234 BAFFIN BAY 



Shackleton, he took the middle passage across Melville 

 Bay, coasting along by Cape York, by the cape named 

 after one of his directors, Sir Dudley Digges, and the 

 sound named after another of his directors, Sir John 

 Wolstenholme ; along Prudhoe Land, entering the North 

 Water of the whalers, reaching Cape Alexander in 

 77 45', his farthest north ; opening up and naming 

 Smith Sound, after Sir Thomas Smith, another of his 

 directors, and Jones Sound, after Alderman Sir Francis 

 Jones, another of the board, and Lancaster Sound, 

 after Sir James Lancaster of the East India Company. 

 Thus, coasting Ellesmere Land, North Devon, Bylot 

 Island, and Baffin Land, he continued his voyage from 

 the north on his way home. A good piece of work : 

 the discoveries so many and unexpected that people 

 ceased to believe in them, geographers going so far as 

 to erase his bay from their maps until, two hundred 

 years afterwards, Ross and Parry sailed over the land 

 of the unbelievers and confirmed Baffin's work in every 

 detail and Ross, in his best mountain-finding manner, 

 reported no thoroughfare at Smith Sound. 



