, may be owing to the melting of the ice in summer; but if so, why does not the summer current at least descend through Behring's Strait instead of perpetually ascending it? But the supposition is altogether without foundation; for the quantity of ice destroyed above the surface will be replaced by very nearly the same quantity rising from below the surface; and, therefore, the water produced by the melting of the ice will merely supply the place of the latter, and not raise the surface of the sea above its usual level, nor produce any current. Be it observed too, that, in the Arctic Regions, little or no increase of the ice is occasioned by the fall of rain or snow.

Another objection, equally frivolous, was made against a communication of the waters of Hudson's Bay and Behring's Strait, on the ground, that the continent of Asia overlapped and was united to America, making Behring's Strait to terminate in a great bay. That question, however, has been set at rest for ever, even with those who were disposed to doubt of the voyage of Deschreff. The Russian government has recently employed several men of science to determine points of doubtful position on the northern coast of Siberia. In February 1821, Baron Wrangel, a distinguished officer in their service, left his head-quarters on the Nishey Kolyma to determine, by astronomical observation, the position of Shelatskoi-noss, or the North-east Cape of Asia, which was found to be in latitude $70^\{\backslash circ\}\; 05\text{'}\; N.$, considerably lower than it is usually placed on the maps. He then proceeded over the ice directly north for 80 miles, without perceiving any other object than a boundless field of ice. The supposed continuation, therefore, of Asia to the eastward, may be considered an idle speculation.

These facts being established, it may be assumed

Polar Seas. that a communication does exist between the two oceans; and, from the low latitude of the three known points of the coast of America, it may be inferred that this communication is a navigable one. The question then is narrowed to the direction in which it is most probable a passage will be found? The north-eastern route may be given up, were it only for the great distance (just one half of the whole circumference of the Polar Sea) that it would be necessary to navigate, more or less, among ice. The north-western, by keeping close along the coast of America, is now (1822) under trial; it is that which Captain Parry has judged to be the most feasible from the experience he had acquired along the western coast of Old Greenland, the shores of the western islands of Baffin's Bay, and the southern shores of the numerous islands between the entrance of Barrow's Strait and the western extremity of Melville Island; in all of which places a navigable channel of water was found between the land and the ice. The same thing invariably happens along the western shore of Spitzbergen, and probably along the eastern coast of Old Greenland, when once fairly in with the land. It was proved, indeed, at Winter Harbour, with what extraordinary rapidity the radiated heat of the land melted the ice on the return of summer; and as the coast of America is five degrees of latitude more southerly than Melville Island, the former has a full month more of summer than the latter. The only circumstance which militates against an uninterrupted open channel along that coast, is that of its being a lee-shore to the northerly winds, which appear to be the most prevailing in the Arctic Seas; though Parry found them drawing generally either to the eastward or westward in the direction of the strait. It is not quite certain, however, though every appearance is favourable, that the north-eastern extremity of America terminates at the head of the Welcome, in or about what is called on the charts Repulse Bay; but there is no doubt, that the Regent's Inlet on the south side of Barrow's Strait leads down upon that coast.

The tract pursued on the late voyage through Barrow's Strait, and among the islands, must obviously be given up as hopeless. The north-westerly winds had wedged in such a mass of ice among the islands which never melts, as to render all attempts to penetrate it at the western opening of the funnel impracticable; but beyond this ice, Captain Parry had no doubt there was an open sea; as it was observed whenever the wind came to the eastward, that the whole body of the ice kept moving to the westward for several days together. And this open sea is probably not inaccessible from some other quarter. There is an opening on the northern side of Barrow's Strait in the meridian of $92^\{\backslash circ\}$, which Captain Parry has named Wellington's Channel. This "grand opening," as Parry calls it, was free from every particle of ice, as far as the eye could reach on a fine clear day, and apparently as open and navigable as any part of the Atlantic. This channel, therefore, in all probability, leads to an open sea to the northward of the archipelago of islands, which, there is every reason to believe, is

Polar Seas. connected with Baffin's Bay by the great inlets known by the names of Smith's Sound and Alderman Jones's Sound.

Probability of a great portion of the Polar Sea being free from Ice. The most important part of the question is, whether the great body of the Polar Sea is composed of water or land. The absence of icebergs in the long tract from Baffin's Bay to Melville Island, and in the seas around Spitzbergen, affords at least a strong presumption against the existence of high precipitous land rising out of a deep ocean, without which, no formation of these huge masses of ice, some of which are not far short of a thousand feet in height, can possibly take place. If, then, the Polar Sea should be free from land, it will, in all probability, be also sufficiently free of ice for the purposes of navigation; for, although it is not doubted that the deep and wide sea will freeze over, yet it is well known that, by the navigation of the water in these boisterous latitudes, the ice formed on the surface is soon broken up, heaped together, and drifted with the wind to some shore or islands, where it becomes fixed, or floated so far down to the southward as to undergo a dissolution. If this was not the case, and we were to suppose the whole surface of the Polar Sea to be once frozen over into one dense and compact mass of ice, that mass must continue to increase from year to year, till that part of the ocean become one solid and immovable body. On the whole, then, we should say, that the probability of an open sea towards the North Pole rather predominates; it is a theory which has been entertained since the days of Dr Hooke; and all the Greenland fishermen are impressed with this opinion.

