242 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 



during the remainder of the seventeenth century, but for a century 

 after 1631, when Captain Thomas James made a voyage chiefly 

 notable for its misadventures, the search was abandoned. It was 

 in the service of Russia that it was resumed in 1741, when Vitus 

 Bering, or Behring, a Dane, explored the coast of Kamchatka for 

 the Russian government and sailed into the strait since known by 

 his name. Several other Russian expeditions brought up the work 

 to the opening of the nineteenth century, and two British expedi- 

 tions worthy of mention took place. 



The first was that under Captain J. C. Phipps, sent out by 

 George III, at the instance of the Royal Society of the Admiralty, 

 in 1773, toward the regions north of Spitzbergen. In his "Journal 

 of a Voyage to the North Pole," the captain entered the sea "during 

 a summer affording the fullest examination; but the wall of ice 

 between latitudes 80 and 81 degrees showed for more than twenty 

 degrees not the smallest appearance of any opening." The highest 

 latitude reached was 80 degrees 48 minutes. In this expedition 

 Horatio Nelson, then a boy of fifteen years of age, took part, and 

 exhibited a bravery and cool courage prophetic of his subsequent 

 career. 



The other was the famous one of Captain Cook, who was sent 

 to make discoveries in the Pacific and to return to England, if pos- 

 sible, by way of Bering Strait, making a northeast passage. His 

 ships were totally unfit for this purpose, and after exploring the 

 strait and reaching Ivy Cape, he was driven back by the ice and 

 forced to return by the southern route. 



It is well here to speak of another expedition, not that it had 

 any special importance, but from the fact that it was the first 

 authentic American attempt and was backed by Benjamin Franklin. 

 Here is a letter from Franklin concerning it: 



"PHILADELPHIA, February 28, 1753. 



. . . "I believe I have not before told you that I have pro- 

 vided a subscription here of 1500 to fit out a vessel in search of a 



