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 T H E 
 
 PROBABILITY 
 
 OF REACHING 
 
 THE NORTH POLE 
 
 DISCUSSED. 
 
 [Price Two Shillings and S'x Pence.] 
 
 

 I 
 
 Pr 
 
THE 
 
 PROBABILITY 
 
 OF REACHING 
 
 THE NORTH POLE 
 
 DISCUSSED. 
 
 Ultima Thulc. 
 
 . . . Nee fu tcnii 
 SiNECAinMcdca. 
 
 
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 Primed for C. H E r D I N G F. R, In the Strand. 
 
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 INSTANCES OF NAVIGATORS 
 
 WHO HAVE REACHED 
 
 HIGH NORTHERN LATITUDES. 
 
 Read at a Meeting of the Royal Society, May 19, 1774. 
 
 AS I was the unworthy proix)fer of the voyage 
 towards the North Pole, which the Council of 
 the Royal Society recommended to the Board of Admi- 
 ralty, I think, it my duty to lay before the Society fuch 
 intelligence as I have happened to procure with regard 
 to navigators having reached high Northern latitudes''"-'; 
 becaufe fome of thele accounts feem to promife, that 
 we may proceed further towards the Pole than the very 
 able Officers, who were fent on this deftination laft 
 year, were permitted to penetrate, notwithftanding 
 their repeated efforts to pafs beyond eighty degrees and 
 an half. 
 
 I fliall begin, however, by making an obfervation 
 or two with regard to the Greenland fifliery, which will 
 in a great meafure account for our not being able to 
 
 procure 
 
 (n) It is well known that there arc many fucU accounts in print, but tu 
 tlicfe I need not refev the Socicly . , . 
 
 B 
 
 fc«»i 
 
 2'30(:(j 
 
L ^ ] 
 
 l>rocurc many inftances of nearer approaches to the 
 Pole, than the Northern parti, of Spitzbergen. 
 
 Fifty years ago fuch apprehcnfions were entertained 
 of navigating even in the loofe, or what is called y<7///>7,§ 
 ice, that the trews commonly continued on fhore, from 
 whence they only purfued the whales in boats. 
 
 The demand, hov/evcr, for oil incrcafing, whilil: 
 the number of fifli rather decrealed, they were obliged 
 to proceed to fea in qiieft of lliem, and now by expe- 
 rience and udroitnefs feldom fuffer from the obftrudlions 
 of ice''*''. 
 
 The mailers of flaps, which arc employed in this 
 trade, have no other objedt but the catching as many 
 whales as poflible, which as long as they can procvire 
 in moj'C Southern latitudes, they certainly will not go 
 J in fearch of at a greater dillance from the i)ort to which 
 they are to return : they therefore feldom proceed 
 beyond N. lat. "d, unlefs driven by a Itrong Southerly 
 wind, or other accident. 
 
 Whenever this happens alfo, it is only by very dili- 
 
 , gent inquiries that any information can be procured ; 
 
 for the matters, not being commonly men of fciencc, 
 
 or troubling their heads about the improvement of 
 
 . geographical knowledge, never mention thefe circum- 
 
 ' llances on their return, becaufe they conceive that no 
 
 one is more interefted about thefe matters than they arc 
 
 themfelves. 
 
 (b) Thefe particulars I received from Captain Robinfon, whom 1 fliall have 
 hereafter occaf.on to mention* 
 
 
 gaag 'i Mw Sa iia By' -- •' 
 
[ .1 ] 
 
 ihcmfelvcs. Man) of the Grccnlr4n(l maflcrs lire likc- 
 wil'c dirciStcd to iciurii al'tcr the early fiflicry is over, 
 provided they have tolerable luccefs; ib that they have 
 no opportunity of penetratin'i; to the Northward. 
 
 To thel'e reafinis it mav he added, that no lliijis wcjc 
 perhaps ever lent before lalt funiiner wilh cxprcl's iii- 
 ihuolions to reach the Pole, if ])oird)le, as molt oilier 
 attempts have been to diicover a N.E. or N. VV. paiia^e, 
 wliich were loon defeated by fallin,q in with land. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to fliew that the inftances 
 of Ihips reachini;- high Northern latitudes mull necef- 
 liirily be rare, 1 Ihall now i)roceed to lay before the So- 
 ( iety, fuch as 1 have been able to hear of finee the voyage 
 towards the N. Pole was undertaken during laft fummer. 
 
 When this was determined upon, and mentioned in 
 the News Papers, it became matter of converfation 
 amongll tlie crews of the guardlhips, and Andrewr 
 Leekie, an intelligent feaman on board the Albion 
 (then Rationed at Plymouth), informed fomc of the 
 officers that he had been as far North as 84J. 
 
 When he was afked further on this head, he faid that 
 he was on board the Reading, Captain Thomas Robin- 
 fon, in 1766, and that whilft he was fliaving the 
 captain, Mr. Robinfon told him that he had probably 
 never been fo far to the Northward before, as they had 
 now reached the above mentioned degree of latitude. 
 
 Having happened to hear this account of Leekie's, 
 on my return to London this winter, I found out Captain 
 Robinfon, who remembered his having had this con- 
 
 B 2 verfation 
 
wm 
 
 } 
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 verfati«^n ^^ ith Lcekic, but faid that he was miftaken in 
 fuppofing that they had reached 84I N. lat. as they 
 were only in 827. 
 
 Ciiptiiin Robinfon then explained himfelf, that he 
 had at this ihnc computed his latitude by the run li.ick 
 to Hakluyt's Headland in 24 hours; from which, and 
 other circumlt:u\ccs mentioned in my prefence before 
 two fca officers, they told me afterwards that they had 
 little or no doubt of the accuracy of his reckoning. Mr. 
 Kobinfon iikewife remembers that the fea was then 
 open, ix:> that he hath no doubt of being nbi<j to penetrate 
 to 83, bvit how much further he will not pretend to lay. 
 
 This fame captain, in the fliip St. George, was, on 
 the 15th of June 1773, in N. lat. 81° 16', by a very 
 accurate obfervation with an approved Hadley's qua- 
 drant, in which he alfo made the proper allowance for 
 the refradion in high Northern latitudes, at which 
 time feeing fome whales fi)outing to the Northward, he 
 purfucd them for five hours, lb that he muft have 
 reached 8 1 1, when the fea was open to the Weftward 
 and E.N.E. as far as he could diflinguifli from the maft- 
 head. His longitude was then 8 degrees E. from the 
 meridian of London. 
 
 Captain Robinfon is a very intelligent fcaman, and 
 hath navigated the Greenland leas tliefe twenty years, 
 except during the interval that he was employed by 
 the Hudfon's Bay Company''. 
 
 I could 
 
 (c) He lived during tliis winter in Q\iecn-flrect, near Grccnlaml-tlock, 
 Hotlicrhithc ; he liath faikJ, probably, by this time on the Greenland fifliery. 
 
 Willi 
 
' 
 
 [ S ] 
 
 I could add fome other, perhaps intcrefting, parti- 
 culars, M hich I have received from Cuptain Ilohinibii, 
 with regard to Si)itzbergen and the Polar leas; I 
 will only mention, however, that he thinks he could 
 fpcnd a M inter not uncomfortably in the moft Northern 
 parts we are accjuainted with, as there are three or tour 
 IV:; U fettlements of Rulhans in Spitzbergen for the 
 fake 'if the fkins of quadrupeds, which arc then more 
 vuiu.ible, than if the animal is taken in fummer. 
 
 The next inftance I fliall mention of a navigator 
 who hatii proceeded far Northwards is that of Caj)tain 
 Chcyne, who gave anfwers to certain queries drawn up 
 by Mr. Dairy mplc, F. R. S. in relation to the Polar feas, 
 and which were communicated laft year to the Society. 
 
 Captain Cheyne flates in this pai)er, that he hath 
 been as far as N. lat. 82, but does not fpecify whether 
 by obfervation or his reckonings though from many 
 other anfwers to the interrogatories propofed, it Ihould 
 feem that he fpeaks of the latitude by obfevcation. 
 Unfortunately Captain Cheyne is at prefent on the 
 Coaft of Africa, fo that further information on this 
 head cannot be now procured from him. 
 
 Whilll the fliips dellined for the N. Pole were pre- 
 paring, a moft ingenious, and able fca officer. Lieute- 
 nant John Cartwright, told me that twelve years ago he 
 had been informed of a very remarkable voyage made 
 by Captain Mac-Gallam as far nearly as 84 N. lat. 
 
 ' . This. 
 
 With regard to his having been in N. lat. 81° 30', in June 1773, he can prove 
 it by his journal, if tlut evidence Hiould be re(|uir(.d. 
 
T 
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 This account Mr. Cartwright had received from a 
 brother officer, Mr. James Watt, now a lievitcncnt in 
 the Royal Navy, who was on board Captain Mac- 
 Call am'.s lliip. 
 
 I tiioiight it my duty to acx^uaint the Admiralty With 
 this intelligence, who would have lent i'or Mr. Watt, 
 but he was then employed on the coaft of America. 
 
 On his return from thence within the lall month, 
 Mr. Cartwright introduced a converfation v/ith regard 
 to Captain Mac-Gallam's voyage, wlicn Mr. Watt 
 repeated all the circunillances which he had mentioned 
 to him twelve years ago; after which Mr. Cartwright, 
 thinking that I Ihould be glad to hear the particidars 
 from Mr. Watt himfelf, was fo good as to bring him to 
 my chambers, when I received ixom him the following 
 information : 
 
 In the year 1 7 5 1 Mr. Watt, then not quite feven- 
 teen years of age, went on board the Campbeltown of 
 Campbeltown, Captain Mac-Callam, which ihip was . 
 at that time employed in the Greenland fifliery. 
 
 It feems that during the time the whales are fup- 
 pofed to copulate, the crews of the Greenland veffels 
 commonly amufe themfelves on fliore. 
 
 Captain Mac-Callam however (who was a very able 
 and fcientific feaman) thought that a voyage to the 
 N. Pole would be more interefting, and that the feafon 
 being a fine one, he had a chance of penetrating far to 
 the Northward, as well as returning before the later 
 fifliery took place. He accordingly proceeded without 
 
 
[ 7 ] 
 
 the leaft obflriidlion to 83-', when the lea was not only- 
 open to the Northward, but they had not feen a fpcck of 
 ice lor the hiil three de^^rcc?; .-.nd the weather at the lame 
 time was temperate; in ihort Mr. Watt hath never 
 experienced a more plcafant navigation. 
 
 It need be fcarcely obferved, that the latitude of 83^ 
 was determined by obfervation, as the great objedt of 
 the voyage was to reach the Pole; the Captain there- 
 fore, the mate, and young Mr. Watt, determined the 
 latitude from time to time, both by Davis and Hadley's 
 quadrants : to this I may add, that their departure and 
 return were from and to Hakluvt's Headland. 
 
 When they were advancing into thefe high Northern 
 latitudes, the mate complained that the compafs was 
 not fteady, on which Captain Mac-Callam defifted from 
 his attempt, though with reluctance ; knowing that if 
 any accident happened, he fliould be blamed by his 
 owners, who would be reminded certainly by the mate 
 of the protefts he had made againll the fliip's proceeding 
 further Northward. 
 
 Several of the crew however were for profecuting 
 their difcoveries, and Mr. Watt particularly remembers 
 the chagrin which was exprefled by a very intelligent 
 feaman, whofe name was John Kelly; Captain Mac- 
 Callam alfo, after his return from that voyage, hath 
 frequently faid, in the prefence of Mr. Watt and others, 
 that, if the mate had not been faint-hearted, the Ihip 
 poflibly might have reached the pole. 
 
 Both 
 
[ 8 ] 
 
 ^ Both Captain Mac-Callam and the mate are now 
 dead, and it is rather doubtful whether the fliip's jour- 
 nal can be procured. 
 
 It remains therefore to be confidered what may be 
 objeded to the credibilityof this very interefting account. 
 
 I have ftated that Mr. Watt was not at the time this 
 voyage took place quite feventeen years of age, but I 
 have alfo ftated that he obferved himfelf (as well as the 
 mafter and mate), from time to time. Is it therefore 
 more extraordinary he fliould remember with accuracy 
 that, two and twenty years ago, he had been in N. lat. 
 83J, than that at the fame diftance of time, he might 
 recolIe(St that he had been at a friend's houfe which was 
 lituated 83 miles and an half from London? Or rather 
 indeed is not his memory, with regard to this high 
 latitude, much more to be depended upon, as the cir- 
 cumftance is fo much more interefting ? 
 
 To this I may add, that it being his firft voyage, and 
 fo remarkable a one, Mr. Watt now declares that he 
 remembers more particulars relative to it, than perhaps 
 in any other lince that time ; Mr. Watt alfo being of a 
 fcientific turn, the high Northern latitude was likely 
 to make a more ftrong impreflion upon him : other fea 
 officers have likewife told me, that the circumftances 
 of their firft voyages are moft frefli in their memory, 
 the reafon for which is too obvious to be dwelt upon. 
 
 If Mr. Watt's recolledtion however is diftrufted, this 
 pbjedlion extends equally to Captain Mac-Callam's fre- 
 quent declarations, that, if the apprehenfions of the 
 
 mate 
 
t 9 ] 
 
 mste had not prevented, he might poflibly have reached 
 the N. Pole; and how could he have conceived this, 
 unlefs he had imagined himfelf to have been in a very 
 high Northern latitude ? 
 
 But it may be poflibly faid, that this voyage took 
 place above twenty years fince, and that therefore at 
 fuch a diftance of time no one's memory can be relied 
 upon. 
 
 It is true indeed that Mac-Callam made this attempt 
 in 1 7 5 1 , but Mr. Watt continued his fervices the fol- 
 lowing year in a Greenland fhip, and therefore, tra- 
 verfing nearly the fame feas, muft have renewed the 
 recoUedtion of what he had experienced in the pre- 
 ceding voy age, though he did not then penetrate fur- 
 ther than N. lat. 8o. 
 
 This however brings it only to 1752, but I have 
 already ftated, that within thefe twelve years he men- 
 tioned all the particulars above related to his brother 
 officer, Lieutenant Cartwright. 
 
 Mr, Watt alfo frequently converfed with Captain 
 Mac-Callam about this voyage after both of them had 
 quitted the Greenland Ihips; Mr. Watt rifing regularly 
 to be a Lieutenant in his Majefty's fervice, and Captain 
 Mac-Callam becoming Purfer of the Tweed man of 
 war. 
 
 It fo happened that in the year of the expedition 
 againft Belleifle, Mr. Watt, Captain Mac-Callam, and 
 Mr. Walker (commonly called Commodore Walker, 
 from his having commanded the Royal Family priva- 
 
 Q teers 
 
 -rtr 
 
C 10 3 
 
 teers in the late war) met together at Poitfmouth, when 
 they talked over the circiimftances of this Greenland 
 voyage, which Mr. WalL^er was interefted in, by having 
 been the principal owner of the Campbeltown. 
 
 Mr. Watt's memory was therefore again refreflied 
 with regard to all thefe circiimftances : Mr. Walker is 
 indeed now in Sj^ain, but is expedted to return very 
 foon, V hich if he lliould do, I \vill not fail to lay an 
 account before the Society of the converfation which 
 then palTed at Portfmouth. 
 
 Mr. Watt and Captain Mac-Callam met alfo eleven 
 years ago in London, when they as ufual converfed 
 about the having reached fo high a Northern latitude. 
 
 I now come to my laft proof, which I received from 
 Dr. Campbell, the able continuator and revifer of 
 Harris's Colle6tion ot Voyages. :.."-•;.. ' » i; -^ 
 
 In that very valuable compilation, Commodore 
 Roggewein's circumnavigation makes a moft material 
 addition, fome of the moft interefting particulars of 
 which were communicated by Dr. DaUlie, who wa« a 
 native of Holland ''% and lived in Racquet-court, Fleet- 
 ftreet, about the year 1745, where he pradtifed phy- 
 fick. 
 
 Dr. Campbell went to tha: '■ Daillie for the having 
 furniflied him with Commodore Roggewein's voyage, 
 when Daillie faid that he had been further both to the 
 
 Southward 
 
 (d) He was a grandfon of Daillie, who was author of a lx>ok, much 
 «Ileeined by the Divines, entitled " Dt Vfu Patrum%^ 
 
 i 
 
' 
 
 
 C II ] 
 
 Southward and to the Northward than perhaps any- 
 other perfon who ever exifted. 
 
 He then explained himlelf as to the having been in 
 high Southern latitudes, by failing in Roggewein's 
 fleet ('}, and as to his having been far to the Northward, 
 he gave the following account : ;, • 
 
 Between fifty and fixty years ago it was ufual to fend, 
 a Dutch fliip of war to fuperintend the Greenland 
 fifliery, though it is not known whether this continues 
 to be a regulation at prefent... • r-., fj :■,,.. 
 
