VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 41 



trusted with command in Davis's Straits; and the 

 talents of Young, as it afterward appeared, were more 

 adapted to contribute to the glory of a victory, as 

 commander of a line-of-battle ship, than to add to 

 geographical discoveries, by encountering mountains 

 of ice, and exploring unknown coasts.* 



Both Pickersgill and Young having been ordered to 

 proceed into Baffin's Bay; and Captain Cook being 

 directed not to begin his search till he should arrive 

 in the latitude of 65, it may not be improper to say 

 something here of the reasons which weighed with 

 those who planned the voyages, and framed the in- 

 structions, to carry their views so far northward, as 

 the proper situation, where the passage, if it existed 

 at all, was likely to be attempted with success. It 

 may be asked, why was Hudson's Bay neglected on 

 our side of America? and why was not Captain Cook 

 ordered to begin his search on its opposite side, in 

 much lower latitudes? particularly, why not explore 

 the strait leading into the Western sea of John de 

 Fuca, between the latitudes of 47 and 48; the Ar- 

 chipelago of St. Lazarus of Admiral de Fonte, be- 

 tween 50 and 55; and the rivers and lakes through 

 which he found a passage north-eastward, till he 

 met with a ship from Boston ? 



As to the pretended discoveries of de Fuca, the 

 Greek pilot, or of de Fonte, the Spanish admiral, 

 though they have sometimes found their way into 

 fictitious maps, or have been warmly contended for 

 by the espousers of fanciful systems, to have directed 

 Captain Cook to spend any time in tracing them, 



* In the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. lxviii. p. 1057, we 

 have the track of Pickersgill's voyage, which, probably, may be 

 of use to our Greenland ships, as it contains many observations for 

 fixing the longitude and latitude of the coasts in Davis's Straits. 

 But it appears that he never entered Baffin's Bay, the highest 

 northern latitude to which he advanced being 68 14'. As to 

 Young's proceedings, having failed absolutely in making any dis- 

 covery, it is of less consequence, that no communication of his 

 journal could be procured. 



