VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. #9 



of James and of Fox, in 1631, repeated trials had been 

 made by our enterprising adventurers. But though 

 farther knowledge of the northern extent of America 

 was obtained in the course of these voyages by the 

 discovery of Hudson's and Baffin's Bays, the wished- 

 for passage, on that side, into the Pacific Ocean, was 

 still unattained. Our countrymen, and the Dutch, 

 were equally unsuccessful, in various. attempts, to 

 find this passage in an eastern direction. Wood's 

 failure, in 1676, seems to have closed the long list of 

 unfortunate northern expeditions in that century ; 

 and the discovery, if not absolutely despaired of, by 

 having been so often missed, ceased, for many years, 

 to be sought for. 



Mr. Dobbs, a warm advocate for the probability of 

 a north-west passage through Hudson's Bay, in our 

 own time, once more recalled the attention of this 

 country to that undertaking ; and, by his active zeal 

 and persevering solicitation, renewed the spirit of 

 discovery. But it was renewed in vain. For Cap- 

 tain Middleton, sent out by Government in 1741, 

 and Captains Smith and Moore, by a private society, 

 in 1746, though encouraged by an act of parliament 

 passed in the preceding year, that annexed a reward 

 of twenty thousand pounds to the discovery of a pas- 

 sage, returned from Hudson's Bay with reports of 

 their proceedings that left the accomplishment of 

 this favourite object at as great a distance as ever. 



When researches of this kind, no longer left to the 

 solicitations of an individual, or to the subscriptions 

 of private adventurers, became cherished by the 

 Royal attention, in the present reign, and warmly 

 promoted by the Minister at the head of the naval 

 department, it was impossible, while so much was 

 done toward exploring the remotest corners of the 

 southern hemisphere, that the northern passage 

 should not be attempted. Accordingly, while Cap- 

 tain Cook was prosecuting his voyage toward the 

 south pole, in 1773, Lord Mulgrave sailed with two 