 Dr. Daillie (then young) was on board the Dutch- 
 veflel employed on this fervice (fJy and during the in- 
 terval between the two fiflieries, the Captain deter^ 
 mined, like Mr. Mac-Gallam, to try whether he could; 
 not reach the Pole, and accordingly penetrated (to the 
 beft of Dr. CampbelL's recoUedion) as far as N, lat. 
 88, when the weather was warm, the fea perfedly 
 free from ice, and rolling like the .bay of Bifcay. 
 Daillie now prefled the Captain to proceed, but he 
 anfwered that he had ahready gone, toa far by. having 
 negleded his ftation, , for which he Ihould be blamed 
 in Holland, on which account aifo he would fuffer no 
 journal to be. made, but returned as fpeedily as he could ^ 
 to Spitzbergen.. ,j j^, , .-^ ^ .^ r,^[ ■es.yiMo^i^ .mxA j jj; ^ 
 
 There are undoubtedly two objedions which .may he 
 made to this account. of Dr. Daillie's, which are, that 
 
 j». 
 
 ', . ,!t <,' I'il.'J 
 
 G,a.:^ 
 
 J. itv ,:c.-i 
 
 •hi:; 
 
 it. 
 
 (e) Rbggewein^^reachfcdS. fat. 62°"3o'. Sec Harris." • \ - 
 
 (/) Dr. Campbell does not recolleft ia what capacity hfc ferved, but, as he. 
 aftcrw«ird$ praftifedphyfick, he might probably have been tlie furgeon, . 
 
[ I* ] 
 
 it depend? not only upon his own memoiT, but that of 
 Dr. Campbell, as no journal can be produced, tor the 
 reafon which I have before ftated. 
 
 The converfation between Dr. Campbell and Daillie 
 arofe from the accidental mention of Roggewein's 
 voyage to the Southward; and can it be fuppofed that 
 Daillie invented this circumftantial narrative on the 
 fpot, without having adlually been in a high Northern 
 latitude? 
 
 If this be admitted to have been improbable, was hfc 
 not likely to have remembered with accuracy what he 
 was fo much interefted about, as to have prefled the 
 Dutch Captain to have proceeded to the Pole ? .. ' 
 
 But it may be laid alfo that vfe have not this iiccount 
 from Daillie himfelf, but at fecond hand from Dr. 
 Campbell, at the diftance of thirty years from the con- 
 verfation. 
 
 To this it may be anfwered, that Dr. Campbell*s 
 memory is moft remlrkably tenacious, as is well known 
 to all thofe wh6 have the pleafure of his acquaintance ; 
 and, as he hath written fo ably for the promotion of 
 geographical difcoveries in all parts of the globe, fuch 
 an account could not but make a ftrong impreflion 
 upon him, efpecially as he received it juft after the firft 
 editidn of his compilation of voyages. 
 
 No one eafily forgets what is highly intereftihg to 
 him; and, though I do not pretend to have fo good a 
 memory as Dr. Campbell, I have fcarcely a doubt, but 
 that if I ihould live thirty years longer, and retain my 
 
 1 . V . faculties. 
 
 .1 
 
C 13 ] 
 faculties, I fliall recoiled with precifion every latitiide 
 which 1 have already ftated in this paper. 
 
 What credit, however, is to be given to all thete 
 narratives is entirely fubmitted to the Society, as I have 
 ftated them moft fully with every circumftance which 
 may invalidate, as well as fupport them; and if I have 
 endeavoured to corroborate them by the obfervations 
 which I have made, it is only becaufe I believe them. 
 
 It fliould feem upon the whole of the inquiries upon 
 this point, that it is very uncertain when Ihips may 
 penetrate far to the Northward of Spitzbergen, and 
 that it depends not only upon the feafon, but other 
 accidents, when the Polar feas may be fo free from ice 
 as to permit attempts to make difcoveries '"'''. 
 
 Poffibly, therefore, if a king's officer was fent from 
 year to year on board one of the Greenland fliips, 
 the lucky opportunity might be feized, and the Navy 
 Board might pay for the ufe of the veflel, if it was 
 taken from the whale filhery, in order to proceed as far 
 as may be towards the North Pole, 
 
 (g) Captain Roblnfon hath informed mc, that at the latter end of laft 
 April, a Whitby fhip wai in N. lat. 80, without having been materially 
 •bArufted by die ice. 
 
 DAWES BJRRINGTONf F.R^S. 
 
 
!■■■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 '!•■ - 
 
 J I 
 J /■ 
 
 
 A 
 
 .. •• k- 7. 
 
 R( 
 
 
 '(*.'\'/i V'l' ' A. 
 
■ 
 
 wm 
 
 ADDITIONAL 
 
 PROOFS 
 
 THAT 
 
 THE POLAR SEAS 
 
 ARE OPEN. 
 
 Read at a Meeting of the Royal Society, Dec. ai, 1774.. 
 
 \ 
 
 tftmasK'tSl:'^, 
 
r I 
 
 i. 
 
 IRQ 
 
v/•v■^^/vvvvvv^■^•/v/^^y'\'■•'■■v^v'^'v\*v''>•■^•v'V^''v'vvvvv•v'•^y 
 
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 |K"!M( ^« »» '^.t:^ yix ^5 
 
 kjrf 3^$ XXC -^'"^ yxK if^ 
 
 ADDITIONAL 
 
 R O O 
 
 S, &c. 
 
 Read at a Meeting of the Ro/al Society, Dec. 22, 1774. 
 
 AS I happen to have colle(rted many additional fails 
 fince my paper, containing Inftances of Naviga- 
 tors who had reached high Northern Latitudes, was 
 read before the Society in May laft, I fhall take the 
 Uberty to ftate them according to chronological order; 
 together with fome general reafons why it may be pre- 
 funied, that the Polar feas are, at leaft fometimes, 
 navigable. 
 
 I think it my duty to do this, not only becaufe I was 
 the unworthy propofer of the Polar voyage in 1773, 
 which was recommended by the Council of the Royal 
 Society to the Board of Admiralty; but becaufe it 
 would not redound much to the credit of the Society, if 
 they planned a voyage to reach the N. Pole, if poflible, 
 when a perpetual barrier of ice prevented any difco- 
 veries in the Spitzbergen feas to the Northward of Soj, 
 which is not a degree beyond the moft common ftation 
 of the Greenland fifliers. 
 
 D Imuft 
 
 I 
 
J » g l'»l 
 
 [ i8 ] 
 
 I miift here, however, repeat, that t\o one is more 
 entirely Ihtisficd than myfelf of the ,^rcat abilities, 
 |x:rfevcrance, and intrepidity, with which the ofiiccrs 
 'who were lent on this deflination, attempted to pro- 
 fee ute their difcoveries; ))ut I conceive, tVom the argu- 
 ments and fad^s which will follow, that they were 
 iloppcd by a moil unfortunate harrier of ice (of great 
 extent indeed), but which was only temporary, and 
 not perpetual. 
 
 If fuch a wall of ice hath been conftantly fixed in 
 this latitude, and muft continue to be fo, there is an 
 end to all difcoveries to be made to the Northward of 
 Spitzbergen; but if it is only occafional, the attempt 
 may be relumed in fome more fortunate year. 
 
 The ixoint therefore being of fo much importance 
 to geography, I hope the Society will pardon me, if I 
 more fully enter into the fubjedt than I did in my 
 former paper. 
 
 The Englilh have long taken the lead in geographi- 
 cal difcoveries. One of our fliips of war is lately 
 returned after having penetrated into the Antardic 
 , circle; and is it not rather a refledlion upon a fcientific 
 nation, that more is not known with regard to the 
 circumpolar regions of our own hemifphere, than can be 
 collected from maps made in the time of Charles I. 
 efpecially when the run from the mouth of the Thames 
 to the N. Pole is not a longer one, than from Falmouth. 
 tQ the Cape cle Verde iflands ? 
 
 Though 
 
[ 19 ] 
 
 Though I have the honour to be a Fellow of a So* 
 ciety inltituted for the promotion of Natural Know- 
 ledge, the prejudices of an Englifliman arc fo llrong 
 with me, that I camiot but wiili the dilcovcvics to i)e 
 made in the Polar feas rnay be atchieved by my coun- 
 trymen; but if we are determined to abandon the 
 cnterprizc, fticnce is to be honoiued from whatever 
 quarter it may come, and it hath therefore given me 
 great lalisfadlion to hear, that Monf. dc Bougainville is 
 loon to be fent on difcoveries to the Northw ard. 
 
 In the outfet of my former pai)cr, I iaid I Ihoidd 
 not trouble the Society with any inltanccs of navigators 
 having reached high Northern latitudes, which had 
 appeared in print. During the couric of this fummer, 
 however, I have hapj^ened to find three fuch accounts, 
 which were never before alluded to, and which are 
 extracfted from books that are not commonly looked 
 into, or at leaft often confulted ui^on points of geo- 
 graphy. 
 
 When the Royal Society was firft inftituted, it was 
 ufual to fend queries to any traveller who happened to 
 refide in England, after having been in parts of the 
 world which are not commonly frequented. 
 
 In the year 1 66|, Mr. Oldenburg, then fccretary of 
 the Society, was ordered to regifter a paper, entitled, 
 *' Several Inquiries concerning Greenland, anlwcrcd 
 '* by Mr. Grey, who had frequented thofe parts." 
 
 The 19th of thefe queries is the following: 
 
 " How near any one hath been known to approach 
 *' the Pole r D 2 Anfwcr. 
 
[ 20 ] 
 
 Anfwer. ** I once met upon the Coaft of Greenland, 
 " a Hollander, that fwore he had been but half a de- 
 " gree from the Pole, (hewing me his journal, which 
 " was alfo attefted by his mate; where they had feen 
 " no ice or land, but all water." 
 
 After which Mr. Oldenburgh adds, as from himfelf, 
 " This is incredible ('«''.'' 
 
 It may not be improper therefore, after mentioning 
 this firft inftance of a navigator's having approached fo 
 near to the Pole, to difcufs upon what reafons Mr. 
 Oldenburgh might found this his very peremptory 
 incredulity. 
 
 Was it becaufe the fa<5t is impoffible upon the very 
 ftating it ? 
 
 This puts me in mind of the incredulity which is 
 generally fhewn to a paflage in Pliny, even after the 
 adlual fadl hath fhewn not only the poffibility, but eafy 
 pradticability of what is alluded to. Pliny informs 
 US''*-', that Eudoxus flying the vengeance of king Lathy- 
 
 rus 
 
 (a) Sen Dr. Birch's Hlftory of the Royal Society, vol. I. p. 202. Thefc 
 queries are nineteen in number, to which the anfwers are very circumftantial. 
 I had an opportunity of reading tliem over to thret very intelligent mafters of 
 Greenland fhips, who confirmed every particular. One circuniilancc I think it 
 right to take notice of, though it does not immediately relate to the point in 
 difcufllon, which is, that there are coals in Spitzbcrgen, by which feven of Mr. 
 Grey's crew were enabled to bear the feverity of the winter, having been left 
 behind by an accident. One of the Greenland mafters, to whom I read Mr. 
 Grey's anfwers, confirmed this particular; faying, that he had burnt himfelf 
 Spitzbergen coals, and that they were veiy good, 
 (t) L. II. ch. 67. 
 
C 21 3 
 
 rus failed from Arabia, and readied the Straits of 
 Gibraltar : yet no one icarcely will believe this account 
 of Eudoxus's navigation, not\vithl1:anding this courfe is 
 fo often followed. 
 
 Was it becaufe no Englilhman had then been fo far 
 to the Northward ? 
 
 It is very eafy, however, to account Why fuch 
 attempts Ihould rather be made by the Dutch than the 
 Englilh, in the infancy of the Greenland fifhery. 
 
 The Southern parts of this country were difcovered 
 by Sir Hugh Willoughby, A. D. 1553; after which, 
 no Englifh fhips were fent on that coaft for nearly fifty 
 years. In the beginning of the laft century, however, 
 a competition arofe between the Englifli and Dutch, 
 with regard to the whale filhery, and the Englifli drove 
 the Dutch from mofl of the harbours, under the right 
 of lirft difcoverers, in which they were fupported by 
 royal inftrudtions; (b that the Dutch were obliged to 
 feek for new flations, whereas the Englifh './ere com- 
 monly in pofTeflion of the Greenland ports, which they 
 conlidered as their own'''-'. 
 
 Did Mr. Oldenburgh difbelieve the Dutchman's 
 relation, becaufe ice is frequently met with to the 
 Southward of N. lat. 80 ? 
 
 ^ I 
 
 Ice 
 
 (c) Sec Pmchis, pa^m. Whilft thefe difputes contrnr/rd, the Dutch often 
 fent fliips of war to proteft their Greenland traders, which accounts for Dr. 
 Daillie's failing in fuch a velfel to 88, as 1 have ilated in tny former papcc 
 
 
I 
 
 [ " ] 
 
 Ice is commonly Icen upon the great bank of New- 
 foundland, and the harbour of Louifdurgh is often 
 covered with it, which is only in N. lat. 46; yet Davis 
 . and IJaflin have penetrated, under nearly the fame me- 
 ridians, beyond 70. 
 
 I will now fuppolc the tables turned betwe2n the twa 
 hemifpheres of our globe, and that a Southern dif- 
 coverer,. meeting with ice upon the banks of New- 
 foundland, returns to his own hemifphere fully im- 
 prefled with the impoflibility of proceeding much to 
 the Northward of N. lat. 46; would not his country- 
 men be deceived by the inferences which were drawn 
 from what had been obferved in the feas of the North- 
 ern hemifphere ? 
 
 Bouvet, in 1738, penetrated to 5 3 S. lat. and in a me- 
 ridian 5 degrees to the W. of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 in which fituation he fell in with floating ice; after 
 .vhich he did not proceed any further. Our two fliips 
 of war, lately fent upon difcoverics to the Southward, 
 however, have been fome minutes w ithln the Antarctic 
 circle, upon a no very diftant meridian from that in 
 which Boiwet failed. 
 
 Muft the fa6l be difbelieved becaufe all the ice in the 
 Polar feas comes from the Northward? But this is not 
 lb, as Mr. Grey informs us''''^, that the S. E. wind 
 brings the greateft quantity of ice to the Coafts of 
 Spitzbergen; which indeed is highly probable, 
 
 as this 
 wdnd 
 
 (d) Dr. Birch's HI ft. R. Soc, 
 
 am 
 
1 
 
 i 
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
 wind blows from tliofe parts of the Frozen Sea into 
 whicii tlie great rivers of Siberia and Tartary empty 
 themfcives. My own poor conception with regard to 
 the iloating ice in the Spitzbergcn feas is, that thefe 
 maffes come almoft entirely from the fame qi^arter, as 
 it is io difFicult to freeze any large quantit)' of fait water, 
 Thefe pieces of ice, therefore, being once launched into 
 the Frozen Sea, are tlifpe.fed by winds, tides, and cur- 
 rents, in every diredion, fome of them being perhaps 
 carried to very high Northern latitudes, from ^hich 
 they are again wafted to the Southward. 
 
 But allowing, for an inftant, that all the ice may 
 come from the Northward, mult not then an open ll\i 
 be left in the higher Northern latitudes, from which 
 thefe mafles of ice are fuppofed to have floated ? 
 
 Was it becaufe the more one advances towards the 
 Pole, vegetation invariably is diminiflied? — But this is 
 not the fad:. 
 
 Nova Zembla, fituated only in N. kit. 76, produces 
 not even any forts of grafsr^J; ih that the only quadru- 
 peds which frequent it are foxes and bears, both of 
 which are carnivorous. In the Northern parts of Spitz- 
 bergcn, on the other hand, they have reyn-deer, A\hich 
 are often exceffively fat; and Mr. Grey mentions three 
 or four plants, which flower there during the fum- 
 mcr (fK. 
 
 Was 
 
 (e) Purchas, vol. I. p. 479. 
 
 (f) Dr. Birch's Hift. K. toe. vol. I, p. 202. eifiq.. 
 
[ 24 ] ^ 
 
 Was it becaiife no one had ever conceived it poflible 
 to proceed fo far as the Pole ? 
 
