167^. WOOD AND FLAAV^ES. 265 



his superior knowledge, greater exertions, or more 

 constant perseverance, succeeded in bringing about 

 a project to bear, which, in less vigorous or pertina- 

 cious hands, would have been suffered to die away. 

 Captain John Wood appears to have been a man 

 of this stamp ; he was known as an active and ex- 

 perienced seaman, who had accompanied Sir John 

 Narborough on his voyage through the straits of 

 Magellan ; and he now stood forward as the warm 

 advocate for the practicability of saiUng by the 

 northward or the north-eastward to the Indian seas 

 and China, — an opinion which he supported in a 

 memorial to the king, assigning seven distinct 

 reasons, and three arguments, for the existence of 

 such a passage. 



His reasons were — 1. That Captain Barentz had 

 been of opinion that the ice did not extend above 

 twenty leagues from the shores of Greenland and 

 Nova Zembla, and that the intermediate space of 

 one hundred and sixty leagues was open sea. 2. 

 That by a letter from Holland, published in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, it appeared that the 

 Russians had discovered the sea to be open on the 

 north of Nova Zembla. 3. That from the report 

 of some Dutchmen wrecked on the coast of Corea, 

 it appeared that whales were caught on that coast 

 with English and Dutch harpoons in them. 4. 

 The story of the Dutchman told to Mr. Joseph 

 Moxon. 5. The story of the Dutch ship that 

 went within one degree of the pole, told to him by 

 Captain Goulden. 6, The report of Captain 



