78 COOK. MACKENZIE. 



the ice. But on the 9th the ships were moved a little 

 through some small openings ; and in the course of the 

 day they got past the boats, and took them on board 

 again. On the morrow a favorable wind sprang up ; all 

 sail was set, and, after forcing their way through much 

 heavy ice, the ships cleared it, and gained the open sea. 

 The season was now so far advanced that nothing more 

 could be attempted, and the expedition returned to 

 England. 



In 1716 Cook sailed on the fatal expedition which cost 

 England her famous navigator, with instructions to at- 

 tempt the passage of the Icy Sea from Behring's Strait 

 to Baffin's Bay. The clause of the act above referred 

 to, wherein Hudson's Strait was exclusively specified, 

 was altered to include " any northern passage" for ships ; 

 and five thousand pounds was further voted to any one 

 who should get within one degree of the pole. Cook, 

 with all his perseverance, could not penetrate beyond Icy 

 Cape, latitude 70 20', where he found the ice stretch- 

 ing in a compact mass across to the opposite continent, 

 which he also visited, sailing as far as Cape North, on 

 the coast of Asia. It would appear that expectations 

 prevailed of the enterprising mariner's success ; for a 

 vessel was sent to Baffin's Bay to wait for him, in 

 1777, in charge of Lieutenant Pickersgill. 



One other journey within this century remains to be 

 noticed that by Mackenzie, under sanction of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, with objects similar to those cf 

 Hearne. In 1789 he left Fort Chipewyan, crossed Slave 

 Lake, and descended the Mackenzie River, a stream of 

 much greater magnitude than the Coppermine, to an 

 island where the tide rose and fell. But, as in the case 

 of his predecessor, we have no certainty that he reached 

 the ocean. Rivers, however, play an important part in 

 Arctic discovery ; and it was something gained to know 