 Thorne, however, a merchant of Briftol, had made 
 fuch a propofal in the reign of Henry VIII ; and I fhall 
 now alfo fliew, that not only Mr. Oldenburgh's con- 
 temix)raries continued to believe fuch a voyage to be 
 fcafible, but many great names in fcience who lived 
 after him. - 
 
 Wood failed on the difcovery of a N. E. paflage to 
 Japan in 1676; and, in the publication of his voyage, 
 he hath ftated the grounds upon which he conceived 
 fuch a palTage to be practicable; the ftrongeft of all 
 which, perhaps, is the relation of Captain Goulden, 
 with regard to a Dutch fliip having reached N. lat. 89. 
 Though this account hath often been referred to, I do 
 not recollevSt to have feen it ftated with all the circum- 
 ftances which feem to eftablilli its veracity beyond con- 
 tradidion: I fliall therefore copy the very words of 
 Wood^^'-*. 
 
 " Captain Goulden, who had made above thirty 
 " voyages to Greenland, did relate to his majefty, that 
 " being at Greenland, fome twenty years before, he 
 
 (( 
 
 was 
 
 (g) Moxon's account of a Dutch fhip having "been two degrees beyond the 
 Pole, was alfo mucli relied upon by Wood, which hatli never been printed at 
 large, but in a now very fcarce traft of Moxon's, and in the fecond volume of 
 Harris's Voyages, p. 396. In confirmation of this very circumftantial and 
 jntercfting narrative, 1 have only to add, that Moxon was hydrographer to 
 Charles II. and hath publiflied fcvcral fcieniiUc trcatiles. See the Catalogue of 
 »hc Bo<llcian Library. 
 
 i 
 
"T 
 
 *' was in company with two Hollanders to the eaftward of 
 ^« Edge's ifland; and that the whales not appearing on 
 " the Ihore, the two Hollanders were determined to go 
 " further Northward; and in a fortnight's time re- 
 " turned, and gave it out that they had fliilcd into the 
 " lat. 89 ; and that they did not meet with any ice, but 
 «< a free and open fea; ami that there run a very hoilov/ 
 " grown fea, like that of the Bay of Bifcay. Mr. 
 " Goulden being not fatisfied with the bare relation, 
 *' they produced him four journals out of the two fliips, 
 " which teftified the fame, and that they all agreed 
 ** within four minutes/*-'." 
 
 Having thus dated Wood's own words, it fliould 
 feem, that they who deny the authenticity of the rela- 
 tion, mull contend that the crews of both thefe Dutch 
 fhips entered into a deliberate fcheme of impofmg upon 
 their brother whale filhers, and had drawn up four 
 fiaitious journals accordingly, becaufe fo many are 
 ftated to have been produced out of the two fnips to 
 Captain Goulden, whiltt each of them varied a fe\^ 
 minutes in the latitude; whereas if they had deter- 
 mined to deceive Captain Goulden ajid his crew, the 
 journals would probably have tallied exadly. I mull 
 beg leave alfo to make an additional obfervation on 
 the account as ftated by Wood, which is, that tlie 
 -Dutch fliips only went to the Northward, in fearch of 
 whales, but did not give it out. that tliey intended to 
 
 make 
 
 (h) Wood's Voyage, p, 145. Gravon fea, is the exprcffion uvthe orls.iiTaU 
 
[ 26 ] 
 
 nvake for the Pole, which if they had done, it might 
 l>()(hbly have been an inducement to carry on the decep- 
 tion, by a fictitious let of journals. To this it may lik.e- 
 \\ iic be added, that the Dutch are not commonly jokers. 
 
 I have already remarked, that Wood makes this 
 account one of the principal reafons fur his undertaking 
 the N. E. paflage to Japan. Wood therefore (Mr» 
 Oldenburgh's contemixjrary) was not a difbeliever, 
 before his voyage, of the i3oiilibility of reaching fo high 
 a Northern latitude, nor of any of the circumftances 
 ftated in this narrative. 
 
 Ikit Captain Wood is not a lingle inftance of fuch 
 credulity, as the very year before he failed on his 
 voyage, we find in the Philofophical Traiifadtions for 
 1675 (•} the following paflage: " For it is Well known 
 " to all that fail Northward, that moft of the Northern 
 ■** coafts are frozen up many leagues, though in the open 
 ** fea it is not fo, no nor under the Pole itfelf^ unlefs by 
 *' accident." In which paflage, the having reached 
 the Pole is alluded to as a known fa<ft, and ftated as 
 fuch to the Royal Society. 
 
 Wood indeed, after not being able to proceed furdier 
 than N. lat. 76, difcredits in the lump all the former 
 inltances of having reached high Northern latitudes, 
 in the followmg words : 
 
 " So here the opinion of William Barentz wns con- 
 ** futed, and all the Dutch relations, which certainly 
 
 **are 
 
 ^j; N° 118. 
 
 .1 
 
I 27 ] 
 
 '* are all forged and abufive pamphlets, as alio the rela- 
 ** tions of our countrymen ('■K''"' 
 
 hi juftice, however, to the memories of both Engliflit 
 and Dutch navigators, I cannot but take notice of thefe 
 very peremptory and ill-founded refledions, made by 
 Wood; and which feem to be didtated merely by his 
 dilappointment in not being able to effedl his dif- 
 covery. 
 
 Wood attempted to fail in a N. E. diredion between 
 Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, but was obftruded by 
 ice, fo that he could not proceed further than the W» 
 coaft of Nova Zembla in N. lat. 76. Thinking it, 
 therefore, prudent to return, he at once treats as fabu-- 
 lous, not only the ideas of that moft perfevering navi- 
 :gator William Barentz, but likewife all other accounts 
 ^f fhips having reached high Northern latitudes. Now 
 that the ice which obftrudted Wood in N. lat. 76 was 
 not a perpetual, but only occalional barrier, appears to 
 demonftration, by the Ruffians having not only dif- 
 covered, but lived feveral years in the ifland of Maloy 
 Brun, which lies between Spitzbergen and Nova 
 Zembla, and extends from N. lat. 77" 25' to 78° 45''^''. 
 
 ■' £1 2 -As. 
 
 11 f 
 
 ' (i) Wood's Voyage, p. iffi. 
 (I) See the Englilh Tranilation of profefTor Le Roy's account of this 
 Ifland, p. 85. London, 1774, 8-vo, printed for C. Huydinger, in the Strand. 
 See alfo the Sieur de Vaugondy's Efai d'une Carte Polaire JrSiique, publifhed 
 in 1774, who reprefcnts this ifland as extending from N. lat, 77° 20' t» 
 78° 30', its longitude being 60 degrees E, from Fcro» 
 
[ .8 1 
 
 As for Wood's treating all cUfcoveries towards the 
 Pole, from the Northern parts of Spitzbergen, as fabu- 
 lous, he had not the Icaft foundation, from what he 
 had obferved on his own voyage, for this unmerited 
 al periion upon their veracity ; becaufe if Wood's barrier 
 between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, in N. lat. 76, 
 Tiad been jierpetual, what hath this to do with the 
 courfe of a fliip failing from the Northern parts of 
 Spitzbergen, upon a meridian towards the Pole ? " ' 
 
 I cannot, however, difmifs Wood's voyage, without 
 making fome further remarks on his concluding, that 
 the obftrudtions which he met with in N. lat. 76 were 
 perpetual. 
 
 Almoft every voyage to feas, in which floating ice is 
 commonly to be found, proves the great difference 
 hetween the quantities, as well as fize of thefe impedi- 
 ments to navigation, though in the fame latitude and 
 time of the year. 
 
 Davis in his two firft voyages to uifcover the N. W. 
 paflage, could not penetrate beyond 66; but in his 
 third voyage, in 15 87, he reached 72° la'''"-'. 
 
 In the year 1576, Sir Martin Frobilher paffed the 
 •Straits (fince called from their firft difcoverer) without 
 any obftrudlions from ice : in his two following voyages 
 however, he found them in the fame month, to ufe his 
 own exprefTion, " in a manner fhut up with a long 
 *■' mure of ice C"-'." In 
 
 (m) See Hakluyt and Purchas, voi, I. p. 84. ; ' 
 
 (n) PurchaSj ibid, 
 
[ "-9 J 
 
 111 the year 1614, Baffin penetrated to 81, and 
 thought he law land as far as 82 to the N. E. of Spitz- 
 bergen, which is accordingly marked in one of Pur- 
 chas's maps. During this voyage he met, near Cherry 
 ifland, fituated only in 74 N. lat. two banks of ice; the 
 one, 40 leagues in length, the other 120; which laft 
 would extend to 25 degrees of longitude in N. lat. 76, 
 where Wood fixes his barrier. 
 
 It need therefore fcarcely be obferved, that fuch 
 a floating wall of ice, 120 leagues long, by being- 
 jammed in between land, or other banks of ice, might 
 afford an appearance indeed of forming a perpetual 
 barrier, when perhaps, within the next 24 hours, the 
 wall of ice might entirely vanifli. 
 
 Of the fudden aflemblage of fuch an accumulation 
 of ice, I fliall now mention two, rather recent inflances. 
 
 I have been very accurately informed, that the late 
 Colonel Murray happened to go, in the month of May, 
 from one of our Southern colonies to Louilburgh, 
 when the harbour was entirely open ; but on rifing in 
 the morning, it was completely filled with ice, fo that 
 a waggon might have pafTed over it in any direction. 
 
 I have alfo received the following account from an 
 officer in the royal navy, who was not many years ago 
 on the Newfoundland ftation. 
 
 . In the middle of June, the whole ilraits of Beilifle 
 
 were clofed, in the fame manner with the harbour of 
 
 Louifburgh, and for three weeks together, a carriage 
 
 might have pafled from one fliore to the other; when 
 
 4 upon 
 
[ 30 ] 
 
 upon riling in the morning, the ice had almofl entirely 
 tlifappeared. Such is the fudden acciuaulation and 
 removal of ice, in latitudes 24 and 30 degrees to the 
 Southward of Wood's fituation. 
 
 I Ihull now endeavour to fliew, that Dr. Ilalley was 
 no more incredulous with regard to the poflibility of 
 reaching high Northern latitudes, than Captain Wood 
 was, before the ill fuccefs of his voyage on difcovery. 
 
 Mr. Miller, in his Gardener's DicStionary, hath the 
 following paflage, under the article, Thermometer: 
 
 " Mr. Patrick, has fixed his thermometer to a fcide of 
 
 ^ ninety degrees, which are numbered from the top 
 
 " downwards, and alfo a moveable index fixed to it. 
 
 •* The defign of this is to Ihew, how the heat and cold 
 
 ** is changed from the time it was laft looked upon, 
 
 »* according to the difierent degrees of heat and cold ia 
 
 ** all latitudes. As by the trial of two thermometers, 
 
 " which have been regulated abroad \ the one by Dr» 
 
 " Halley, in his late Southern voyage ; and the other by 
 
 ** Captain Johnfon, in bis voyage to Greenland', the firft 
 
 " hath a heat under the equinoctial line> and the other 
 
 '* a degree of cold in 88 degrees of N. latitude.^ 
 
 : : 1 have taken fome pains to find out a more full 
 
 account of this voyage of Captain Johnfon's; but have 
 
 only met with the following confirmation of it perhaps, 
 
 in the ill voL of Monf. de Buflfon's Natural Hiftoryr»;. 
 
 " I have 
 
 {*) VaI.I. p>ai5, ^Tunt»» 
 
 J 
 
 «( 
 
 .. i)'' 
 
[ 31 1 
 
 *^ I have been aflTured, by perfons of credit y tliat an 
 •* Englifli captain, whofc name \vas Monlbn, infteacl of 
 " reeking a paffiige to China between the Northern 
 ** countries, had direded his (ourfe to the Pole, and 
 ** had approached it within two degrees, where tlicrc 
 *' was an open fea, without any ice." 
 
 As the Caj^tain Monfon mentioned in this paflagc, 
 reached exactly the fame degree of latitude with Cap- 
 tain JohnfoHf I fliould rather think, that this is the 
 fame voyage; efpecially, as it is well known, that the 
 French writers feldom trouble themfelves about the 
 orthography of foreign names. 
 
 If this, however, fhould not be the cafe, it muft be 
 admitted to be an additional inftance of a fliip's having 
 reached N. lat. 88, as well as Monf. de Buflbn*s giving 
 credit to fuch relation^/'''. 
 
 Having therefore not been able to pick up any other 
 circumftances in relation to Captain Jdhnfon's voyage, 
 I fhall now ftate what feems to be fairly deducible from 
 the paffage which I have copied from Miller's Gardener's 
 Didtionary. rl -^ . 
 
 Dr. Halley made his voyage to the Southward in 
 1700; on the return from which, he probably «m- 
 
 ' \ . ployed 
 
 '(! 
 
 ((.h 
 
 i 
 
 (p) To tliis lift of aedulousperlbns (as pcthaps they nay be confidered by 
 Ibme) I Ihall beg leave to add the names of Maclawrin and Dr. Campbell. 
 The fornoer of thefe was fo perfuaded of the fcas being open quite to tlic Pole, 
 that he hath not only advifed this method of proiccutiflg difcorories ; but at I 
 bave be&n informed, was defirous of going the voyage hiaiftV^ 
 
 ,,--"' 
 
[ 32 1 
 ployed Patrick, as the moft eminent maker of weather 
 glairesc?;, to grackiate a thermometer, according to the 
 heat he had experienced under the equator. It was 
 very natural therefore, when fuch a point of heat was 
 to be marked upon the inftrument, to graduate it either 
 for high Southern, or Northern latitudes. 
 
 It fliould fecm then, that Dr. Halley had procured 
 Captain Johnfon (who was mafter of a Greenland fliip) 
 to carry a thermometer on his voyage to Spitzbergen, 
 and that he fortunately was able to reach fo high a 
 degree of latitude as 88. 
 
 If the thermometer had been calculated only for 
 imaginary degrees of heat and cold, it would have been 
 marked for the Equator and the Pole; whereas it was 
 only graduated for 88 degrees of N. latitude, which 
 Captain Johnfon therefore had as clearly reached, as Dr. 
 Halley had the Equator. 
 
 At all events, Patrick's thermometer muft have been 
 made under Dr. Halley's infpe<Stion; and would he 
 have permitted it to be marked for 88 degrees of N. 
 latitude, according to Captain Johnfon's voyage, if he 
 had disbelieved his narrative ? 
 
 My third and laft inftance, from any printed authop 
 xity,. but in a book which is not commonly to be met 
 with, is, that of Captain Alexander Cluny,. as by a 
 map, engraved under his dh-edion, the very fpot is 
 
 marked 
 
 (f) I have been informed, that hit fliop wai in the OlJ Bailey, and tiiil 
 ic died about fifty years ago, , , , .^ ,,>j. < , n-.j. vr^ 
 
[ 33 ] 
 
 marked to the Weftward of Spitzbcrgen, and in fomc- 
 what more than 82 degrees of N. latitude, where ho 
 favv neither land nor l^e ('>. 
 
 Before I proceed, however, to (late feveral other 
 inftances of reaeiiing liigh Northern latitudes, which 
 have never appeared in print, and which I have col- 
 ledled fince my lad paper on this head, I mull beg the 
 indulgence of the Societ)-^, whilft I lay before them 
 fomc additional reafons why the Polar fer.s may be con- 
 ceived to be navigable <'L 
 
 Speculative geographers have fuppofed, that there 
 fliould be nearly the fame quantity of land and fea in 
 hoth hemifpheres, in order to preferve the equilibrium 
 of the globe. 
 
 It 
 
 (r) Sec the American Traveller, London, 1769, quarto; asalli, tlicSienr 
 de Vaugpncly's £^/ d'une Carte Poiaire yfrilique, publifhctl in 1774; where 
 however, he lays down this fpot from Cluny's map in little more than 8 r, 
 whereas it is fully in 82. The longitude of this fpot is 30 degree; E. from 
 Fero. ' ; ' ' , 
 
 (i) I have lately received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Tookc, Chaplain to 
 the Faftory at St. Pcterfburgh, dated Deccmhcr 30, 1774, which he concluilej 
 in the following manner ; "I have a fa£l or two to communicate, which feein 
 " to rndicate, if not to a certainty, yet at lead to a great degree of probability, 
 <' that the fea is open to the Pole the year throughout^ but my paper will not 
 " hold them." From the accuracy with which Icvcral other inicrcfting parti- 
 culars arc dated in this letter, I liave great rcufon to regret, that I have not an 
 opportunity of laying the fafts alluded to before the Pii!)lic, with all their 
 circumftances, as I have reafon.*) fuppofe, that Mr. Tookc's information came 
 froiB Archangel fcamcn. 
 
 <■ = 
 
.\ 
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 It is poiFible indeed, that this may be accounted for 
 by the Antarcftic feas being more fliallow than thofe 
 near the North Pole; as we do not know this, ho. .ever, 
 by the adtual foundings, but are informed by Captain 
 Fourneaux, that there is no land even as far as the 
 Antarctic circle, upon the meridian in which he failed; 
 as alfo, that no land was obferved during the courfe of 
 his circumnavigation in 55 S. lat. at a medium, it 
 feems neceflary, as the quantity of land lo greatly pre- 
 ponderates in the Northern hemifphere, that from N. 
 lat. 80^ to the Pole itfelf, mull be chiefly, if not 
 entirely fea. 
 
