]56* DISCOVERIES OF 1002. 



an expedition intended solely for the discovery of 

 a north-west passage towards China. It consisted 

 of two tly-hoats, the one of seventy tons, named 

 the Discover 2/ ; the other of sixty tons, called the 

 Godspeed— the two carrying five and thirty men 

 and hoys, and victualled for eighteen months. 

 The command of the expedition was entrusted to 

 Captain Geouge Weymouth, who, for the better 

 success of the voyage, as he tells us, was provided 

 with " a great traveller and learned minister, one 

 master John Cartwright." 



They departed from Radcliffe on the 2d May, 

 1602. On the 18th June, in lat. 59° 51' N. they 

 fell in with the first island of ice, stretching to the 

 northward beyond the reach of sight ; and on the 

 same day saw the south part of Greenland. In 

 standing to the westward the sea was perfectly 

 smooth, but the water so black, " and as thicke as 

 puddle," that they conceived it to be very shallow ; 

 on heaving the lead, however, " they could fetch 

 no ground with one hundred and twenty fathoms." 

 On the 28th they saw land in lat. 62* 30' which 

 they thought to be the land of America, but it was 

 only JVarwick's Forland on Resolution island. In 

 proceeding to the westward they passed several 

 banks of ice, and again fell in with black water, 

 occasioned probably by the soil which the ice- 

 bergs frequently bring away in their disruption 

 from the land. Again they supposed that they 

 discovered America in lat. 63° S^, but they could 