Probable Mean Temperature of the Pole. Dr Brewster, in an ingenious and interesting paper on "the Mean Temperature of the Globe," has shown, in a satisfactory manner, by comparing the results of the late expedition with those he had drawn from a preconceived theory, "that the mean temperature of the North Pole of the globe will be about 11°," which, he says, is "incomparably warmer than the regions in which Captain Parry spent the winter." The mean annual temperature of this spot, according to a series of accurate observations for twelve months, was actually 1°, 33'; and on shore could not have been more than 1° below zero.

Shortest Route to Behring's Strait. But if the Polar Sea should be tolerably free from ice and islands, and it were possible to pass the barrier of ice which is usually jammed in between Spitzbergen and Old Greenland, and no doubt it is possible, in many years, as may also be the case on the eastern side of Spitzbergen in most years, the route by this way, and close to the Pole, being on a great circle, would be by far the shortest in point of distance, cutting off not less than the whole width of the Atlantic from the Shetland Islands to Cape Farewell. The accident that happened to Captain Buchanan's ship is greatly to be regretted, as otherwise there was every prospect of much new information being obtained in this quarter, which is not likely to be acquired from private ships; for although the present graduated scale of rewards, which commence at the latitude 83°, would appear to encourage masters of fishing ships to avail themselves of favourable openings, which frequently occur, to run for that lati-

tude, we have little hope of a whale-fishing ship attempting it, and thereby perhaps running the risk of losing the short and precarious opportunity of accomplishing the main object of the voyage.

The whole surrounding coast of the North Polar Sea is inhabited; the European part with Laplanders and Finns; the Asiatic shores with Ostiacks, Samoyedes, Yuckagires, Tchutskies, and Koriacks, who derive their subsistence from the rein-deer and dried fish. The Tchutskoi bordering on Behring Strait are a superior kind of Eskimaux, and are no doubt the same race which extend along the northern coast of America, the shores and islands of Baffin's Bay, Davis and Hudson's Straits, and the coast of Labrador; and as high up on the coast of Old Greenland as latitude 78°, the highest habitable spot, in all probability, on the globe. All these people, distantly as they are removed from each other, speak the same language, wear the same dress, subsist in the same manner, and in all their habits and appearance are precisely the same people. Spitzbergen has no permanent inhabitants, but English, Dutch, Danes, and Russians, have frequently wintered there; and even as high as 80° N. many hundreds, some say thousands, of graves, are met with in two or three particular spots where it was usual to extract the oil from the whale and other marine animals furnishing blubber. On Nova Zembla, the body of which is five or six degrees lower in latitude, no inhabitants are found, nor, with the exception of Barentz and his associates, have any been known to pass the winter even in the more southerly parts. Such, indeed, is the difference of climate on the same parallels, that while on the southern part of Nova Zembla, in latitude 69°, not a shrub is to be found, at Altengoord, in Norway, in latitude 70°, trees grow to a considerable size. Old Greenland, and the islands on the western shore of Baffin's Bay, of Davis Strait, and of Hudson's Bay, down to the 55th degree of latitude, are barren of trees and shrubs; while, on the western side of America, as high up as the 60th and even 65th degree, the firs and birch grow to a considerable size. Even in the short distance which separates America from Asia across Behring's Strait, Kotzebue, in passing from the former to the latter, experienced a change like that of summer and winter; in the former all was verdure, in the latter, a complete surface of ice and snow. On the south side of Melville Island, in 75° of latitude, the moment that the snow had departed, the ground was enamelled with a variety of brilliant flowers.

Nor are these dreary regions entirely destitute of animated nature. Rein-deer are met with on the northernmost part of Spitzbergen. The polar bear, the wolf, the arctic fox, the polar hare, the ermine, the lemming or Hudson's Bay mouse, the musk-bull, and the rein-deer, were all caught on Melville Island, the first six being perpetual residents, the two last migratory. Grouse, ptarmigan, plover, and a great variety of water-fowl, frequent in vast numbers the straits and islands of the arctic seas. The following picture, drawn by the naturalist who accompanied Kotzebue, is correct and interesting: "As, on the one hand, in proportion as you advance farther on the land towards the north, the woods become less

POLAR REGIONS

POLAR REGIONS

Polar Seas. lofty, the vegetation gradually decreases, animals become scarcer, and lastly (as on Nova Zembla), the rein-deer and the glires vanish with the last plants, and only birds of prey prowling about the icy streams for their food: so, on the other hand, the sea becomes more and more peopled. The algæ, gigantic species of tang, form inundated woods round the rocky coasts, such as are not met with in the torrid zone. But the waters swarm with animal life—the medusæ and zoophytes, molluscæ and crustaceæ, innumerable species of fish, in incredibly crowded shoals; the gigantic swimming mammalia, whales, phiseters, dolphins, morses, and seals, fill the sea and its shores, and countless flights of water-fowl rock themselves on the bosom of the ocean, and in the twilight resemble floating islands."