 Let us now conlider, whether fuch a fea is probably 
 at all times in a ftate of congelation. 
 
 I do no'c know, whether it hath been fett^led by ther- 
 mometrical obfervations, that there is any material 
 difference between the heat under the Equator, and 
 that which is experienced within the Tropics; moll 
 travellers complain indefinitely of its excefs in fuch 
 latitudes. 
 
 As this point, therefore, feems not to have been fet- 
 tled by the thermometer, let us have recourfe to what 
 is found 10 be the freezing point upon mountains, 
 fitunted almoU under the Equator, and compare it with 
 the fame height on the Pic of Teneriff, which being in 
 N. lat. 28, is five degrees to the Northward of the 
 tropical limits. 
 
 The French Academicians fuppofe, that the freezing 
 
 point, at vvhich all vegetation ceafes, and ice takes 
 
 3 P^^ce, 
 
■ C 35 ] 
 
 place, commences on Cotopaxi, at 141 1 toires above 
 the level of the fea; or, by our meafure, at the height 
 of about a mile and three quarters CK 
 - ■■■■ Mr. Edens, on the other hand, hath given us a very 
 particular account of what he obfervcd in going to the 
 top of Teneriif ^''>' ; and fo far from feeing fnow or ice 
 (except in a cave) his coat was covered, during the night, 
 with dew, at the very fummit, which, according to Dr. 
 Heberden's computation, is 15,396 feet high, or wants 
 but 1 48 y ards of three miles '''''. 
 
 Now as it is thus fettled, that the Pic of Teneriff is 
 nearly three miles high, which exceeds by more than a 
 mile tlie height of the freezing poin'c on Cotoi)axi, 
 fituated under the Equator, it fliould feem that there is no 
 material difference between the heat under the Equator 
 and within the Tropics ; for if it is urged, that Tene- 
 riff is more furrounded with fea than Cotopaxi, it muft 
 on the other hand be recolle(Sled, that this mountain is 
 iltuated 5 degrees to the Northward of the Tropic, at 
 the fame time that the fummit exceeds the freezin'^ 
 
 F 2, point 
 
 {t) Cotopaxi is the higlieft mountain of the Andes, at Icaft in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Quito. The plain of Carabuca, from which it rifes, is 1023 
 toiles above the level of the fea, and the height of the mountain above this 
 plain is 1268 toifes, making together 2291 toifes. If 880 toifes therefore arc 
 deduced from 2291, 141 1 toifes become the height of the freezing point upon 
 this mountain. See UUoa's Account of S. America. 
 
 (u) Phil. Trr.nf. Abr. \ol. V. p. 147. Sprat's Hift. R. Soc. 
 
 (x) See Hawkefworth's Voyages, vol. II. p. 12. Goats alfo reach tlie 
 Ycry fummit, which muft be in fearch of food, as they do not bear cold well. 
 
\\\ 
 
 I 
 
 I i 
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
 point on Cotopaxi by more than a mile; both which 
 circiimrtanccs Ihould render it colder than the freezing 
 point on Cotopaxi. 
 
 The inference to be drawn from this comparifon 
 feems to be, that as the heat varies fo little between the 
 P2quator and the tropical limits, it may differ as little 
 betweenthe Ardic circle and the Pole. 
 
 Nothing hath betn fuppofed to fliew more itrongly 
 the wifdom of ? ^ei !>ent Creator, than that every 
 part of this globe .iiouid (taking the year throughout) 
 have an equal proportion of the Sun's light. ' 
 
 It is admitted, that the equatorial parts have rather 
 too much heat for the comforts of the inhabitants, and 
 thofe within the Polar circles too little ; but as we know 
 that the tropical limits are peopled, it fhould feemj 
 that the two Polar circles are equally deftined for the 
 fame purpofe; or if not for the benefit of man, at leaft 
 tor the fuftcnarice of certain animals. 
 
 The largeft of thcfe, in the whole fcale of Creation, 
 is the whale; which, rhou- 1 fifh, cannot livelong 
 underwater, without occu ' J'y raifing its head into 
 another element, for the j .' /'-A "»f refpiration: moft 
 other fill, alfo occaiionally app. t v h the furface of the 
 water. • ' ' ' ' ' . .. , • , 
 
 ' If the ice therefc : t •'vtends from N. lat. 80 j to the 
 Pole, all the intermediate Ipace is denied to the Spitz- 
 bergen whales, as well perhaps as to other fifh; audistliat 
 glorious luminary, the S\ui, to fhine in vain for half the 
 year upon ten degree?; ;•. latitude round each of the 
 2 Poles, 
 
s 
 
 ] 37 ] 
 Poles, without contributing either to animal life or 
 vegetation ? for neither can take p*ace \:i'on this dreary 
 expanfe of ice. 
 
 If this trad^ of fea alfo is thus- rendered improper for 
 tlie fupport of whales, thefe enormous fifli, which 
 require fo much room, will be confined to two or three 
 tiegrees of latitude in the neighbourhood of Spitzber- 
 gen ; for all the Greenland mafters agree, that the bell 
 fifliing ftations are from 79 to 80, and that they do not 
 often catch them to the Southward. 
 
 I will now afk, if the fea is congealed from N. lat. 
 8(0^ quite to the Pole, -Then did it thus begin to freeze, 
 as it is well known, that a large quantity of fea water is 
 noteafily forced to affume the form of ice -^^ I* Can it be 
 
 con- 
 
 (y) " Tlicrc are three kiudsof ice in the Northern feas. The firll is like 
 •' melted fnow which is partly hardened, is more eafily broken into pieces, lr6 
 ** tranfparent, is feldoni more than fix inches thick, and when melted, fait is 
 " found in it. This firft fort of ice is the only one which is ever formed from 
 " fea water. 
 
 " If a certain quantity of wat-r, which contains as much fait as fea water, 
 " is cxpofed to tlie greateft degree of cold, it never becomes firm and pure ice, 
 " but refemblcs tallow, or fuet, whilft it pixlerves the tafle of fait, fo that Xhcfweet 
 " tranfparent ice can never he formed in the lea. If the ice of the fua itfelf 
 ' therefore, confined in -^ liuall vcllll without any motion, cannot thus beconn: 
 " true itc, much lei's can it do fo, in a deep and agitated ocean." The author 
 hence infers, " that all the floating ice in the Polar fcas comes from the 
 " Tartarian rivers and Groenland," as I have before contended. Sec a Diflcr- 
 tation of Michel Lomonolbf, tranflated from the Swcdilh Tranfaftions of 
 1752. Colltrlion /Icadcmique, Tom. Xf. p. 5. W /,/), Paris, 1772, quarlcx 
 '1 l,e Difilrtation is entitled, " J^« tOri^im da: Afcnts de Glace, (kins la Mer du 
 " Nordr . . , , , 
 
[ 38' ] 
 contended, that ten degrees of the glohe round each 
 pole, were filled with an incruftcd fea at th« original 
 creation ? And if this is not infifted upon, can it be 
 fuppofed, that when the furface of the Polar ocean firft 
 ccafed to be liquid, it could have refifred the efFe<5ts of 
 v,inds, currents, and tides? . •: ,. •,. 
 
 I beg leave aUb, to rely much upon the neceffity of 
 the ice's yielding to the conftant reciprocation of the 
 latter ; becauie no fea was ever known to be frozen but 
 the Black. Sea, and, fome fmall parts of the Baltic''*-', 
 neither of which Vi ive any tides <'\ at the fame time 
 that the waters of both are known to contain much lefs 
 fait than thofe of other feas, from the great influx of 
 many frefli water rivers. For this laft reafon, it may 
 likewife be prefumed, that the circumpolar feas are very 
 fait, becaufe there is probably no fuch influx beyond 
 N. lat. 80, Spitzbergen itfelf having no rivers. 
 
 Having thus given fome general reafons, why the 
 fea fliould not be fuppofed to be frozen in the ten 
 higheft degrees of latitude, I fliall now proceed to lay 
 before the Society, feveral inftances, which I have lately 
 colle6ted, and which prove that it is not fo covered with 
 ice confiderably to the N. of 8oj. 
 
 I fliall 
 
 (%) To thcfe perhaps may be added the White Sea. 
 
 (a) The tides indeed do not rife to a great height on the Nortlicrr. coaft of 
 Spitzbergen ; but I do not know that it muft follow from thence, that they 
 may not be more confiderable, as the Pole is approached; at leaft fuch an 
 ioference is by no means conclulive. 
 
 ■1 
 
C 39 I 
 ^ I fliall, hoAvevcr, previoufly make two obfervations ; 
 the firft of which is, that every inftance of exceeding 
 N. lat. 8oj, as much proves that there is no perpetual 
 barrier of ice in that latitude, as if the navigator hath 
 reached the Pole. The fecond is, that as four expe- 
 rienced Greenland mafters have concurred in informing 
 me, that they can fee what is called the blink of the ice(''\ 
 for a degree before thera, they never can be off Hak- 
 luyt's Headland, which is lituated in 79° 50', without 
 obferving this effedt of the ice upon the Iky, if there 
 was a perpetual barrier at 8 of, which is not much more 
 than half a degree from them, when in that fituation. 
 Now Hakluyt's Headland is what they fo perpetually 
 take their departures from, that it hath obtained the 
 name of 'I'be Headland by way of preeminence. 
 
 This mountain alfo is fo high, that it can be diftin- 
 guiflied at the diftance of a degree : in fuch inftances, 
 therefore, which I fliall produce, that do not fettle the 
 latitude by obfervation, wheneve" the reckoning de- 
 i)ends upon the approach or departure from this Head- 
 land, the account receives the additional check of the 
 mountain's being increafed or diminiflied gradually to 
 the eye of the obferver. 
 
 My fecond previous remark fhall be, that in all 
 inftances of reaching high Northern latitudes, for 
 which the authority of the fliip's journal may be re- 
 quired, 
 
 (b) This is defcribcd to be an arch fonned upon the clouds, by rctlcdtion 
 from t\\t packed ice. 
 
[ 40 ] 
 quired, it is almoft impoffible t3 procure this fort of 
 evidence, except the voyages have been recent; not 
 only for the reafons I have given in my former paper, 
 but becaufc I find, that if the fhip's journal is not 
 wanted by the owners in a year or two (which fcldom 
 happens) it is afterwards confidered as wafte paper. - ' - 
 
 Without the leaft impeachment alfo of the know- 
 ledge in navigation of the Greenland mailers, when 
 ihcy are in the adual purfuit of fifli, they do not 
 trouble themfelves about their longitude or latitude; 
 they are not bound by their inftrudlions to fail to any 
 particular point, and their only objeft is to catch as 
 many whales as poffible; the Ihip's fituation therefore, 
 nt fuch time, becomes a matter of perfea indifference. 
 It will appear, however, that they not only keep then 
 reckonings, but obferve, when they are not thus em- 
 ployed in filhing. 
 
 Having made thefe previous remarks, I fliall now 
 ])roceed to lay before the Society, fuch inftances of 
 navigators having penetrated beyond -80^, as I have 
 happened to procure fmce the reading of my formei' 
 paper on this fubjedt, inMaylaft. 
 
 James Hutton (then belonging to the fliip London, 
 Captain Guy) was, thirty years ago, in N. lat. 814, 
 as both the captain and mate informed him; but did 
 not obferve himfelf. A very intelligent fea officer wae 
 ib good as to take from him this account, together with 
 the following particulars, which perhaps may be in- 
 terefting to Greenland navigators. 
 
 Hutton 
 
C 41 ] 
 
 Hutton hath been employed in the whp.te fifliery 
 nearly thefe forty years, during which he hath been 
 feveral times at the Seven Iflands, and the Waygat 
 Straits. In fome of thefe voyages the fea hath been 
 perfedly clear from ice, and at other times it hath fet 
 in fo rapidly towards the Waygat, as to oblige the veffels 
 which happened to be thereabouts, to force all fail 
 poffible, to efcape being inclofed. 
 
 This hardy old tar likewife fuppofes, that he hath 
 been further up the Waygat than perhaps any peribn 
 now living; for he was once in a fliip which attempted 
 to pafs through it, nor did the mailer deli I, till they 
 Ihoaled the water to three fathoms, when the fea was 
 fo clear, that they could diftinguifli the bottom from 
 the deck. 
 
 Mr. John Phillips, now mailer of the Exeter, but 
 then mate of the Loyal Club, in the year 1752, reached 
 N. lat. 8 1 and feveral minutes by obfervation, which 
 circumftance was confirmed by another perfon on board 
 the Exeter laft fummer, on her return from the Green- 
 land fifliery. Captain Phillips added, that it was very 
 common to fifli in fuch latitudes. 
 
 Mr. George Ware, n(Jw living at Erith in Kent, 
 fer^^ed as chief mate in the year 1754, on board the 
 Sea Nymph, Captain James Wilfon, when, at the 
 latter end of June, they failed through floating ice 
 from 74 to 8 1 ; but having then proceeded beyond the 
 ice, they purfued the whales to 82" 15', which latitude 
 was determined by Mr. Ware's own obfervation. 
 
 G A& 
 
 ,^^ ^-i£k i«jk;:jl^44.liv<> a. 
 
C 4» ] 
 
 As the fua was now perfe4lly clear, as far as lie could 
 diftinguilh with his beft glafles, both Mr. Ware aud 
 Captain Wilfon had a ftrong inclination to pufh further 
 towards the Pole; but the common failors hearing of 
 fuch their intention, remonftrated, that if they fhould 
 be able to proceed fo far, the fliip would fall into pieces, 
 as the Pole would draw all the iron work out of her. 
 
 On this Captain Wilfon and Mr, Ware defifted, as 
 the crew had thefe very fmgular apprehenlions ; efpe- 
 ciaily as they had no whales in light to the Northward, 
 which alone would juftify the attempt to their owners f"'^. 
 It need fcarcely be obferved, however, that the notion 
 which prevailed amongft the crew ihews, that the 
 common feamen on board the Greenland fhips con- 
 ceive, that the fea is open to the Pole; they would 
 otherwife have objected on account of the ice being fup- 
 pofed to increafe. It Ihould feem ^Ifo, that the pracSti- 
 cability of reaching the Pole is a point which they often 
 difcufs amongft themfelves. 
 
 In this fame year and monthy Mr. John Adams (who 
 now is mafter of a flourifhing academy at Waltham 
 Abbey, in Eflex) was on board the Unicorn, Captain. 
 Guy, when they anchored in Magdalena BayC'''', on 
 the Weftern coaft of Spitzbergen and N. lat. 79° 35'. 
 
 They 
 
 (c) This circumftancc of not feeing any whales to the Northward, accounts 
 for Captain Guy's defifting, in the following inftancc, from failing to the 
 Northward, as alfo in many others which I Ihall have occafion to ftate. 
 
 [i) The Greenland mafters moft commonly call this bay Muc-Hekna. 
 
■ 
 
 ■m 
 
 C 43 ] 
 
 They continued in this bay for three or four days, 
 and then ftood to the Southward, when the wind frefh- 
 ning from that quarter, but the weather foggy, they 
 proceeded with an eafy fail for four days, expcdling to 
 meet with fields of ice, to which they might make fall; 
 but they did not encounter fo much as a piece of floating 
 ice. On the fifth day the wind veered to the Wefl- 
 ward, tlie weather cleared up, and Mr. Adams had a 
 good obfervation (the Sun above the Pole ^i) by which 
 he found himfelf three degrees to the Northward of 
 Hakluyt's Headland, or in N. lat. 83. 
 
 Captain Guy now declared^ that he had never been 
 fo far to the Northward before, and crawled up to the 
 main-top mail head, accompanied by the chief mate, 
 whilft the fecond mate together with Mr. Adams went 
 to the fore-top maft head, from whence they faw a fea 
 as free from ice as any part of the Atlantic ocean, and 
 it was the joint opinion of them all, that they might 
 have reached the N. Pole. 
 
 The fliip then ftood to the Southward, and twelve 
 hours afterwards Mr. Adams had a fecond good obferva- 
 tion (the Sun beneath the Pole) when their latitude was 
 82° 3^ In both thefe obfervations, Mr. Adams made 
 an allowance of 5' for the refradtion, which, he fays, 
 was his captain's nde, who was now on his 59th or 
 60th voyage to the Greenland feas. 
 
 G 2 
 
 (t) The old navigators to thefc parti calf thiia-5iwA Snn. 
 
