52 BAFFIN. 



Cape of God's Mercies, and thence bent their course 

 for Cape Desolation, in Greenland. But, the wind coming 

 on adverse, they shaped their course for Ireland. They 

 suffered, during the passage, the most dreadful extremi- 

 ties of famine, allowing only half a fowl a day to each 

 man, and considering it a luxury to have it fried with 

 candles, of which a weekly distribution was made 

 for that purpose. Ivet, now the sole survivor of the 

 ringleaders in the atrocious conspiracy, sank under 

 these privations. The last fowl was in the steep-tub, 

 and the men were become nearly desperate, when sud- 

 denly it pleased God to give them sight of land, which 

 proved to be the north of Ireland. They complain that, 

 on going ashore at Berehaven, they did not receive the 

 sympathy and kindness which they so much needed ; 

 nor was it until they had mortgaged their vessel that 

 they obtained the means of proceeding to Plymouth. 



Strange to relate, no attempt was made to bring the 

 mutineers to trial ; some of them, indeed, were after- 

 wards employed in making further explorations. 



Great hopes were entertained that the much-desired 

 passage would be found leading out of Hudson's Bay ; 

 and a good deal of controversy on the question arose, 

 from time to time, among contending voyagers and their 

 abettors. Between this period and 1616, those arms of 

 the sea known as Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome and Fox 

 Channel were discovered ; and in the year just men- 

 tioned Baffin sailed into and explored the vast bay, 

 eight hundred miles long, and three hundred wide, 

 named after him. For a long time his report of its 

 great length was disbelieved, but later researches have 

 confirmed the accuracy of his statements ; even the 

 latitudes laid down by him are almost identical with 

 those recently determined, with all the advantage of 

 superior instruments. Among other openings, Baffin 



