30 SPITSBERGEN 



For another thing the expedition is memorable, that 

 being that the useful apparatus for the distillation of 

 fresh water from sea water, known to every seafarer, 

 was first used on this voyage, Dr. Irving, its inventor, 

 being the surgeon of the Racehorse. Another item to 

 be noted is that Phipps had with him a Cavendish 

 thermometer, which he tried the day after he crossed 

 the Arctic Circle, and found that at a depth of 780 

 fathoms the temperature was 26, while at the surface 

 it was 48. 



Phipps did all he could to go north, and, in 

 longitude 14 59' east, reached 80 48', the nearest to 

 the Pole up to then, but he was foiled by the ice 

 barrier, which he tried to penetrate again and again. 

 He got his ships caught in the ice and took to his 

 boats, thinking he would have to abandon them, when 

 fortunately the pack drifted south, and the vessels, 

 clearing themselves under sail, caught the boats up 

 and took them on board. Then he went along the 

 edge of the ice westward, and, finding no opening, 

 gave the venture up and sailed for home. 



The next to do good work within this area was 

 William Scoresby the elder, whose only equal as a 

 whale-fisher was his son. To him we owe the inven- 

 tion of the crow's nest, that cylindrical frame covered 

 with canvas, entrance to which is given by a trap-hatch 

 in the base, reached by a Jacob's ladder from the top- 

 mast crosstrees, the conning-tower, so to speak, carried 

 since by every ship on Arctic service. He was also 

 the inventor of the ice-drill and many another imple- 

 ment and device used in Polar navigation ; and he it 

 was who sloped off his fore and main courses to come 