 In 
 
C 44 ] 
 
 In the year 1756, Mr. James Montgomery, now a 
 merchant in Prefcot-ftreet, Goodman's-fields, but then 
 mafter of the Providence, followed the whales during 
 the month of June till he reached N. iat. 83, by obfer- 
 vation. Another Greenland mafter informs me, that 
 he remembers well the ice packed much to the Weft- 
 ward, but that the fea was open to the Northward 
 during that fummer. 
 
 In 1762, David Boyd, then mate of the brig Betfy, 
 was driven by a gale of wind from 79 to 8 a, odd 
 minutes, by obfervation; during all which time he 
 was befet in ice. A Greenland mafter has likewife told 
 me, that he recolledls many other fhips were driven to 
 the N. E. from their fifliing ftations during that feafon. 
 
 Mr. Jonathan Wheatley, now mafter of a Greenland 
 fliip, was in 1766 off Hakluyt's Headland c/^, whence, 
 not meeting with fuccefs, ^.e failed N. W. to 81^, in 
 which latitude he could f. c no ice in any diredlion 
 Avhatfoever from the maft head, though there was a 
 very heavy fea from the N. E. 
 
 Mr. Wheatley alfo informs me, that whilft he was 
 off the Coaft of Greenland, three Dutch Captains told 
 him, that a Ihip of their nation had been in 89, and 
 they all fuppofed, that the fea in fuch a latitude might 
 be as fiee from ice as where they were filhing. This 
 account probably alhides to the Dutch man of war on 
 board of which Dr. Daillie happened to be, the cir- 
 
 cumftances' 
 
 {f) He was then on board a.fliip called the Grampus. 
 
C 45 ] 
 cumftances of which voyage I have ftatcd in my 
 former paper, 
 
 This fame captain is fo thoroughly perfuaded of being 
 able to approach the Pole, that he will attempt it v/hcn- 
 evcr an opportunity offers of doing it, without prejudice 
 to his owners. On fuch a voyage of difcovcry, he 
 ■would not wifli a larger veflel than one of 90 tons, nor 
 more than ten hands. I find, indeed, that this is the 
 iize of the Ihip, in which moft of the early navigators 
 attempted to penetrate far to the Northward. 
 
 In 1769, Mr. John Thew, now mailer of a Green- 
 land Ihip called the Rifing Sun, was in N. lat. 82, and 
 100 leagues to the W. of Hakluyt's Headland. The 
 circumftances by which he fuppofed himfelf to have 
 been in this lituation, were ftated to me in the prefence 
 of a very r.ble fea officer, who told me afterwards, that 
 he was perfectly fatisfied with the accuracy of his 
 account. 
 
 Captain John Clarke, of the Sea Horfe, at the latter 
 end of June 1773, failed from the Headland N. N. E. 
 to 8 i4j which he computed by his run from the Head- 
 land in 1 8 hours, having loll: light of it. At this time 
 there was an open fea to the Northward, and fuch a fweli 
 from the N. E. that the lliip would not flay, being under 
 her double ree^'d topfails, whilft the wind blew frefh. 
 
 During this run from the Headland, Mr. Clarke fell 
 in with Captain Robinfon in 81° 20', whom I mentioned 
 in my former paper as having reached 81^ in the fame 
 month and year, by a very accurate obfervation. 
 
 This- 
 
C 46 ] 
 
 This fame Captuin Robinfon, on the 28th of June 
 hilt, paiTcd by IhikUiyt's Headland, lying off and on 
 for fevcral days, during which he was fomctimcs a 
 degree to the Northward of it, and till the 2 0tli of 
 July following, there was no obilrudtion to his i^ro- 
 cccding Northward; to which, however, he had no 
 inducement, as he caught two large whales in this 
 latitude. 
 
 Captain John Reed, of the Rockingham, alfo in 
 July laft, purfued fome whales 1 5 leagues to the North- 
 ward of the Headland, and confirms Captain Robin- 
 fon's lall account, by f'ving, he could then fee no ice 
 from his mail head. ' : .,.' . ; ■• .• .0 
 
 Captain Reed was ^* ought up in the Greenland 
 fifliery, and remembers well, that whilft on board 
 his father's fliip, the Thiftle,, the mate told him, that 
 they had reached 81° 42', when there was indeed a 
 good deal of ice, but full room to fail in any diretftion. 
 
 Mr. RcCtl likewife hath informed me, that about 1 5 
 years ago, a Dutch Captain (whole name was Hans 
 Derrick) told him, whilft they were together in the 
 Greenland feas, that he had been in N. lat. 86, when 
 there were only fome fmall pieces of floating ice to be 
 feen. Han$ Derrick moreover added, that there were 
 then five other fhips in company, which took one with 
 another eighteen fmall whales. 
 
 Mr. Reed fuppofes, that this Dutch mafter may be 
 
 ftill living, and I fhall, therefore, endeavour to procure 
 
 further intelligence about tlxis Greenland voyage from 
 
 4 Holland ; 
 
[ 47 ] 
 
 Holland; at all events, the account is fo circnmftantial, 
 that it fcems well to (krervc attention. 
 
 I have great rcalbn to expedt I'everal other inftanccs 
 of the fame kind, in a fliort time, from the different 
 ports of this kingdom where there is any tonfiderahle 
 Greenland trade: I fliall not, however, trouble the 
 Society with them, till I knOw whether they would 
 wifli any further information on this head. 
 
 • I fliall now recajjitiilate the different latitudes which 
 have been reached by the feveral navigators whofe 
 names I have mentioned in this and my former paper. 
 I fhall alfo take credit for nearly a degree to the North- 
 ward of their feveral fituations, becaufe the blink or 
 glare of the packed ice is to be diftinguifhed at this 
 diftance, when the weather is tolerably fair. 
 
 80**. 45'. Captain John Reed. 
 
 81°. For three weeks together, Captain Thomas Ro- 
 
 binfon. 
 81°. odd minutes. Captain John Phillips. 
 81°. 30'. Four inftances ; t/^. James Hutton, Jonathan 
 
 Wheatley, Thomas Robinfon, John Clark. 
 82°. Two inftances; i^/'sr. Captains Cheyne and Thew. 
 82°. odd minutes. Two inftances; viz. Cluny and 
 
 David Boyd. 
 82°. 15'. Mr. George Ware. 
 83°. Two inftances; Mr. John Adams and Mr. James 
 
 Montgomery. 
 83°. 30'. Mr. James Watt, lieutenant in the royal navy. 
 
 86^ Five 
 
[ 48 ] 
 
 86". Five fliips in company with Hans Derrick. 
 
 88°. Two inftances; Captain Johnfon and Dr. Daillie; 
 
 to which, perhaps, may be added Captain Monfon as 
 
 a third. 
 89°. Relation of the two Dutch lliips to Captain 
 
 Goulden^^'. ■ ' ^ ^ ■ ' * ' ' - 
 
 89°. 30'. Dutch relation to Mr. Grey. -^ ' ^ 
 
 DAINES BARRINGtON, F.R.S. 
 
 (g) This inftance, however, hath before been relied upon, thougli never,, 
 perhaps, circumftantially ftated, but by Captain Wood. 
 
 n\: \ t.^;t-i 
 
 . ■ : ; / 
 
 POST- 
 
[ 49 ] 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 January 8, 1775. 
 
 HAVING procured the three following inftances 
 before the reading of my paper was finilhed, it 
 may not be improper to add them in a poflfcript. 
 - In Harrif'o Voyages (^^ is the following paflage, " By 
 " the Dutch Journals they get into N. lat. 88" 56', 
 " and the fea open." 
 
 I have within thefe few days, alked Dr. Campbell, 
 the very able compiler of thefe voyages, upon what 
 authority he inferted this account ? Who informs me, 
 that he received it from Holland about 30 years i.go, as 
 being an extract from the journals produced to the 
 States General in 1665, on the application for a difco- 
 ery of the N. E. paflage to Japan, which was fruftrated 
 by the Dutch Eaft India Company. 
 
 In the Journal des Sgavans^ for the month of 
 06tober 1774'''-', is likewife the following paragraph; 
 
 " To thefe inftances produced by Mr. Barrington* 
 [of navigators having reached high Northern latitudes], 
 " our countrymen (viz. the Dutch) could add many 
 " others. An able officer in the Englifli fervice, hath in 
 " his cuftody, the journals of a Greenland fhip, -vhereiil 
 
 "he 
 
 (h) Vol. II. p. ^53. 
 (1) Part. II. p. 503. 
 
 H 
 
[ 50 ] 
 *< he hath remarked, that in the month of May he had 
 " penetrated as far as 82° 20', when the fea was open." 
 The fame journaUft confirms what I have before 
 mentioned, that Monf. de Bougainville will try to reach 
 thePoleW. - •; 
 
 . My third and laft inftance is that of Captain Batefon^ 
 who failed in 1773, from Liverpool, in a fliip called 
 the Whale, on the Greenland fifhery, and who, on 
 June 1 4, reached N. lat. 8 2*^ 1 5', computed by his run- 
 back to Hakluyt's Headland c'^'. As this happened fo 
 recently, Captain Batefon (as well as many of the other 
 mafters, whofe accounts I have before mentioned) hath 
 his journal to produce, if it Ihould be required. 
 
 This feems to be the ftrongeft confirmation of both 
 Captain Robinfon and Captain Clark's having been, 
 during this fame year and month, in 81^; as alfo of 
 their having met each other in 81" 20', according to 
 w^hat I have already ftated. 
 
 I muft not lofe this fame opportunity of laying before 
 the Society, the information which I have juft now 
 received from M. de BufFon, in relation to what I have 
 cited from his Natural Hiftory of Captain Monfon's 
 having reached N. lat.. 88% " as he was told by perfons of 
 " credit:' i.i O f'>: J i.l;* .v. , ..uvi^, ;■ : -';i ^• 
 rr? '*•';',; .■'.,> i::: .'^'\' i'. v-.I. x.i /._■.. : 'i ■ r-,;-/ .. Upon 
 nv) ^'-- ■;■ .-. > : 1n.;'r:- ■.; ' .:-. ,n.-/ - .- ■■ 
 
 . (k) Ibid. p. 506. 
 
 (I) His inducement to proceed fo far North, was the purfuit of whales. I 
 have flicwn the cxtrai^s from Captain Batefon's journal to a very able fea officer, 
 who is pcrfcdly fatisfied with tlie accuracy of it. . ~.- 
 
 tjA»^._ ._,.. ^^* 
 
c ■ 
 
 > [ 51 ] 
 
 Upon my taking the liberty to inquire, who thofe 
 perfons of credit were f Monf. de BufFon refers me to 
 Dr. Nathan Hickman, who in 1730 travelled as one of 
 Dr. Ratcliff's fellows^"-'; and who fuppofed, that Captain 
 Monffjn's journal might have been at that time procured 
 in England. Monf. do Buffon ulfo rccoUcdls, thnt a 
 Dutchman was then prefent, and confirmed the ac- 
 count. 
 
 - (m) He was alfo a fellow of the Royal Society in 1730. 
 
 <•> ,t- , ,.,.; 
 
 
 i::. 
 
 . .,"ir* 
 
 •.- •>.-.,.-,. 
 
 H 2 
 
 ADDI- 
 
?<Sg^' 
 
 ADDITIONAL PAPERS 
 
 m 
 
 FROM 
 
 IT l# 
 
 L. 
 
 WHILST I was waiting in expeftation of feveral 
 additional inftances of Dutch Ihips, which had 
 been in high Northern latitudes, I received the fol- 
 lowing anfwers to certain queries, relative to the Green- 
 land feas, from a very eminent merchant of Hull, and 
 which he is fo obliging as to permit me to lay before 
 the public. March 31, i77S' ^' ^' 
 
 I. From Captain John Hall of the Ki^g 
 
 of Pruffia, 
 
 Anfwer to ift Query, viz. How near hath any fhip 
 approached the Pole ? 
 
 I have known lhip» go into the latitude of 84* 
 North, and did not hear of any dhhculty they met with; 
 but it is not often that the ice will permit them to go fa 
 
 far North. 
 
 N. B. On enquiring of Captain Hall what fhips he 
 
 had known penetrate fo far? He replied, they 
 
 were fome Dutch Ihips he heard had done fo, but 
 
 knew no particulars. 
 
 id Query. When are the Polar feas moft free from 
 
 ice? The 
 
■■ 
 
 mm 
 
 W 
 
 C 5^ 3 
 
 The feas are moft incumbered with ice from about 
 the lit of September to the ill of June following; 
 and in confequence, between the ift of June and 
 September, the ice lyeth furtheft from Spitzbergcn. 
 And I know no other precaution to be taken refpedling 
 the Pole, than that they mull watch the opportunity 
 when the ice lyeth furtheft from the land. 
 
 3d Query. How far to the Southward have you firft 
 feen ice? 
 
 In the fpace of twenty years I have twice known, 
 that we met with the ice in the latitude of .74° 30' 
 Nortli, and could not find a paflage to the Northward 
 till the month of July, and then got into the latitude of 
 78° with much difficulty, in running through the open- 
 ings of great bodies of ice ; and fome years we find a 
 palFage to the latitudes 79 and 80° North, without much 
 difficulty from the ice. Some years I have known fhips 
 go round the North part of Spitzbergen, between thence 
 and the North-eaft, and fo come out between Nova 
 Zembla and the South part of Spitzbergen; but this 
 paflage is feldom to be found free from ice. 
 
 4th Query. From what quarter is the wind coldeft 
 whilft off Spitzbergen ? 
 
 Northerly and E.N.E. winds are moft frofty; but 
 fnow and froft we have very common with all winds, 
 except part of June, July, and Auguft. If the winds be 
 Southerly the weather is milder, but fubje6l to fnov,% 
 fleet, and thick weather. The winds, currents, aud the 
 ice being fo variable, I cannot form any judgement of 
 the time when they may be expelled. ' The 
 
 .1 
 
[ 54 ] 
 The opinion of the old feamen is, that we may pro- 
 ceed further NcMth than ever has been yet attempted; 
 but this mull be done with caution. An opportvmity is 
 to be watched for in thofe fcas. I'he molt likely time 
 for fuch difcoverics to be made, is in the months of 
 j uly and Auguif , when the ice is moft commonly fur- 
 theft from the land; but fome years not to be found 
 open at all from the land. And when it is open, they 
 muft oblerve the ice miift lay a long way from the 
 North part of Spitzbergen; for I have known Ihips 
 that made attempts to go to the Northward, and before 
 they returned back, the ice fet in with the land, fo that 
 they have been obliged to leave the Ihips to the Eaft of 
 Spitzbergen. i ; •. , •- ^ ;' • a r;- r ' ;/ ^ 
 N. B. The ice always fets in with the land the back 
 ^; of the year. ; ch i.'' U'- .-^- :": .■- - .'V ';" ■'; 
 
 11. From Captain Humphry Ford of the 
 , Manchejler, ^ ;./. , --, 
 
 I ft. I was once as high as the latitude 81" 30' North, 
 in the fliip Dolphin of Newcaftle, in the year 1759 ^'^ 
 60, and have been fever al times fmce as high as the 
 latitude 81°, in the fhips Annabella and Manchefter^ in 
 which latitude I never met with any uncommon cir- 
 cumftances, but fuch as I have met with in the latitudes 
 75) 7^>77)7S, and 79°; if to the weftward, I was com- 
 monly incumbered with large quantities of ice. 
 
 ' \ . ,,-.,„■ '^ - •■ - . ' , V 2d. I 
 
 \ 
 
V 
 I 
 
 [ 55 ] 
 - 2,d. I fuppofe that the Greenland feas are mofl in- 
 cum!)ered with ice in the months of December, Ja- 
 nviary, February, and March; for in the latter part of 
 April and the firll of May the ice generally begins to 
 feparate and open; and in the months of June and July, 
 we generally find the Greenland leas moll clear of ice. 
 
 3d. The only precaution to be taken, in order to pro- 
 ceed towards the Pole, is to fit out two llrong fliips that 
 are handy and fail fall, well equipped, and lecured in 
 the manner of thofe that are generally fent to Green- 
 land on the whale fifliery. Such fliips Ihould be 
 manned with about forty able feamen in each, and 
 vidluailed for eighteen months or two years, and be 
 entirely under the command of fome expert, able, and 
 experienced feaman, w^ho has frequented thofe feas tor 
 fome time paft. They fliould fail from England about 
 the middle of April, in order to be in with the edge of 
 the ice about the i oth of May, w hen it begins to fcpa- 
 rate and open. 
 
 4th. There is not the leaft reafon to fuppofe, that the 
 feas to the Weft, North- weft, and North of Spitzbcrgen 
 are covered with permanent and perpetual ice, fo as 
 never to be opened by the operation of the winds ; for 
 daily experience fliews us, that a Northerly wind, when 
 of any long duration, opens and feparates the ice, fo as 
 to admit of fliips going amongft it in fundry places to 
 a very high latitude, if attempted. 
 