Of the South Polar Sea little or nothing may be said to be known. Captain Cook, in the years 1773 and 1774, crossed the Antarctic Circle in five places only:—in longitude $39\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}^\{\backslash circ\}$ E., where he advanced to latitude $67\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}^\{\backslash circ\}$, and met with fields and detached pieces of ice; in longitudes $101^\{\backslash circ\}$ and $110^\{\backslash circ\}$ W., between which he proceeded to latitude $71^\{\backslash circ\}\; 10\text{'}$ S., the farthest progress made by him towards the South Pole, where he was stopped, or at least deemed it prudent to return, on account of the fields and mountains of ice which were scattered over the surface of the sea; and in longitude $136^\{\backslash circ\}$ and $148^\{\backslash circ\}$ W., between which he descended to latitude $68^\{\backslash circ\}$, and saw many floating ice islands. There are, therefore, still remaining about 340 degrees of longitude in which the Antarctic circle has not been crossed, and full half the circumference of the globe which has not been visited lower to the southward than the parallel of $60^\{\backslash circ\}$ south latitude.

There can be little doubt of the existence of high land in the South Polar Sea, though Cook discovered none beyond the Southern Thule or Sandwich Land, on the parallel of $60^\{\backslash circ\}$. Without high precipitous land, those large icebergs which he met with floating among the fields of ice could not have been formed; the hummocks of ice, occasioned by the agitation of the sea and the meeting of the fields or slabs in opposite directions, seldom rise to the height of twelve or fifteen feet above the surface. The Russians, indeed, on a recent voyage of discovery, are said to have fallen in with many islands about the 70th parallel of latitude; they also circumnavigated the Sandwich Land, which was left undetermined by Cook, and conjectured that it might be a part of the great Southern Continent, which occupied so much of the attention of geographers and philosophers of the last century. This idea was renewed by the recent discovery of a very considerable extent of land to the southward of Cape Horn, in latitude $68^\{\backslash circ\}$, and seen extending from longitude $55^\{\backslash circ\}$ to $65^\{\backslash circ\}$ W. As the eastern extremity had not been seen, and the winding of the coast was to the N. E., it was conjectured that it might unite with the Southern Thule of Cook, and form the long sought for Southern Continent. It is said, however, that the Russians have also circumnavigated this land, and that it is composed of a great cluster of islands.

The land in question has been called South Shetland, but it is no new discovery. In the account of the voyage of The Five Ships of Rotterdam, under the command of Jacob Mahu and Simon de Cordes, to the South Seas, in the year 1599, it is stated, that, on approaching the Strait of Magelhaens, the yacht, commanded by Dirk Gherritz, was separated from all the other ships, and was carried by tempestuous weather to the south of the strait to $64^\{\backslash circ\}$ S. latitude, where they discovered a high country, with mountains which were covered with snow, like the land of Norway. This land of Gherritz was marked on some of the old charts, but discontinued on the more modern ones, from the uncertainty of its position with regard to longitude. There can be no doubt of its identity with the modern South Shetland. It answered to the description of the mountains of Norway, covered with snow, and is wholly barren, having neither tree nor shrub of any kind. It is unnecessary to say, that it is uninhabited, there being no such people in the southern hemisphere as the Eskimaux; and it may be remarked, that no human beings are found in the Southern Ocean below the 55th parallel of latitude, and none beyond the 50th, except on Patagonia and Terra del Fuego. On the shores, the seals and sea-horses, which had remained from the creation undisturbed, were so numerous, that on the first notice of the rediscovery, a whole fleet of vessels from England and North America crowded thither on speculation; but the loss of several, from tempestuous weather and a dangerous navigation, and the destruction and alarm of the objects of their cupidity, will probably cause it, for some time at least, to remain as much a land of desolation as it had been before.

Since the preceding article was written, the return of Captain Franklin has completely settled the geography of the mouth of the Copper Mine River, and between 500 and 600 miles to the eastward of it. The latitude of this river, which Hearne originally stated to be upwards of $79^\{\backslash circ\}$ N., but which was afterwards reduced to $69^\{\backslash circ\}$, is now determined to be $67^\{\backslash circ\}\; 48\text{'}$ N., and longitude $115^\{\backslash circ\}\; 30\text{'}$ W., which is five degrees more westerly than is usually laid down on the charts. One part of the coast, to the eastward of Hearne's River, was found to come down as low as the Arctic Circle, or $66^\{\backslash circ\}\; 30\text{'}$ N. Little or no ice was floating on the sea, which was deep and unobstructed, on which ships of any burden might freely navigate; and thus the theory, upon the strength of which Captain Parry is at present proceeding, is confirmed; and Captain Franklin has every reason to believe, that when once he gets upon the coast of North America, he will find no difficulty in making good his passage. Captain Franklin also found that the general current set to the eastward, as all the driftwood was found on the western sides of the jutting promontories. Nearly parallel to the coast, and at the distance of five or six miles from it, a range of numerous islands extended the whole length of the passage made by Captain Franklin.