INTRODUCTION 



TO THE 



VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



J he spirit of discovery, which had long animated 

 the European nations, havi ig, after its arduous and 

 successful exertions during the fifteenth and six- 

 teenth centuries, gradually subsided, and for a con- 

 siderable time lain dormant, began to revive in Great 

 Britain in the late reign* ; and recovered all its for- 

 mer activity, under the cherishing influence, and 

 munificent encouragement, of his present Majesty. 



Soon after his accession to the throne, having 

 happily closed the destructive operations of war, he 

 turned his thoughts to enterprizes more humane, but 

 not less brilliant, adapted to the season of re- 

 turning peace. While every liberal art, and useful 

 study, flourished under his patronage at home, his 

 superintending care was extended to such branches 

 of knowledge as required distant examination and 

 inquiry ; and his ships, after bringing back victory 

 and conquest from every quarter of the known world, 



* Two voyages for discovering a North-West passage, through 

 Hudson's Bay, were then performed ; one under the command of 

 Captain Middleton, in his Majesty's ships the Furnace, and the 

 Discovery Pink, in 1741 and 1742 ; the other under the direc- 

 tion of Captains Smith and Moore, in the ships Dobbs and Cali- 

 fornia, fitted out by subscription, in 1746 and 1747. 



B 2 