 N. B. I never was to the Eaftward of Spitzbergen; 
 but am of opinion, that the ice is much the fame 
 
 there 
 
there as to the North and North-weft of Spitz- 
 bergen. • ^ ' .. , ' 
 
 I generally find that Northerly winds bring frofl and 
 Inow; on the contrary, Southerly winds bring mild 
 weather and rain; but none of thofe winds apjiear to 
 be periodical, except clofe in with the land, called Fair 
 Foreland, where I generally find the winds in the 
 months of June and July to blow mofl:ly from the 
 S.S. W. and very often excefllve fl:rong. 
 
 It is my opinion, by obferving the above, that in 
 fome years lliips might i:)enetrate very nigh the Pole ; 
 if not, the impradlicability muft arife from the large 
 quantity of ice that lies in thofe feas. 
 
 III. From Captain Ralph Dale of the 
 .: -^iv// and Elizabeth, , 
 
 1 arn willing to give you my opinion, in regard to 
 the queries received of you, fo far as my obfervations 
 will juftify. 
 
 I ft. In the year 1773, I liiiled North 81°, when I 
 was much incommoded with large fields of ice, but the 
 air was not fenfibly different there from what I found it 
 a few more degrees Southerly. 
 
 2d. I have for many years ufed the Greenland 
 fifhery ; and have, by experience, found thofe feas the 
 leaft encumbered with ice betwixt the forepart of May 
 
 tiiij^iy- . .. : • ■-.;.: 
 
 ^ 3d. The 
 

 nm 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ■ • I 
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 3d. The fame year I failed to the latitude above- 
 mentioned, I found in May month, to the Weft of 
 Spitzbergen, a fine open fea, the wind then blowing 
 South-weft, and the fea (as far as I could obferve from 
 the maft-head) was little incumbered with ice, whirh 
 fully convinced me, that there was a probability of 
 penetrating to a very high latitude. 
 
 4th. I have obfers'^ed, that let the wind blow from 
 what quarter it will, it is at times impregnated with 
 froft, fnow, Sec. ; but when moft fo I am not able to de- 
 termine. As for rain, I do not recollcdt ever feeing any 
 there. The weather I have generally found mildeft 
 when the wind blows Southerly. As for periodical 
 winds, I do not fuppofe there are any in Greenland. 
 
 IV. From Captain John Greenshaw. 
 
 In regard to the Queries fent to me, all I have to fa/ 
 is, that if a paffage 10 the North Pole is ever to be 
 accompliftied, my opinion is, it m\ift be obtained by 
 going betwixt Greenland and Nova Zembla, as I myfelf 
 have been to the Weftward of Greenland, and pene- 
 trated fo far to the Northward as 8 2° of North latitude, 
 and to the North and North-weft of that found nothing 
 but a folid body of ice : my opinion, therefore, is, that 
 it is impoflible ever to obtain a paffage that way. 
 Captain John Cracoft, in the South Sea Company's 
 time, was once fo far as 83° North latitude, and to the 
 Northward of Greenland, and met with nothing but a 
 
 I fbUd 
 
[ 58 ] 
 
 folid field of ice. And in regard to the winds and 
 weather, it freezes continually ; but the wind from the 
 Southward doth commonly bring rain and thick foggy 
 weather, which is chiefly in the latter end of June and 
 July, if you are to the Northward and Weftward of 
 (Greenland, the wind from the N. W. and N.N. W. doth 
 always open the ice ; but at the fame time, if it come 
 to blow any time from that quarter, packs it clofe in 
 with the land; and the winds from the Southward have 
 the contrary effect. • . 
 
 V. ; • „ ■ , ; '::;, 
 
 The Queries anfwered by Andrew Fisher, mafter of 
 a Greenland fliip at Hull, who has been twenty-four 
 voyages from England to the Greenland feas. 
 
 I ft. Said Andrew Fifher fays, that in the year 1746, 
 being on board the fliip Ann and Elizabeth from Lon- 
 don, on a voyage to the Greenland feas, he fleered from 
 Hakluyt's Headland in Spitzbergen North and N.N. W. 
 in clear water till they were in latitude 82° 34', where 
 they met with a loofe pack of ice, and made their 
 fifhery, or otherwife they might have got through that 
 loofe ice, and doubt not, but that they might have gone 
 confiderably further North; they returned, however, 
 in clear water to Spitzbergen. 
 
 2d. Beft feafons of the year are, to be at or near 
 Spitzbergen from the 15th of May to the ift of June, 
 though the years differ, and the laying of the ice ex- 
 ceedingly; fome years it is not poffible to get North of 
 
 80°, 
 
' 
 
 "■"T" 
 
 ^m 
 
 C 59 ] 
 
 80"; at other times you may meet with very little ice, 
 which is chiefly owing to the weather ill winter, and 
 the winds in April and May. 
 
 3d. There is not any reafon to fuppofc, that there is 
 any permanent ice, cither North or Weft of Si)itz- 
 bergen, lb far as 90° ; and it hath been always found, by 
 able and experienced navigators, that there is not near 
 the quantity of ice, nor fo liable to iet faft to the North 
 of Spitzbergen as there is to the South of 80" as far as 
 74°, owing to the continent of America (called Gal- 
 lampus land by the failors and Spitzbergen), Avhich 
 makes a narrow paillige in proportion to what it is to 
 the North of Spitzbergen. The land of America is 
 fometimes feen by our Greenland traders from latitude 
 74° to 76% and as it is not feen any fvirther North, is 
 fuppofed to round away to the North-weft, which 
 makes it imagined by many, that there is not any land 
 near the Pole. 
 
 4. South winds bring moft fnow; North winds bring 
 froft; but that is in the month of April and two-thirds 
 of May; after that time, to the ift or loth of July, it 
 is in general mild, fine, clear, fun-lhine weather, and 
 winds variable; after that again, often thick fogs and 
 high winds. 
 
 5 . It is very poffible, by fteering North or N. N. E. by 
 the ihip's compafs, (if it can be fo contrived as to have 
 the card on the needle fteady, and the winds prove 
 favourable,) with a little perfeverance, a Ihip may get 
 near the Pole, if they do not meet with rocks. 
 
 I 2 VI. 
 
VI. 
 
 \\ 
 
 SIR, 
 
 IN the year 1766, trade being dull, I fitted a fliip at 
 my folc cxi)encc, to the Greenland feas; and the laid 
 fliip returned with one fifli, eleven feet bone. Finding 
 the trade could be condudted better in private hands 
 than a company's, I was induced to fend a fecond lliip 
 in 1767, and as 1 had other concerns in lliipping, 
 thought it moil prudent (being brought up to the fea, 
 and having made an eafy fortune from it) to go a voyage 
 to the Greenland feas, to fee with my own eyes what 
 chance there might be of makij :cr or lofing a fortune. So 
 failed from Hull the 14th day of April, in my fliip the 
 Britifli Queen, w ith an old exi)erienced mafter, and on 
 the 24th and 25th of April was in the latitude of 72% 
 catching feals amongft great quantities of loofe ice. As 
 we did not choofe to ftay in that latitude, we made the 
 belt of our w^ay North; and after failing through 
 loofe ice, which is commonly the cafe, about the 6th of 
 May we were as far North as latitude 80% (which is 
 near w hat the matters call a fijhing latitude) and about 
 1 5 leagues Weft of Hakluyt's Headland. I foimd the 
 further North the lefs quantity of ice; and from the 
 enquiry I made, both from the EngUlh and Dutch, 
 which was very confiderabl^, there is a great probabi- 
 lity of fliips going to the Pole, if not ftopped by meet^ 
 ^ng land or rocks. It; j^ppeared to me, that the narroweft 
 
 place 
 
[ 6i ] 
 
 in thofc fcas was betwixt Spitzbergen and the Ameri- 
 can Ihorc, where the ci;rrent is ohiervcd to come nlwiiys 
 from the North, which fills this narrow place with ice, 
 but in general loofe and floating in the liimmcr, though 
 I believe congealed and permanent in winter. Ihofc 
 from whom I en(iiiired informed me, that the fea was 
 abundantly dearer to the North of Sjiitzbergen, and 
 the further North the clearer. This ieems to i)rove 
 a wide ocean and a great opening to the Nortlj, as 
 the current comes from thence that fills this i)a1iage 
 as aforefaid. The bell method of reaching the highell 
 latitude in my ojiinion is, to hire two veffels of about 
 250 tons burthen each, and if done on a frugal fcheme, 
 the fame lliips might be fitted for the whale iilhcry, 
 and premii ms given both for the ufe of the fhip and 
 crew, in proportion to their approach to the Pole, 
 which, from many circumftances that may intervene, 
 might be two or three years before they could com- 
 plete their wilhes. And it is more likely they might 
 make their filh^^ry fooner t-han to the Southward; as, if 
 they met with ice, the fifli would be undifturbed; if 
 clear water and a good wind, they very foon might 
 reach the Pole. What I mean by two veffels is, one to 
 forefail the other at the diftance of three or four 
 ieagues, as the latter may avoid the dangers the firll 
 might run into; and to be always ready, on feeing and 
 hearing proiXT fignals, ta aid and affilf, and by that 
 means fecure a retreat. I am alfb of opinion, that fiich 
 fhips being fent on difcoveries are much more likely to 
 a. fucceecj 
 
■T 
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 fucceed than his majefty's fliips and officers. The 
 above hmts I have pointed out for your confideration, 
 and if I can be of any further fervice, may command, 
 
 Sir, your moll hupible fervant, 
 
 SAM. .ITANDIDGE. 
 
 null, 
 
 March 4, i;75 
 
 ^kSsM^Md^^ 
 
 AS it appears, by the two firft coUedlions of in- 
 ftances, that I have had much converfation with 
 the officers of the royal navy, as well as mailers of 
 Greenland fliips, about a Polar voyage, I fliall now 
 Hate feveral hints which have occafionally dropped from 
 them, with regard to profecuting difcoveries to the 
 Northward. 
 
 The fliip fliould be fuch as is commonly ufed in the 
 Greenland fifliery, or rather of a fmaller fize, as it 
 Avorks the more readily when the ice begins to pack 
 round it. 
 
 There fliould, on no account, be a larger comple- 
 ment of men than can be conveniently flowed in the 
 boats, as it fometimes happens, that the Greenland 
 veflels are loft: in the ice; but the crews generally 
 efcape by means of their boats. The crew alfo fliould 
 ccnfift of a larger proportion of fmiths and carpenters 
 than are ufuafly put on board common fliips. 
 
 As it may happen, that the crews in boats may be 
 kept a confiderable time before they can reach either 
 ftiip or ftiore, there fliould be a fort of awning, to be 
 
 ufed 
 
[ 63 ] 
 
 ufed occafionally, if the weather fliould i)rove very 
 inclement. 
 
 As it is not wanted that the hoats fliouId laft many- 
 years, it is adviled, that they fhoiild he built of the 
 lighteft materials, as on this account they are more 
 eafily dragged over the packed ice. 
 
 As it is poflible alfo, that the crew may be obliged 
 to winter within the Ardtic circle, it is recommended, 
 that the lliip flionld be ballafted with coals. ■' 
 
 That there Ihould be a framed houfe of wood on 
 board, to be made as long as pofTible, for the oppor- 
 tunity of exercife within doors f"^. 
 
 That there fliould be a Ruffian ftove on board, as a 
 fire in a common chimney does not warm the room 
 equally. 
 
 It appears, by the accounts of the Dutch who win- 
 tered in Nova Zembla, as well as the Ruffians who con- 
 tinued fix years m Maloy-Brun, that during this feafon 
 there are fometimes days of a tolerable temperature; 
 fnow fhoes, therefore, fliould be provided, as alfo fnow 
 eyes, not to lofe the benefit of air and exercife during 
 fuch an interval. The beard likewife fliould be fufFered 
 to grow on the approach of winter, from which the 
 Ruffian couriers are enabled to fupport the feverity of 
 the open air. •■ < Ruffian 
 
 / /I 
 
 (a) On the Labradorc Coaft tlie furriers caifea wall of cirth all round their 
 huts, as high as tlie roof, which is found to contribute much to warmth within 
 doors, fo ..3 to want little more heat than arifes from the fteam of lai.ips.. 
 Such wall is commonly tliree feet thick. 
 
 ^A 
 
 1 
 
[ 64 ] 
 
 Piuflian boots, and the \^inter cap of the furriers of 
 North America, is alfo recommended; but recourfe 
 fhould not be had to this warmeft cloathing upon the 
 firft approach of winter, for by thelb means the Ruf- 
 Hans do not commonly endure cold {o well as the Eng- 
 liHi; becaufe when the weather becomes exceflively 
 fevere, they cannot well add to their warmth. 
 
 When the weather is very inclement, leads for the 
 hands, dumb bells, and other fuch exercifes iliould be 
 contrived for within-doors. 
 
 In order to prevent the fcurvy likew ife, frequent ufe 
 of the flelh-brulh is recommended, as alfo occafionally 
 a warm bath, from which James's crew received gr.eat 
 benefit, when they wintered on Charlton Ifland. ■ ' . 
 
 With regard to the provifions, 1 fliall here infert a 
 method of curing meat, communicated to me by Ad- 
 miral Sir Charles Knowles, the good effects of which 
 both himfelf and others have frequently experienced c^^*. 
 
 The 
 
 (b) So foon as the ox is killed, let it be (kinned and cut up into pieces fit 
 for ufe, as quick as poffible, and faked whilft the meat is hot; for which 
 purpofe, have a fuflicient quantity of falt-pctre and bay-falt pounded togetlter, 
 and made hot in an oven, of each equal parts } with this fprinkle the meat, at 
 the rate of about two ounces to the pound. Then lay the pieces on fhelving 
 boards to drain for 24 hours; which done, turn tliem and repeat the fame ope- 
 ration, and let them lay for 24 hours longer, by which time the fait will be all 
 melted, and have penetrated tlie meat, and the juices be drained off. Each 
 piece rauft then be wiped dry witli clean coarfe cloths, and a fuflicient quantity 
 of common fait, made hot llkcwife in an oven, and mixed (when taken out) 
 with about one-third brown fugar. The cafks being ready, rub each piece well 
 
 with 
 
[ 65 1 
 
 The flour fhould be kiln-dried, and put into tight 
 barrels which are capable of holding liquids. Flour 
 thus preferred and packed hath been perfciStly good for 
 more than three years, without the leaft appearance of 
 the weevils. - 
 
 To make the beft ufe of flour uius preferred, there 
 fliould be both a bifcuit-maker and an oven on board. 
 
 With regard to liquors, a large quantity c»f flirub 
 from the beft fpirits and fn-'ts is recommended, which 
 fliould alfo be made juft before the voyage takes place; 
 the ftronger the fpirit, the lefs ftowage. 
 
 I fliould fl:and in need of many apologies, for having 
 fuggefted thefe hints to Northern difcoverers, had I not 
 received them from officers of the royal navy, as well 
 as Greenland matters and phyficians; if any one of 
 thefe particulars, however, would not have been other- 
 wife thought of upon fitting out the fhip for fuch a 
 voyage, and fliould be attended with any good effedts, it 
 will become my beft excufe. 
 
 In order alfo to promote fuch a voyage of difcovery, 
 
 I fliould conceive, that extending the par iamentary 
 
 reward of twenty thoufand pounds by i8 G. II. c. 17. 
 
 ■• ^ .•-.'; v>H^.:r . . - >'/: • ^. ".• '. \l ' , '^ for 
 
 with this mixture, and pack them well down, allowing about half a pound dF 
 the fait and fugar to each pound of meat, and it will keep good feveral years. 
 
 N. B. It is beft to proportion the calks or barrels to the quantity confumei 
 at a time, as the feldomer it is expofed to the air the lyitter. The fame procefs 
 docs for pork, only a larger quantity of fait, and Icfs fugar ; but the prcfervatioa 
 of both equally depends on the meat's being hot when firft faltcd. 
 
p 
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
 for the palTage to the Pacific Ocean through Hudfon's 
 Bay, to a Northern communication between the Atlantic 
 and Pacific Oceans in any direction whatfbever, might 
 greatly contribute to the attempting fuch an cnterprize. 
 To this, another incitement might be perhaps added, 
 by giving one thoufand pounds for every degree of 
 Northern latitude which might be reached by the ad- 
 venturer from 85° to the Pole, as fome fo very peremp- 
 torily deny all former inltances of having reached fuch 
 high latitudes. - * ,.. ; i ,; ;,.,: i ^ j, :'!:;i.!l 
 
 I lliall conclude, however, in anfwer to their incre- 
 dulity, by the following citation from Hakhiyt: 'U i 
 
 " Now leait you Ihould make fmall account of 
 ** ancient writers, or of their experience, which tra- 
 velled before our times, reckoning their authority 
 ' amongft fables of no importance, I have, for the 
 better alTurance of thofe proofs, fet down part of a 
 " difcourfe v/ritten in the Saxon tongue, and tranilated 
 '' into Engl till by M. Nowel, fervant to mafter fecre- 
 " tary Cecil, wherein is defcribed a navigation, which 
 *' one Ochter mnde in the time of king Alfred, king of 
 " Weft Saxe, anno 871; the words of which difcourfe 
 " are thefe; * lie failed right North, having always the 
 " defert land on the ftarboard, and on the larboard the 
 " main fea, continuing his courfe until he perceived 
 ". the coaft bowed diredlly towards the eaft, 8cc.* 
 ** Whereby it appeareth, that he went the fame way. 
 <' that we do now yearly trade by St. Nicholas into 
 " Mofcovia, which no man in our ag- oiew for cer- 
 
 << tainty 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 ■--»*■** -^-a- 
 
[ 67 ] 
 
 " tainty to be fea, till it was again difcovered by the 
 " Englifh in the time of Edward VI. 
 
 *' Neverthelefs, if any man fliould have taken this 
 " voyage in hand, by the encouragement of this only 
 ** author, he fliould have been thought but fimplc, 
 " conlidering that this navigation was written fo many 
 " years pail, in fo barbarous a tongue, by cne only 
 " obfcure author; and yet, in thefe our days, we find 
 " by our own experience, his reports to be true." 
 
 K 2 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 
THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PROBABILITY, EXPEDIENCY, and UTILITY 
 
 OF 
 
 DISCOVERING A PASSAGE 
 
 BY THE 
 
 N; O; K T H P O L E. 
 

 .' A 
 
 - " ..t i» 
 
 ^ -^ .T«» 
 
 II i 
 
 il : a 
 
 ■ - 1 I rT '! '" ■ ' 
 
 
 U <-' 
 
 3/'i.n.'': '-■ :^ 
 
 *■ » k 
 

 
 THOUGHTS, &c. 
 
 (*) 
 
 -'■fT'/-.; :;; 
 
 THE pofTibility of making difcoveries in this way 
 (that is, by fteering dire(5tly North) though now 
 treated as paradoxical by many, was not, as will here- 
 after appear, formerly looked upon in that light, even 
 by fuch as ought to be reputed the propereft judges. 
 There have been a variety of ranfes that at rlifferent 
 times have retarded undertakings of the utmoll impor- 
 tance to the human fpecies. Amongft thefe we may 
 juftly confider the condudl of fome great philofophers, 
 who, as our judicious Verulam wifely obferves, quitting 
 the luminous path of experience to inveftigate the ope- 
 rations of nature, by their own fpeculations, impofed 
 upon the bulk of mankind fpecious opinions for incon- 
 teftable truths ; which being propagated by their difci- 
 ples, through a long feries of years, captivated the 
 minds of men, and thereby deprived them of that great 
 
 3.tlJ 
 
 ' » J.">., 
 
 •■;> f/ 
 
 inftru- 
 
 (*) I have lately received thefe reflexions from a learned friend, who per- 
 mits me to print them, though not to inform the public to whom they are in- 
 debted for this very valuable cominunicatioa. D,B, 
 
; ; ; [ 7^ 1 
 
 tuftrumcnt of fciencc, the fpirit of enquiry C"-'. Iji fuc- 
 cccding ages a new impediment arofc from the fctting 
 up profit as the ultimate ohjedl of difcovery; and then, 
 as might well be expected, the preferring the private 
 and particular gain of certain individuals to the general 
 interells of the community, as well as to the intereft of 
 the whole world, in the extenfion of fcience. This it 
 was that induced the States General, at the inftance of 
 their Eaft India Company, to difcourage all attempts for 
 fir ling a North Eall paflage, and to ftifle fuch accounts 
 as tended to Ihew that it was jM-adticable. We may add 
 to thefe, the fournefs of difappointed navigators wha 
 cndeav^oured to render their own mifcarriages proofs of 
 the impracticability of any like attempts. This was' 
 the cafe of Captain Wood, who was fliipwrecked upon 
 Nova Zembla, and who declared) that all endeavours on 
 that fide were, and would be, found vain; though 
 Barentz, who died there in a like expedition, affirmed, 
 with his laft breath, that, in his own opinion^ fuch a 
 paflage might be found. 
 
 That the earth was fpherical in its form, was an 
 opinion very early entertaiaed, and amongft the learned 
 generally admitted. It feemed to be a plain dedudlion 
 from thence, that a right line, paffing through the 
 globe, would terminate in tM'^o points diametrically op- 
 pofiie. Plato is thought to be the firft who fpoke of the 
 
 inhabitants 
 
 (a) Baconi Opera, torn. IV. p. lOO. et alibi pajftm. But thefe paffages may 
 be found colleAed in Shaw's .Abridgement of Bacon's Works, vol. II. p. 52. 
 
 4 
 
t 73 ] 
 
 inhabitants (if fuch there were) dwcllin.q; at or near 
 tliofe points, by the name ot Antipodes. This dodrine 
 occafioncd dilputes anion^ft philolbphers for many ages; 
 feme maintained, fome denied, and fome treated it as 
 abfurd, ridiculous, and impoflible ''*-'. Whoever will 
 examine impartially the fentiments of thefe great men, 
 weigh the contrariety of their opinions, and conlider the 
 iingularity ot their reafonings, will fee and be con- 
 vinced how nnfatisfudory their notions were, and dif- 
 cover from thence, how infufficient the fubtle fpecula- 
 tions of the human underltanding are towards fettling 
 points like thefe, when totally unaffifted by the lights 
 of obfervatioii and adtual experience. 
 
 The divifion of the globe by zones being agreeable 
 to nature, the ancients diftinguiflied them very properly 
 and accurately into two Irigid, between the Poles, the 
 Ardic and Antardlic circles; two temperate, lying be- 
 t^veen thofc circles and the tropics ; and the torrid zone 
 within the tropics, P'^aally divided by the equino6tial. 
 But judging from their experience, of the nature of the 
 climates at the extremities of the zone which they 
 inhabited, they concluded, that the frigid zones were 
 utterly uninhabitable from cold, and the torrid from 
 intolerable heat of the Sun. Pliny laments very pa- 
 thetically upon this fuppofition, that the race of man- 
 kind 
 
 (b) Lncr. dc Natura Rerum, lib. I. vev. 1063. Cicer. Acad. Qusft. 
 lib. IV. Plin. Hift. Natural, lib. II. cap. 65. Plutarch, de Facie in Orbc 
 Lunx. Macrob. du Somn. Scip. lib. II. 
 
t 74 ] 
 kind were pent up in fo fmall a part of the earth. 
 The poets, who were alfo no defpicable phil jfoj)hers, 
 heightened the horrors of thefe inhofpitable regions by 
 all the colouring of a warm and heated imagination'^'^; 
 but we now know, with the utmoll certainty, that they 
 were entirely miftaken as to both. For within the 
 Ar(5tic circle there are countries inhabited as high nearly 
 as we have difcovered ; and, if we may confide in the 
 relations of thofe who have been neareft the Pole, tl:# 
 heat there is very confiderable, in refpedt to which our 
 own navigators and the Dutch perfedly agree, hi 
 regard to the torrid zone, we have now not the leaft 
 doubt of its being thoroughly inhabited ; and which, is 
 more wonderful, that the climates are very different 
 there, according to the ircumftanccs of their fituation. 
 In Ethiopia, Arabia, arid the Moluccas, exceedingly hot; 
 but in the plains of Peru (and particularly at Quito) 
 perfe<5lly temperate, fo that the inhabitants never 
 change their cloaths in any fealbn of the year. The 
 fentiments of the ancients therefore in this refpedt, are 
 a proof how inadequate the faculties of the human 
 mind are to difcuflions of this nature, when unaffifted 
 by fads. 
 
 The 
 
 (c) Cicero In Somnium Scipionls, Virgil. Georg. lib. I. Ovidii Mci. 
 Mb. I. Tibulluj Panegyr. ad Meffalam, lib. IV. Plin. Hift. Natural, lib. II. 
 cap. 68. Pomp. Mela de Situ Orbis, lib. I. cap. i. Claudian. de Raptu 
 Proferpinae, lib. I. 
 
[ 75 ] 
 
 The Pythagorean fyftem of the univerfe revifed, 
 and rcftorid near two hundred and fifty years ago by 
 the cclebr.ited Copernicus, met with a very diffi- 
 cult and ilow reception, not only from the bulk of 
 mankind, for that might have been well expedled, but 
 even from the learned ; and fome very able i llronomers 
 attempted to ( v'erturn and refute it ''''''. Galileo Gulilei 
 wiote an admirable treatife in its fupport, in which he 
 very fully removed moft of the popular objections ^ 
 This, however, expofed him to the rigour of the inqui- 
 fition, and he was obliged to abjure the dodrine of the 
 earth's motion. Our noble philofopher, the deep and 
 acute Lord Verulam, could not abfolutely confide in 
 the truth and certainty of the Copernican fydem; but 
 feems to think, that its facilitating aftronomical calcula- 
 tions was its principal recommendation, as if this had 
 not been alfo a very ftrong prefumption at leaft, if not 
 a proof of its veracity (fK It was from this confideration 
 
 L 2 that 
 
 (d) Amongft the moft confuierablc of thefc was John Baptlfl Riccioli, who 
 publiflied his jllmagejium Novum with this view. Yet afterwards in his Ajiro- 
 nomia Reformata, he found himfelf obliged to have recourfc to the doftrine of 
 the earth's motion, that he might be able to give his calculations with a proper 
 degree of exaftncfs. 
 
 (e) This celebrated work of his was entitled, Diahghi de Sijltmi di Vrlame$ 
 t di Copirnico. This is much better known to the learned world by a Latin 
 tranflation, which fo clearly proved the fuperiority of the Copernican fyftem, 
 that the only means of refuting it was by the cenfures of the church. 
 
 (f) Shaw's Abridgment of Bacon's Works, vol, II, p. ai. where the doflor 
 endeavours to defend this opinion. 
 
[ 76 ] 
 
 that the church of Rome at length thought fit fo far to 
 relax in her decifions, as to permit the maintaining the 
 earth's motion in phyfical unci philofophical dilquifi- 
 tions. But Sir Ifaac Newton, who built upon this bafis 
 his experimental philofophy, hath difperfed all doubts 
 on this fubjed, and Ihewn how the moil fublimc dii'co- 
 veries may be made by the reciprocal aids of fagacity and 
 obfervation. On thefe grounds, therefore, all enquiries 
 of this nature ought to proceed, without paying an 
 implicit fubmiffion to the mere ipeculative notions even 
 of the greateft men ; but i:)urfuing fteadily the path of 
 trvith, under the diredtion of the light of experience. 
 
 It may be urged, in excufe of the ancients, and even 
 of our anceftors in former- times, that as they were 
 unaflilted by fa(5ts, they could only employ guefs and 
 conjed:ure, and that confequcntly their conclufions 
 were from thence erroneous. But to wave the vinble 
 impropriety of deciding in points (where obfervation 
 was fo obvioully neceffiiry) without its direction; let us 
 fee whether this plea of alleviation may not be contro- 
 verted in both cafes. Cornelius Nepos reports, that 
 fome Indians being call on fliore in Germany, Vvere fent 
 by a prince of the Suevi to Quintus Metellus Celer, 
 then the Roman proconful in GauU-'^. A very learned 
 writer in di/ijufling this point hath lliewn, that it was 
 poflible for thefe Indians to have come by two difterent 
 routs into the Baltic. He thinks, however, that it is 
 
 very 
 
 (s) Plin. Hift. Nat. lib. If. cap. 67. 
 
[ 77 ] 
 
 very improbable they came by either, and fnppofes that 
 they were either Norwegians, or fome otlier wild people 
 to whom, from their lavage appearance, they gave the 
 name of Indians c*-*. But though this obfervation may 
 well enough apply to the Romans, who at that time 
 had no knowledge of thefe Northern people, yet it is 
 not ealy to conceive, that the Suevi could fall into thi^ 
 miitake; or if they did not, that they Ihould atten\pt to 
 impofe upon the Romans. It appears incontcllablv, 
 that in the time of king Alfred, the Northern feas were 
 conftantly navigated upon the fame motives th )y are 
 now; that is, for the fake of catching wlialcs and fea- 
 horfes '"'''. Nicholas of Lynn, a Carmelite friar, failed 
 to the mofl. diil:ant iflands in the Noith, and even as 
 high as the Pole. He dedicated an a*.coiuit of his dil- 
 coveries to Kini; Edward the Third, and was certainlv a 
 perfon of great learning and an able aftronomcr'''', if 
 we may believe the celebrated Chaucer, \\ ho, in his 
 Treatife on the Aftrolabe, mentions him with great 
 refped:. 
 
 ... After 
 
 (h) Huot Hillouc de OrmmCRc et ile la Navigation dcs Ancicns, p, 351. 
 
 (i) Sec Flarrington's Tfiiilbtion of Orofius from the Anglo-Saxon of king 
 .'Elfrccl, part II, p. 9. 
 
 (I) Lcland. Couui.:ni. de Script. Britan. cap. 370. Bale, vi. 25. Pits, 
 p. 505. Hi' (Icfcripticn was intituled Invcntlo Fortunntu; bcfidcs wliicli, he 
 wrote, any,- ^ - otlicr tilings, a book, De Mundi Revotutione, whicii poflibly 
 may ftill rcii.iin >n the Bodleian Library. This friar, as Dr. Dec aflivts, made 
 five voyages iirto I aelc Northern parts, and left an accuunt of liis c'ifcoveries 
 from the latitude cf 54° 10 the Pole. 
 
[ 78 ] 
 
 After Columbus difcovered America under the 
 aufpices of Ferdinand and Ifabella, the fovereigns of 
 Europe, and efpecially Henry the Seventh, turned their 
 thoughts towards, and gave great encouragement to 
 difcoveries. Mr. Robeit Thorne, who refided many 
 years as a merchant in Spain, and who was afterwards 
 mayor of Briftol, wrote a letter to Henry the Eighth, in 
 which he ftrongly recommended a voyage to the North 
 Pole. He gave his reafons more at large in a long 
 memorial to our ambaflador in Spain, which fliew him 
 to havr been a very judicious rriun,, and for thofe times 
 a very able cofmographer, and accompanied this me- 
 morial with a map of the world, to fhew the practica- 
 bility of his propofal '''>' . Though this projedt of his 
 was not attended to, yet a variety of expeditions were 
 made for difcovering a paffagc by the North-weft., and 
 others by the North-eaft, into the South Seas on the one 
 fide, and into the Tartarian Ocean on the other, until 
 at length both were declared im])ra(fti( able by C^aptain 
 James and Captain Wood; foured by their own mif- 
 carriages, and being ftrongly perfuaded, that as they 
 did not fucceed, none elfe could. But even thefe un- 
 fuccefsful voyages were not unprofitable to the nation 
 upon the whole, as they opened a paflage to many 
 lucrative fiftieries, fucli as thofe in Davis's Straits, 
 
 Baffin's 
 
 {I) Hakluyt's Voyages, vol.1, p. 212 — 220. The letter to Dr. Ley, who 
 was the king's ambaflador in Spain, is dated A. D, 1527. This Mr. Thome's 
 father way engaged, with others, in the difcovcry of Newfoundland. 
 
[ 79 ] 
 BafRn's Bay, and on the Coaft of Spitzbergen. Befides 
 this, they laid open Hudibn's Straits and Bay with the 
 Coalts on both fides, which have been aheady pro- 
 dudtive of many advantages, and which, in procefs of 
 time, cannot fail of producing more, in conieqiience of 
 our being in polTellion of Canada, and being thereby 
 fole mafter of thofe feas and coafts. 
 
 It is, however, very remarkable, that notwithftanding 
 the views, both of our traders and of fuch great men 
 as w.re dillinguillicd encouragers of difcoveries, the 
 ableft feamen (who without doubt are the beft judges) 
 were ftill inclined t-. this paflage by the North, fuch as 
 Captain Poole, Sir William Monfon *'"'', and others; and 
 this was ftill the more remarkable, as they were entirely 
 guided therein by the lights of their own experience, 
 having no knowledge of Mr. Thome's propofal, or of 
 the fentiments of each other. From the reafon of the 
 thing, however, they uniformly concurred in the mo- 
 tives they fuggefted for fuch an undertaking. They 
 aflerted, that this paflage would be much fhorter and 
 eafier than any of thofe by the North-weft or North- 
 eaft; that it would be more healthy for the feamen, 
 and attended with fewer inconveniencies ; that it would 
 probably open a paflage to new countries ; and finally, 
 that the experiment might be made with very little 
 hazard, at a fmall cxpence, and would redound highly 
 to our national honour, if attended with fuccefs. It 
 
 mav 
 
 (m) Naval Trafls, p. 435. 
 
 ;-^^ 
 
[ 8o ] 
 
 may be then demanded, why it has not hitherto been 
 attempted, and what objections have retarded a fchcme 
 To vilibly ad^'antageons ? Thefe objecftions, as far as they 
 can be collected, are the fear of perilliing by cxceilive 
 cold, the danger of being blocked up in ice, and the 
 apprehcnfion that there coidd be no certainty of pre- 
 fcrving the ufe of the compafs, under or near the Pole. 
 In refpcdl to the firft, we have already mentioned 
 that the ancients had taken up an opinion, that the feas 
 in the frigid zone were impaffable, and the lands, if 
 there were any, uninhabitable. The philofophers of 
 later ages fell into the fame opinion, and maintained 
 that the Poles were ;he fources and principles of cold, 
 which of coiirfe ir.Lreafed and grew exceffive in ap- 
 proaching themC"-'. But when the lights of experience 
 were admitted to guide in fucii rcfearches, the tnith of 
 this notion came to be quertioned, becauie from fadts it 
 became probable, that there might be a diverfity of 
 climates in the frigid as well as in the torrid zone. 
 Charlton Illand, in which Captain James wintered, lies 
 in the bottom; that is, in the moil: Southern part of 
 Hudibn's Bay, and in the fame latitude Vv^ith Cambridge, 
 and the cold there was intolerable. The fervants of the 
 Hudfon's Bay Company trade annually in places ten 
 
 degrees 
 
 (n) In the language of tliofc times, tlie Pole was ftiled Primum Fn'gidum; 
 and it was by fuch groundlcls phrafcs that men pretended to account for the 
 operations of nature, without givmg themfelves tlie trouble of experimental 
 enquiries. 
 
i 
 
 [ »■ ] 
 
 degrees nearer the Pole, without feeling any luch in- 
 convenience. The city of Mokow is in the fame lati- 
 tude with that of Edinbiirgli, and yet in winter the 
 weather is almoil: as fcvere there as in Charlton lUand. 
 Nova Zembla hath no foil, herbage, or animals; and 
 yet in Spitzbergen, in fix degrees higher latitude there 
 are all three, and on the top of the mountains in the 
 moll Northern part, men ftrip themfelves of their (liirts 
 that they may cool their bodies c°->. The celebrated 
 Mr. Boyle, from thefe and many other inftances, re- 
 jedled the long received notion that the Pole was the 
 principle of cold. Captain Jonas Poole, who in 1610 
 failed in a veflel of feventy tons to make difcoveries 
 towards the North, foimd the weather warm in near 
 feventy-nine degrees of latitude, whilft the ponds and 
 lakes were unfrozen, which put him in ho])es of find- 
 ing a mild fummer, and led him to believ e, that a pafllige 
 might be as foon found by the Pole as any other way 
 whatever; and for this reafon, that the Sun gave a great 
 heat there, and that the ice was not near fo thick as 
 what he had met with in the latitude of leventy-three''/^. 
 Indeed the Dutchmen who pretend to have advanced 
 within a degree of the Pole, laid it was as hot there as 
 in the fummer at Amfterdam. 
 
 In thefe Northern voyage, s we hear very much of ice, 
 and there is no doubt thai Ncflels are very much hin- 
 dered 
 
 (o) Sec Marten's Acco\int of Spitzbergen, p. 105. 
 (,'<) Puichas Pilgrims, \ol. IL'. p. 702. 
 
 
[ 82 ] 
 
 dcred and incommoded thereby. But after all, it is, 
 in the opinion of able and experienced feamen, more 
 formidable in appearance than fatal in its eifedts. 
 When our earlieft difcoveries were made, and they 
 reached farther North than we commonly fail at pre- 
 ibnt, it v/as perform etl in barks of feventy tons, with 
 fame trouble, no doubt, but \s ith very little hazard. 
 At this day it is kno^-n, that in no part of the Morld 
 there arc greater quantities of ice feen than in Ilud- 
 fon's Bay, and yet there is no navigation fafer, the 
 company not lofing a ihip in twenty years, and the 
 feamen who are ufed to it, are not troubled With any 
 apprehenfions about it. It is no obje6i:ion to this, that 
 we hear almoft every fealbn of fliips loft in the ice on 
 the whale fifliery ; for thefe vciTcls, inflcad of avoiding 
 induftrioully feek the ice, as amongft it the whales are 
 more commonly found, than in the open fea. Being 
 thus continually amongll tlie ice, it is no wonder that 
 they are fometimes furroundcd by it; and yet the men, 
 when the fliips are loit, generally fpeaking, efcape. 
 But in the feas near the Pole, it is very probable, there 
 i«s little or no ice, for that is commonly formed in l>ays 
 and rivers during winter, and does not break up and 
 get into the fea till the latter end of March or the be- 
 ghming of April, Mhen it begins to thaw upon the 
 fhores. It is alfo, when formed, \ery uncertain as 
 to its continuance, being broken and driven about by 
 tlie vehemence of the winds. As a jjroof of this we 
 have an iiilcance of a \cfll'l frozen in one of the har- 
 
 1)0U1S 
 
VV 
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
 bours of Hudfon's Bay, wliich, by the breaking of the 
 ice, drove to lea, and though it was Chriltmas, iVnind 
 the Straits quite free from icC*'-^, which arc frequently 
 choaked with it in May and June, and made a fafe and 
 fpeedy paliligc home. AU our accounts agree that in, 
 very high hititudes there is Icis ice. Earentz, when his 
 fliip was frozen in Nova Zembla, heard the ice broken 
 with a molt horrible noife, by an impetuous lea from 
 the North, a full proof that it is was open. It is the 
 invariable tradition of the Samoides and Tartars, Avho 
 live beyond the Waygat, that the fea is open to the 
 North of Nova Zembla all the year; and the molt 
 knowing people in Rullia are of the fame opinion. 
 Thefe authorities ought certainly to have more weight 
 than limple conjectures. 
 
 The notion that approaching to a pallage under the 
 Pole would deltroy the ufe of the compals, is a i:)opidar 
 opinion \vithout any jult grounds to lupport it. For it 
 prefumes that the needle is diretSted by the Pole of the 
 World; which it certainly is not, as appears from the 
 needle's variation, and even the variation of that varia- 
 tion, which if this notion was true, could never happen. 
 In Sir Thomas Smith's found in Tallin's Bay, the varia- 
 tion was found to be fifty-lix degrees Weitward, the 
 greateft yet known. Captain Wood i? very clear upon 
 this point, and maintains, that no danger was to be 
 
 M 2 appre- 
 
 ('^) Mr. Dobbs's Ac^.oulU oi" lludl'on's Bay, p. 69, 70. 
 
 — :i 
 
[ 84 ] 
 
 apprehended from this cauic^'^''. Thofc who afTerted, 
 that they had advanced within a degree of the Pole, 
 eftimated the variation there at five points of the com- 
 pafs. Captain Wood in flating the account given, of 
 the Dutch feamen's voyage hy Captain Goulden, omits 
 one very material point, of Avhicli ^ve are inforrneil hy 
 Mr. Boyle, which is, tliat one of the Dutch cai)tains 
 coming over to England, Captain Goulden carried him 
 to fome of the Northern Company, who were perfedly 
 fatisfied as to the truth of his relation C'-'. On the 
 whole, therefore, whether we refpe6t reafon or fadls, 
 there are no juft grounds for apprehenfions on this 
 head, more efpecially as there are other means by which 
 the true fituation of a veflel might be determined, and 
 the difficulty, if any arofe, would be but of very fliort 
 continuance. But as fuch a voyage could not fail of 
 affording many new lights in refpedl to agronomy and 
 geography, fo in this refpe£t alfo, it mull necelTarily 
 afcertain fully what is at prefent only matter of doubt 
 and conjedure. 
 
 As notions long received acquire from thence a 
 degree of credit due only to truth; and as new opi- 
 nions, contrary to thefe, and m other refpeils perhaps 
 extraordmary in themfelves, meet from thefe caufes 
 
 with 
 
 (r) Wood's Voyage for the Difcovcry of a North-caft Paffage, p. 139, 
 (s) See tlie honourable Mr. Boyle's Hiftory of Cokl, in rclpcft to this nnc! 
 a iiuihituclc of other curious particulars, wh'ch flicw with how niucli induftry 
 aiiil care he fin ■ cli-tl to deliver truth from vulciar errors and fiftion. 
 
.1 
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 with flow and difliciilt belief, however they may appear 
 to be liipported by arguments, authorities, or i'adts 
 (which it is prefumed have been freely and fairly urged 
 in the prefent cafe, to a degree that may at lealt entitle 
 the matter to fome attention), let us now proceed one i\cp 
 further. This fliall be to Ihew, that what fecms to be 
 lb rei)ugnant to the commtjn courfe of things ('ciz. that 
 near the North Pole the cold flioidd relax, and the ice 
 be lefs trovdilefome) is perfedily conformable to the 
 laws of nature, or which is the fame thing, to the Mill 
 and wifdom of our great Creator. If this can be proved, 
 there can be no farther dilpute as to the pofTibility of 
 this paflage; more efpecially when it fliall alfo appear, 
 that this aftbrds a full folution of all the doubts that 
 have been fuggcfted, and at the fame time clearly 
 accounts for, and efFecftually confirms, the I'adts and 
 reafbnings deduced from them, which have been al- 
 ready advanced upon this fubjed. To come then at 
 once to the point. 
 
 Sir Ifaac Newton, who it is univcrfally allowed was 
 equally accurate, cautious, and juilicious in his philo- 
 fophical decifions, hath demonfhated clearly, that the 
 figure of this our earth is not ri)herical, but of an oblatt 
 ipheroidal form, the diameter at the e(}uator being the 
 greateft, and at the axis the leai^ of all the lines that 
 can pals through the center. He alfb determined, by 
 a moil curious calculation, the proportion of thclc dia- 
 meters to be as two hundred and thirty, to two hundred 
 and twenty-nine. Theie fentiments of his have been 
 
 expe- 
 
experimentally verified by ibc means which he alfu 
 pointed out, viz. ohilrvhig the moticm of pendulums 
 in very different latitudes, and the adual mealiirement 
 of a decree at the eciuator and under the Ardic circle. 
 This lall evidently jjroved the de])reHion of the earth's 
 furface towards the i'ole, which no doubt gradually 
 increaics. The very learned and fagacious Dr. llooke 
 aiFerted, in one of his lectures, and brought very Ihong 
 rcafons to fliew, that there is nothing but fea at the 
 Poles^ -". Thele points then b'jing maturely confidered 
 will be found to militate in favour of a free palFage this 
 way, and at the fame time give much light into other 
 things that have been advanced, in the courfe of this 
 enc}uiry, by Ihewing the true caulbs Oi' thofe fads that, 
 at firft light, have appeared to many very ft range and 
 unaccoimtable. For example, if there be no land near 
 the Pole, then there can be no bays in which ice can be 
 formed to interru]it the navigation. Again, the rays of 
 the Sun falling on fo flat a furface, and being continually 
 rcfiedtcd from the water, muft afford a great degree of 
 heat to the air. At the llime time this will account for 
 the Sun's being feen by the Dutch in Nova Zembla a 
 fortnig'Lt earlier than he fliould have appeared, accord- 
 ing to aftronomical calculations!'''''. Many other circum- 
 ftances might be mentioned, but thele will doubtlcls 
 occur to the intelligent, and therefore it is unnecc-liary 
 to dwell longer upon them. I'he 
 
 (t) Hooke's poRluimoiis ^Vorks, p. ^51. 
 
 (u) Sec Purchas, vo!. III. p. 499, 500. . ' 
 
[ 87 ] 
 
 Tlie grrnr njullicc of rcjccfting opinions, on account 
 of thoir ai'i caring-, at tirit light, paradoxical, or i'on-.c- 
 what- in(r)nllllcnt with notions commonly received, 
 having hccn clearly lliewn, and the mifchievous conCe- 
 qvicnccs flowing from it by various inllance-; pointed 
 out; the foundation of this conjedhu'c, that there 
 may be a pair.i'.;e near the Pole, having been fairly 
 ftatcd, the jiopular objections to it clearly removed, tlie 
 general advantage (that might be cxiiefted from thenci) 
 placed in a proper light, and the conli Hence of all the 
 circitmllances relative thereto, with the cflabliflied 
 coiirfe of nature, having been alio rendered evident; 
 there can be nothing more looked for refpeding this 
 matter merely in the light of a philofophical i])ecula- 
 tion. But if fupporting this had been the only motive, 
 thefe reflections had not cmployetl the time of the 
 writer, or trcfpafled lb huig upon the reader's patience. 
 What then remains ? To demonftrate, that as the poi- 
 fibility, practicability, and facility of fuch an under- 
 taking have been inllfted upon, its national utility Ihould 
 be Ihewn to dcfcrvC coiilulcration; and tlrat, as it is 
 an objedl of the grcatcft importance to the public v.cl- 
 fare, its execution fliould be no longer delayed. There 
 is unqucflionably no country in Eun^pe IV well lituated 
 for fuch an entcrprizc as this. The traniit from Shet- 
 land to the Northern jiarts of Ada Moidd, by this way, 
 be a voyage only of a few weeks. The inh.abitants of 
 thefe iilands and of the Orkneys arc, and have been, 
 for many years cmp'ioyed in the Gicenland lilheries,. 
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 und the natives of thele illcs are the peribns moftly font 
 to the cilahhlhments in Hudfon's bay. By thefe means 
 they are inured to cold, to ice, and hard hving, and are 
 conlefiuentiy the fitteft for being employed in fiich 
 expeditions. When this fliall be once executed with 
 iiiccel's, it will neceirarily bring iis acquainted with new 
 Northern countries, where ordinary cloaths and other 
 coarfc woollen goods will probably be acceptable, new 
 channels of commerce would be thereby opened, our 
 navigation extended, the number of our feamen aug- 
 mented, without exhaufting our ftrength in fettling 
 colonies, expofing the lives of our failors in tedious and 
 dangerous voyages through unwholefome climates, or 
 having any other trade in profpedl than that of ex- 
 changing our native commodities and manufactures, for 
 thofe of other countries. This, if it could be brought 
 about, would in the liril initance, convert a number of 
 bleak and barren iilands into cultivation, connedl them 
 and their inhabitants intimately with Britain, give bread 
 to many thoufands, and by providing fuitable rewards 
 for many diflerent fpecies of induftry, encourage popu- 
 lation, and put an eafy and effeftual period to the mif- 
 chiefs and fcandal of emigrations. The benefits derived 
 from thele difcoveries, and the commerce arillng from 
 them, will necelTarily extend to all parts of our domi- 
 nions. For however fit the poor people of thole iilands 
 may be for fuch cnterprizes, or however commodious 
 the ports in their countries may be found for equipping 
 and receiving veffels employed in thefe voyages, yet the 
 
 com- 
 
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C 89 ] 
 
 commoclities, mantifaaures, &:c. rouft be furniflied 
 from all parts of the Britilli empire, and of courfe be of 
 univcrfal advantage. Thefe, as they are true, will it is 
 hoped appear juft and cogent reafons for wilhing, that 
 a projea which has dwelt in the mouths and memories 
 of fome, and in the judgement and approbation of a 
 few, from the time of Henry the Eighth, fliould be 
 revived, and at length, for the benefit of his fubjedts, 
 carried into efFed, under the aufpices of GEORGE 
 
 /:■.;/;'■:'■ i' ' ^ ■^> '"^ -'^^'-''''t ^' --''^''■' 
 
 the Third. 
 
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 [ 9° ] 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Inftaiices of Navigators who have reached high 
 
 Northern Latitudes. P'lgc i 
 
 II. Additional Proofs that the Polar Seas are open. 
 
 . P- 15 
 
 III. Additional Papers from Hull. P* 5^ 
 
 IV. Suggeftions fubmitted to thofe who may be fent 
 
 upon a Voyage for the Difcovery of the North 
 Pole, or a commimication between the Atlantic 
 and Pacific Oceans, within the Limits of the 
 Northern Hemifphere. p. 62 
 
 V. Thoughts on the Probability, Expediency, and 
 Utility of difcovering a Paflage by the North 
 
 Pole. 
 
 '} 
 
 p. 69 
 
 /' 
 
 *n 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 page 27. Note (I) line £./or 78° 30' read 79 degrees. 
 
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 pen. 
 
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 •• 52 
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 >. 69 
 
 i 
 
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